March 14, 2005
I'm going to be on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News Channel tonight, as part of their coverage of the aftermath of the Nichols shooting here in Atlanta.The angle that tonight's show is going after is the history of corruption and incompetance of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, first under prior sheriff Jackie Barrett, then under recently elected sheriff Myron Freeman.
The other guest in my segment will be Dick Williams, moderator of WAGA/Fox 5's The Georgia Gang and a writer with the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
The segment is set for somewhere between 8 and 10 minutes past the hour; The O'Reilly Factor airs tonight at 8 & 11 ET.
UPDATE: O'Reilly's producer just called and told me that the segment has been bumped up to the top of the hour -- they want to hit this straight out of the box.
They tape at 6, so hopefully, I can get back home in time to watch my ugly mug on the tube...
UPDATE (after the fact): I made it back in time to watch on the tube.
I was a little nervous -- partly (at least as I can see it) because I was in a different studio than I usually am when I do these things.
Overall, the segment came off OK. Though the point I was trying to make at the end was a bit rushed, and didn't come across completely. My point was that the people here seem to rush to find someone black to lead to the exclusion of finding someone qualified. It should be the other way -- find someone qualified. There are plenty of QUALIFIED blacks who can lead. Don't stop with the first black person you find simply because he is black.
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Great job.March 13, 2005
Brian Nichols held an unidentified 30-something year-old woman in her apartment in Gwinnett County overnight Friday night, sometimes at gun point, sometimes tied up.She talked about her young daughter. She talked about her late husband. And she talked about God. During the more than seven hours she was held hostage inside her apartment, sometimes at gunpoint, the Duluth woman talked about her life until, somehow, she was able to persuade the gunman to untie her and let her go.Early Saturday morning, she was able to convince Nichols to release her. She went to the rental office of the apartment complex, and called 911."She was able to gain a rapport with him. I think she gained enough of a rapport with him that he trusted her to leave the apartment," said Gwinnett police Officer Anthony Bassett, the first officer to arrive after the woman called 911 Saturday morning.
Bassett said it wasn't clear to him why Nichols released the woman. Perhaps it was to check on her daughter, who was somewhere else, the officer said. Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington said he thought she appealed to Nichols on a spiritual level.
In a press conference yesterday afternoon, we learned that after he left the Centennial Garage across from CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta Friday morning, Brian Nichols indeed hopped a MARTA train, as I suggested, and ended up at the Lenox station.
Apparently, at some point, Nichols forcibly entered a woman's apartment after placing a gun to the back of her head. Nichols apparently got into a fight with her boyfriend and fled.
Nichols wandered southward from the Lenox Square area along Lenox Road, coming across ICE agent David Wilhelm working on his home on nearby Cantor Road. Police believe Nichols shot and killed Wilhelm, stealing his badge, gun and Chevrolet pickup.
Sometime late Friday night, or early Saturday, he forcibly entered the apartment of a woman arriving home at the Bridgewater apartment complex off of Satellite Blvd. in Duluth. There, Nichols held her while watching television coverage of his murderous rampage.
Nichols surrendered to a Gwinnett County SWAT team by waving a white shirt around 11:30 yesterday morning.
Though he is set to be arraigned on state and federal charges this week (and in the midst of much rejoycing and back-slapping by local and federal officials), larger questions remain:
- Why has political correctness run so far amok that we worry about what suspects wear in court?
- Why was a single female deputy assigned to Nichols as he changed clothes in preparation for his court appearance Friday morning?
- Why was security not beefed up, given the fact that metallic foreign objects that had been fashioned into crude weapons had been taken from Nichols earlier in the week (mind you, Judge Barnes had expressed concerns about security in relation to this case earlier in the week)?
- Why didn't the Atlanta Police Department have the more than logical insight to search all the garages in the downtown area?
- And likewise, why didn't the APD think to check any and all security cameras in and around the downtown area?
- Why didn't the APD (and other agencies involved) think to search MARTA and their security cameras, along with the GA DOT traffic cameras Friday morning, especially since they weren't sure where Nichols was going?
There were plenty of mistakes in how this situation was handled, and I have to agree with a number of other critics in that several of the officials involved need to step down. I'm not holding my breath though.
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March 12, 2005
Brian Nichols, suspect in the murder of Fulton County Judge Rowland Barnes, a Fulton County deputy, a court reporter and a Customs Officer, has been captured by a SWAT team in Gwinnett County this morning.He is most likely being taken to the Fulton County jail complex in downtown Atlanta.
