News briefs for 9/29/05

Republican brass reveal their true nature.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, blamed by the former leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin for many of the city’s post-hurricane problems, was given no questions about her response to Hurricane Katrina when she appeared before a Senate committee to plead for more federal money.

She asked not to be questioned about it and the senators agreed.

So they spent hours the day before grilling one of their own (Michael Brown) while they shamelessly give Blanco a pass? “Oh, Miss Blanco, we promise not to make you mad at us. We’ll keep it simple so that you can go back to your wasteful government spending*–JUST LIKE US!”

*Take the time to google for the corrupt history behind Louisiana politicians and how they have wasted MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars–one individual is in prison!

Sheila Jackson Lee banks on the point that many blacks don’t read

The Bush administration’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina may be the result of minority votes being suppressed and Democratic candidates losing the last two presidential elections, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus has alleged.

“Watching family members and others cling to rooftops in Hurricane Katrina, I wonder whether or not the absence of attention [to the recovery effort] is attributable to the loss of a vote in 2000 and 2004,” U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, said.

She added that the government’s hurricane response gave her the feeling of “deja vu,” following the Republican Party’s alleged attempts to undermine the black vote in those two presidential elections. (more…)

While she is having “deja vu,”perhaps she should see this (I posted this story a while ago)…

====

The American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR–a non-partisan group backed by both Democrats and Republicans) just came out with the conclusions of their study on voter suppression that took place during the recent presidential election here in the US. Here is an excerpt from the summary of that report:

While Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, neither party has a clean record on the issue. Instead, the evidence shows that Democrats waged aggressive intimidation and suppression campaigns against Republican voters and volunteers in 2004. Republicans have not been exempt from similar criticism in this area, as alleged voter intimidation and suppression activity by GOP operatives led the Republican National Committee to sign a consent decree repudiating such tactics in 1982. However, a careful review of the facts shows that in 2004, paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression efforts than their Republican counterparts. Examples include:

Paid Democrat operatives charged with slashing tires of 25 Republican get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee on the morning of Election Day.

Misleading telephone calls made by Democrat operatives targeting Republican voters in Ohio with the wrong date for the election and faulty polling place information.

Intimidating and deceiving mailings and telephone calls paid for by the DNC threatening Republican volunteers in Florida with legal action.

Union-coordinated intimidation and violence campaign targeting Republican campaign offices and volunteers resulting in a broken arm for a GOP volunteer in Florida.

Vote fraud and voter registration fraud were significant problems in at least a dozen states around the county. Vote fraud is a reality in America that occurred not only in large battleground states like Wisconsin but in places like Alabama and Kentucky. The record indicates that in 2004, voter registration fraud was mainly the work of so-called “nonpartisan” groups such as Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and NAACP National Voter Fund. Examples include:

Joint task force in Wisconsin found “clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee,” including more than 200 felon voters, more than 100 double voters and thousands more ballots cast than voters recorded as having voted in the city.

NAACP National Voter Fund worker in Ohio paid crack cocaine in exchange for a large number of fraudulent voter registration cards in names of Dick Tracy, Mary Poppins and other fictional characters.

Former ACORN worker said there was “a lot of fraud committed” by group in Florida, as ACORN workers submitted thousands of fraudulent registrations in a dozen states across the country, resulting in a statewide investigation of the group in Florida and multiple indictments and convictions of ACORN/Project Vote workers for voter registration fraud in several states.

Click here to go to the ACVR website for the full report

BET faces its double standard

From EURweb.com

*What started out as comedian/writer Paul Mooney’s questionable “Nigga Wake Up Award” turned into an all-out insult to Diana Ross last night at the taping of the BET Comedy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. For some reason Mooney thought the famed singer was deserving of being talked about like a dog because of her arrest for drunk driving from two or three years ago.

Needless to say, Mooney’s mean-spirited tirade was met with disbelief, disgust and silence from the audience in the auditorium and members of the press in the media room covering the event. What made it more difficult to witness was the fact that Tracee Ellis Ross was in the auditorium while Mooney went through his attack. Actually Miss Ellis Ross couldn’t take it and left the auditorium.

Backstage in the press room when EUR’s Lee Bailey confronted Mooney about his bit on Ross being way over the top, the comedian defended his actions.

“How can somebody get arrested for (being under the influence) and go to jail and I be over the top? I think that’s over the top, don’t you? Agree or disagree, folks. No, comedy is not over the top,” Mooney said. “When you are a celebrity and you do crazy stuff, that’s the game.”

At that point Bailey asked him if thought about the fact that Tracee Ellis Ross was in the room while he delivered his diatribe against her mother.

“I didn’t know … her mama could’ve been in there, that’s not the point. I didn’t drive drunk,” Mooney shot back. “Now I’m responsible for Diana Ross? If you scrutinize Jay Leno and David Letterman the same way you scrutinize me, then I’ll agree with you, but if you don’t touch them white folks don’t touch me. They say what ever they want to say every night.” (more…)

Although I do not condone the word “nigga”, Mooney’s lil’ routine was totally in bounds (according to BET’s own rule book!). It’s okay to make fun of Michael Jackson, O.J., Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and their issues, but its not okay to touch someone that black Hollywood feels is the original and untouchable Diva (as if she doesn’t have her share of issues as well). Anybody care to recall her behavior in the latter years when she was with the Supremes?

Unfortunately Mooney is right to suggest that in today’s comedy, there are no boundaries (even if the person or their children are in the room). Let’s not forget that most comedians regularly pick someone out in the crowd to ridicule them. Why should this be “different”?

The most hilarious thing about this story is something the writer did not include in his article. WE know good and doggone well that while Negroes were (gasp!) appalled at Mooney’s outburst, THE SAME DAG-ON NEGROES got into their limos when it was all over and holla’d. They were just too embarrassed to publicly acknowledge that it was funny.

That is how we do it.

>>Another great blog that covers news briefs is BookerRising