State Fair and Riverwest Mob Attacks: Ed Flynn

As bad as the violence was last night at the Wisconsin State Fair and as inadequate as the police response was in terms of controlling the situation, at least progress has been made since the mob attacks in Riverwest.

Police actually admitted there was a mob this time. There were no denials. There was no confusion about whether there actually was a mob attack.

Progress!

Police Chief Ed Flynn actually admitted at his press conference that people were singled out for attack because of their race. In his statement, he was vague. He didn't say blacks targeted whites, but he did acknowledge the racial element in the violence.

Flynn guaranteed that events in Milwaukee this weekend will be safe.

That's quite a guarantee.

Here's video of Flynn's news conference on the State Fair violence:

State Fair: Mob Attacks (Video)

I was at the Wisconsin State Fair yesterday.

I didn't witness any problems while I was there. I saw no fights and nothing remotely like mob violence or people being attacked randomly.

We were parked on the infield. As we walked to the car after hours of consuming the best of the fair (like dark chocolate covered cranberries drizzled with white chocolate on a stick - delicious!), we passed the grandstand. MC Hammer was performing "Too Legit to Quit."

I left the grounds about an hour before closing and went home happy, with a six-pack of cream puffs to go.

I guess I was lucky.

From WISN:

Local law enforcement agencies are investigating several incidents near State Fair Park late Thursday night.

Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for complaints of battery, fighting and property damage to a large, unruly crowd. One officer described it as a "mob beating."

Police said the group of young people attacked fairgoers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.

Police said at least seven people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said the incidents happened in various areas near the fair grounds, including near the intersection of 84th and Adler streets.

The Milwaukee Police Department, West Allis Police Department and Milwaukee County Sheriff Department all responded to the area.

Milwaukee police said nobody was in custody early Friday morning. They said they are working to identify suspects.

From 620 WTMJ:

Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.

One witness described a mob of 20 to 30 young black men beating white people, including him, as they left State Fair Thursday night.

"It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis.

"They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever."

...TODAY'S TMJ4 video shows West Allis police handcuffing at least one person, but they won't say how many people they took into custody.

Milwaukee Police said that their officers were sent to State Fair Park for "complaints of battery, fighting and property damage due to a large, unruly crowd."

A police sergeant told TODAY'S TMJ4's Melissa McCrady that the number of calls describing injuries are still coming in, so they could not give an accurate number of people who were injured.

That sergeant explained that some injuries were serious, and local hospitals were attending to the injured.

Milwaukee Police said they had no one in custody.

One woman told police that she was sitting in her car with a window down when some teenagers reached through her window and started attacking her.

"I think once we get all the info in it'll be just like that, like what happened in Riverwest," said the police sergeant.

...[Norb Roffers of Wind Lake] described his emotions and reactions to the attacks outside the park.

"I turned around and looked, there was this black kid standing there laughing, thinking it's funny. My wife's like, 'Let's get out of here.' It's one of those things, you don't expect it. Your reaction to it is, first of all, quite surprised, then you get so angry, it's like, 'What in the hell's going on there? Why are these guys acting like such hoodlums? What are they picking on anybody for?' We were just like cattle being herded out of the park, and they were picking and choosing who they wanted to beat on."

He said his injuries were limited to a headache.

Roffers said the attack wouldn't stop him from attending the State Fair.

"We will be going back," said Roffers.

"It's a family event for us. We get together with our family and we do stuff at the park to enjoy the fair. My biggest concern is that the State Fair Park Police and West Allis get their heads out of their butts and figure out how to do some security over there. This isn't the first year State Fair has been going on. They should know what the heck they've got to do and where they've got to have people in place by now."

But according to Roffers, they did not have enough people there to handle the crowds, and he claims that the main stage acts - MC Hammer, Young MC and Tone Loc, were the draw for a crowd he claimed was there.

"I think the headliner they had last night is what drew the type of crowd they had last night. I've never been at that fair where they had so many African-American people. There's never usually that many of them, at that park, for whatever reason that I can figure."

..."There was this terror going on when you leave the place, you just wonder. Luckily, all the violence that was happening stayed right close by the park entrance. As we got a block away from the park, that's when the cops started showing up."

He said the lack of police and security presence will bring about his complaint up the various channels of State Fair and local police.

"They should be able to provide safety and traffic control," said Roffers. "I've never worried about it before."

He said he would give a written complaint to the State Fair and put in a call to West Allis Police, but that's not all.

"I will be contacting the State Fair Park Board and I'm going to chew on their butts a little bit about what happened."

From FOX 6 News:

It wasn't the way that we wanted State Fair to kick off this year. Hundreds of people rampaged through the local neighborhoods at about 11:00 p.m. last night. Milwaukee police say it all started around closing time in the parking lot.

Police were called out to State Fair Park for complaints of battery, fighting, and property damage from a large unruly crowd. According to police, starting at the fairgrounds, the group ran down 84th St. then continued down to 60th and Main St.

Some reports say the group charged at cars leaving the fair, smashed in car and home windows, and fighting/attacking people along the way.

Police say people were punched in the face by the group. A Muskego woman required stitches and another woman will need surgery. As of now, four victims have come forward so far.

We've gotten several emails from witnesses at the scene saying the mob could have started at the Midway inside the park. Multiple fights broke out and a little boy was thrown to the ground.

Multiple fights broke out and a little boy was even thrown to the ground.

Police continue to investigate what happened late last night. According to police, nobody is in custody and they are working to identify the suspects involved. They tell FOX6 that if or once the suspects are found, they could face at least two felony charges -- including child abuse.

That's horrible!

I experienced nothing threatening on the fairgrounds last night (other than the deep fried butter).

I saw people of all races having a good time. At no point did I see large groups of young people roaming the grounds. I witnessed nothing intimidating or frightening.

I had a very pleasant experience.

It's very disturbing to think that my visit to the fair could have ended with a beating and a trip to the hospital if I had left just a bit later and been in the wrong place.

There is absolutely no excuse for this mob violence, none whatsoever.

I'm afraid that a much larger law enforcement presence is necessary to maintain order.

Sadly, it appears that there is a mob of conscienceless young people, sociopaths, in the Milwaukee area bent on behaving violently and terrorizing innocent people.

We can't let them hold our state fair hostage.

We can't let the terrorists win.
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Watch video from TMJ4.



Video from FOX 6 News:

 

RAW VIDEO: Cell phone video of State Fair midway incident

 

RAW VIDEO: State Fair news conference on incidents

 

Victims describe what happened at State Fair

 
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UPDATE: Wisconsin State Fair Curfew Policy
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UPDATE: Walker orders State Patrol to assist at State Fair

Gov. Scott Walker has ordered the Wisconsin State Patrol to provide additional law enforcement help at the Wisconsin State Fair after several incidents involving rampaging youths broke out on the fairgrounds and on the streets outside Thursday night.

Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, said the governor made the decision after reviewing the events from Thursday night, in which at least 24 people were arrested.