UPDATE - 12:30P - Nichols was taken to the FBI field office in DeKalb County (off of I-85 & Clairmont for us locals) for processing.
UPDATE - 12:45P - From WAGA/Atlanta: Nichols kidnapped a woman, went to her apartment, held her all night, then let her go this morning. He let her go this morning, and she dropped a dime after she left, to let them know that he was at her apartment in Gwinnett County. Nichols then gave himself up.
UPDATE (1P) - Press conference scheduled with all the players at 4P ET at City Hall East in Atlanta (per APD Chief Richard Pennington on WAGA)
UPDATE - 1:25P - Nichols has been transported to APD HQ at City Hall East in Atlanta. The pecking order most likely is that the rape trial (which was already in progress) gets first priority, then the state/local murder charges kick in, finally the feds get him after the fact.
UPDATE - 1:35p - From the Gwinnett PD presser: they got a call at 9:50 from a woman saying Nichols was in her apartment. They've said that the FBI will take the lead on the case, and go from there (though we may find out more from the 4P local/state presser)
UPDATE - 1:55P - Nichols most likely didn't know that the high-ranking ICE official found dead this morning; he just happened upon this home where a man was working on his home, just off of Lenox Road in Buckhead. He was off-duty at the time, and it is thought that he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. After robbing the man, apparently, Nichols realized he had a LEO on his hands. (per Morse Diggs with WAGA)
UPDATE - 2P ET:
Nichols being placed in a vehicle at FBI headquarters, for transport to Atlanta Police Headquarters at Atlanta's City Hall East.
UPDATE - 2:20p - On WSB-TV, members of the Georiga Capital Defenders' Office are upset that they are not being granted access to Nichols by APD officers; they claim they are afriad that Nichols' rights are being violated.
(Tying to this week's Carnival of Trackbacks)
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, that identify positive and negative images of the judiciary recurred with varying degrees of force-fulness across the nation. See David B. Rottman’s, “On Public Trusts and Confidence: Does Experience with the Courts Promote or Diminish It?” Negative images centered on perceived inaccessibility, unfairness in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities, and lack of concern about the problems of ordinary people. There is also a concern that the courts are biased in favor of the wealthy and corporations - political considerations exerted an undue influence on the judiciary.
Nonetheless, improving public trust and confidence of the courts is fundamental and likely to be the best defense against the emotional reaction of losing a legal case. As early as 1988, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, William H. Rehnquist, detailed the extent, almost since the inception of our system of government, that the courts require the public’s trust and confidence. See “The Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years Were the Hardest,” 42 U. Miami L. Rev. 475, 477 (198  |
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This is the same garage where Nichols took the vehicle from Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Don O'Briant.
The garage is bordered by Spring St. facing the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the AJC's trucking facilities, Centennial Olympic Park Drive (and across the street, CNN Center), and Marietta St. It's catty-corner from Centennial Olympic Park, and less than a block from the Omni/Dome MARTA station.
At 9:30 yesterday morning, Nichols' photo had not been circulated yet. He literally could have gone anywhere. He could have entered CNN Center, he could have grabbed a cab on the street, he could have hopped a MARTA train, he could have even walked away!
This garage is about a block from my wife's office, and the two of us literally drove past it within minutes of Nichols' passage. Prior to this, he drove the wrong way up a one lane wide one-way street - one I had driven down about three to five minutes earlier.
The larger question that this entire situation begs is regarding the investigative capabilities (or lack of capabilities) of the Atlanta Police Department and the Fulton County Police Department! Centennial Garage is less than five blocks from the courthouse! Mind you a private citizen found the car, not the police!
UPDATE - 10A - A US Customs agent has been found shot to death on Lenox Road in Northeast Atlanta. The agent's badge, gun and pickup truck are missing. The truck is a blue 1994 Chevrolet pickup, with Georgia tags ATG 6121
- 11:15A - Hostage situation in Duluth (Gwinnett Co.) just northeast of Atlanta. Apparently the truck is there. This is on Satellite Blvd. in Gwinnett Co.
Per Geraldo Rivera on FNC, Nichols is definitely holed up in this apartment complex in Duluth.
UPDATE - ATF is reporting that Nichols IS IN CUSTODY!
UPDATE - 11:40A
Nichols is in the white shirt after having been taken into custody in Gwinnett County this morning.
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March 11, 2005
Fulton County Judge Rowland Barnes was shot and killed as he sat on the bench in his 8th floor courtroom this morning. A Fulton County deputy and a court reporter were also killed.The suspect is Brian Nichols, a black man, 34 years old, 6'1", 210 pounds.
