My father agreed to the trip, reluctantly: he maintained I should take a pickup and drive straight there without the possibility of disappearing forever in a thousand miles of bush and mountains, never to be seen or heard of again. I assured him I felt way more comfortable on a horse than in a vehicle and persuaded him that a horse was more my style and it might be the last chance I would ever have to really see the wild country. I promised to start home in the second week of July and to keep a journal, so not to lose my famous sense of time.

That spring we had heavy rains with heavy snow melt, the rivers and creeks were raging between the high water marks of their banks, and I was lunging in the traces while waiting to leave. Crossing rivers and creeks while they are in flood stage is suicide, so I waited in the agony of expectation of an exciting pack trip. I loaded up 40 hot rounds for my 8mm Mauser; they were hot, because I wouldn’t fire my weapon except to kill the odd animal for meat or to bail myself out of a Grizzly encounter. I’d pack a 22 rifle for shooting ptarmigan and grouse, sport wing shooting was out of the question, head shots from 30 feet was the order of the day, my apologies sportsmen, but this was a question of survival and eating well on the trail.

There would be five us on this trip, me, Dallas my saddle horse, two pack horses Florence and Bertha , and Tiger my beloved and battle scarred Catahoula. You may have noticed all my horses were mares. After a lifetime as a horseman, I have come to several conclusions; first off, is that in certain human blood lines, a horseman will appear once in so many generations. There might be many family members who ride, but there will be one who has an uncanny gift for horses and among those will be the occasional mare man: he will have an unexplainable way with horses, especially mares. For mares are the real animal, the animal that migrated four to five thousand miles a year, the animal that will fight to the death while defending her foal, the animal that is considered difficult by most horsemen, who prefer geldings; by definition, the ‘Mare Man’ doesn’t have these problems, he goes about his work with ease using horses that others avoid. A true ‘Mare Man’ can be observed with a mare hugging him lightly, as if he were her foal: not in the rubbing method you so often see, that has people thinking their horse is showing affection, but is really using the human as a scratching post and displaying disrespect towards his rider.

I am one of those ‘Mare Men’: from my father’s side, descended from those ancient Celts that rode across Europe two thousand years ago, from where no one knows, fought Caesar in a series of desperate wars that nearly destroyed Caesar and his legions. Only those that sailed to England and Ireland escaped the Gladiatorial arenas and slavery. At least that is what I have been told by old Irish horsemen who have watched me work and have stared into my green eyes while taking note of the auburn hair.

I didn’t really need two pack horses, but if one of them became lame, I wouldn’t need to leave most of my gear. Each horse would have four sets of pre-fitted shoes with nails. A stall jack and fitting hammer along with a leather apron and basic shoeing tools would take care of the hooves for a two thousand mile trip. If they had to make the last two hundred miles barefoot, they could do it, being a little tender would make them anxious to get shoes on in the future. Cooking utensils, a couple of tarps, (One for a wicki-up and one for a ground cloth) an ax, small shovel, Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’; Hemingway’s ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’; and a so called Complete Works of Shakespeare made up my reading list. I had a coal oil lantern with enough fuel for a few minutes worth of light each night: although in June there was 22 hours of daylight and at night there was usually enough light to see, almost enough to read.

I packed a lot of food, some vegetables, dried rice and dried beans there is less and less edible green food the farther North you travel, I’d be sure to make spruce tea and rose hip tea to maintain an adequate intake of Vitamin C. Scurvy was a serious problem in the early days, it affected Jack London and probably shortened his life, and he was only in the North for one winter. The Northern natives roast the stomachs of Caribou with the grass and lichens inside along with huckleberries or blueberries until they (the caribou stomachs) are ready to explode and then have a feast similar to our turkey dinners. I haven’t tried it, but I would eat it rather than starve.

Eventually the creeks and rivers began to ease up on their rampage and it became safe to travel. I said my goodbyes and headed out on what could have been my last adventure in the mountains, in more than one way.

I used my compass and the government maps that were notoriously inaccurate at the time and headed North. I ate my heaviest foods first, thus I would lighten the load on my pack horses: eventually, I would be eating dried beans, rice and oats; the mainstay of the horse packer, delivering the most nutrition for the weight carried.

The trip was a reaction to the thoughts of desperation caused by leaving my home and my life. When I returned from college in four years, my personal dogs and horses might be gone forever. I might change and never be the same after going to school, I was full of doubt, I enjoyed my life on the ranch and in the wilderness and now it was coming to an end; so that I could be with people who had no concept of life in the wilderness, to me it felt like a prison sentence rather than an education.

In the mean time, I crossed several rivers and came upon an alpine valley with a huge stand of mountain balsam. For some reason I was hesitant to cross this foreboding stand of deformed trees. They were six to twelve feet high with aged thick trunks, probably two hundred years old, dwarfed because of the extreme alpine conditions; their bodies twisted from perpetual winds into patterns that reminded me of flames in a campfire, perpetual bizarre green flames. On the other side of the valley was a barren mountain top like the one I was on, except there was a grizzly digging after ground squirrels or some other little rodent. He was digging very quickly like a dog digging in soft earth, except the ground he was digging in was rock hard and every once in a while a boulder the size of a man’s head would fly up between his hind legs. He was a rare beauty, black (a rare color for Grizzly, although they can vary a great deal) and large with his new fur glistening in the sun and rolling with deposits of fat from the spring grass. It would make a great hide for my room at college and the rendered lard makes the best pie crusts; but I wasn’t hunting Grizzly and the temperatures were so warm the hair might slip and I didn’t have enough salt for the raw hide. Lucky for him.

Horses can smell a Grizzly from several miles away if the wind is right, their nose is good enough to determine which way a Grizzly is headed when they cross his trail, but at this distance their eyes can’t see a Grizzly and the wind was at our backs so they couldn’t scent the bear.

Tiger was keying off my caution, he was sitting to my right and studying the strange stunted forest ahead of us. He was a veteran bear fighter, carried the scars and understood the inherent dangers. Besides the company, he provided protection at night in case a bear walked into camp while I was sleeping and decided to pull me out of my blanket roll for a quick snack. I tie each of my horses to a tree for the night in a perimeter around my sleeping area. A horse wont make a noise if they aren’t threatened, if the bear comes close to them they will scream like a woman, a terrible noise: Tiger would and has fought to the death to give me time to wake up and grab my rifle. I love horses and appreciate their nature and culture, but that is the main difference between a dog and a horse as a friend.

I had about a mile of this green forest of Perdition ahead of me and I wanted to get on the other side with enough daylight to find a good camp with feed and water for the horses; I was counting on the Grizzly deciding I was a dangerous character with three horses and a dog and heading off to tall timber once he stopped digging long enough to catch our scent.

We were half way through when I noticed the hair along Tiger’s back standing straight up and his lip curled in a silent growl. We had company and it might be that Grizzly I saw on the opposite hill.

I heard a low growl coming from Tiger and I put the lead pack horse’s halter rope in my left hand and drew my rifle out of its scabbard with my right hand. Tiger turned just as the horses bolted, I pulled up my saddle horse and the pack horses ran by me on the right, the left pannier or pack box on Florence hit Dallas, my saddle horse hard in the right flank and then the ax laced to the box caught my right leg and pulled me out of the saddle and onto my horse’s neck, in less than the blink of an eye, before they pulled up and circled, they were directly in front of my horse, a movement that released my leg or I would have been hung up on a runaway pack horse or on the ground on my back. Thankfully, I had my rifle out of the scabbard or the stock would have been broken. I kept the horses under wraps while they were lunging and jumping in several different directions. I pushed myself back into the saddle and turned around to see what the Hell was gong on behind me. My future family and leg were obviously bruised from the near disaster, but I didn’t have time to acknowledge the pain or take inventory. The bear had circled behind me and was making runs at us and snapping his jaws with that loud clamping sound like a small bore rifle or a 30-30 firing. He was trying to stampede my horses and doing a pretty fair job of it: Tiger kept the bear from running in and grabbing one of us and all I could do was hold onto my rifle, taking an accurate shot in this wild melee was a forlorn hope. Although Tiger was so mad he was foaming at the mouth, he was in control enough not to run in and fight the bear alone or we would have had the biscuit (as in last supper).

Suddenly, the noise all stopped except for Tiger circling us growling and barking, the pack horses were crowding us and making a nuisance of themselves. I could feel a hitch in the stride of my saddle horse, she was bruised and lame at the very least, I could feel the blood running down my leg into my right lace-up over the ankle moose hide moccasin; the blood was flowing freely, judging by the squishy feeling in that moccasin, the blood scent would excite the bear’s blood lust even more, but we seemed to be alright for the time being.