"We will continue to evaluate the situation and make any adjustments necessary to ensure a successful and safe event. We will be doing everything in our power to ensure that parents feel that it is safe to bring their children to the world's best fair," Werwie said in a statement.

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UPDATE, August 6, 2011: New rules help keep things calm, State Fair spokeswoman says

Wisconsin State Fair officials reported a normal, violence-free evening Friday, thanks in part to new rules put in place to keep unattended teens away and a beefed-up presence of uniformed law enforcement officers.

"It really went well," Patrice Harris, the fair's communication manager, said Saturday.

At least 31 people were arrested and at least 11 people were injured Thursday, during the fair's opening night.

The trouble Thursday began around 7 p.m. when fights erupted among black youths in the Midway area and spread into neighboring streets around the 11 p.m. closing time.

As a result, new rules were implemented that require all people under 18 to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian over the age of 21 in order to be admitted to the fairgrounds after 5 p.m.

In addition, Gov. Scott Walker ordered the State Police to help keep order. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn also promised additional police protection at the fair and other weekend activities around the city.

"Fairgoers were coming into the park thanking us for the policies," Harris said. "The extra security really assured people of their safety."

Harris said she did not know if the new policies, or fear that Thursday's violence might be repeated, suppressed attendance.

Black Tea Party Protesters: 'Sell Out Negroes'

Once again, African Americans who don't march in lockstep with the liberal politics of the NAACP are the target of racial attacks and slurs.

Members of the Tea Party are called racist.

From Gateway Pundit: Black Tea Party Protesters Called “Sell-Out Negroes” & Harassed Outside NAACP Meeting in LA (Video).

The new racism.
A group of black tea party patriots protested the NAACP in Los Angeles yesterday.

...The black tea party protesters were called “sell out negroes” by NAACP supporters at their protest.

“These “sell-out negroes” wish they were white… They have no business speaking for and joining with racists who want to kick them back into slavery.”

Video.



Very offensive.

Why is it liberals get a pass when it comes to their racist behavior?

Milwaukee Mob Attacks: Beatings, Looting (Video)

UPDATE, July 7, 2011: Response to Riverwest attack not Police Department's 'finest hour,' Flynn says
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It's taken a while for the police and the media to fully report on what happened in Milwaukee on the night of July 3rd and into the early morning hours of the 4th, but finally we're learning the extent of the crime and disorder.

At first, there was a definite effort to downplay the size of the mob and its thuggery.

Jeff Wagner writes:

Early in the morning of July 4th, a gang of approximately 50 teenagers looted a convenience store at the corner of North Avenue and Humboldt. Shortly afterwards, the mob attacked groups of people hanging out at Reservoir Park after the July 3rd fireworks.

A surveillance video shows the convenience store being looted. Televised interviews with victims of the attacks in the park confirm the wildings. Residents in the area say that the mob has been running around the Riverwest neighborhood for weeks.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary however, the Milwaukee Police Department says that reports of a "mob" are not accurate! Huh?

Chief Flynn seems to be saying: "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes and ears"? In this case, with all due respect to Chief Flynn, I think I'll believe the photographic evidence and eyewitness accounts.

Reality eventually has forced officials to acknowledge the truth.

A mob went on a criminal rampage in Riverwest. Innocent people were victimized.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Shaina Perry remembers the punch to her face, blood streaming from a cut over her eye, her backpack with her asthma inhaler, debit card and cell phone stolen and then the laughter.

"They just said 'Oh, white girl bleeds a lot," said Perry, 22, who was attacked at Kilbourn Reservoir Park over the 4th of July holiday weekend.

Though Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn noted Tuesday that crime is color blind, he called the Sunday night looting of a convenience store near the park and beatings of a group of people who had gone to the park disturbing, outrageous and barbaric.

Police would not go quite as far as others in connecting the events; Flynn said several youths "might" be involved in both.

"We're not going to let any group of individuals terrorize or bully any of our neighborhoods," said Flynn.

Perry was among several who were injured by a mob they said beat and robbed them and threw full beer bottles while making racial taunts. The injured were white; the attackers were African-American.

Store video of the BP station at E. North Ave. and N. Humboldt Blvd. shows the business being ransacked. A clerk at BP confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that he was busy waiting on customers when one or two people held the door open to let others rush in and steal snacks and candy.

Not far away, a group of 20 to 25 friends from Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood had gathered at the park shortly before midnight to watch some fireworks set off by a neighbor. In interviews with 11 people who said they were attacked or witnessed the attack, a larger group of youths appeared in another section of the park around midnight and were joined by more young people running up the park's stairs.

At some point the group of friends and the group of youths intersected; those interviewed said the attack appeared to be unprovoked.

"I saw people dancing and I figured they were just having a good time," said Jessica Bublitz, 28, who lives in Riverwest.

Minutes later Bublitz saw a male friend hit in the temple and fall down. Her fiancée told her to run to safety. James Zajackowski, 28, said things suddenly turned chaotic.

"Within 30 seconds to a minute, bottles were flying and people started getting punched. I was in shock. I thought 'Really? Is this really happening?' I was on the ground, people were trying to get into my pockets, I could feel their hands but I held on to my cell phone and my wallet," said Zajackowski, a census worker.

Emily Mowrer, 27, was not hurt but saw her friends beaten and punched and full beer bottles thrown at them. Her boyfriend was punched. She saw Perry lying down with blood on her face, not moving. She called 911 on her cell phone.

"I saw some of my friends on the ground getting beat pretty severely. They got away with one of my friend's bikes. Some people had their wallets stolen," said Mowrer, who owns a house with her boyfriend in Riverwest. "It didn't seem like it was a mugging - it seemed like an attack. Like they weren't after anything - just violence."

Good Lord!

Racial slurs?

Whites were beaten by blacks in totally unprovoked assaults.

"They just said 'Oh, white girl bleeds a lot.'"

These are hate crimes.

Calling Al Sharpton... Calling Jesse Jackson...

Crickets.

The police should not have misled the public as they originally did.

The public deserves to know the truth.

Perry needed three stitches to close a cut above her eye. She said she saw a friend getting kicked and when she walked up to ask what was happening a man punched her in the face.

"I heard laughing as they were beating everybody up. They were eating chips like it was a picnic," said Perry, a restaurant cashier. "All I remember is seeing bright lights (after the punch), then my backpack was gone and blood was spurting out of my head."

A police spokeswoman on Monday said police received no reports of mobs of people committing crimes in the Riverwest area other than the reports of two armed robberies.

At the Tuesday press conference, Flynn attempted to defuse reports that mobs of youth were running through the Riverwest neighborhood attacking citizens. However, he did admit that those responsible for the BP store looting and attacks at Kilbourn Reservoir Park had mob-like characteristics.

"Clearly we had mob-like behavior in the incidents involving the robberies at Reservoir Park as well as the ransacking of the BP station….Certainly we had elements of mob-like behavior that challenged us on July 3," said Flynn.

This wasn't "mob-like behavior." It was mob behavior.

