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Streetcar Line
Panther Investigation Is Legit
Conservative “rift” is ultimately unimportant.
The six generally right-leaning members of the 8-person U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ought to smoke a peace pipe. The intellectually corrupt establishment media is having a field day playing up a split between deservedly famed civil rights academician Abigail Thernstrom, on the one hand, and the other five right-leaners on the other. The putative reason for the split is a dispute over the relevance of the commission’s investigation into the Justice Department’s infamous reduction of charges in the voter-intimidation case involving members of the New Black Panther Party. The truth is that the commissioners’ disagreement on the Panther case is relatively narrow in substance, even though the establishment media is going nuts in hyping it. The real disagreement began before the Panther case became a major commission focus; and the split is more personal than policy-related, more a breach of feelings than a breach of principle.
All of a sudden, though, media outlets that showed willful blindness approaching malfeasance in refusing to cover the Black Panther story — and which still haven’t come close to the heart of the case — are having fun with the “Thernstrom indicts conservative fantasy” story-line, as in this Ben Smith article at Politico which never once even mentions that the case already had been won by default before it was dropped.
The truth of the matter is that when you delve beneath the personal pique that has led Thernstrom at times to overstate her case — as when ludicrously telling NBC this week that “we do not have any, any, evidence of actual intimidation” — the differing judgments about the Panther case itself are not that significant. On June 22, 2009, Thernstrom co-wrote a letter to the Justice Department in which she said she “feel[s] strongly that the dismissal of this case weakens the agency’s moral obligation to prevent voting rights violations, including acts of voter intimidation or vote suppression. We cannot understand the rationale for this case’s dismissal….” On December of last year, three months after she had registered dissent from the Commission on Civil Rights’ decision to investigate the Panther case for its statutorily required annual report, she wrote at National Review that she agrees Attorney General Eric Holder is “the most destructive member of Barack Obama’s Cabinet” for a number of reasons that specifically included “the dismissal of charges against members of the New Black Panther Party who engaged in blatant voter intimidation at a Philadelphia polling place.”
Read that again. Abby Thernstrom herself, even after breaking with the other commissioners on the size of the required Panther investigation, still insisted that what occurred was “blatant voter intimidation.” (That’s a far cry from her telling NBC that there was no “evidence of actual intimidation.”)
In several public forums, Thernstrom has repeated her long-standing assertion that the Panther case was indeed worthy of a commission hearing and associated report, but just not the huge, required annual report that is the commission’s major annual contribution to civic life. Her oft-repeated reasons are two. First, she argued that another topic — namely the strong possibility that the Holder Justice Department would muck with decennial redistricting in order to engineer race-based outcomes — was more worthy of the commission’s major annual report. Second, she argued that as a practical matter, the Panther investigation would likely run into a brick wall because it would require asking the Justice Department to enforce subpoenas on itself, which DoJ would be unlikely to do.
So this is a disagreement not about whether the case is important — Thernstrom agrees that it is, and that (as she wrote in June 2009) she is “gravely concerned” about it — but whether it is more important than another matter and whether the commission could “get at the evidence that we need,” as she explained at the commission’s July 16, 2010 meeting.
Further memo to establishment media: Thernstrom still agrees that the Justice Department’s actions smell fishy and that its stonewalling has kept important information from the public while actually increasing suspicions that something improper occurred. Particularly of interest here are statements allegedly made by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes to the effect that the department would refuse to enforce politically inconvenient voting laws. Here’s what Thernstrom told me in an interview on Wednesday of this week (July 21):
“The Justice Department is handling this so stupidly, I can’t believe it. They should just send Julie Fernandes and have her answer questions. I would love for her to answer our questions.” And: “Look: I’m an evidence girl. Just give me evidence and not somebody who heard somebody who heard from somebody else.” And: “I would be delighted to hear from anybody involved. But what is the point of demanding it? This is DoJ’s call. But they [DoJ] are keeping this issue alive” by not answering questions, etc.
And: “I would also like to hear from Chris Coates. [ED. NOTE: Coates was the lead attorney who brought the case, but who then was transferred to South Carolina as tacit punishment for daring to try to enforce the laws.] And anybody else who was at the meeting who could say precisely what Julie Fernandes said. I want Julie Fernandes to say precisely what she said. Words matter. Language matters.” And: “If they [fellow commissioners] had made the Black Panther simply a matter of a normal briefing and report, rather than the big, statutorily mandated report, I would probably have supported that.”