We had at least a half mile to go, we were moving at a fast walk, if we broke into a trot it would be hard to keep the horses under control if the bear tried to separate us again. If it was just me on a saddle horse, I could make a dash for the open country and dismount to hopefully kill the bear that was making my life so miserable. With two pack horses tied with the second one’s halter rope to the first one’s tail, they would be dead meat if I lost control of them or I could fall and end up as dead meat on the ground in this Mountain Balsam Hell.

My situation was becoming desperate, I had to get out of this Balsam and away from this aggressive bear, the horses were all in a lather from their fear and exertions, and Tiger would eventually make a mistake in judgment, he was continually circling to protect us and had to be getting tired. I was used to having the lead rope for the pack horses in my right hand and the bridle reins in my left hand: my rifle was in my right hand, although I couldn’t get a shot off, the bear had respect for that rifle, he had probably been shot at before, my left arm was exhausted from hanging onto the lead rope of the spooked pack horses; suddenly from the right, the bear charged and started snapping his jaws in between growls or roars. This time the horses broke and I was along for the ride, I watched the trees and tried to pick the best trail with enough room for all three horses. I couldn’t see Tiger, but there wasn’t anything I could do to help him: hopefully, he was tight behind us. If a pack slipped or if a rope came undone, the pack horses would fend for themselves. The horses were running out of control and were no longer responding to me. Normally, pack horses couldn’t keep up with a saddle horse, but Dallas was bruised and the pack horses were scared witless.

We broke cover and stopped fifty yards later. I jumped off and waited for the bear to come out. No bear, oh well, it could have been worse. Tiger’s pads were torn and bleeding from running over the sharp flinty rocks, but the wounds were superficial, he was just footsore. Dallas was bruised and sore, but not bleeding. My calf had obviously been hung up on one of the panniers and either the ax or shovel had cut me.

The realization of how close we had been to a disaster settled when I saw a tall Indian walking towards me with a smooth easy stride and a rifle held in his right hand. His face was a deep brown like a twice baked biscuit, he half grinned said some words that I didn’t understand except for the odd English or French word. Pointing to his chest he said a word that sounded like biscuit, from that time on he was known as Biscuit, he spoke directly in your face and used a series of clucks when he talked, he sprayed saliva without being aware of it and to keep from insulting him, I ignored the desire to wipe my face. With a diplomatic flair using three languages, he said the Black Grizzly was a bad bear that liked to eat horses and the occasional human. He motioned for me to follow him, I had not learned the city custom of not trusting strangers, I followed him into the past, a world in flux.

We walked for a mile or so and came upon a pony with a thick mane and tail full of burrs. He seemed proud of this animal and mounted it with pride. I climbed on Dallas and we rode into his village at about ten pm, there was still a couple of hours of daylight left. He showed me a corral to put my horses with fairly decent feed, so I un-tacked the horses and left them to recuperate.

He walked me over to a portable building, inside there was a White Man with an English accent. It was a medical office, the guy had a nice smile and introduced himself as Gregory. He asked what happened, I wasn’t too proud of my adventure so I told him my leg was bleeding.

He looked at the back of the calf and said it was a long wound, but only needed a few stitches at one end and a good cleaning. I asked him if he had anything for a dog’s paws and he gave me some stuff for sled dogs on the ice. He fixed us a pot of tea and we talked.

He was an immigrant from England who was hoping to earn a stake in life and move on. He was an RN and came out to the wilderness to deliver babies and try to keep these “Northern Niggers” healthy while bringing them into the twentieth century. I felt as if I had a brick had dropped into my belly and felt so sad for Biscuit who was waiting patiently for my treatment.

I was shocked to hear that expression. I thought he would come here because he liked helping these people, but apparently he was only here to make the most money and pay off his college loans the fastest way possible. Although my mother was a native woman that men went out of their way to help and open doors for, Like she was the Queen of England, I was born with green eyes, fair skin, and an auburn color to my hair. Except for a few personality traits and high cheekbones, no one would guess that I had native blood in my veins.

I took an immediate dislike for this man who was in his mid twenties and refused payment for my treatment. I walked outside his office after thanking him and shaking his hand. Biscuit and I walked to his house and sat down to a plate piled high with boiled moose and greasy fry bread. I love the Native people, but their dietary habits and culinary skills are often found lacking. I was hungry, so I ate some of the grey looking and unappealing meat and fought to keep it on my stomach.

I was given a bedroom that was just that, a room a little larger than the bed. I laid there wondering what I was doing with these people and drifted off into a deep sleep. The next morning I wandered into the kitchen and scouted out the food available, if I could start a decent meal before they woke up, they wouldn’t stop me from cooking.

I found enough flour, eggs, butter, blueberries, and bacon to start a decent meal: I didn’t know how many people I was cooking for, so I just started cooking. People of all ages came down when they smelled the aromas coming from the wood cook stove. They began to eat and eat and eat, I made coffee and they drank like they had never had a drink in their life. I was having a good time and the women enjoyed watching my cooking skills, for a teenager, I was feeling pretty good.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Biscuit introduced me to everyone, I called him Biscuit and everyone thought I was hilarious. I was especially interested in meeting his three daughters: they were the real Indian Princess Types, the oldest was about fifteen and beautiful, the others were about 12 or 13 and cute as buttons. I tried to say the oldest girl’s name and came out with Vase, again I was considered a true comedienne, the twins seemed to be named Teal and Seal, this brought more laughter; but the names stuck, because everyone was using my new names for themselves, sometimes without laughing.

Gregory said he was going to town and asked if I had suggestions for their food and cooking requirements. I asked how much they had to spend and he shrugged his shoulders and said whatever. I thought this was a strange answer, but I was bound and determined not to eat boiled moose again, if I could avoid it. I ordered spices, flour, olive oil, vegetables, a large soup pot, a dutch oven, a large skillet with a glass lid, a roasting oven and various ingredients for breads and pies. He said he would be back in two days.

I was shocked, two days, I had hoped to be healed up and back on the trail in two days. Oh well, they liked me and I ordered all the stuff, I better teach them how to cook and use the equipment.

Gregory told me that Biscuit had ordered a pre-made log house and it was waiting for someone to take the initiative and start the construction. I told him to tell Biscuit that I wanted to see the house.

Biscuit walked me behind his house and there were the materials to build a beautiful log house. He showed me the plans, it was obvious that Gregory wasn’t about to assist, so I studied the plans and told Gregory to bring back rudimentary carpenter tools, sacks of ready mix concrete, along with nails and screws and plywood for a foundation.

Gregory then told me that Biscuit wanted me to teach his people to speak like me. I looked at him like he had been bucked off on his head, he said, “They like your voice because you are soft spoken,” he smiled, said good bye and left for town.

I selected a fairly decent location and began stepping off the measurements for the foundation. With the help of Pythagorous, and his 3, 4, and 5 triangle rule, I stuck sticks in the ground that defined a rectangle with right angles for corners, while 20 or so people watched in amazement. I worked until I couldn’t do anything else without equipment and noticed that the people were still watching me.

I held up my hand as if to say stay to a dog and pulled out Moby Dick from one of my pack boxes. I started to read about hunting and harpooning whales when one of the young twins came up with a piece of paper and a pencil. I wasn’t going to get away with anything with these people. I drew a whale and a man in a boat throwing a harpoon into the whale. As soon as I was done drawing the whole group converged on the drawing and began to speak in very excited and animated ways concerning my humble drawing. Eventually, they listened to the story again, but I had to point to certain features of the drawing like the whale and the harpoon while making dramatic gestures, the women would scream and put their hands over their mouths and everyone would break out in insane laughter. Everyone was having a party except me. After repeating the process with several more drawings, I was worn out while they were clamoring for more. For the life of me, I had read Moby Dick several times and could only think of three or four places that seemed even remotely funny, like when Quegqueg put his boots on under the bed, now that was funny to me, but my audience found little or no humor in that passage.

They especially enjoyed the passage about an English fisherman who put his wife in a small dory and deserted her on the ocean in a small dory: another sailor saw the distressed woman, rescued her, and took her home to become his common law wife. Apparently she prospered with the second man and her original man sued to get her back. The court ruled, in the same traditions of our courts, by citing the laws concerning harpooned whales; whales that escape the first whaler are considered free whales and once a whale is free upon the high seas it belongs to no one and since the second fisherman had already harpooned the wife and captured her, she now belonged to the second fisherman. Now this brought the house down, they were literally rolling in the aisles.