Thugs terrorized innocents. There was a racial element in the attacks.

This is very troubling:

Most of the 11 people who told the Journal Sentinel they were attacked or witnessed the attacks on their friends said that police did not take their complaints seriously. They each said police responded to the scene very quickly and tended to the injured but officers did not take statements from them and told them to leave the area.

"You've got 20 plus people giving eyewitness accounts. I'm very surprised that they said it wasn't a mob," said Mowrer.

Lange said he told a police officer about the beatings but noticed the officer didn't write anything down or note his name. Bublitz tried to tell an officer that her three-speed bicycle had been stolen and that one of her friends was hurt but said the officer told her he was looking for evidence.

"About 20 of us stayed to give statements and make sure everyone was accounted for. The police wouldn't listen to us, they wouldn't take our names or statements. They told us to leave. It was completely infuriating," Bublitz said.

The police want cooperation from the public.

When victims are treated like this by officers, the police aren't doing what's necessary to build a good relationship with the community. They aren't doing their jobs, protecting the public.

I would have been horrified if I or a family member or a friend had been beaten and robbed and the crimes were dismissed by the police.

If the accounts by victims are accurate, the behavior of the police must be considered inexcusable, a dereliction of duty.

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed here.

---The thugs need to be apprehended and punished. At present, they are in control. Order must be restored.

---City officials must reassure the public that they will be protected and this criminal activity will not be tolerated.

---The police need to explain what the attempt to downplay the thugs' crimes was about.

---The police need to explain why they didn't take the victims' complaints seriously.

Here's raw video of Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn's news conference on the chaos, the rash of robberies and beatings, that took place after the July 3rd fireworks.

 

FOX 6 News has posted still photos of people from the Riverwest BP surveillance video here.

Help Milwaukee Police identify the people in these photos taken from gas station surveillance cameras. This gas station was looted by a mob of teenagers on July 3rd in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood. If you see someone you know, police want you to contact them at 414-933-4444. [These are people of interest NOT suspects]

I really hope decent people identify the individuals in these photos and contact police to give them the information they need to bring the thugs involved in the crimes to justice.

More video, from FOX 6 News:

 

 

Did the police try to cover up what happened because city officials didn't want to scare away visitors to Milwaukee?

Was there concern that reports of such random and such extreme lawlessness would hurt Summerfest and other events in the city?

I want to know why the public was kept in the dark about the attacks. It was an utterly irresponsible decision.

Who made the decision to mislead?
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UPDATE: Flynn defends police response to Riverwest beatings

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn dismissed accusations Wednesday that police tried to cover up or minimize the looting of a BP store near Reservoir Park and several beatings associated with robberies in the city's Riverwest neighborhood Sunday.

Police simply weren't fully informed when they responded to media inquiries Monday about the incidents, which led police to deny mob-like activity, he said.

"We were wrong," Flynn told reporters Wednesday. "There were reports that were filed that night… There was not an intent to do anything nefarious… I had the data. I didn't have the details. Nobody had reported it as a separate report."

Flynn said he and others in the department looked Monday at an online log of police activity in the neighborhood near the park. The log indicated there were three robberies but didn't include a mention of the beatings or mob-like behavior.

"Our initial reaction was 'OK, we had a series of robberies. We don't have any reports of mob-like activity.'" Flynn said.

...The full police reports include details about other crimes that happened at the time of the robberies, Flynn said. Once he and others read that information, they passed it along to the media, he said.

"It wasn't an attempt to downplay or minimize or deny the concern about what we ultimately learned," Flynn said.

Police Capt. Patrick Mitchell said Wednesday that police have reports from five victims in the incidents.

Flynn added Wednesday that the first priority for police at the scene of the beating Sunday had not been to make arrests, but to disperse the crowd and tend to victims.

"The priority is moving people along and treating the wounded," he said.

Making arrests would have taken much-needed police officers off the streets and away from the areas where they were needed, he said.

Nearly a dozen readers complained to the Journal Sentinel that officers didn't take reports, or took incomplete reports, from them after beatings. Flynn indicated the officers were outnumbered and didn't have time to get every detail from each person who approached them. He encouraged people who have additional details to contact district 5 at 935-7253.

"It's certainly plausible we missed victims," he said. "We have competing priorities. I'd love to have the details."

Flynn said he understands some victims might have been frustrated, but said officers did take reports of the robberies.

"I understand the frustration of some people who were involved . . . The situation wasn't as smooth and as calm as every victim might have liked," he said in an interview Wednesday on WTMJ-AM (620). "I do know by the end of that evening we made three separate robbery arrests. We did follow proper protocol in terms of having the reports done and the investigation commenced that night."

The chief said more witnesses had come forward since media published photos and video of the looting of the BP station.

OK.

So, Flynn says there wasn't any cover-up, nothing nefarious about the department's initial denial of the "mob" activity.

It was just incompetence apparently.

That's reassuring, isn't it?

Regarding the racial component:

[Flynn] also said it was important to challenge commentary in some blogs and reader comments on news stories that emphasize the race of the victims and suspects.

"We can't allow this activity to divide this community because ultimately, it's this community standing together that will identify these individuals and ultimately bring them to justice."

Facts are facts.

Yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:

Perry was among several who were injured by a mob they said beat and robbed them and threw full beer bottles while making racial taunts. The injured were white; the attackers were African-American.

"The injured were white; the attackers were African-American."

Today, that sentence has been slightly altered:

"The injured people were white; the attackers were African-American, witnesses said."

So the facts become a little diluted. "Witnesses" claim the attackers were African-American.

The Journal Sentinel is no longer declaring that to be the case.

It should be noted that the racial element wasn't something conjured up by bloggers or commenters on online news articles, at least in the case of the Journal Sentinel.

That media outlet put out the racial information in a very clear manner in yesterday's report. There were no qualifiers.

Victims were white. Attackers were black. Period.

The Journal Sentinel should take responsibility for the information it relays to the public.

Flynn should acknowledge that the media cited the racial component.

(Flynn does admit that JSOnline brought up race in its reporting. Listen to Flynn address the matter, 620 WTMJ.)

I don't understand why stating someone's race divides the community.

There are responsible, law-abiding people and there are thugs.

Their skin color isn't the issue. Public safety is the issue.

However, let's not apply a double standard. If, as victims report, there were racial taunts during the beatings, it's wrong to dismiss that.

It certainly wouldn't be dismissed if the victims were black and the attackers were white.

Let's deal with the reality of the situation and not soften the hard facts.

We have to know the truth to solve the problem.

Abortion: Facts

Here are some Fast Facts on Abortion, from Wisconsin Right to Life:

•Abortion is the direct killing of a baby in a mother’s womb by ripping the baby apart, dismembering the baby, injecting a lethal substance into the baby or other similar means.


• The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in all 50 states.


• Abortion is legal in all 50 states for any reason for the full nine months of pregnancy.


• Only one abortion procedure – partial-birth abortion – is prohibited in the United States.


