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Showing posts from July, 2007

Random Thoughts

You Can't Take It With You, But We'll Still Send It! According to today's Washington Post : The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report. In a selection of 181 cases from 1999 to 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that officials approved payments without any review 40 percent of the time. It is good to see our government being so proactive in catching people who are defrauding the government! Can We Retroactively Help Out the Stage Coach Driver and Iceman? According to the Washington Post : Under a Senate bill to be introduced today, computer programmers, call-center staffers and other service-sector workers who make up the vast majority of the nation's workforce would for the first time be eligible for a generous package of income, health and retra

Fairness Doctrine

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I participated in NPR's discussion on the Fairness Doctrine. Kim Pearson has a comprehensive post on the issue. Some random thoughts: 1) Like Pearson, I had expected Prometheus 6 to come out stronger in favor of the Fairness Doctrine. Instead, he said there should be an "Honesty Doctrine." That's all well and good, but I seriously doubt that the government would be any better at enforcing an "Honesty Doctrine" than it would be at enforcing a "Fairness Doctrine." One major criticism of the Fairness Doctrine is that it made stations less likely to air some opinions because they then would have to air opposing opinions. When the result is "damned if you do, damned if you don't" with the government watching, the most logical approach is to do nothing. By doing "something," you give the government a reason to investigate you. But would the FCC investigate a station that aired no opinions. That'

Universal education and its consequences

I've heard numerous speakers and commentators point out that newspaper reporters write their articles so they can be understood even by elementary school students. It often seems that those are elementary school students at a particularly bad elementary school... So I don't mind admitting that I tripped up on the word "paroxysm" in today's Washington Post. What's that doing in a newspaper? In case you were wondering, here is how you use the word "paroxysm" in a sentence, as demonstrated by today's Washington Post : Police officials said that the paroxysm of violence was "very unusual" and that they had no indication that the shootings were related . I wonder--how long have newspapers dumbed down their content? A few years ago when I was doing research I read some editions of the North Star published by Frederick Douglass from 1847 to 1860. As a reminder, Douglass was a former slave who never spent a day attending school. Here is a sampl

Taking crime to the suburbs

According to the Washington Post, "Metro Transit Police have arrested four men for allegedly breaking into more than 50 vehicles in a Fairfax County Metrorail station parking garage, officials said." Some random thoughts: 1) This occurred in Springfield, VA, which is about 17 miles south of Washington, DC. According to the Post: "The two arrested June 25 are Maurice Conyers , 22, of Southeast Washington, and Darryl Walker, 20, of Hagerstown . The two arrested July 13 are Randy Smith, 19, and Kevin Wilson, 22, both of Northeast Washington." Three from DC, one from Maryland. So these guys apparently took the Metro out to Virginia to steal cars? I'll remember that the next time I hear suburbanites getting criticized for opposing the Metro line to their area. 2) I've always thought "parking attendant" was a misnomer. "Attendant" is stretching it since they really just seem to be cashiers who also park your car and leave the door open long en

Saturday Special on Friday Night

"If you miss the first button hole, you will not succeed in buttoning up your coat." --Anonymous Colbert King of the Washington Post goes through some logical gymnastics to compare Barack Obama to an abolitionist. In short, he compares some public policy statements from Obama with the actions of D.C. abolitionist Leonard A. Grimes. A few random thoughts: 1) His entire comparison is off from the beginning. It makes no sense to compare the latest push for a war on poverty with slave abolition. Slaves were being held in bondage. They just needed the law to protect their same right to individual liberty that other law-abiding individuals had. That is different from trying to get people to stop being trashy and violent. If there is a comparison of Obama with abolitionists, it would be to what abolitionists went through after slavery in trying to help the freemen. In both cases, the group in need of assistance is free but not ready to take advantage of opportunities. 2) It mak

From Michael Vick-tory to Michael Con-Vick!