In Canada and the US, there are White people who attach themselves to minority groups and encourage them to be perpetual wards of the state. With an Elitist attitude that encourages them to be victims and forever under the protection of these self-serving whites who are actually parasites of other peoples misery.

Native people are as intelligent as any race that has walked the face of the earth; they readily adapt to modern life if given the tools and opportunity. Skookum Jim from the Yukon Gold fields is a perfect example: he was a stone age man who was thrust into a position of power and wealth from a purely accidental find of one of the richest gold mines in history. An unusual and extreme case, but it illustrates the ability of native people to adapt in an extreme and unusual situation.

Liberals with the perpetual ‘Nanny State’ mentality have debauched whole native cultures, their policy is not working! It doesn’t take long on the streets of Calgary, Vancouver, or Seattle; to see a drunk native doing the three steps forward two back shuffle. Yet this man’s grandparents were proud, strong people at least until the compassionate Liberals destroyed their pride with policies that made Liberals rich and debouched Native culture. Defining people who need to live under the blanket of Perpetual Nanny Statism that is characteristic of Liberal philosophy not only applies to Native people, but to the Hispanic and Black as well. Liberals cast these minorities as “Less Than” people who are unable to compete with the Liberal’s self serving vision of the ‘Omnipotent White’: thus in the Liberal perversion of freedom, the minority is forever given the unofficial categorization of the ‘White Man’s Burden’ for perpetuity, at least according to the world vision of the Progressive. Of course the Liberal benefits at the polls by making whole cultures wards of the state and by making whole disciplines in Universities dedicated to caring for people who, with a little organization, could have stopped the westward expansion of the United States and Canada; the concept is preposterous, yet it is happening continuously, the subjugation of whole races and cultures, to consolidate power and control for Progressive Socialism.

Farrakhan delivered a four hour speech to Black Members of the Nation of Islam in Chicago. Much of the speech was recounting a psychedelic type experience in Mexico, where he claims to have conversed with the deceased founder of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, in 1985. Apparently Elijah invited him aboard a space ship called ‘the wheel’ and listened as the great leader gave him direction. Wearing white sailor suits and white skirts with hijabs, the crowd of 20,000 repeatedly screamed “Allah Akbar”, the phrase the radical Muslim Major Hassan used as he killed American soldiers at Fort Hood.

Farrakhan, who embraces black nationalism, asserts, “It ain’t ego, it’s my love for you.”

Dressed in ornate creme robes, he addressed the president directly:

“Your people are suffering. You can’t ease their plight, but you can use your bully pulpit. Speak for the poor. Speak for the weak.”

He said helping the Nation of Islam, which has worked to reform black inmates for decades, would also be an answer.

“Put some money on back of us,” he said. “We can reform our people.”

Farrakhan has vigorously supported Obama for years and used his presidency as a call to action for blacks. That was even as Obama distanced himself from the group for Farrakhan’s past comments that many considered anti-Semitic.

Supporters say Farrakhan’s words are often taken out of context.

Farrakhan continued his praise of Obama Sunday, and said the nation’s first black president was manipulated into disavowing Farrakhan.
He would not say if he and Obama had ever met on the issue.

“They all want to know did I ever meet with him and what did I say or what he say,” Farrakhan said in the speech. “I ain’t going there.”

Farrakhan claims his psychic ability was able to see the US aggression that bombed Libya and ended Gaddafi’s dream of funding international terrorism, he claims to have foreseen the earthquake in Chile, he now sees the political demise of Obama and it really pisses him off.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. There was no mention of relocation centers in the EO, because initially none were envisioned. The purpose was for those of Japanese ancestry to relocate voluntarily, anywhere within the interior, away from the West Coast and areas of strategic military importance.

On April 25, 1992, as a UCLA student, I went by bus from campus on a pilgrimage to Manzanar, 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles on the 50th Anniversary of the internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans into relocation camps during WWII.

As sympathetic as I am to the Japanese-American experience (my mom being Japanese, I identify more with …Japanese-American culture than Thai/Thai-American), I’m going to go ahead and anger a lot of people and extol some of the non-PC merits of Michelle Malkin’s book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror
.

Whether you agree or disagree with Malkin’s points in the end, I see nothing at all that is “racist” about her book, unless one knee-jerks into PC-induced sensitivities as substitution for thinking.

It is revisionist dishonesty (or unfortunate ignorance) for anyone to claim there were no instances of Japanese issei or nisei who displayed commitment to the ultra-nationalistic tradition of “doho” (unbending loyalty to the Emperor regardless of residence or citizenship status). Malkin provides a number of examples of where there was evidence of Japanese-American disloyalty.

Even moreso than racism and prejudice, the possibility of fifth column saboteurs and the dangers of further attacks on the West Coast were very real, and supported by the best military and civilian intelligence analysis at the time. This included the MAGIC messages which were intercepted diplomatic communications that revealed Japan’s espionage activities in regards to the West Coast, Hawaii, and the southern border.

Throughout Europe and the South Pacific, there were instances of Japanese immigrants who consorted with their ancestral homeland, revealing where their loyalties lay. Same held true with Germans who no longer lived in Germany (which brings up the point that it wasn’t just those of Japanese ancestry who were interned by the Department of Justice- of the 31 thousand enemy aliens from Axis nations, nearly half were European).

The conventional perspective, of course, is exemplified by the following passage from “Yankee Samurai“, by Joseph D. Harrington- a perspective that rings heroic for me, with selfless patriotism, bitter sorrow, honor and conflicted loyalty, and unconditional love and service to country:

“Before leaving New Guinea, Walter Tanaka had faced up to a major crisis in his life. He had done everything he could to dissuade his angry and disappointed father from renouncing the U.S. and returning to Japan. This was not easy to do while soaking wet in a foxhole with the enemy shooting at you. The moisture on Walt’s face was more than rain when he read what he feared was his father’s last letter on a painful subject.

America had disappointed him. Tunejiro Tanaka told his son, as he recounted the family troubles. He intended to go back to Japan as soon as he could. But, he had other ideas concerning Walter. ‘When a tiger dies, he leaves his skin,’ Tunejiro wrote, quoting an old Japanese adage, ‘but when a man dies he leaves only his name. America has rejected me, and I am going back to my native country, Japan. You, however, are to stay in America. It is your country. Defend it. I charge you not to do anything that will dishonor my name.”
-Ch. 12, pg 258

And we are all proud of the selfless patriotism and heroism of Nisei who found themselves in the unfortunate circumstance of having to prove their loyalty, fighting for a country that uprooted and held their families in internment camps.

To my knowledge, the all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat Team remains the most highly decorated unit in American military history. And those Japanese-Americans who acted as translators for military intelligence played a large role in saving lives by winning/shortening the war.

Today, civil rights activists want to draw parallels between the Japanese-American experience of then to that of Muslim-Americans, today.

Vigilance against prejudice is ok; but we shouldn’t be crammed with so much political correctness as to throw common sense out the window.

Profiling is not the worst evil in the world. It is a logical process of identification. You do this naturally in your everyday activity. If I see someone wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt concert, the natural conclusion for me to reach is that, chances are, the guy’s a fan of their music. I could be wrong, sure. But percentage-wise, I’m probably correct in my initial assessment, without yet verifying and confirming.

There are all kinds of profiling: Racial/ethnic, national, religious, behavioral…

The act of profiling doesn’t mean you automatically are thinking “guilty before proven innocent”.

If a certain terror cult had a strange fixation with wearing Casio F91W wrist-watches, it only follows that one should scrutinize those wearing the favored watch more closely than those without; it does not mean that ALL and even MOST people who choose to wear that watch are terrorists. It’s just one clue on a list of potential traits to be on the lookout for.

The fear of racial/ethnic/religious/national profiling- of being labeled “racist”- failed to protect us against 9/11 terrorists. Ronald Kessler’s The Terrorist Watch, pg 30-31, pg 33:

When he wrote the Phoenix memo, Williams was investigating an individual who was a member of the al-Muahjiroun, an Islamic extremist group whose spiritual leader was a supporter of bin Laden. The man was taking aviation-related security courses at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Why was he interested in aviation security? Perhaps so he could hijack a plane, Williams thought. Others taking flight training could have the same nefarious purpose.