• Over 53 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States since 1973.


• Over 3,300 unborn babies die from abortion in the United States every day. In Wisconsin, 23 abortion deaths occur each day.


• Over 92% of abortions are performed for social or “other” reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby. Less than 1% of abortions are performed because the mother’s life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest.


•64% of women report feeling pressured into having an abortion; women also report being forced to abort.


• 48% of abortions are repeat abortions -- the woman has already had one or more abortions.


• Approximately 80% of abortions are performed on unmarried women between the ages of 18-34.


•Women experience significant psychological and physical problems post abortion.


• 36% of all abortions in the United States are of African-American babies. African-Americans comprise 13% of the American population.


• Fathers have no legal rights to prevent their unborn children from being aborted.


• Babies suffer significant pain during an abortion procedure.


• Over 2 million couples each year are waiting to adopt a baby

The numbers are horrific.

Notice how rare it is for an abortion to be performed because "the mother’s life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest." Such abortions account for less than 1 percent of the procedures performed.

The overwhelming majority of abortions, 92 percent, are performed for social or “other” reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby.

That's not mentioned when pro-abortion proponents promoted the grisly procedure as a "health care" issue.

Another disturbing number - 48 percent of abortions are repeat abortions. Nearly half of all abortions occur when "the woman has already had one or more abortions." That's not a statistic many pro-abortion activists dare to cite.

One number I think should draw a lot of attention is this: "36% of all abortions in the United States are of African-American babies. African-Americans comprise 13% of the American population."

African-Americans babies are being killed in disproportionate numbers. Why aren't African-American leaders speaking out against this slaughter? Why isn't our first African-American president working diligently to protect the lives of these innocent African-American babies?

Why is this racial component ignored?

According to Wisconsin Right to Life, over 3,300 unborn babies will die from abortion in the United States today.

In Wisconsin, the lives of 23 unique individuals will end today.

So much death.

Every day.

The numbers are staggering.

They're heartbreaking.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Jim Crow Laws and Voter ID

Here's video of the DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz comparing voter photo ID laws with Jim Crow laws:



Transcript

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: [I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant.

That is such an irresponsible thing to say.

Wasserman Schultz doesn't seem to have a very good grasp of American history.

Is she really that clueless, or is she intentionally exploiting race to score political points?

Either way, it's bad.

Voter ID and Racism

Dennis Prager makes the case that the accusation that voter ID is racist demeans blacks.

Prager writes:

While dining out last week, I periodically looked up at one of the television monitors to see the score of the first game of the NBA finals. As there was no sound on to interrupt diners' conversations, the monitor was in caption mode: One could read rather than hear the words spoken. At the conclusion of the game, an announcer was interviewing a member of the victorious Miami Heat players. I saw from the captions the player saying the words "they isn't."

Closed captions display the words spoken. They don't correct for poor grammar.

All I could think was: How can a grown man in America today say "they isn't" rather than "they aren't"?

First, how is it possible for anyone to graduate an American elementary school, not to mention a high school or, most incredibly, attend college, and leave with an inability to conjugate the verb "to be"?

Second, has anyone -- a parent or another relative, a teacher, a friend, a coach -- in that player's life ever corrected his grammar?

I assume that the answer to the second question is "No."

And I assume that the answers to both questions are related: The left, which dominates our culture and educational institutions, has too often lowered standards for black Americans. Even worse, it has declared that if you are black, "they isn't" is not only not to be corrected, but many in academia have declared it an acceptable form of English, i.e., Ebonics, or Black English.

It doesn't end.

I saw "they isn't" the same week the Democrats and others on the left virtually unanimously condemned all Republican attempts in state legislatures to pass legislation requiring voters to show a photo ID. The Democrats labeled it a means of "disenfranchising" blacks. Many Democrats compared it to Jim Crow laws.

"Jim Crow, move over -- the Wisconsin Republicans have taken your place," charged Wisconsin Democratic State Sen. Bob Jauch, referring to his state's new voter ID law.

It is hard to imagine a more demeaning statement about black America than labeling demands that all voters show a photo ID anti-black.

This is easily demonstrated. Imagine if some Democratic politician had announced that demanding a photo ID at the voting booth was an attempt to keep Jewish Americans from voting. No one would understand what the person was talking about. But why not? Jews vote almost as lopsidedly Democrat as do blacks. So why weren't Jews included in liberal objections to voter ID laws?

We all know the answer. Jews are generally considered intelligent and therefore no one would assume that obtaining a photo ID was demanding too much of even poor Jews (yes, there are poor Jews). Therefore, one can only infer that the argument that demanding photo ID for voting will disenfranchise many blacks suggests that many blacks lack the capacity to obtain a photo ID.

If that is not a legitimate inference, then only one other inference is possible: The argument is made solely in order to score political points by portraying black Americans as victims of Republican racism. Of course, that argument simply takes us back to the original question: Why does requiring a photo ID to vote prevent blacks from voting?

It is, however, effective. Calling Republicans racist has worked for half a century and will not be abandoned until it is universally recognized as the libel that it is.

Read more.

Prager does an excellent job of illustrating how ridiculous, as well as offensive, it is to claim that requiring a photo ID to vote is racist.

On a related note, Democrat Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that photo ID is the GOP's plan to bring back Jim Crow laws.

[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant.

Talk about over the top rhetoric, from the Dem Party chairwoman no less!

It's unforgivable. Sadly, it's typical Democrat blather.

Wasserman Schultz kind of sort of slightly retracted her statement:

Jim Crow was the wrong analogy to use. But I don't regret calling attention to the efforts in a number of states with Republican dominated legislatures, including Florida, to restrict access to the ballot box for all kinds of voters, but particularly young voters, African Americans and Hispanic Americans.

That's no retraction, even though Ben Smith of Politico wants you to think it is.

Republicans and Jim Crow laws - give me a break!

Bottom line: Measures to prevent voter fraud and assure the integrity of our elections is in the best interest of every American. The only reason to object would be a desire to make it easier to cheat.

That's disenfranchisement.

I guess the Democrats are pro-disenfranchisement.
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UPDATE: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board recommends PHOTO ID to prevent fraud in the FoodShare program.

People using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to buy and sell public food assistance benefits are cheating the vast majority of honest recipients who need help. State officials need to put an end to this practice - and one way to do so is to require photos on the FoodShare Quest card. Emergency cards need some level of security as well.

For some FoodShare users, this may create a hardship, especially for those who are elderly or sick. Those with greater needs should be given the ability to have a family member or friend use their card.

But right now, all anyone who uses a Quest card needs is a four-digit pin number. Those who report their cards lost or stolen and qualify for an emergency card should have to have that card verified by identification as well. Without verification, that card is as good as cash - and in the wrong hands can be sold, used for drugs or traded for alcohol.

RACISTS!

Contessa Brewer and Tony Katz

MSNBC'a Contessa Brewer, former TMJ4 reporter and anchor, had a spirited discussion with Tony Katz, talk radio host.