Football star Michael Vick has been indicted by a federal grand jury. Apparently he loves dog fighting. And hanging dogs. And killing dogs. Some random thoughts: 1) Michael Vick is my favorite player in the Madden Football video series. The 2008 version of the game will be coming out next month. I suppose that if he does actually serve six years that Vick will be the best player on the All-Madden Prison Team. 2) The Washington Post article sums it up: "Michael Vick and three other men...." Three other men? Nobody but their momma and perhaps their momma's boo cares who those three other men are. This is about Michael Vick. That's why Vick is such an idiot--he's a celebrity. I bet he was the only one at those dog fights with a $130 million contract. Didn't Michael Vick learn anything from Paris Hilton? The courts, media, talk show hosts, the man on the street were all determined that she serve time. And they'll be determined that Vick serve time. That'

News & Notes on NPR

Earlier today I joined La Shawn Barber and Earl Dunovant along with host Farai Chideya for a weekly segment with bloggers. The audio of the roundtable is here. The serious topic: The Fairness Doctrine. I had much more to say than I actually said, but I guess that is always true with live radio and TV. I didn't realize that we would only have one shot at each issue. Next time I will filibuster when my name is called... The not-so-serious topics: * A really bad public service annoucement running on Black Entertainment Television . When I was waiting my chance I thought to say it looked like a video put out by the Klan but forgot to say it. Did I really say that, based on the video, it looks like black women hide books in their g-strings? I could be one-and-done on the show... * Videos released by supporters of the presidential candidates: Obama Girl and Hot for Hill . Some random thoughts: * Wow, the NPR studio really looks good. My $2.47 in taxes or whatever it is my share of

Random Roundup of White Suspects

Looking to spice up your next dinner party? Want to give your guests an experience they’ll never forget? Well, then hire me to pretend to rob all of you! It would be the latest in party tricks. Make your reservations with me now and you could have me rob you and your guests during your next birthday party, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas party, all for the low price of whatever your guests have on them at the time. If the story gets reported in the Washington Post then I get a bonus of $10,000. I mention that because a few days ago the Washington Post had an article about a thief who had second thoughts. Hopefully they were his fourth or fifth thoughts, because you would hope someone had already had second thoughts about pulling a gun on a group of folks at a house party. According to the Washington Post : A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a ho

Walter E. Williams hosting Rush Limbaugh tomorrow

Check your local listings! By the way, my co-host Eliot Morgan and I interviewed Professor Walter E. Williams on the Casey Lartigue Show on April 28 and June 9 . We discussed reparations for slavery and the minimum wage mandate. To access the clips above at rapidshare: 1) scroll down to the bottom, hit the "free" button. 2) scroll down to the bottom, type in the password, hit download, then listen... Or, you can download the clips from yousendit, available for one week: June 9, WEW, segment 5 http://download.yousendit.com/F8A128C94CEAD09C June 9, WEW segment 6 http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=9800ABE6204647B3 April 28 http://download.yousendit.com/72FB5F4718BC06A1 CJL

Random Hit and Run

Miers in contempt of Congress--Joining the rest of us... According to the Washington Post : "President Bush's former counsel Harriet E. Miers yesterday rebuffed a subpoena demanding her congressional testimony, as former White House political director Sara M. Taylor told the Senate Judiciary Committee she did not speak with President Bush about the administration's plans to fire a group of U.S. attorneys last year." * * * Legislate? Or Investigate? I heard on the radio last night that Congressional Democrats are currently conducting about 300 investigations of the White House. If Democrats could be passing bills they would be doing that. I guess I should have been paying better attention--Democrats must have said they'd have 100 hours of legislation, then spend the rest of the term investigating... CJL

A legitimate crackdown on immigration

According to today's Washington Post : Prince William County supervisors voted unanimously last night to approve a resolution that targets illegal immigrants by attempting to curb their access to public services and increasing immigration enforcement by local police." 1) Although I'm not an open borders supporter, I'm often mistaken for one.* That's because I do support making it much easier for people to come to America. The only restrictions I support are for health and safety. You're not welcome if you're bringing in the Bubonic Plague or the government has reason to believe that you want to blow stuff up. Despite that: 2) I don't oppose what Prince William County in Virginia is doing. After all, if government doesn't want to provide services to illegal immigrants, that is fine with me. Bar them from using the public schools, prohibit them from using welfare, don't provide bilingual services. My problem is when government prohibits the rest o

"Thomas turncoats in school desegregation decision"

That's the headline on a "news" article in the latest issue of the Washington Afro-American . CJL