He has carjacked multiple vehicles; and local police are looking a stolen 1997 green Honda Accord, with Georgia tag 6584YN.
Nichols had received a mistrial for the rape of his girlfriend, and was on his second trial. Nichols took a gun from a Fulton County deputy, and shot two or three people in the courtroom (depending on which station is reporting at the time) and escaped. One deputy was shot outside the Fulton County courthouse, after which the suspect entered a parking deck across the street.
Due to the ongoing threat, Atlanta Public Schools have placed a number of schools on lockdown.
UPDATE (11:50A): New word that the green Accord has been located at the Lakewood apartments in Sandy Spring. That would be on Roswell Rd. just inside of I-285 north of the city-proper.
UPDATE - The description of the car is being flashed on the overhead highway signs in metro Atlanta.
(This is not THE car, but an example to let you know what it might look like)
A press conference from Atlanta's mayor just concluded; the perp is still at large, and a massive manhunt is taking place all over north Georgia.
APD officials say they believe Nichols is still in the area, perhaps still in the city.
UPDATE = (4:30P) New word (from WXIA) is that Nichols was in a holding room, overpowered a deputy, took her weapon, left the area, walked down a hallway into the old section of the courthouse, entered Judge Barnes' chambers, handcuffed an officer there, and then finally entered the courtroom and opened fire.
UPDATE - (6:30P) MSNBC's Dan Abrams is reporting that Fulton Co. DA Paul Howard mentioned a call received from Nichols, threatening to kill Asst. DA Gayle Abramson, who had tried his rape case. Howard said that he and his family, as well as Abramson, are in protective custody.
UPDATE - (11P) - WSB-TV is reporting that the green Accord has been found at the parking deck off of Marietta and Spring Streets in downtown Atlanta (right across from my wife's building, mind you). That deck is less than three blocks from the Omni/Dome MARTA station. If he ditched it there early on, he could have easily walked there or to one of three other subway stations easily. This guy literally could be anywhere by now.
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March 10, 2005
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Reverend Jackson's roots as a preacher were clear from the outset as he led the audience in a rousing chant.Jackson drew comparisons to his efforts in past US elections when talking about the power of the black vote in the upcoming UK elections.When he demanded: "Let me hear you scream", the audience responded enthusiastically.
It set the tone for his 45-minute oration - a polished performance encompassing the African slave trade, his deprived boyhood in South Carolina, the war in Iraq and UK issues.
It elicited applause and cheers at regular intervals from his audience in the manner of an evangelical church service.
Throughout the historical and contemporary references, Jesse Jackson's repeated mantra was "use your vote".
"Use your power to change the course of this world and this nation.
"Vote for your share of power, your share of management, your share of education," Reverend Jackson said.
Sounds like Jesse's found himself a new bully pulpit to get himself some fresh "face time" -- even though it'll mostly be on the other side of the ocean.
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March 09, 2005
Surprisingly, Dan sounded rather erudite and philosophical in his final monologue.
"We've shared a lot in the 24 years we've been meeting here each evening. And before I say good night this night, I need to say thank you. Thank you to the thousands of wonderful professionals of CBS News, past and present, with whom it's been my honor to work over these years. And a deeply felt thanks to all of you who have let us into your homes night after night. It has been a privilege and one never taken lightly.I'm suitably impressed."Not long after I first came to the anchor chair, I briefly signed off using the word 'courage.' I want to return to it now, in a different way, to a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001, and especially to those who found themselves closest to the events of September 11th. To our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in dangerous places. To those who have endured the tsunami, and to all who have suffered natural disasters and who must now find the will to rebuild. To the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health. To my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all. And to each of you, courage. For the CBS Evening News, Dan
Rather reporting. Good night."
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Dan "Kenneth" Rather finally steps down after tonight's CBS Evening News, 24 years to the day after accepting the anchor chair from Walter Cronkite.Rather, trying to establish his own identity and distance himself from Cronkite, experimented with closing his newscasts with the single word, "Courage." It fell flat.
Though many of us on the right insist that the "liberal bias" that Rather exemplifies may be curtailed with Kenneth's "dishonorable discharge" from the anchor desk, I would contend that there will be an increase -- after all, Peter Jennings, with all his biases, remains at the helm of ABC's World News Tonight, Aaron Brown, for all his foibles, is still at CNN, and though some might call Brian Williams a welcome change from Tom Brokaw at NBC, the entire gang of idiots behind the scenes are still there writing and editing the news in as antagonistic mode toward the right as is possible.
