From Rich's column:
On the Judiciary Committee's hearings: "Southern senators who relate every question to race, ethnicity and gender just assumed that their unreconstructed obsessions are America's and that the country would find them riveting. Instead the country yawned. The Sotomayor questioners also assumed a Hispanic woman, simply for being a Hispanic woman, could be portrayed as The Other and patronized like a greenhorn unfamiliar with How We Do Things Around Here. The senators seemed to have no idea they were describing themselves when they tried to caricature Sotomayor as an overemotional, biased ideologue."
On Senator Tom Coburn's "You'll have lots of 'splaining to do" statement: "[I]t clearly didn't occur to him that such mindless condescension helps explain why the fastest-growing demographic group in the nation is bolting his party."
Check out the full column.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
President Obama On His NAACP Speech
From the President: "I've noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted. But then the whole other half of the speech, where I talked about government's responsibility . . . that somehow doesn't make news."
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
RNC Chair Michael Steele On Black Folks, Fried Chicken And Potato Salad
At the Young Republicans national convention Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele stated that he would welcome black persons to the Republican Party with "fried chicken and potato salad." Earl Ofari Hutchinson notes, "The shoot from the lip Steele with a wry smile and a chuckle told a questioner that he'll get more black folk into the GOP by ladling out scoops of potato salad and every black's favorite, fried chicken to them." Hutchinson also asks whether the GOP bribed Steele with a bucket of fried chicken, and "did Steele polish off his fried chicken gorge by slurping away at a big slice of warermelon?"
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Zell Miller: "Gorilla Glue" And Obama
Said by Zell Miller, former governor and United States senator from Georgia: "our globe-trotting president needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting all around. I think Rahm Emanuel ought to get some Gorilla Glue and put it in that chair in the Oval Office and say 'Sit here awhile."
Every time I think it can't get worse . . .
Every time I think it can't get worse . . .
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Cornyn On Cabranes
During a break in today's Sotomayor hearings, Senator Cornyn of Texas told C-Span viewers that Second Circuit Judge Cabranes is "of Puerto Rican extraction." Extraction? What does that mean?
Pat Buchanan On Judge Sonia Sotomayor
On his website Patrick J. Buchanan (who, among other things, is (still) a commentator on MSNBC) has this to say about Judge Sonia Sotomayor:
"Sonia is, first and foremost, a Latina. She has not hesitated to demand, even in college and law school, ethnic and gender preferences for her own. Her concept of justice is race-based." (Note his reference to "Sonia" and the lack of any facts supporting his declaration of who and what she is.)
Republicans must "expose Sotomayor . . . as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males to the degree necessary to bring about an equality of rewards in society." (Really? When anxiety crosses over into hysteria this is what happens.)
"Sonia is, first and foremost, a Latina. She has not hesitated to demand, even in college and law school, ethnic and gender preferences for her own. Her concept of justice is race-based." (Note his reference to "Sonia" and the lack of any facts supporting his declaration of who and what she is.)
Republicans must "expose Sotomayor . . . as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males to the degree necessary to bring about an equality of rewards in society." (Really? When anxiety crosses over into hysteria this is what happens.)
Vote Like A Puerto Rican?
In Tuesday's confirmation hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Senator Jeff Sessions, discussing Sotomayor's vote not to rehear en banc the appeal in Ricci v. DeStefano, made the following statement to the judge:
"You voted not to reconsider the prior case. You voted to stay with the decision of the circuit. And in fact your vote was the key vote. Had you voted with Judge Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could've changed that case."
This comment by Sessions can be viewed here, in a posting that also notes that Judge Cabranes also served on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Why is that relevant? Sessions has ciritcized Sotomayor for serving on that very same board.
"You voted not to reconsider the prior case. You voted to stay with the decision of the circuit. And in fact your vote was the key vote. Had you voted with Judge Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could've changed that case."
This comment by Sessions can be viewed here, in a posting that also notes that Judge Cabranes also served on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Why is that relevant? Sessions has ciritcized Sotomayor for serving on that very same board.
On Senator Jeff Sessions
A recent POLITICO story on Senator Jeff Sessions notes the Senate's rejection of his nomination to the federal bench in 1986:
"During the 1986 confirmation process, Sessions was accused of unfairly targeting black civil rights workers for election fraud charges as a federal prosecutor. A black lawyer under Sessions in the U.S. attorney's office accused him of saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan was 'OK' until he found out some of its members were 'pot smokers.'
"But the confirmation process also revealed that Sessions had once called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union 'un-American' and 'communist-inspired.'