The Black Race Can't Afford You No More: Chester Turner

"A pizza deliveryman was sentenced to death Tuesday for murdering 10 women and a fetus during the 1980s and '90s in Los Angeles neighborhoods plagued by a crack cocaine epidemic," according to the Associated Press. If all goes well, Chester Turner, 40, will be executed soon. Apparently all of his victims were "women of color." * Back in September 1989, he strangled Regina Washington, 27, with an electrical cord behind a vacant house. She was 6 1/2 months pregnant. * He killed 29-year-old Andrea Tripplett, when she was five months pregnant, in 1993. The article has a sorrowful quote from their relatives. In all, he killed Paula Vance, 38; Annette Ernest, 26; Anita Fishman, 31; Regina Washington, 27; Mildred Beasley, 45; Andrea Tripplett, 29; Desarae Jones, 29; Natalie Price, 31; Brenda Bries, 31; and one unidentified woman who appeared to be in her 20s. By the way, I mentioned the other day that I support the widespread use of DNA testing when someone may face pr

Smoking killed Charles Lane....

...70 years later. The Associated Press notes the following in the obit for late actor Charles Lane, who passed away yesterday: "When it came to alcohol, he was a lifelong teetotaler. But his son noted that his father smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 70 years, quitting only when he became short of breath." CJL

The Black Race can't afford them no more...

But these people -- the ones up here in the balcony fought so hard. Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged: “The cops shouldn’t have shot him.” What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. And I looked at it and I had no money. And something called parenting said if you get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother." Not, "You’re going to get your butt kicked." No. "You’re going to embarrass your mother." --Bill Cosby, May 17, 2004 Inez J. Baskin, the pathbreaking black female reporter who covered the civil rights movement during the 1950s, passed away late last month. According to her Associated Press obit in the Washington Post , she was quoted in the Advertiser in 2005 as saying: “There wasn’t

Live Earth--is anyone there?

According to AFP's report on Al Gore's Live Earth held today in Washington, D.C.: "A few hundred spectators turned out for the concert, which began at 10:30 am (1430 GMT)." A few hundred ? I guess that it isn't such a good idea to hold a concert in the summer in Washington, especially shortly after a holiday. Gore, as a former senator who has lived much of his life in and around D.C. should have known that.

Myth about Marshall

Cruising the Internet, I came across the following about Thurgood Marshall on the anniversary of what would have been his 99th birthday. Marshall's application to the University of Maryland School of Law was turned down in 1930 because he was African-American. So he went to Howard University instead, graduated, and returned to Maryland where he represented another deserving young Black would-be law student -- Donald Gaines Murray -- and won. A similar thing was mentioned in USA Today a few years ago. The Washington Post also mentioned during Black History Month earlier this year. The New York Times mentioned it in Marshall's obit. It has been repeated in other places but it isn't true that Thurgood Marshall applied to the University of Maryland Law School. At least, not according to Juan Williams in his book Thurgood Marshall: An American Revolutionary . See the start of chapter 5. There, Williams writes: "He never even bothered to apply to the University of Marylan

DNA testing for crimes

1) I'm very much in favor of the use of the death penalty for violent offenders. There are some violent and dangerous people who just have to be eliminated. 2) I'm very much in favor of DNA testing of the accused. There was a time that I was concerned about the use of the death penalty--I didn't trust the government to find the right perp to bring before a jury. But the more that I hear about DNA testing being able to connect perps to crimes, the more I find myself supporting the death penalty. CJL

Quote of the Day

"Last month I returned to my alma mater, Dunbar Senior High, to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2007. No white graduates were present. My Class of 1957 had the same look." -- Colbert King , July 7, 2007

"We" are Black Like Hillary

During arguments it is understandable when people say "Blacks are more likely than whites to be CEOs at Fortune 500 companies" or "whites are more likely than blacks to be incarcerated." Most people generalize from time to time to get to a point. Such generalizations shouldn't halt the conversation or get us discussants off the main point. It isn't a distinction without a difference when I explode when I hear people say "we" believe certain things. The reality is that it is the speaker and perhaps some of that speakers friends and relatives who are that "we." Whether or not you are factually correct is secondary. I don't care if you say "we" believe Air America is a lousy network or "we" believe Air America is a great network. I don't want people including me in their agenda. It is no longer a generalization--it is then saying what I'm supposed to believe certain things. In today's Washington Post , Am

Just say Gore...