Of course, Brewer was as Leftist and loony as ever. Katz schooled Brewer. No surprise there.

What's best about this segment is Katz's use of the term "racer" to describe those many Leftist individuals who insist that criticism of Obama must be rooted in race.

Video.



Transcript

TONY KATZ: But this whole idea of race, you know what? If there are birthers, and they're all crazy and silly for actually wanting to see a birth certificate, well let's talk about the "racers" - the people who believe that everything's a conspiracy about race. It's Obama's race that people want to see the birth certificate. It's Obama's race that people don't like the out of control spending. It's not his race. It's that he's awful. The policies are terrible.

Exactly. It's not about Obama's skin. It's about his policies and his miserable performance as president.

I love that term - RACERS.

Leftists, including Obama, have to realize that playing the race card is not effective.

Critics of Obama will not be silenced by being called racist. It's not going to work.

The racers are just as offensive as the birthers.

Racism exists. Falsely crying "racism" only serves to minimize the significance of actual instances of racism. That's a major step backward for everyone.

Letterman and Dr. Phil: Trump Racist

Dr. Phil was David Letterman's guest on The Late Show last night.

They talked about Donald Trump.

Letterman was clearly troubled about the way Trump has been pressuring Obama. He had no qualms about declaring Trump racist and going so far as to say he may not allow Trump to appear on his show unless he apologizes for his behavior.

Video.



Longer clip of their discussion here.

Transcript

DAVID LETTERMAN: But my point is it's all fun, it's all a circus, it's all a rodeo, until it starts to smack of racism; and then it's no longer fun.

DR. PHIL: So, you thought it was racist.

LETTERMAN: Well, yes.

DR. PHIL: Yeah. Because of the implication that he couldn't have gotten into Harvard any other way?

LETTERMAN: I have heard enough really smart people discuss this to convince me that, yes, that is very, very insulting.

DR. PHIL: Yeah, I think some people were offended by that. I mean, I do.

LETTERMAN: So, like I said, it's all fun until you cross that line. So the question is - you know Donald Trump - in fact, do you consider him to be a racist?

DR. PHIL: I do not.

LETTERMAN: Well how can you say things like that if you're not a racist?

DR. PHIL: Well, I don't, I mean, I don't think he always thinks everything through.

LETTERMAN: Oh. (Laughs) Oh. I see.

DR. PHIL: I'm not sure, I'm not sure he sat down and said, 'Let's see how this could be spun.'

LETTERMAN: Yeah, yeah.

DR. PHIL: I think sometimes he's a little from the hip. But I don't think he has a racist bone in his body.

LETTERMAN: Well, it certainly, uh, it's certainly unpleasant to watch. And I would think that if he comes back on this show, and I'm not sure that we want him back on the show under those circumstances, he ought to be prepared...

(Smattering of applause from audience)

...to apologize. He ought to be prepared to apologize just for that kind of behavior.

DR. PHIL: Well you've been pretty hard on him.

LETTERMAN: Well, that's the fun of a guy like Donald Trump. You can be as hard on him as you want, and, you know, he doesn't... It's hard to land a punch with that hair.

The "really smart people" Letterman listens to are clearly Leftists and Democrat hacks, since they're the ones always relying on the race card whenever Obama is challenged by anyone.

Letterman should ask Trump if his request for Obama to release his school transcripts is racially motivated or based in racism, instead of automatically slandering him and assuming the worst.

It's possible that Letterman, ratings loser to Jay Leno, wants to be part of Trump's "fun" and "circus" and "rodeo." By joining the fray and feuding with Trump, Letterman hopes to boost his sagging ratings. Letterman seems to be baiting Trump.

It's also possible Letterman is serious, another Left-wing hack accusing an Obama critic of being racist.

I think it's both of the above.

Trump: Racist

MSNBC pounded a message on Tuesday: Donald Trump is a racist. The Tea Party and Republicans are racist.

On Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word, PBS host Tavis Smiley declared that the 2012 presidential race would be the most racist in the nation's history, thanks to the Tea Party and Trump.

Video and transcript, from NewsBusters:



Transcript

TAVIS SMILEY, PBS: I said over a year ago that this was going to be, this presidential race, Lawrence, was going to be the ugliest, the nastiest, the most divisive, and the most racist, the most racist, in the history of this republic. I did not know that that race to the bottom would begin so quickly. One can disagree with the Tea Party…

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, HOST: Why did you see this coming?

SMILEY: I saw it coming because it’s pretty clear given how the Tea Party has acted, given that Donald Trump is now playing to the worst in the Tea Party, that this would be possible. I don’t want to demonize or cast aspersions on the Tea Party broadly. I believe that there’s a certain angst that many people in that entity feel, and I share that angst about government. I don’t believe that it’s the solution to reduce government.

Government does have a role to play. We’ve got to figure out, we can figure out and debate what that role is, but there have been semantics they’ve engaged in that made it clear to me: showing up at rallies with guns, and the Secret Service, you know, working overtime to protect this president. More threats against his life than any president in the history of the nation, indeed, presidents combined.

So the evidence is pretty clear that they would do anything and say anything in order to make sure he does not get reelected.

When in doubt, whip out the race card.

MSNBC stuck with its "Trump is a racist" theme after O'Donnell's show ended.

The crazed Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC's Ed Show, said, "I think Donald Trump is a racist."

Here's the video and transcript, also from NewsBusters:



Transcript

ED SCHULTZ: You mean to tell me that [Trump’s] questioning the academic prowess of one of the smartest presidents we’ve ever had? Mr. Trump, when you start getting your advice from all of the special, special Republican advisers that we’ve seen step to the plate in the past instead of Jerome Corsi. Dude, you could do better than that.

This is what the Republican Party stands for, though: racism. I think Donald Trump is a racist.

MSNBC and its radical Leftist hosts and guests are a disgrace.

Don't they have a conscience or any concern about the consequences of their ugly, irresponsible rhetoric?

Apparently not.

The Republican Party does not stand for racism. The Tea Party isn't about racism. From what I've seen, Trump is not a racist.

Good grief.

The band of extreme Leftists at MSNBC really have done so much damage to the NBC News brand, but they keep plugging away, peddling their propaganda.

Thankfully, MSNBC languishes in the ratings cellar. Americans reject it.
_________________

Related: Pat Buchanan calls out MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

Key quote: Pat Buchanan to Chris Matthews: "You're supposed to be a journalist."

That's MSNBC's problem in a nutshell: political hacks masquerading as journalists.

New Black Panthers Teach Kids about 'Crackers'

Members of the New Black Panther Party are indoctrinating children with their brand of racism and lies.

Here they are in the street looking for recruits.

Video, from Breitbart:

NEW BLACK PANTHER: We gotta take the fight to the enemy. The enemy's not your brothers and sisters... It is racist white folks and the government. All right? Everybody understand that?

...

These police have a license to kill you.

...

We're just sick and tired of it. All right? So, we're trying to raise up a movement. There's revolution being waged all over the planet with sticks, bottles, and bricks.