Headquarters passed the memo off to low-level analysts, who wondered whether interviewing Middle Eastern men taking flight lessons or aviation security courses would raise issues of racial profiling.

~~~

the FBI operated in a politically correct atmosphere that Congress, the Clinton Administration, and the media fostered. Focusing on Arab men was a no-no.

In Defense of Internment, pg XXVIII-XXIX:

Williams recommendation to canvas flight schools was rejected, FBI director Robert Mueller later admitted, partly because at least one agency offical raised concerns that the plan could be viewed as discriminatory racial profiling. “If we went out and started canvassing, we’d get in trouble for targeting Arab Americans,” one FBI official told the Los Angeles Times.

To be sure, the Phoenix memo was not enough to warn of the 9/11 plot (Williams himself only marked the memo for “routine” attention and never dreamt of the possibility of hijackers flying planes into buildings); but what is revealed is the aversion to conduct the kind of profiling that would raise the hackles of civil rights groups.

And today, we are still hamstrung by our political correctness sensitivities and fear to offend, as demonstrated by the Ft. Hood shooting (and what have we here….5 U.S. soldiers plotting together?!). That one should have been preventable.

So long as this remains the case, we will treat grandmothers and young, Middle-Eastern men in their 20’s with equal levels of scrutiny, taking off belts and shoes, and being prevented to bring aboard a simple gift like a snow globe. Because discrimination is such a naughty word and profiling an act of great evil and injustice.

When civil liberty activists hyperventilate about “That’s profiling!”

My answer, in classic Cheney-fashion, is…

“So?”

“I think he should, if the standard is the one set by [Trent Lott],” Steele said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked if Reid should resign his post. Trent Lott resigned his post as Majority Leader in 2002 after praising Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential candidacy during a birthday celebration for the 100-year-old South Carolinian.

Mark Halperin and John Heliemann report in their new book, “Game Change,” that Reid said during the campaign he thought Obama could win because, while black, he was “light-skinned” and lacked a “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.

And here is Kyl on the Sunday shows:

And:

“What’s interesting here, is when Democrats get caught saying racist things, an apology is enough. If that had been [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saying that about an African-American candidate for president of the president of the United States, trust me, this chairman and the [Democratic National Committee] would be screaming for his head, very much as they were with Trent Lott.”

Problem is…..what if he does step down and someone electable is put in his place like Dodd did?

So do we really want him to step down seeing as how Reid will probably get his ass handed to him next election?

UPDATE

Just received this from The Tea Party Express:

The Tea Party Express (www.TeaPartyExpress.org…) will begin running a new television ad campaign calling for the defeat of Senator Harry Reid this Monday, January 11th.

The TV ads will air throughout the entire state of Nevada during the week and the total expenditure of the ad buy will surpass $100,000. This is the latest wave in a $1 million campaign that the Tea Party Express, and it’s PAC – the Our Country Deserves Better Committee, have committed to defeating Senator Reid’s re-election bid.

“By the end of this week we will have spent in excess of $250,000 in our campaign to defeat Harry Reid,” said Levi Russell, Communications Director for the Tea Party Express.

Anyone who has read Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals, knows that Garofalo’s statement is either demonstrably false, or just plain racist.

Sowell, a fellow at The Hoover Institution and a prolific author (who happens to be black himself) actually documents the origins and evolution of the redneck culture. He makes the excellent, and unchallenged point that the inner-city culture celebrated by many blacks today is, in fact, derived directly from the redneck culture – which had its origins in England.

People migrating to America’s south from the largely fringe areas of England, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland brought with them certain cultural values: Proneness to violence, aversion to work, neglect of education, sexual promiscuity, improvidence, drunkenness, lack of entrepreneurship, lively music and dance, style of religious oratory, touchy pride, boastful self-dramatization and vanity. These traits describe what came to be known as the redneck culture, and the people who exhibited these traits were labeled rednecks or crackers.

During the civil war era, 90% of blacks in America lived in the south. They adopted many of the traits associated with this ‘redneck culture,’ which they then spread across America as they migrated after the civil war.  As Dr. Sowell so persuasively argues, these cultural differences were the actual basis of what we today label racism. Originally, what we now consider racism was an objection to cultural differences, not skin color.

Fast forward to the 1960’s. Along came the liberals. Social do-gooders who ushered in the welfare state and altered the criminal justice system to conform to their own version of social justice. This allowed many of these counter-productive cultural traits to flourish. Among both blacks and whites.

Many of the traits that are associated with the redneck culture have since died out in England, and many parts of the south. But many of the black Americans who chose to follow the media anointed spokespersons for blacks, Revs. $harpton and Jackson, have kept the redneck culture alive in many parts of America’s inner-cities and ghettos. They mistakenly believe they are celebrating their own African-American culture.

Anyone who dares object to these negative cultural traits is routinely accused of racism. Which is apparently a worse offense than allowing and fostering generations of blacks to adopt racism against all whites. (As author David Horowitz outlines so well in his book, Hating Whitey.)

So Janeane, for the sake of the social justice you so ardently advocate, I expect you should publicly apologize to all blacks for calling them rednecks. You were not just dissing conservatives, you were dissing millions of black Americans, many of whom were among the tea-party protestors. As this video clearly shows.

Three very public mea culpas should be sufficient. As atonement, we suggest you attend Hillsdale College for a full semester. Being one of the only two colleges in America that accept no federal funds, you will be exposed to courses on American History, the glories of Western Civilization and the value of capitalism. And a refreshing lack of liberal orthodoxy.

We won’t hold our breaths. Most conservatives remain grounded in facts and reality. The same  reality the left continually redefines to suit their own purposes. We know that as long as one is a vocal supporter of leftist ideology, no explanations, facts, or mea culpas are required. Almost makes me want to be a liberal.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represented the imams, said the settlement is “a victory for civil rights.”

“The six imams are pleased,” Hooper said. “Their rights were maintained by the settlement.”

This is no victory for civil rights. These imams gave reasonable cause for alarm, based as much upon behavioral profiling as much as religious and ethnic profiling. The settlement sends a message that favors stupidity over safety:

That lawsuit has now been settled out of court for an undisclosed amount — which might serve the defendants’ short-term interests but carries a long-term price for air safety.

Consider what the pilot and police knew, or thought they knew, at the time: Passengers reported the men had been praying loudly in the terminal, chanting “Allah, Allah” and cursing U.S. policies in Iraq. Once on board, the men took separate seats in the cabin’s front, middle and back. Two imams asked for seat belt extenders, which include a heavy metal buckle that could be used as a weapon, but left them on the floor. The pilot was told that three of the men had one-way tickets. A passenger who spoke Arabic said one imam expressed fundamentalist views. All told, the imams’ actions appeared to be either intentionally provocative or clueless as to how others might perceive them in the aftermath of 9/11.

Yet, after a federal judge ruled in July that the defendants could be liable for civil damages and authorities lacked probable cause to detain the imams, the airline and airport operators settled the case last week, without admitting any wrongdoing.

While the settlement spared them the uncertainly and expense of a trial, it could have a chilling effect on the ability of airline crews and officials to protect passengers from a perceived threat. Pilots have to make quick, tough judgment calls: Take off with frightening suspicions unresolved or err on the side of caution. The only way to determine whether a real threat existed was to remove the clerics from the plane and investigate.

In this case, some of the initial suspicions proved unfounded. It turned out that the imams, who had been attending a religious conference in Minneapolis, didn’t have one-way tickets and hadn’t changed their seat assignments, as first thought. They denied making remarks about Saddam Hussein or U.S. involvement in Iraq. Even so, that was the information available to the captain when he had to make a “go/no go” decision. Airlines and airport authorities need flexibility to act in the interest of safety without worrying about being sued.

This case was especially troubling because the imams initially attempted to drag into their lawsuit an unknown number of passengers and airline employees who had raised concerns. They were dismissed as potential defendants just before Congress enacted a law to give immunity to people who report suspicious behavior.

Ethnic profiling is wrong and violates American values. “Flying while Muslim” is no more an offense than “driving while black,” the common complaint of African Americans pulled over without credible cause. In this case, though, it was primarily the imams’ behavior that led to their detention.

