Get Harry Reid a history book

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made his rambling speech about how opponents of the health care bill (mainly Republicans) are racist, he brought up the Civil Rights Act to prove his point. Unfortunately, Mr. Reid was wrong about those evil Republicans:

Historians also faulted Mr. Reid’s curious reference to the Senate civil rights debates of the 1960s. After all, it was Southern Democrats who mounted an 83-day filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. The final vote to cut off debate saw 29 Senators in opposition, 80% of them Democrats. Among those voting to block the civil rights bill was West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, who personally filibustered the bill for 14 hours. The next year he also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Mr. Byrd still sits in the Senate, and indeed preceded Mr. Reid as his party’s majority leader until he stepped down from that role in 1989.

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A “political witch hunt” to get Eric Holder?

Maybe it’s me, but the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense seems to be inconsistent. The leader of the party, Malik Shabazz, defended Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to drop a voter intimidation suit involving one of its members. At first, Shabazz seems to dismiss the event, calling it, “a political witch hunt” by Republicans against Eric Holder. Shabazz also went on to say that the group does not condone voter intimidation, and it has suspended the member who was involved. » read more

The Hamed Haddadi controversy: Are you kidding me?

I was checking out the headlines on Yahoo, when I saw a link to a story about two Los Angeles Clippers announcers who made some offensive remarks about Vancouver Grizzlies Center Hamed Haddadi. I hadn’t heard about this controversy, so I read the article to see what it was about. The story went on at length about how sorry announcers Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith were over their offensive remarks, how they apologized on-air, and directly to Hamed Haddadi before a Vancouver/L.A. game in the presence of three members of the Alliance of Iranian Americans.

It seemed like a serious situation, and as I read on, a transcript of the offensive exchange was at the end. Here it is:

Smith: “Look who’s in.”

Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”

Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended a viewer who complained.)

Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.

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Does anyone take Jesse Jackson seriously?

Jesse Jackson was recently honored by the Congressional Black Caucus for the 25th anniversary of his first Presidential campaign. As usual, he didn’t miss an opportunity to make himself look like a fool. During his speech, he had this to say about Rep. Artur Davis, who voted against the health care bill:

“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

Let me get this straight. Is Jesse Jackson saying that race should determine how one votes? Is he also saying that that Mr. Davis is less of a “black man” because he opposed this legislation? I shouldn’t be surprised by this, since he seems to see race as the primary determinant of every outcome. To Jesse Jackson, there is no individual reasoning. Instead, we are all influenced by history and controlled by pigment. » read more