This, therefore, is hardly a matter of a conservative thoroughly denigrating the substance of an investigation by other conservatives — although that is the story-line the JournoList-polluted establishment media is eager to play up in order to distract attention from what might be major Obama-Holder malfeasance.
At this point, it might be wise to provide links to some of the best accounts of what really is at stake in the Panther case, including possible White House involvement.
Let me repeat, for any other honest investigative reporters out there: POSSIBLE WHITE HOUSE INVOLVEMENT.
This case isn’t merely about two would-be thugs with delusions of tough-guy grandeur; it’s about what seems to be a conscious decision in the Obama-Holder Justice Department to refuse to protect the civil rights of white Americans from the transgressions of minority perpetrators.
Even Commissioner Michael Yaki, the liberal commissioner appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, agreed at the July 16 hearing that it would be a very serious thing indeed if DoJ actually tolerated or promoted such an agenda. “If someone made that statement within the Department of Justice,” he said, “that person should be fired. That person should be tossed out on their ear in two seconds flat.”
All of which lays to rest the idea that the commission’s investigation is unimportant or illegitimate. But that leads us back to the nasty spat between Thernstrom and the other right-leaning commissioners. It’s important to state my biases up front: I am a huge fan of Abby Thernstrom. She has been a giant in the battle on behalf of civil rights for all Americans, black and white. She bows to nobody in insisting that there are places and times when black Americans still face discrimination, and that the discrimination should be rooted out. But she has refused to back down from lefties who would abandon color-blindness in favor of active discrimination on behalf of black Americans (or at least supposedly on their behalf; Thernstrom has shown that sometimes racial “preferences” clearly harm the intended beneficiaries). She has been a courageous and rational voice for many years in a subject area where emotion all too often leaves reason in the dust.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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Brian Mc| 7.23.10 @ 7:40AM
I know, let's get an oversight committee together to delve into the commission's investigation of the DoJ...
If conservatives push this, we're racists and we lose. If we let it pass, we're racists and we lose.
Might be that some will need to come packing when they go to vote in the future. And some think it tough to vote when they have to walk a block in the rain.
ds80| 7.23.10 @ 8:30AM
The racism lies squarely with Obama and his Justice-for-non-whites Department.
Not pursuing it is cowardly.
SIRJASON | 7.23.10 @ 12:38PM
RACISM... is another word invented by the socialist progressive 'political correct' crowd of academics who were indoctrinated with this kind of crap from Kindergarten to the prestigious Ivy League Socialist Institutions in the sixties...for the 'common good of mankind'!
Racism is without scientific validity as with all 'political correct' BS. Racism is merely a social action or government policy based on such assumed differences. Consequently any person of a paticular race of people who consider themselves superior to another will automatically be placed in the category of being a bigot and a racist.
If there is a superior race of people…do they exist on Planet Earth? In any event, there are many acronym groups, i.e. the NAACP is a ‘racist’ organization of people of one particular race, “C” ‘colored’ “P” ‘people’ who shout ‘racist’…a condemning word used by black people toward white people for simply just disagreeing with them and their progressive form of socialized governance.
This truth ensures individuals, who teach, lead or follow the ideology of another human or a group of humans are prejudiced toward other peopled organizations and this is a natural human quality. Smears and lies about people and their organizations is ‘racist’ language whatever your race!
Individuals who are independent of this thought could be considered prejudiced of all others which ensures ALL of us are prejudiced about some person, place or thing. We must prejudge everything and everybody or follow blindly into an abyss of being ruled by a socialist tyrant, i.e. BHO, Jr.!
Today these same zombies in the Department of Education are indoctrinating our children with this same progressive, socialist propaganda!
Unless the children are 'home schooled' or taught at 'private schools' or 'Christian schools' the child will NOT know anything about the who, what, where, when and how America began with our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights…our most cherished and revered documents of the history of Americans and America!
Alan Brooks| 7.23.10 @ 8:50PM
Bottom line is you are saying you can mess with blacks, but they can't pay you back.
No wonder blacks don't like you-- they have no reason to.
Alan Brooks| 7.24.10 @ 9:59PM
"our Bill of Rights…our most cherished and revered documents of the history of Americans and America!"
But slavery was ignored in 1789. At any rate, nobody says you have to like, accept, tolerate, or be with blacks in any way; however they can show you the same-- they can pay you back in your own coin.
Imean, making a big deal about a small degree of voter intimidation after what has been done in the South since the 17th century, the New Black Panthers are as nothing to that.
You have to make it interesting for the magazine, but I for one don't have to swallow it.