I would disagree that ethnic profiling is “the big evil” that it is made out to be. I think we’ve become overly sensitive on matters of race. There is a certain logic to racial, religious, and national profiling- to all types of profiling- that have nothing to do with racism, religious bigotry, or national prejudice.

If there were a terror cult whose immediate, recognizably identifiable trait was a love for wearing white t-shirts and an addiction to sporting Casio F91W watches, then it would make sense to pay attention to those wearing white t’s and Casio F91Ws. It doesn’t mean you believe every frikkin’ person on planet earth wearing white t-shirts and a particular brand of watch is part of the terror cult; you’d even concede that the majority of people wearing white T’s and those Casios are not terrorists. But they are a part of the list of traits you have every reason to be looking for in a member of the cult. It warrants further investigation.

I do however, agree with the conclusion of the article post:

It would be sad if this settlement prompted others to act out in hopes of cashing in. And it could be tragic if it prevented passengers from speaking up, or airline crews from acting, when they have reasonable suspicions.

And I also agree with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser:

countering Islamism and combating Islamist terrorism should be a greater public responsibility for the organized American Muslim community than the obsession with civil rights and victimization in which current Islamist organizations like CAIR engage, and says the credibility of the Muslim community suffers because groups such as CAIR, ISNA, and the North American Imams Federation deny the interplay between Islamism and terrorism

Case in point, Chris Good and his little diddy at The Atlantic, “It’s Not (overtly) About Race”.

Centerpiece to the headline, and content of his op-ed, is James Carville and Stanley Greenberg’s polling/strategy/research firm, Democracy Corps, and it’s 18 pg study, “The Very Separate World of Conservative Republicans: Why Republican Leaders will have Trouble Speaking to the Rest of America” released Oct 16th, 2009.

Here the disconnect between Good’s op-ed, and the actual content of the study begin. Good has chosen to focus on race and racism… and dances around the study’s finding that the discontent of “weak” partisans… Republican and Independents… appears to have nothing to do with race.

From the Carville groups research document:

Race: Get Over It

In the wake of Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during the president’s joint session health care address and other strident personal and political attacks against President Obama, many in the media and Democratic circles advanced an explanation that this virulent opposition is rooted in racism and reactions to President Obama as an African American president. With this possibility in mind, we allowed for extended open ended discussion on Obama (including visuals of him speaking) among voters – older, non-college, white, and conservative – who were most race conscious and score highest on scales measuring racial prejudice.

Race was barely raised, certainly not what was bothering them about President Obama. In fact, some of these voters talked about feeling some pride at his election.

They were conscious of the charge that opposition to Obama is racially motivated and that bothered conservative Republicans and independents alike. They basically could not let it go and returned to this issue again and again throughout our conversations across myriad topics.

You can’t openly criticize Obama. If you do, you’ll be labeled as a racist.

Whatever we say about Obama, no matter what we say about him, it is a racial comment so you know, we can’t say anything, we personally do not like him. I don’t care if he is purple, but whatever we say we’re racist.

As far as a person goes, I don’t want to say I hate him. I don’t like what he stands for… and I don’t like what he is doing and the choices he is making, but I mean I don’t know him as a gentleman so… You would be called a racist. You would not like him because he is black. That is what the media is saying.

They see this as a personal rights issue because the racism charge is being used to prevent them from fulfilling their duty to stand up to Obama and his agenda. They see no difference in the opposition Obama faces and the opposition other liberals have faced, because they believe it is based in the same unwavering, bedrock conservative principles that have always led them to oppose liberal policies. The only factor that has changed is the race of the leader being criticized.

Indeed, in the summary introduction from a very liberal/progressive based firm, they discounted racism as the foundation for Obama discontent.

Instead of focusing on these intense ideological divisions, the press and elites continue to look for a racial element that drives these voters’ beliefs – but they need to get over it. Conducted on the heels of Joe Wilson’s incendiary comments at the president’s joint session address, we gave these groups of older, white Republican base voters in Georgia full opportunity to bring race into their discussion – but it did not ever become a central element, and indeed, was almost beside the point.

Bad juju for the devout community organizers, masquerading as reporters or journalists, in these times. To them, removing the ability to label opposition “racist” to advance their agenda is akin to sending a soldier out on the field armed with a water pistol.

So Chris Good leaps in on behalf of the O’faithful to start reinterpreting what staunch members of his own political bent have wrought. And he lays out his game plan in his headline by inserting the word, “overtly”.

This does not mean, conclusively, that racism is absent from anti-Obama politics. Asserting that’s the case means taking up a patently false assumption about racism: that it’s always overt. Democracy Corps’ report seems to walk that line, even if it doesn’t cross it.

Racism is about complex systems of recognition, categorization, and association. If you ask someone what they think about Obama, and they don’t say, “I dislike him because he’s black,” it’s not quite safe to check the “not racist” box and move on. Quiet conclusions are often made–and they can be just as racist as the ones spoken aloud.

So the fact that no one brought up race doesn’t necessarily force a conclusion on the matter.

Yowza… do you think Mr. Good is lobbying for a slot on the Norway Nobel Peace Prize committee? (i.e. “intent” and not “actions”) It’s not conclusive because racism isn’t always “overt”??

Or perhaps Mr. Good elevates himself to a more pious position as a deity, assuming that he… or others… can gaze into a soul and pronounce them “racists” despite any attitude or evidence to the contrary, merely because those feelings may not be “overt”.

Serious chutzpah. But even more laughable is the … if I may so say myself… *overt* desperation to backpeddle on a popular O’faithful weapon of words.

That’s all the time I intend to give to a perhaps-less-than-*overt*-potential-racist. But I will say the rest of the study conducted by Democracy Corps was downright interesting, tho not surprising.

I would anticipate the next twisting of results to center not in Good’s desperate attempt to resurrect racism, but to use it to cast the O’discontent as mildly conspiratorial…. an attempt that may prove difficult in light of Obama’s own track record (now that he *has* one).

Naturally, the first to jump on the “conspiracy” bandwagon is MSNBC

Yeah… what a surprise…. But now to the source of the spin. The study itself.

The study breaks the avenues of disagreement under “pillars”, “…driven by doubt and fear over his agenda and methods”:

Pillar #1 – Deception and a Hidden Agenda (pg 5 of 18)

Pillar #2 – Speed (pg 7 of 18)

Pillar #3 – Driving Government to the Brink and Total Control (pg 7 of 18)

Pillar #4 – The Ultimate Goal: Socialism and End to Liberties (pg 8 of 18)

Rather than place extensive blockquotes for each of these pillars, I urge you to read the study in full…. aka RTFA. But I will summarize, merely for discussion purposes.

Pillar #1 reveals these participants believe as Rush Limbaugh originally said… they are rooting for the failure to implement Obama’s policies because they do not believe them to be in the nation’s best interest. Most genuinely believe Obama’s own promise to “remake” America, and see his policies designed to thwart the very foundations of our country.

There is also distrust of Obama’s associations – which he has, in his own words, invited us to scrutinize. They are speaking specifically of those that have guided and directed Obama to the highest position in the nation.

The below, however, is a worthy quote from this “deception” pillar:

These conservative Republican base voters were not just shooting off half-cocked theories about conspiracies. They actively believe President Obama is purposely lying about his plans for the country and what his policies would do, and that he is exaggerating the threats America faces in order to create support for his policies. A key component to this deception is a pattern of always telling people what they want to hear, regardless of the truth.

Pillar #2 essentially substantiates Pillar #1… the speed with which Obama pressures Congress to push thru legislation in a willy nilly fashion, and sans debate and scrutiny not only in the chambers, but among the populus.

Pillar #3 is the belief that Obama’s accomplishments of the preceding pillars is the concerted effort to induce a greater reliance on government in all facets of our lives. Such dependence, accomplished by driving the country almost impossibly deep into debt, would result in the loss of liberties merely for economic survival. 92% believe Obama is a big spender, and only 17% believed he had good plans for the economy.

Key to the beliefs was the deep aversion to government control…. or as the study wanted to put it, fear of two things… government *and* control.

Fear of government control is at the heart of virtually all of the concerns raised by these voters about Obama’s agenda, and it is literally a fear of two things – government and control. They see government as inefficient, ineffective, and corrupt and believe it preys on the middle class and ‘hard-working Americans.’