...

We're not taking this sh*t. They can't lock us all up. They can't kill us all. We're too strong for that, all right?

...

Don't just take that flyer and stuff it in a drawer... Give us a call. Give us a call. Get involved. All right? Black power. Thank y'all for listening.

This is absolutely sick.

The Left Protests Tea Party

The Leftists are supposed to be peaceful protesters. That's what the media keep telling us.

However, these Leftists protesting a Tea Party rally exhibit no civility. Their remarks are dripping with hate and loaded with profanity.

Video, from Breitbart.

*WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE*



"I wipe my a** with the [American] flag every night."

And those on the Right are the extremists?

Leftists need to look in the mirror.

Remember, these people are Obama's base.

Here's video of Leftists mocking and insulting an African American Tea Party rally attendee:



These people are sick. The racial slurs are disgusting.

They deserve the chant "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME."

Budget Hearing: State Fair Park

Wisconsin politics has really been off-the-wall in 2011.

We have elected officials acting like utter buffoons.

Dan Bice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, writes:

This is how you pour gasoline on what is already expected to be an explosive hearing at State Fair Park on Monday over Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget:

You do what state Rep. Tamara Grigsby did this weekend.

The Milwaukee Democrat accused the leaders of the Joint Finance Committee of taking steps, in advance, to shut down debate early on the budget bill - and then claimed they are doing this because they don't want to be near Milwaukee too late.

"They're scared to death of Milwaukee," Grigsby said. "They don't want to be here
after dark."

Without naming names, she said some of her fellow lawmakers share a "real fear about being in Milwaukee." Asked if she felt the committee leaders were acting on racist concerns, she said, "If it looks like a duck."

Grigsby quickly added, "I didn't use those words," referring to the notions of race or racism.

Joint Finance co-chairman Robin Vos said he was stunned by her remarks, saying Grigsby was leveling a baseless accusation.

First, he noted that the budget hearing, which is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., is in West Allis, not Milwaukee.

In addition, the Rochester Republican said he and his wife had spent Saturday night at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, enjoying a good time in the city after dark.
"People can make up any lies they want," Vos said. "I just think it's stupid."

I have three words for Grigsby: SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

Suggesting that the hearing is scheduled to allow fearful Republicans to be out of Milwaukee before dark is nuts.

Robin Vos appropriately condemns Grigsby's remarks.

Does Grigsby know that the hearing isn't in Milwaukee?

It's in West Allis.

Does Grigsby know when it gets dark?

On Monday, the sun will set at 7:30 PM.

If the time of the hearing really had something to do with leaders of the Joint Finance Committee "being scared to death" of the city after dark, as Grigsby claims, it wouldn't have to end at 6:00 PM.

EIGHT HOURS of testimony seems more than reasonable.

Grigsby's accusation that fellow legislators are racist, yet refusing to be specific and name names, is unforgivable. She's cruel and cowardly.

I think she's unwilling to be specific because she's lying. It's just more incendiary, over-the-top, crazy rhetoric from the Leftists.

Grigsby should retract her statement and apologize to her colleagues, or she should name the supposedly frightened Republicans.

It's funny that the Democrats are complaining about 10:00 - 6:00 being an inadequate time for the hearing. Just a few weeks ago, thousands of union members, teachers, walked off their jobs to protest in Madison. They didn't hesitate to shut down schools to attend and be heard.

Are we supposed to believe that 6:00 PM doesn't fit into their "schedules"? I don't think so.

...Several unions have events planned at State Fair all day, including a rally beginning at 4:30 p.m.

If union events at State Fair are being held ALL DAY, it certainly doesn't appear that the time of the hearing is a problem.

Bottom line: Spewing poisonous remarks is terribly irresponsible. I guess Lena Taylor and Tamara Grigsby can't help themselves.
_________________

Details on the hearing:

What: The third of four budget hearings around the state conducted by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.

Where: Wisconsin State Fair Park, West Allis. Expo Center, Hall A. Parking, enter Gate 4.

When: Public comments will be taken starting at 10 a.m. and are expected to continue until 6 p.m.

Why Won't Blacks Vote for Hillary?

So far in Election 2008, race has been a major factor in the Democrat primary race.

That didn't change yesterday in North Carolina and Indiana.

Those Big Tent Dems are hung up on race.

From the Washington Post:

Sen. Barack Obama won a convincing victory over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday in North Carolina and nearly toppled her in Indiana, twin results that could ramp up pressure on the New York senator to reconsider her candidacy for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton claimed a 51 percent to 49 percent victory in Indiana, a margin of just 22,000 votes statewide out of 1.2 million votes cast. The result was badly delayed due to extremely slow counting of votes in Lake County, a northwestern area seen as strong Obama country.

...The North Carolina electorate divided sharply along racial lines. As has been the case in nearly every state to vote so far in the nomination fight, African American voters went overwhelmingly for Obama -- 91 percent for the Illinois senator to just six percent for Clinton, according to exit polling. Clinton carried white voters in the Tarheel State convincingly, taking 60 percent to Obama's 38 percent.

Whites are significantly more likely to vote for Obama than blacks are likely to vote for Hillary.

Regarding the black vote, this Dem primary is playing out like a general election, with Obama being the Dem and Hillary being the Republican.

Blacks are completely abandoning Hillary.

Over 90 percent of blacks vote for Obama even though Hillary and Obama aren't essentially different in terms of the issues.

The difference is skin. It's race.

Although Hillary carries white voters, the margins are nowhere near the overwhelming number of black voters that Obama carries.

It's about race. When given a choice between a comparable white Dem and a black Dem, blacks go with the black candidate.

That's racist.

It's the elephant in the room.

Blacks used to support Hillary. Then Obama came along.

From the New York Times:

In North Carolina, Mr. Obama’s performance was bolstered by a strong black vote. He captured more than 90 percent of those voters in that state, where blacks accounted for one in three voters.

Exit polls in North Carolina and Indiana show that race is key.

Race again played a pivotal role in Tuesday's Democratic presidential clashes, as whites in Indiana and North Carolina leaned solidly toward Hillary Rodham Clinton and blacks voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, exit polls showed. Almost half said they were influenced by the focus on Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama, the Illinois senator battling to become the first black president, again failed to gain ground with a crucial voting bloc that has consistently eluded him — working-class whites. But he pieced together coalitions that besides blacks included the young, first-time primary voters, the very liberal and college graduates, plus sizable minorities of whites.

According to exit polls of voters, about two-thirds of whites in both states who have not completed college were supporting Clinton. The New York senator could use that to fortify her argument that she would be the stronger Democratic candidate in the November general election. Of 28 states that held primaries in which she and Obama competed before Tuesday, Clinton had prevailed with working-class white voters in 25.

...The six in 10 whites in both states supporting Clinton were similar to her margin over Obama among whites nationally so far, showing he continues to have trouble cutting into her support from those voters. Even so, his lopsided backing from blacks meant he didn't need white majorities Tuesday to be competitive.