Many people point at Fox News, who at least doesn't pay short shrift to the right, as a "conservative organ." They refuse to pay attention to the time given to left-wing arguments and commentators on FNC; or they claim that "half the time" isn't enough for them.
So we come back full circle to "Kenneth" Rather. Once he steps down after tonight, Bob Schieffer takes the helm at CBS, while Rather becomes a full-time correspondent of CBS' 60 Minutes. So we haven't heard the last of him.
"Courage," indeed.
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I, for one, will enjoy plenty of seared dead animal flesh that day.
The origins of the day and how it came to be are yours to be found at Yourish.com.
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March 08, 2005
You wanted to see Sgrena's car after the "300-400 bullets" supposedly shot by US GIs?
Like I said before, she's full of used food.
Period.
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Jesse Jackson is going to the UK to "galvanize" the black and Asian voter base for the upcoming May 5 general election.Reverend Jesse Jackson joins forces with Operation Black Vote (OBV) to galvanise the powerful BME electorate in the run up to the widely anticipated May 5th General Election.I guess since his face-time has diminished on this side of the Atlantic, he's trying the other side. And of course, since the British press will give attention to anyone who is against the current American administration, they'll be happy to oblige Jackson.Entitled, The Politics of Power, Reverend Jesse Jackson will deliver his keynote address to a thousand strong audience at 6.45pm on Wednesday 9th March at Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, NW1 2BJ.
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March 07, 2005
The College Republicans at Maine's Bowdoin College invited former US Congressional candidate and current Republican Winston-Salem (NC) City Councilman Vernon Johnson to campus as part of their observance of Black History Month. They weren't ready for the firestorm that followed.The co-president of Bowdoin's College Democrats, Alex Cornell du Houx, appeared on Monday's Michael Medved Show to defend his statements as published in the Bowdoin Orient.
Many found the rhetoric put forward by the College Republicans offensive and unwarranted. The claim, taken from Vernon Robinson's website, that "The Only Thing he has in Common with Jesse Jackson is a good TAN," [sic] which was used in the digest, was both divisive and offensive to many.Also appearing on Medved's show was black Bowdoin student William Gilchrist, who was far more venomous in his letter to the Orient's editorial pages.
Bowdoin College Republicans displayed their lack of openness by inviting an outright "Uncle Tom" to speak during Black History Month. Any black speaker who refers to the Confederate flag as a "harmless display" is a man who has clearly never read a history book.Gilchrist, in defending his use of the "Uncle Tom" slur to describe Robinson not only plays into the stereotype of a monolithic school of black American thought, he actually creates more of the dissention that he and the College Democrats on Bowdoin's campus claim to want to avoid.
Gilchrist also took issue with Robinson's description Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as "poverty pimps" who hustle the black community to their ends. Robinson is not the only black conservative to use such colorful metaphors to describe Jackson and Sharpton. Many -- myself included -- have used the same term ("poverty pimps") in the same context as Robinson on multiple occasions. But I guess such politically incorrect and frank language offended Gilchrist's sensibilities.
Gilchrist's insistence that Robinson is an "Uncle Tom" who "clearly has never read a history book" belies Robinson's own past as noted on his campaign site.
The son of a Tuskegee Airman and a nurse, I became an Eagle Scout before graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Middle Eastern Affairs and the University of Missouri with an M.B.A.That doesn't sound like someone who has forgotten where he's from or what he stands for.I earned the confidence of the voters and national conservative leaders the same way Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan did - by being willing to stand up for my traditional American conservative principles - no matter what the political cost and no matter what the liberal media try to say about me.
I don't head for the high grass when the Left turns up the political heat. That's just not my style. Indeed, I relish the fiery furnace.
Several questions come to mind when reading the letters in the Bowdoin campus newspaper and listening to the students on Medved's show:
People like du Houx and his College Democrats remind me of some white liberal callers I used to get on my radio show.What gives them (the College Democrats and others) the right to determine who the College Republicans invite to speak at their campus functions, whether they are black conservatives like Robinson or other conservative speakers (author and columnist Ann Coulter, whose appearances at other campuses are the target of liberals seeking to ban conservative speakers, immediately comes to mind)? Why do Gilchrist and others of his mindset insist that those blacks whose ideologies are not exactly as theirs are "not really black?" Why is it OK for confrontational and controversial left wing speakers like Michael Moore and Ward Chuchill to speak on college campuses, yet right wing speakers who are potentially as confrontational and controversial, like Robinson, Coulter, Ward Connerly or David Horowitz are the target of smear campaigns and attempts to have their appearances disrupted or cancelled?