~~~

Even more concerning than the waste and corruption of government for these voters is the inexorable movement of government toward controlling an ever increasing share of our economic marketplace, as well as our individual lives.

The beliefs of the first three pillars… an agenda of deception, the speed and secrecy of that agenda, an aversion to being controlled by an inefficient and wasteful government… bring the participants to Pillar #4 – the natural conclusion that ultimate government control will result in a socialized America.

They exhaustively cite examples of this strategy at work, starting with the bank bailouts, the takeovers of Chrysler and GM, and foreclosure assistance making homeowners dependent on government for their homes. Another example repeatedly raised by conservative Republicans that undoubtedly reflects the power of FOX News and conservative commentators among these voters was their concern over President Obama’s policy ‘czars’ wielding power over every issue with no accountability.

~~~

The final, and in many ways most important, piece of evidence they cite is the planned government takeover of health care. The notion that Obama’s health care reforms represent a government takeover of all aspects of health care is an article of faith; they reject as laughable the suggestion that it might not, pointing to his arguments to the contrary as further proof of his determination to lie and deceive to fulfill his ultimate agenda. Even after a description of the health care reform plan in our recent polling, these conservative Republican base voters reject it by a 59-point margin, with nearly two-thirds (64 percent) strongly opposed to reform (77 percent total opposed).

Also buried in Pillar #4 (pg 9) is notables about non-partisan independents expressing similar concerns as the Republican, such as the speed, the spending, and the lack of a clear plan on the economy and jobs. Some of the differences lie in beliefs that Obama would work in a bipartisan fashion, and see him as a strong (if not correct and defined) leader.

Guaranteed to bring liberal disdain is pg 11, where the participants state they believe they are better informed than most Americans.

Several of the women particularly talked about becoming a sort of truth police, spending a great deal of their personal time and energy watching FOX to get the real stories, then turning to CNN, MSNBC, and the networks to document their failure to cover the “real truth.” It was unclear what they did with this information once gathered, other than share it with others within this group.

When it came to the media, only Beck received adulation… most especially among the women. Limbaugh came in with mixed reviews:

Beyond FOX News in general, they have mixed feelings about conservative media figures, but they are grateful for talk radio as the only major outlet, other than FOX, where conservative voices can be heard. Rush Limbaugh, in particular, was greeted with mixed reviews. On the one hand, they recognize his role as a pioneer of sorts and view him as a principled conservative who is willing to speak his mind regardless of the consequences.

~~~

On the other hand, they believe his sensationalism and arrogance can obscure the power of the ideas he champions. They clearly embrace the message more than the messenger.

DOH! Someone better tell the liberals that Rush has lost his de facto “head of the Republican Party” to the Independent Glenn Beck… LOL

It’s also noted that the disappointment in the Republican Party is prevalent throughout the study.

Conservative Republicans in our groups could not have been more negative in discussing their own party. They see the Republican Party as ineffective and rudderless, controlled by a class of political professionals who have lost touch with not only the people but the conservative values that should guide them.

~~~

The disconnect these partisans see between the party leadership and the party faithful is at the root of their discontent. They have no intention of leaving the party per se – they still believe it is the best and only means of opposing Obama and the Democratic Congress – but they also have little confidence in its current direction or leadership, and there is an emotional distance that can be damaging.

Yes… one interesting study. And I have to applaud the heart of capitalism. I mean, someone actually paid for these guys to interview and write up viewpoints that anyone can read for free on any conservative blog… ahem, like Flopping Aces?

But I find it refreshing that Carville/Greenberg and their research finally led them to some truths… that this is *not* about race. It’s about questioning the less than honest and (dare I say it…) *overt* agenda, the speed of that agenda, the debt creating massive government dependence, and the lack of honesty about the end game.

And these are all legitimate issues that I believe most Americans have no qualms in discussing.

In the Age of Obama, racism has no place in America. Therefore, if a white girl wins a beauty pageant at a historically all-black university, it will be celebrated as a historic first; or, not made a big deal of at all, since she would have been judged upon the merits of her beauty, regardless of the color of her skin. As the previous pageant winner, Patrece Parson, expresses it, she was

‘very shocked’ at the judge’s choice of a white woman, adding: ‘We’ve never had one before’.

Hmmm….I wonder if she had the same “very shocked” reaction at the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land, as “we’ve never had one before” [i.e., a "black" president].

In Kinston North Carolina, in Barack’s America, comes news of the following:

Voters in this small city decided overwhelmingly last year to do away with the party affiliation of candidates in local elections, but the Obama administration recently overruled the electorate and decided that equal rights for black voters cannot be achieved without the Democratic Party.

The Justice Department’s ruling, which affects races for City Council and mayor, went so far as to say partisan elections are needed so that black voters can elect their “candidates of choice” – identified by the department as those who are Democrats and almost exclusively black.

The department ruled that white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate black voters’ right to elect the candidates they want.

Ok, not only is this condescending toward black voters, not only is it politically partisan, but it is also absolutely a racist position and attitude for the Justice Department to hold. It’s an outrage! So if most black politicians happen to be in the Democratic Party, voters need to be made aware that the skin color of who they elect is important, as well as party affiliation? What about an individual candidate’s ideas and policy position?

It is a myth that the Republican Party has a greater history of racism. And given the race-baiting, race-profiteering, and racial identity politics that are perpetuated by the Democratic Party, I’d say the Democrats to this day are the ones with a prevalence of racist attitudes. And it is also based upon holding onto political power:

“it is a plain fact of American political life today that Democrats are completely dependent on black votes. The day African Americans stop casting 80 to 95 percent of their votes for Democrats is the day Democrats stop winning elections.”- Mona Charen, Do-Gooders

Whites can migrate from party to party; but blacks are required to register themselves on the Democrat plantation? And if an American town votes to do away with party affiliation in local elections, blacks are basically too dumb not to vote for the candidate who they can identify with ideologically and policy-wise? They have to know who is a Democrat? How condescendingly racist.

Stephen LaRoque, a former Republican state lawmaker who led the drive to end partisan local elections, called the Justice Department’s decision “racial as well as partisan.”

“On top of that, you have an unelected bureaucrat in Washington, D.C., overturning a valid election,” he said. “That is un-American.”

The decision, made by the same Justice official who ordered the dismissal of a voting rights case against members of the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia, has irritated other locals as well. They bristle at federal interference in this city of nearly 23,000 people, two-thirds of whom are black.

In interviews in sleepy downtown Kinston – a place best known as a road sign on the way to the Carolina beaches – residents said partisan voting is largely unimportant because people are personally acquainted with their elected officials and are familiar with their views.

“To begin with, ‘nonpartisan elections’ is a misconceived and deceiving statement because even though no party affiliation shows up on a ballot form, candidates still adhere to certain ideologies and people understand that, and are going to identify with who they feel has their best interest at heart,” said William Cooke, president of the Kinston/Lenoir County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Mr. Cooke said his group does not take a position on this issue and would not disclose his personal stance, but expressed skepticism about the Justice Department’s involvement.

Others noted the absurdity of partisan elections since Kinston is essentially a one-party city anyway; no one among more than a half-dozen city officials and local residents was able to recall a Republican winning office here.

Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar denied that the decision was intended to help the Democratic Party. He said the ruling was based on “what the facts are in a particular jurisdiction” and how it affects blacks’ ability to elect the candidates they favor.

“The determination of who is a ‘candidate of choice’ for any group of voters in a given jurisdiction is based on an analysis of the electoral behavior of those voters within a particular jurisdiction,” he said.

Critics on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights are not so sure. “The Voting Rights Act is supposed to protect against situations when black voters are locked out because of racism,” said Abigail Thernstrom, a Republican appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “There is no entitlement to elect a candidate they prefer on the assumption that all black voters prefer Democratic candidates.”

So now instead of being “locked out because of racism”, they are being “locked in”, on account of racism and a desire on the part of Democrats to retain political power over “the black vote”.

Welcome to Barack’s post-racial America: An Obamanation, indeed.

Maybe they were right….racism still is a big problem:

A university student has provoked a race storm after she was crowned as the first white winner of a beauty pageant at a predominantly black university.

Nikole Churchill claimed she was subjected to racial abuse after she won the pageant at Hampton University in Virginia.

She was so outraged that she wrote to U.S. President Barack Obama complaining of her treatment, saying: ‘I feel as though you could relate to my situation’.