...Nine in 10 blacks in both states were backing Obama — an even stronger margin than usual for a group he has dominated. That proved decisive in North Carolina, where they comprised about a third of voters — nearly double their proportion in Indiana.

All the talking heads keep stressing that Obama hasn't managed to win the Archie Bunker vote. Those blue-collar, uneducated bigots won't vote for the "exotic" Obama.

Jeremiah Wright had an impact on the way these bigots voted.

Actually, the pundits and columnists sound like bigots to me.

They completely ignore why blacks aren't voting for the white candidate.

Jeremiah Wright at the NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has retired but he's still in the limelight.

Wright is in the middle of a media blitz.

On Friday, Bill Moyers interviewed Wright. Video and full transcript here.

Sunday, Wright was the keynote speaker at the Detroit branch of the NAACP 53rd Annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner.

Wright's tour continues today.

Wright's appearance today at the National Press Club will begin the annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. The conference, named for the noted religious scholar, will bring black religious leaders from across the country to Howard University. And at the center of the discussions will be the powerful and provocative tenets of liberation theology.

"Powerful and provactive" is a sanitized way of putting it. Angry and divisive might be more appropriate. In short, lies.

At Wright's NAACP speech Sunday, Barack Obama's spiritual mentor didn't sound like he did with Bill Moyers. This was not the soft-spoken Wright we saw with Moyers. The Wright who showed up at the NAACP dinner was the one we've come to know.

Watch the speech.

Jake Tapper writes:

Most of Wright's speech addressed the theme of the dinner, “A Change is Gonna Come,” talking about the differences between different cultures and races, saying "a change is coming because we no longer see others as being deficient…Different doesn't mean deficient."

"The black religious tradition is different," he said in comments that seemed to address the controversy about his sermons. "We do it a different way."

Wright discussed how different groups have seen other groups as "deficient." After saying English-speakers saw Arabic-speakers as "being deficient," Wright mentioned Obama almost as an aside.

"Please run and tell my stuck-on-stupid friends that Arabic is a language -- is a language, it is not a religion," he said. "Barack HUSSEIN Obama," he said, emphasizing the Illinois senator's middle name dramatically, "Barack HUSSEIN Obama, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. There are Arabic-speaking Christians, there Arabic-speaking Jews, Arabic-speaking Muslims and Arabic-speaking atheists. Arabic is a language, it is not a religion. Stop trying to scare folks by giving them this Arabic name like it's some disease."

The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality," he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. "Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style," he said. "They have a different way of learning." And so on.

Oh my God. Wright is a real piece of work.

Because of his close and decades-long relationship with Barack Obama, Wright certainly knew that everything he said and did during his address would be analyzed.

"White people clap differently than black people"?

Really?

Africans and African-Americans "have a different way of learning"?

Their brains are different? Does science back that up?


This is racist tripe.

If you wondered whether the portions of Wright's sermons picked up and played by the media unfairly depicted Wright, wonder no more.

I wonder if Obama claps like his mom or his dad.

Jeremiah Wright and Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers is helping Jeremiah Wright attempt to transform the public's perception of him from the hate-filled, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American pastor and spiritual mentor of Barack Obama into a soft-spoken man of God.

Just watching the brief clip of the Moyers interview makes me ill.

This must be what it's like to be a hostage and forced to view propaganda. Your captors are trying to brainwash you with lies.

From ABC News:

In the PBS interview on the "Bill Moyers Journal," Wright complains that reporters picked sound bites from his sermons with the intent of defaming him and, by association, Obama.

"At a political event, he goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician," Wright told Moyers. "I continue to be a pastor … He's a politician. I'm a pastor."

...In the Moyers interview, a soft-spoken Wright expresses his horror that the media has made him a bogeyman, endlessly replaying sound bites of fiery sermons which he claims were taken out of context.

"I felt it was unfair. I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue," the former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ told Moyers, adding that some of the snippets were taken from many years ago.

For instance, after the 9/11 attack, Wright famously preached that the "chickens had come home to roost." Wright said it was clear to those present for the sermon that he was quoting President Reagan's former ambassador to Iraq.

"I think his manner, his demeanor, comes off being very appealing … but if you actually look at the snippets for what they are, where he's damning America, or the KKK in America, or the white government spreading AIDS in America, it's just so unappealing. At some point it's hard to explain away why the words were coming from his mouth. And then it invites to question Barack Obama's judgment, in sitting there all those years and being part of that kind of, what he calls by his own admission, 'divisive, hate speech,'" said [Juan] Williams.

..."The church members are very upset because they know it's a lie, the things being broadcast," Wright said, adding that there have even been death threats on him and bomb threats on his church.

Death threats and bomb threats are inexcusable. I

While it's appropriate to be very disturbed by Wright's rhetoric, that's no reason to morph into Obama's friend Bill Ayers. (Of course, Ayers was behind more than threats. He wasn't just talk. He actually walked the terrorist walk and still brags about it.)

If the rest of the interview is anything like the tease video, Moyers really whores himself.

I agree with Juan Williams. There's just no way to explain away what Wright has said.

Wright says, "The church members are very upset because they know it's a lie, the things being broadcast."

A lie?

From what I know about Wright, it seems that what will be broadcast tonight on Bill Moyers Journal will be the whopper of all whoppers.

I expect to see "a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies."

_____________________

Obama: Rev. Wright's Response 'To Be Expected'

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports:

...As for the return of his controversial former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright who gave a recent interview to Bill Moyers and said Obama played politics in his response to the controversy, Obama said Wright's response was "to be expected".

"He is obviously free to express his opinions on these issues. I've expressed mine very clearly. I think that what he said in several instances were objectionable and I understand why the American people took offense and, you know, and as I indicated before, I took offense."

Whoopi Goldberg Explains Being "Very White"

From Say Anything:



Whoopi Goldberg tells Elisabeth Hasselbeck that she isn't capable of understanding why blacks are voting for Barack Obama solely because of his skin color.

The problem: Hasselbeck is white.

HASSELBECK: I'm not against the idea [of a black being elected president]. I'm against the idea of not looking beyond the things which have prevented them from being in office. We need to step away from that a little bit and look at the entire picture. That's all I'm saying.

GOLDBERG: That's a very... and I say this with a huge amount of love... it's a very white way to look at it.

HASSELBECK: What do you mean?

GOLDBERG: I'm saying this with love so understand.

HASSELBECK: Let me take off my white goggles.

GOLDBERG: But you can't. That's what I'm trying to explain. This for us is total... It's not an experience I can explain to you. I can't explain why black folks are saying, "Oh my God."

I think Goldberg..., and I say this with a huge amount of love... That's a very black way to look at it.

If it's racist for whites to vote for a candidate based solely on that individual's skin color, then it's also racist for blacks to vote for a candidate for that reason.

There is an obvious double standard at play. It comes up again and again.

Whites are racist when they don't vote for Obama; but blacks inexplicably aren't labeled racist when they overwhelmingly vote for him instead of Hillary Clinton.