After listening to me and my views awhile, the would call and incredulously ask, "How dare you say the things you do, after all we have done for you!"
And I would answer, "Done for me? Done for me? I don't know you! And you certainly haven't done a damn thing for me but patronize me."
Usually the next thing those callers would hear is a dial-tone.
Robinson's appearance before the College Republicans at Bowdoin was certainly constructive, as are speeches and appearances by black conservatives across the nation. They show that black America is not a simple monolith, but a complex community, not unlike the rest of America. One with diverse views and ideologies and opinions. And they show that we are not the "bad guys" that Gilchrist and others like him want to portray us as. We have an equal stake in black America and in the rest of the nation.
We are proud of who we are. And we want to make a difference for our homes, our communities and our nation.
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An enterprising hunter in Wisconsin, in his infinite wisdom, has come up with the bright idea to have the state legislature declare cats an "unprotected species" which would allow them to be hunted down and shot by anyone with a small game license.Firefighter and hunter Mark Smith says that free-roaming cats are an invasive species that attack wild birds.
As you can imagine, cat-lovers everywhere are horrified, to the point of putting together a website, DontShootTheCat.com.
"I would hate to think that tame, owned cats who happen to slip out would be at risk of being deemed a wild, unprotected species," said Sheri Carr, senior humane officer at the Dane County Humane Society. "It's a delicate (ecological) balance out there, but does that mean people should be able to shoot their neighbor's cat? Probably not."Needless to say, just the notion of consideration on the part of the officials in Wisconsin of crap like this shows that they have simply too much time on their hands.
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As we speak, I'm on hold for Kevin McCullough's New York-based radio show; I'm due to be a guest this afternoon, talking about blogs in general.Kevin's show airs on WMCA New Yok, plus it's on a number of other stations nationally (including WIND Chicago, KSKY Dallas and WGKA Atlanta). The full list of stations is available on Kevin's home page.
It'll be streamed back (for those of you who miss it) later on at 4:20pm, 7:20pm, 10:20pm, 1:20am, 4:20am, 7:20am, and 10:20am Eastern Time.
See ya there!
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March 06, 2005
A number of folks -- most notably over at LGF -- have pointed out that the pictures of Sgrena's car don't show much sign of bullet holes, let alone bullets from 300 to 400 rounds.
But take a look, and you be the judge...
The other side of the coin -- US GIs fire more than 300 rounds into a car and you walk away!? I don't think so!
Sgrena's claims don't pass the smell test.
UPDATE: Seems that the car pictured here is not the car that the GIs shot at; according to a more recent Reuters description (seen here with a different shot of the same care), this is the car that Sgrena was originally kidnapped from.
I stand corrected.
But the very idea of her car getting nailed with 300+ rounds and she gets to walk away with a flesh wound smells pretty bad...
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March 02, 2005
La Shawn Barber was on MSNBC's Connected Coast to Coast this afternoon, talking about female bloggers.
The interview is streamed over on The Political Teen.
The hosts are Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan (is it my imagination, or does Ron Reagan seem a bit smug and arrogant on the air lately).
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A new rumor has surfaced on a number of Star Trek and science fiction message boards regarding the finale of Star Trek Enterprise, which was given the proverbial hook by UPN and Viacom last month.According to regular TrekBBS poster Quills, Enterprise creators and executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have written the ultimate "fuck you" to Trek fans.
Oh Fuck it...Trip dies at the end and the episode is a holographic program on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D (yes..."D" as in how DUMB can you get!) which Riker and Troi are observing.Lending a measure of credence to the rumor, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis will be appearing in the series finale, "These Are The Voyages" as Will Riker and Deanna Troi.
I've said before that Berman and Braga have had nothing but contempt for the fans and the "golden goose" that Star Trek has become over the years, and if this rumor proves true, then my suspicions toward that end will be confirmed.
In addition, Rick Berman is rumored to be working on a script for a Star Trek XI, which would feature the Romulan War (which would have occured after a full seven-year run of Enterprise) on board a new ship with yet another crew. So what better way for Berman and Braga to ensure that they could get away with a new crew than to kill off the crew and concept from Enterprise.
Too bad they are going to kill off the fanbase while they're at it.
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Tripp is one of my favorite characters. When the show first came out I actually googled the actor's name to find out what else he had done. I'd like to wring some necks over this.