~~~

Hampton University is one of around 80 ‘black’ universities in the U.S., initially founded to promote diversity and education among minorities.

~~~

The five judges crowned her over the nine other contestants – all of whom were black. She was the first white woman to win the title at the university.

But the backlash began almost immediately, with some of the audience walking out of the auditorium as the announcement was made. In a traditional winners’ photograph, two of the black runners-up are seen scowling into the camera.

The next day Ms Churchill was heckled at a university football game. Previous winner Patrece Parson said she was ‘very shocked’ at the judge’s choice of a white woman, adding: ‘We’ve never had one before’.

Ya think the Sharpton’s and Jackson’s would of been in front of the nations camera’s if the roles had been reversed?

White’s walking out of a auditorium because a black woman won the contest…..oh boy, I could just hear the shrill cries of racism.

But no big deal when it’s a white person being the victim.

Racism exists and will exist until the human race is no more. But to deny, or minimize, the racism that occurs by some races, while over-emphasizing some others, does nothing to help get rid of the problem.

This is racism, plain and simple. And what do the blacks do at the college? Explain it away.

NAACP fears appointment of white or Republican mayor if Dixon is convicted

Leaders of the Maryland NAACP, worried that a Baltimore mayor’s criminal conviction could result in the appointment of a white or Republican leader who may not fully represent the majority black and Democratic city, are asking state lawmakers to strip the governor of authority to permanently fill the office.

The request, made in a resolution adopted at a state meeting of the civil rights group last weekend, marks the first time a mainstream organization has raised questions about succession should Baltimore Mayor Dixon be convicted of any of the nine charges she faces. Dixon has been indicted for theft and perjury and the first of two trials is scheduled for early next month.

“There is that possibility of a conviction, and we want to know those protocols that are in place,” said Elbridge James, the political action chairman of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “If it looks like it is going to rain, I am going to buy an umbrella.”

Still, it is not clear that the resolution or a law change is warranted. According to Dan Friedman, an assistant attorney general who is counsel to the General Assembly, the governor does not have the authority to make an appointment.

Instead, the state constitution defers to the city’s charter, he said, which elevates the city council president to be mayor in case of a vacancy. That’s how Dixon became mayor in 2007 after Martin O’Malley, her predecessor, was elected governor.

Marvin L. Cheatham, the president of the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, introduced the resolution because he heard an attorney on a radio program discussing a lack of clarity on succession if Dixon were to be convicted and sentenced.

“Our concern is who would the governor appoint?” Cheatham said. “Here you have a predominantly African-American city. What if the governor appointed somebody white? … Would he appoint someone Irish to be the mayor?”

Cheatham also said he worried that a future Republican governor could appoint someone from his party to lead a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 9 to 1. “Would not the Republican governor have the ability to pick a Republican mayor?” he asked. “We just think there are some unanswered questions about the process,” Cheatham said.

The resolution passed “nearly unanimously” with little debate from the 150 or so delegates who attended the meeting, James said. It lays out two options, asking either for the governor to defer to the city’s charter and elevate the city council president to mayor; or a revision to state law to prevent an emergency mayoral appointee by the governor to run for the office in the next election.

It is 2009, and a black man has reached the most powerful position in this country. How does this fact change race relations in America? What is being done differently among both races in this country? Sadly, very little. Unfortunately race is still very much an issue in this country, but not in the way a liberal might think. Enter Congressman Hank Johnson and race bating Maxine Waters asking the media to investigate “birthers and the tea baggers” at rallies for their “racist views.” So now any opposition to Socialism and out of control spending is labeled racist by the libs.

One of the most fundamental right of a democracy is the right to criticize your leaders. And these attempt by the Democratic Party to eradicate this and make Obama unable to be criticized is a very dangerous concept at best. Taken to it’s logical conclusion, then the only politician or group of people open to criticism will be white men. And at that point, not only will free speech be threatened, but Democracy will also be in danger. The reason why liberals are okay with this is the same reason why liberals embraced Chavez and for the same reason they embraced Stalin in the 30’s and 40’s. They believe in socialism and care more about that then in free speech or the welfare of their country.

Most of the rest of America understands the danger in this course of action and will refuse to cower. Race relations thus, in the next three years, will go downhill. For you cannot have it both ways. You cannot expect to end racism and then practice it by reminding people of your race when it is politically convenient and expect a double standard to be accepted without resentment. You cannot claim to want to have a colorblind society when you refuse to be colorblind yourself. This also extrapolates to our culture at large, as affirmative action, the BET, and King’s vision are on opposite sides of the spectrum of this debate. Are there two sets of standards of justice? Absolutely, especially in the media. Notice the different coverage of the Philadelphia swim club and the Marshall attack at Firestone Stadium. Without a doubt there is white racism and that is reprehensible. But a failure to treat all racism by the same moral code will only ensure our society is never colorblind.

The truth is, there is no end game for the race peddlers like Sharpton and Jackson and their ilk in the NAACP, and that should lead to some troubling questions. For instance:

Should a ethnic group with who now holds the highest office in the country still need their own institutional racism in the name of their own network, magazine, month, and institutionalized reverse discrimination called affirmative action? And how does reverse discrimination help to heal the racial divide among this country? By their very nature, I believe these groups contribute to the very problem they claim they were created to prevent. When you start off by doing (discriminating, in this case against whites by affirmative action) what you claim to be opposing (discrimination) you do nothing to solve your problem in the long term. You can’t have it both ways, it is either bad to discriminate or it isn’t. This is the same logic that makes liberals more outraged when a white guy beats up a black then when a black kills a black. This is the same logic that allows N.O.W. to march for the rights to kill babies and for gay rights but stays silent on actual abuses in the Muslim world. This is the same logic that allows liberals to march to support a relatively minor event (Jena) when their own young are being killed by the tens of thousands every year in our inner cities. Which event hurts the black community more? But that is black on black, so Sharpton does not care. It only matters if race plays a part, for there are no political points to gain on black on black crimes. And this my friends, is why liberals never fix anything and often are more destructive then any white bigot to the black community. They won’t confront any real problem that violates their simple, politically correct view of the world.

Race peddlers like Sharpton are silent on the issues of the death of the black family, the devaluation of education in the urban community, and the negative influence of gang culture. Sure, racism exists and it is a problem, but it is not just race guys. Racism was a lot worse decades ago and blacks were not killing each other by the thousands and they most likely had a dad in their family. And they were not incarcerated at the present rate. And don’t talk about slavery, because that was a lot closer to the age of slavery and again, the black on black killings, and the incarceration was a lot lower and more families had fathers. But don’t look for Sharpton to say much on that subject. Until the groups like the NAACP find the courage to fight the root causes of the plight of urban community, the current start of the black family is unlikely to get any better.

The double standard of race will, in the end, not only fail to fix the problem, but in the end will hurt blacks as it will weaken the term as many whites will tire of the race card being played when it is politically convenient. Freeman is right. The obsession with black and white are obstacles to overcoming racism. Obviously there are levels, and not all actions are equal, as Black history month is nowhere near morally equivalent to the destructive actions by some of the racists in the KKK, but I still believe it divides America nevertheless. For the simple truth is that if you stop calling a black person black, he suddenly becomes a person. And as long as either side is allowed to discriminate freely, as long as the standard of right and wrong is influenced on both sides by the color of the skin, it just sows the seeds of hate for a different generation. Dr. King had it right. People should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. This is the only thing that will end racism. And for both sides it remains a dream.

Pelosi came near to tears when she said the following on Thursday, after a questioner wondered whether the current debate on healthcare could lead to violence and domestic terrorism:

“I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco, this kin(d) of rhetoric. … It created a climate in which violence took place. … I wish we would all curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements and understand that some of the ears that it is falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statements may assume.”