According to various newspapers: Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius about 100 miles an hour on the San Diego Freeway near the Crown Valley exit in Laguna Hills when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy at about 2:15 this morning, a sheriff’s department spokesman, Jim Amormino , said. Some random thoughts: * Gore III should be a spokesperson for the Toyota Prius . There are many people, Rush Limbaugh included, who may be greatly surprised to hear that the Toyota Prius can go 100 miles an hour... * Wouldn ’t now be a great time for Al Gore, Jr., to launch a “Just Say No” to drugs campaign? * I’m constantly amazed by politicians like Al Gore, Jr., trying to get their hands on the machinery of government to force the rest of us to live as they see fit, yet, they can’t even take care of business at home. * I agree with Al Gore III—drugs should be legalized. He didn ’t say so in a policy statement, but he has with his actions. * I suppose St. Albans , Sid

Mayor Fenty "hugging up" on white people

The Washington Post reports on criticism that DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has not selected enough black people to lead the city. This is the same charge that was leveled again former DC Mayor Anthony Williams. "Since taking office six months ago, Fenty (D) has replaced African Americans with non-black people in four of the city's highest-profile jobs: city administrator, police chief, fire chief and schools chief. Among those who hold arguably the 10 most influential positions, five are white, three are of Asian descent and one is Latino. Only one -- Neil O. Albert , the deputy mayor for planning and economic development -- is black. "In a city that is 57 percent black and has a predominantly black government workforce, the mayor's choices have not escaped criticism." These are the money quotes: "During the whole campaign, he was hugged-up on black people," said Michelle Erway, 26, a black federal government contractor from Northeast, whose 3-year-old so

Juan Williams on SCOTUS ruling on race

Juan Williams writes a very good piece in the New York Times (" Don't Mourn Brown v. Board of Education ") on the Supreme Court's ruling on race. He argues: 1) Brown's time has passed 2) Desegregation "does not speak" to high dropout rates among black and Hispanic students. 3) Doesn't address the racial gap. 4) Despite Brown's presence, America's public schools have re-segregated 5) Parents want to focus more on quality education rather than on integration 6) He even has a kind word for NCLB 7) The court has come full circle--race can't be used to move kids around. CJL

Washington Post letters on vouchers

Today's Washington Post features the good, the bad, and the ugly in 3 letters to the editor on the progress of the Opportunity Scholarship Program. 1) The good Former D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams continues with the broad-minded approach that helped the voucher program pass--that the mayor of the city must do all he can to help every child in the city get educated, whether or not if they are in public or private school. Back when I was at Fight For Children, we started to use the slogan "All Schools, One City." Unfortunately, because folks were content to talk matters to death, some talked themselves out of using that slogan. 2) The bad James Forman , co-founder of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, argues...well, he is kind of all over the place. His main points seem to be that voucher programs need to be rigorously assessed and that voucher proponents haven't kept their "promise" that vouchers would raise test scores. If Forman really knows anything

Not the face of DC schools that activists want

If Michelle Rhee can suffer fools gladly, then she just may be the D.C. schools chancellor. Tomorrow she will be going before the D.C. Council to be confirmed. She may be confirmed but if the vote were taken now it would be close. For one thing, Rhee apparently hasn't lined up many people to testify on her behalf. If this is true, she can expect to have a lot of hostile witnesses--and thus give the council "evidence" that there is widespead opposition to her. She may--naively--believe that her confirmation hearing is about the job she would do. A few random thoughts: 1) In a city in which power is more important than performance, the D.C. Council may be ready to show whippersnapper mayor Adrian M. Fenty that it is boss. Fenty surprised the council by firing superintendent Clifford Janey and selecting Rhee without consulting it. Fenty kept Janey on the line from late last year when he announced he was going to take over the schools, then abruptly cut him off a few hou

Demand for bean-counting

Victor Reinoso, nominated by DC mayor Adrian M. Fenty's choice to be Deputy Mayor of Education, had an interesting exchange with former DC Mayor for Life and current D.C. City Council member Marion Barry, as retold by the Washington Post . Barry criticized Reinoso for having one black man on his staff of 13 -- highlighting a growing concern of some city leaders that the Fenty administration has failed to place African Americans in high-profile positions in a majority-black city. Reinoso struggled to offer specifics on the race and gender of his staff and said he does not count his employees that way. "You better start counting. The voters count," Barry said. 1) How long until some people start wondering whether or not Adrian Fenty is "black enough" to be mayor of D.C.? Former D.C. mayor Anthony A. Williams got hit with the charge just a few weeks after he was inaugurated. 2) Reinoso and Mayor for Life Barry share at least one thing in common: they've bot