"Sessions . . . told POLITICO that those comments were made in a private conversation he had with an African-American on his staff in the U.S. attorney's office--and that they were taken out of context."
"During the 1986 confirmation process, Sessions was accused of unfairly targeting black civil rights workers for election fraud charges as a federal prosecutor. A black lawyer under Sessions in the U.S. attorney's office accused him of saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan was 'OK' until he found out some of its members were 'pot smokers.'
"But the confirmation process also revealed that Sessions had once called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union 'un-American' and 'communist-inspired.'
"Sessions . . . told POLITICO that those comments were made in a private conversation he had with an African-American on his staff in the U.S. attorney's office--and that they were taken out of context."
"Whose Identity Politics?"
From Eugene Robinson's column in the Washington Post:
"Republicans' outrage, both real and feigned, at [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor's musings about her identity as a 'wise Latina' might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being male and white is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any 'identity'--black, brown, female, gay, whatever--has to be judged against this supposedly 'objective' standard. . . . Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. talks abut the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings--as he did at his confirmation hearings--but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work."
"Republicans' outrage, both real and feigned, at [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor's musings about her identity as a 'wise Latina' might affect her judicial decisions is based on a flawed assumption: that whiteness and maleness are not themselves facets of a distinct identity. Being male and white is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any 'identity'--black, brown, female, gay, whatever--has to be judged against this supposedly 'objective' standard. . . . Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. talks abut the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings--as he did at his confirmation hearings--but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Audra Shay's Facebook Postings
Audra Shay is now the incoming chair of the Young Republicans. For where she stands on the electon of President Obama (e.g., "Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist" and her reference to "Obama in a noose") check out this Daily Beast story.
Attacking The Obama Children
Racism Review has an interesting post that begins: "Just when you think the racist right has reached its low point, some hyper-racist folks there show they can go yet lower." A photo in the New York Post showed Malia Obama wearing a shirt with a peace sign. Check out the post for the rabid, racist, and reactionary comments made by some of the "brave" anonymous fools out there in cyberspace. And check out some other comments noted in the post, including: "We're being represented by a family of ghetto trash." "Looks like a typical street whore." "Wonder when she will have her first abortion."
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Richard Nixon On Neccesary Abortions
President Richard Nixon, speaking to an aide in 1973 on the day following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade: "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white. . . . Or a rape."
The Bombing Of A Diversity Office
From That Minority Thing: "Twin brothers from Illinois who authorities say are white supremacists have been charged in a 2004 bombing that injured the black diversity director in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale."
"What Are Those Black Kids Doing Here?"
The Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission has indicated that it will investigate allegations that the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania discriminated against a group of minority children who were swimming at the club's pool. According to Alethea Wright, the director of a Creative Steps, a summer camp for minority children, her organization paid for weekly swim time at the pool. While at the pool on June 29, "A couple of the children ran down saying, 'Miss Wright, Miss Wright, they're up they're saying, 'What are those black kinds doing here?'" Wright said that club members pulled their children out of the pool. The club later refunded the camp's payment. Wright has stated that some of the children have asked if they are "too dark" to swim in the pool. The club president has denied any wrongdoing.
Are The Indiana Pacers Too White?
That question was posed by Bob Kravitz in a column in the Indianapolis Star. "In a league where little more than 10 percent of the players are white Americans, the Pacers roster is racially split down the middle, making them one of the whitest teams in the league." Larry Bird, Pacers president and former NBA star, said, "I don't see race at all."
In 2004 the colorblind Bird, responding to the question whether the National Basketball Associaton could benefit from having more white players, said: "Well, I think so. . . . I think it's good for a fan base becase, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you had just a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited." He also said, during his playing days, that he was insulted when he was guarded by a white player.
"I don't see race at all."
In 2004 the colorblind Bird, responding to the question whether the National Basketball Associaton could benefit from having more white players, said: "Well, I think so. . . . I think it's good for a fan base becase, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you had just a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited." He also said, during his playing days, that he was insulted when he was guarded by a white player.
"I don't see race at all."
The Horrible Burr Oak Cemetery Story
From the Chicago Tribune:
"Authorities today sharply increased the estimate of the number of bodeis disinterred at Burr Oak Cemetery in southwest suburban Alsip in a scheme to illegaly resell grave sites.
"Two to 300 bodies were dug up and dumped into an isolted, weedy area of the cemetery, where many prominent African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till."
"Authorities today sharply increased the estimate of the number of bodeis disinterred at Burr Oak Cemetery in southwest suburban Alsip in a scheme to illegaly resell grave sites.
"Two to 300 bodies were dug up and dumped into an isolted, weedy area of the cemetery, where many prominent African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till."
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