~~~

“Our country is great because people can say what they think and they believe. But I also think that they have to take responsibility for any incitement that they may cause,”

~~~

“I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made,”

Yes, we should ALL curb some of what we say and take responsibility for “any incitement” that we may cause. You wouldn’t want to sound like a hypocrite, now, would you?

In a fundraising e-mail letter from the DCCC, Nancy Pelosi blames Republicans for the shouting and the falsehoods.

Here’s the fundraising email:

Dear Friend,

If this summer proved anything, it showed how urgently we must stand together to restore civility to our politics and help President Obama seize this historic moment for health insurance reform in America.

You have already taken a stand against the Republicans’ attempt to shout down President Obama and restore civility in Washington. For that, I cannot thank you enough.

We have entered the make-or-break month. The media is closely watching to see which side has the momentum. With the Republicans already claiming victory for trying to silence respectful debate, it is up to grassroots Democrats to show the world that no amount of shouting can drown out our determination to enact health insurance reform.

Show the world that no amount of Republican shouting can drown out our determination to help President Obama reform health insurance. Contribute $5, $10 or more to our Million Dollar Match today and your gift will be matched 2-to-1, tripling its impact.

In his eloquent call for action last week before a joint session of Congress, President Obama called on us to “replace acrimony with civility.” He reiterated his call to restore civility to Washington during his interview on “60 Minutes” this weekend. Yet, our opponents continue their name-calling in a cynical attempt to derail these reforms.

The Republican defenders of the status quo are shouting because they understand that this is the toughest Midterm Election that Democrats have ever faced. They also understand that this is a critical month for health insurance reform and they are trying to deal a serious blow to President Obama’s agenda for moving America forward.

Show the world that no amount of Republican shouting can drown out our determination to help President Obama reform health insurance. Contribute $5, $10 or more to our Million Dollar Match today and your gift will be matched 2-to-1, tripling its impact.

It is urgent that we stand together as Democrats. With all eyes on the coming Midterm Elections, let us use this critical September deadline to show the world just how prepared we are to maintain a strong Democratic Majority for President Obama so he can keep America moving in a New Direction.

Thank you.

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House

P.S. The Republicans recognize that September is the make-or-break month for health insurance reform. That is why they have increased their shouting and their false attacks on President Obama. It is urgent that we stand together.

Contribute to our Million Dollar Match today and House Democrats will match your generosity 2-to-1, tripling its impact.

Joe Wilson’s been made the poster-boy punching bag for GOP incivility, despite the fact that Joe Wilson himself immediately called and apologized to the President for his trespass of decorum; and in spite of the fact that he was correct in the substance of what prompted his outburst.

When will Pelosi and fellow Democratic leaders take responsibility for the incitement they are causing?

Hmmm…funny when even supporters of President Obama’s agenda to remake America are making the Hitler comparison.

Harry Reid proud of his labeling protesters of Obamacare as “evil-mongers”:

the Senate majority leader invoked the e-word himself last week at an energy conference in Las Vegas, where he accused those protesting President Barack Obama’s health-care proposals of being “evil mongers.” So proud was he of this contribution to the American political lexicon that he repeated it to a reporter the next day and noted the phrase was “an original.”

Rep Maxine Waters calling some Senators “neanderthals”:

“Not only are we going to do everything we can to organize and put pressure on the senators — some of whom are Neanderthals — we’re going to say to the president, ‘We want you to use every weapon in your basket in order to get those senators to do what they should be doing,’ “

Rep. Brian Baird:

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics. I mean that very seriously.”

Rep Pete “Get the f**k out of here or I’ll throw you out the window” Stark in a display of class and civility to his constituency:

“I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn’t be worth wasting the urine,”

Rep. David Scott

Scott lost his temper and began yelling at a crowd that included two people who came forward during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting to ask Scott about his stance on the health care plan proposed by the White House and being debated on Capitol Hill.

Rep Hank Johnson:

“I guess we’ll have folks putting on white hoods and robes again and riding through the countryside intimidating people.”

Former President Jimmy Carter accusing most of the protests as being motivated by racism:

Responding to an audience question at a town hall at his presidential center in Atlanta, Carter said Tuesday that Wilson’s outburst was also rooted in fears of a black president. “I think it’s based on racism,” Carter said. “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”

Did I forget anyone?

And Nancy Pelosi wants to feign outrage at GOP’s ratcheting up of the rhetoric and the incivility? She can’t even control her own self, let alone her fellow Democrats in congress.

Getty Images

Well, well, well….today’s the day we head over at the White House, where everybody knows their names:

President Obama will welcome a well-known scholar and the police officer who arrested him to the White House on Thursday, in an effort to put to an end the racially charged controversy caused by the arrest near Harvard University earlier this month.

Obama, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass., police are scheduled to gather over beers at a picnic table outside the Oval Office, joined by their families. The White House hopes the meeting will transform a public relations misstep for the nation’s first African American president into a “teachable moment” for improving the nation’s race relations.

Obama invited the two men to the White House on Friday, the same day he publicly expressed regret for saying July 22 at a nationally televised news conference that Cambridge police had “acted stupidly” by arresting Gates at his home. The remark ignited a backlash from conservative commentators and law enforcement officials, who accused Obama of speaking rashly and being anti-police.

That controversy caught the White House by surprise, and initially the president, a friend of Gates’s, stuck by his words. But as objections continued to build, Obama discussed it briefly with friends while at his Chicago home on Thursday, a White House official said. Later, he also discussed the issue with his wife — who was said to be as outraged by the arrest as he was — before deciding to step back from his original stand. Obama told reporters that both Crowley and Gates, who reportedly berated the officer, overreacted.

~~~

While Obama has recalibrated his original statement, several civil rights activists say his instincts were nonetheless correct. “Unfortunately his comments were misunderstood or less than clear,” said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “But I have not heard anyone who disagrees with the following statement: What happened in Skip Gates’s house should not have happened. It’s his home.”

~~~

The informal meeting, where White House officials said Obama will drink a Bud Light, Crowley a Blue Moon and Gates a Red Stripe, will not attempt to address larger racial issues in more than a symbolic way.

“I hope what is essentially a photo op will trigger a broader policy response,” said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights. “And it’s Congress’s role to take that on.”

~~~

Even as the two men agreed to meet again at the White House, Gates has remained consistent in his position that, when he was arrested July 16 for disorderly conduct (a charge that was later dropped), racial profiling occurred. And Crowley has remained consistent in his position that it did not.

I heard Gates Jr. still thinks he is owed an apology. Just him?

Here’s a thought: Get the three of these men punch drunk….then let’s see what really comes out of them. That would make for an “honest” conversation.

What do you think/predict should happen?

GIBBS: About an ongoing discussion racial issues in this country, I think because of who he is as president and because its obvious these issues are still very raw in our society, I think he believes that he can help bring these type of teachable moments to the forefront, allow our dialogue to take over and communicate better with each other and make society a little bit better because of it.

The tape of the 911 call was released. Something I’m sure President Obama was hoping wouldn’t happen, and whose effect he wished to deflect through charm and beer diplomacy. But unless professor Gates apologizes and president Obama apologizes, the teachable moment is lost to them. And progress in race relations will be retarded, thanks to these two knee-jerkers.

Apparently Crowley, Gates, and the “post-racial” president Obama will have their beer at the White House, 6pm Thursday. Maybe they can invite Whalen as well, given how her name’s been slandered through the mud with charges of racism.

So what was the teachable moment, here? Anyone? I want to hear what you, the reader, learned from all this.

(Don’t forget to calibrate your words carefully, now….)

Sophia A. Nelson:

As we all know by now, and as his remarks Friday indicate, President Obama is a cautious man, particularly when it comes to matters of race. But I was relieved to see that he did not “apologize” to the officer in question or the Cambridge police department.

~~~

The bottom line is that the president was right to speak out against racial injustice & racial profiling given this nation’s history with race and police brutality against black men.

President Obama should have calibrated his Friday remarks to offer a flatout apology to Crowley and the Cambridge police department for his earlier “ill-informed” presidential opinion. And then he should have apologized to the American public for exacerbating race relations in the United States.

The “trans-racial” president has been anything but “post-racial”. On the surface, he looks and sounds centrist, speaks of bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle, and pretends to be the American president, rather than “the black” president. But sitting in Reverend Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, President Obama can’t help himself, but be who he is: black first, American second.

There is a kind of racism that America has yet to overcome. And it is exemplified by President Obama. It is not based on hatred, but based on an an “over-emphasis” of racial identification. Of seeing oneself primarily in terms of skin color before all else.

President Obama can’t escape the influence he subjected himself to and gravitated toward all his life, in spite of his attempts to distance himself from Reverend Wright and other radical associations during the 2008 presidential campaign.

When visiting a slave station in Ghana recently, Anderson Cooper asked the president how he explained the slave trade to Sasha and Malia. He used it as a teaching moment about how “people were willing to degrade others because they appeared differently“. Really?! Ghanaians at the slave station degraded their fellow Africans because “they appeared differently?”

President Obama also said the capacity of discrimination is “not just on the basis of race, but on the basis of religion, or the basis of sexual orientation or gender” rather than shedding light on the fact that it was Africans who captured and sold fellow Africans at slave stations like the one he was being interviewed at. He could have used it as a teaching moment to educate people that slavery was a universal crime, and one not strictly about racism.

Senator Obama has stated that he is against the notion of reparations:

“I have said in the past — and I’ll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,”

The second half of that statement is important to note. Because although he knows the “30 acres and a mule” brand of reparations is unrealistic with a great deal of political opposition, what President Obama is trying to accomplish is a sort of “stealth reparations” through policies like his healthcare proposals, that will carry out “economic justice”, with minorities being the most affected. Glenn Beck:

More from Glenn Beck on Back Door Reparations.

President Obama didn’t have all the facts in; yet his instincts were to condemn the police of “acting stupidly” and give his friend Gates the benefit of the doubt (because he’s a friend, or because he’s a black man?).

Mona Charen:

President Obama was so ready to take sides. Why? Well, he answered that: “… What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcing disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”

Not quite. It’s a contentious and emotional minefield. Yes, there has been harassment of blacks by white police departments. But that’s hardly the whole story. Blacks and Hispanics also commit a disproportionately high percentage of crimes.

It seems the Obama presidency means we’re mostly past white racism. As for reverse racism, it’s still in fashion.

Unfortunately, racism is alive and well in the United States; but it is being kept alive by both “traditional” victims and stereotypical “traditional” perpetrators.

And the problem is being exacerbated by a supposed “post-racial” president who can’t calibrate his words and rise above his own racist shortcomings.