We each have one vote. We can use it any way we'd like. We can vote for a candidate for any reason.

When blacks vote for Obama only because of his blackness, it's racist. It's their choice. They can choose to vote in a racist manner, but it is racist.

His supporters and Obama himself insist that his campaign has generated such excitement because he transcends race.

That's not true. Obama is not really trascendent at all.

Whatever is politically expedient for him is what goes. Obama is definitely politics as usual. Change? I don't see any change.

Actually, the candidacies of Obama, Hillary, and John McCain reflect some steps backward for the nation if people are voting based on the candidates skin tone.

Monkey: The M-Word

Another word is on the unspeakable list: Monkey.

CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. -- An Illinois delegate for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama resigned after using the word "monkeys" to describe black children playing in a tree, the Obama campaign said Tuesday.

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a trustee in the Chicago suburb of Carpentersville, was issued a $75 ticket for disorderly conduct after neighbors complained to police. She says the word wasn't meant racially and she will fight the ticket.

"Given the incident, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski is stepping down as a delegate and will be replaced," said Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage.

The incident occurred Saturday, when two children were playing in a tree next door to Ramirez-Sliwinski's house.

She said the parents were outside supervising the children, but she went over and told them to get out of the tree because she was concerned about the boys' safety and because the small magnolia tree was being damaged.

The father of one of the boys told her it was none of her business, she told the Chicago Tribune, and "I calmly said the tree is not there for them to be climbing in there like monkeys."

The mother of one boy called police.

Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said Tuesday a ticket was issued because the ordinance bans conduct that disturbs or alarms people. One of the boys told police he was scared by her comment and a mother said she was disturbed, he said.

This really is lame.

I do not consider referring to kids climbing in a tree "like monkeys" to be a racial offense. Calmly intervening to prevent children from hurting themselves or damaging a small tree is not worthy of a ticket. It's commendable.

What's next? Is it racially offensive now to say "monkey bars"?

Good grief.

Ramirez-Sliwinski is stepping down as a delegate for Barack Obama over this?

Rev. Jeremiah Wright can be overtly racist and talk about the "US of KKK-A" yet Obama won't disown him.

If Ramirez-Sliwinski is ticketed for what she said, I think Wright certainly deserves a ticket too, for "conduct that disturbs or alarms people."

Wright is the real victim of a pseudo-scandal?

In the Wisconsin State Journal, Bill Wineke insists that Barack Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been victimized in a pseudo-scandal.

He writes:

Barack Obama 's critics have spent the past year trying to find a scandal in his life, and they finally came up with one.

Obama goes to church.

The television news shows were filled last week with titillating pictures of Obama 's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pounding a pulpit, denouncing American racism and making some rather bizarre claims about governmental responsibility for AIDS and other social ills. If you just read the words without context, they certainly make Wright seem un-American.

Obama critics and commentators, including some of the major liberal voices on television, have demanded that Obama denounce his pastor and renounce his ill-fated membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The fact that he hasn 't proves guilt by association is guilt, indeed, they say.

There has been guilt by association practiced in this issue, but the victim was not Barack Obama. The victim was Jeremiah Wright, whose reputation as a pastor has been trashed across the world because of his association with Obama.

I have never met Wright. He and I are each ordained clergy of the United Church of Christ, a predominantly white denomination that traces its history to the Pilgrims. I 've never heard him preach, and I 've never set foot in his Chicago church.

But I do know this: Virtually everything we know about Wright comes from three snippets of three sermons, preached over a period of years, spliced together into one 30-second sound bite and replayed endlessly on cable TV. Those snippets were incendiary, but they were snippets. They weren 't sermons or even completed ideas.

And I do know this: We in the media used those three snippets to represent an entire 36-year ministry. During all those years, Wright helped build Trinity UCC from a congregation of 87 to a congregation of more than 8,000, one that includes gang-bangers, judges, doctors and a potential president of the United States. You don 't do that by preaching hate.

No one can build a congregation by preaching hate. Wright didn 't. Conservative pastors such as Jerry Falwell didn 't. People won 't show up year after year to hear hate. They may listen to it on radio or television, but they won 't do so in church.

I do know that my fellow UCC clergy in Madison have, over the years, taken their youth groups to visit Wright 's congregation. They have told me, time and again, that the kids came back inspired by the church 's ministry to the poor and by its lively worship.

If Wright 's message was one of hate, just why is it that no hate has come from his church? Why is it that all those scouring Obama 's record haven 't found a single incident of racism? Why is it that so many Madison white folk who have attended church there have been welcomed with warmth and with respect?

There is so much to refute in this column.

A few things:

--Obama's only "scandal" is not the fact that he attends the Trinity Church of Christ. He has some shady dealings with shady people that need to be addressed. Questions still need answers.

--Wright is no victim. His reputation as a pastor has been questioned because of the message he chose to preach. I don't doubt that he gave some sermons that focused on Christ's teachings rather than his own political rantings; but that doesn't excuse how inappropriate and inflammatory some of his sermons were.

--Wineke complains about 30-second sound bites. It should be remembered that Wright promoted his church by selling tapes of the very sermons that Wineke claims were the source of his victimization. Those are the snippets of sermons that Wright wanted the world to see. He wasn't ashamed to say, "God damn America," etc.

--Furthermore, Wineke's defense of Wright runs counter to Obama's denouncement of his pastor's racist and anti-American rhetoric. Obama rejects Wright's incendiary remarks. He won't reject "old uncle" Wright, but Obama definitely has rejected some of Wright's statements. Wineke won't even do that much.

--Contrary to Wineke's belief, of course some congregations are sustained by preaching hate. All that's needed is like-minded people joined by their common hatred for a country, or those of another faith or race or ethnic group.

--Finally, I don't see how Wineke can claim with any certitude that no hate has come from Wright's church. If members buy into Wright's conspiracy theories about 9/11 or HIV/AIDS, they certainly aren't spreading the message of truth and love revealed in the Word of God.

Obama Spins "Typical White Person" Comment

Barack Obama continues to step in it.

In an interview yesterday on 610 WIP, Obama was trying to explain that he wasn't dissing his grandmother when he referenced her in his speech about race. You know the speech, the speech, the one libs like Chris Matthews consider to be the greatest speech on race this country has ever heard, the Lincoln-esque speech.

While trying to undo that damage, Obama called his grandmother a "typical white person," a stunning reliance on stereotypes.

Obama said:

The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, there's a reaction in her that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away, and sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society

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I strongly objected to his racist characterization. What makes Obama think that his grandmother is a "a typical white person"?

More importantly, how does Obama define "typical white person"?

I guess he means that a "typical white person" is "bred" to be racist.

Later yesterday in an interview with Larry King, Obama tried to undo that damage by explaining his "typical white person" remark.

Person
by luvnews

Can you imagine the flak a white politician would take if he or she referred to a "typical black person"?

Considering Obama supposedly delivered the greatest speech in American history on Tuesday, he sure is having a bad week.