Former Klansman and Democratic Senator Robert "Sheets" Byrd (KKK-WV) somehow thought it was OK to compare Republicans and Republican Senators to Nazis.A pair of Jewish groups accused Sen. Robert Byrd on Wednesday of making an outrageous and reprehensible comparison between Adolf Hitler's Nazis and a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering.In his floor speech Tuesday, Byrd defended the Democratic minority's right to use filibusters to block President Bush's judicial nominees from coming to a honest up-or-down vote.Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin denied that Byrd, D-W.Va., had compared Republicans to Hitler. He said that instead, the reference to Nazis in a Senate speech on Tuesday was meant to underscore that the past should not be ignored.
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Wednesday that Byrd's remarks showed "a profound lack of understanding as to who Hitler was" and that the senator should apologize to the American people.
"It is hideous, outrageous and offensive for Senator Byrd to suggest that the Republican Party's tactics could in any way resemble those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party," Foxman said.
Byrd pointed out Hitler's rise to power in a veiled comparison to the GOP's rise to power in the past ten years.
"We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men," Byrd said. "But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends."If that's not a direct comparison between the GOP and Hitler's Nazis, I don't know what is. Mind you, this is coming from a man who used a filibuster to try to defeat the 1964 Civil Rights Act.Byrd then quoted historian Alan Bullock, saying Hitler "turned the law inside out and made illegality legal."
Byrd added, "That is what the nuclear option seeks to do."
The nuclear option is the nickname for the proposal to end filibusters of judicial nominations because of the devastating effect the plan, if enacted, would have on relations between Democrats and Republicans.
Oops. I guess it's not politically correct to remind folks of "Sheets" Byrd's anti-black, segregationist past.
Captain Ed points out that the Mainstream Media for the most part ignored this story completely.
Broadcast networks haven't touched it, either. NBC, ABC, and CBS all remain silent. Only Fox News gave any coverage at all, and they had the sense to report it properlyI guess the media has to protect one of their own.
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March 01, 2005
My "Blog Sister" La Shawn Barber (of La Shawn Barber's Corner fame) is going to be on MSNBC's Connected Coast to Coast with Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan tomorrow afternoon during the 5P ET hour.She's set to be on with Robin Burk (from WindsOfChange.net) and Wonkette.
The topic? Woman bloggers waxing political.
And yes, La Shawn, you are more than ready. Just relax and roll with it. You'll do fine. I (and all your other readers) have supreme confidence in you and your words.
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Not long after I came to Atlanta as morning drive host of the late, lamented WIGO radio, I did a program about history and artifacts and remembering. The program came about after a caller groused about the notion of preserving slave quarters on an old cotton plantation in southern Georgia.
Ramshackled structures, which looked to be ready to fall down were in danger of doing just that on this particular property. Some people, both black and white, were interested in maintaining those structures, and restoring some, if not all of them, and rightly so, in my estimation.
We, as a people, need to remember the pain and horror of what our ancestors went through. We need to know about that dark portion of American history, and the injustices that some perpetrated on others as America went through it's growing pains.
In any event, a number of callers were upset with my position (as if that event, in and of itself was anything new). They felt that there was no need to maintain such a painful reminder of our collective past; on the contrary - in their eyes, each and every vestige of slave and Jim Crow-days should be eradicated. In their eyes, the very existence of such an ediface would be enough to maintain their ongoing victimhood status at the hands of whites in America.
I strongly disagreed.
I felt (and feel), that just as we celebrate the positives in black history; the black heroes who persevered the setbacks that life handed them across time, we should also know and learn and remember the darkness of the path taken. But it should be remembered within it's proper context. It should be noted that we as a people have come a long way from there to here.
As opposed to using that type of display as a crutch, it should be viewed as a victory - "See how far we have come?"
We don't live life as the footrests of whites in America; we don't live life as collective victims. Our forefathers certainly would be proud of how far we have come.
Some would quickly say that we have "far to go." But in reality, do we?
Opportunity exists for all of us. However, we have a responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity. We have a responsibility to use our God-given talents and gifts to move forward, and not to allow others around us to prevent us from doing just that.
There are those would have you believe that America "owes" us more than that; that America "owes" us jobs, or money, or reparations, or some other nebulous thing.
What America "owes" black America is what she owes to any American: opportunity, liberty, and the fundamental freedoms that are granted by God. I just wish that more blacks in America would reach out and sieze those rights, as opposed to allowing the "Soul Patrol" to tell them that whites in America are playing keep-away with their rights.
Posted by: mhking at
10:02 AM
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