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 8:25AM
yes..."payback can be a *****". an interesting concept that can cut multiple ways.
and what a terrific moral philosophy you have!
we all know what you prefer to swallow - taking the easy road for a moment. problem is...you expect the rest of us to swallow...and that aint gonna happen.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.10 @ 10:50PM
"taking the easy road "
easy road? nominating for expedency's sake in:
'88
'92
'96
2000
'04
'08
unsuitable candidates for the Post-Cold War world? Or libertarians who have at each other so much they can hardly get nominated, let alone elected? you made your beds and now you have to lie in the them. You brought this on yourselves...
And you think we have to respect you?
leasador| 8.2.10 @ 4:13PM
If you think I should be blamed for actions of the past, you are wrong. That would be like me treating blacks as slaves and how much sense does that make? None.
In 1786, representatives from the 13 colonies formed a more perfect union, not perfect. Those from agriculural states did not want to set free those slaves that they paid for to perform the work in the fields, etc. Was this wrong? Yes, but, at the time, this is how the ecomonies of southern colonies were created and established for 100 years. But, at the time of the creation of the Constitution, needing ratification by all colonies/states, it was the only way to build a nation of separate states. It was agreed that within 20 years thereafter, slavery would be abolished. When that didn't happen as promised, we know about the Civil War that divided this young country and pitched brothers against brothers because slavery was appalling, yet, for many, a way of life and livelihood.
Get your facts straight before blaming our founding fathers for bring together peoples of different economics and lifestyles.
Today, after 40 years of affirmative action, etc., it is time for all of us to come to grips that we are Americans first, not hypenated Americans and until we begin to act as one nation, we will be put under by enemies from outside and from inside this great nation that has done more good in this world than bad. Slavery still exist in Haiti, so, take your fight to them and quit blaming the USA for all problems in the world.
RacerJim| 7.25.10 @ 10:44AM
Bottom line is you are saying blacks have no reason to like us even though they are many times better off in America thanks to us than they would be if they had never left Africa.
No wonder we don't like how they have been paying us back -- they give us every reason not to.
Blacks should be careful how they pay whites back -- lest whites take back the freedom they gave them.
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 10:14PM
don't fall for the bait. brooks is just stirring the pot.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.10 @ 10:54PM
"Blacks should be careful how they pay whites back -- lest whites take back the freedom they gave them."
If Southerners hadn't fought so hard against voting rights, blacks wouldn't have reacted as violently they did. So the Wrights and Sharptons can thank confederates for their unknowing help.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.10 @ 11:04PM
Think about it carefully, dont get so defensive:
if whites had caved in on Civil Rights in the late '50s and all through the '60s-- perhaps a few years into the '70s-- blacks would have been placated . Instead, whites, by overreacting to such a degree, helped instigate the rise of the old Black Panthers and all the other militants whose clenched fists and shouting echoes to this day.
ex| 7.26.10 @ 1:51PM
By that reasoning if a wealthy black NBA player kidnaps, rapes, and impregnates a white woman living in a trailer in Appalachia and leaves millions of dollars to the child when he dies then the kidnaped woman's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren should be grateful to him for taking the family out of poverty?
martin j smith| 7.23.10 @ 7:45AM
This case ahould be pushed. It is blatant voter intimidation period. During this coming election season it would a really good idea to keep this case on the front burner--perhaps to caution those who might think about voter intimidation to not get their night sticks on a camera. There are people on the Right ( RINOS are hopeless so I don't bother talking about them , they are really Democrat wannabeeeezzzz ) who think are truly policitally naive and do not consider what they say--or perhaps there is some more nefarious reason. You tell me.
Louis Jenkins| 7.23.10 @ 8:10AM
There was voter intimidation at the poll. Let's be honest here. Holder doesn't want to prosecute these guys. Chances are they are some of his, and Obama's, greatest supporters. How many other instances of this intimidation has went unreported? While I do not believe that you can get every one of the instances, the ones that are found out should be prosecuted or at least investigated. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until November to do the real prosecuting.
David| 7.23.10 @ 8:14AM
Does Thernstrong have some sort of politlcal motive to do this? Is she trying to get an Obama appointment to something. It would explain her intellectual dishonesty.
Ret. Marine| 7.23.10 @ 8:26AM
Political motive, not so much. I believe she in her own way is angry at having that much time in the agency and an advoacte of the Law and watching the others trying to change the subject matter in what is normaly considered a report of the agency's annual funding requirements. Just a thought.
Nancy in NC| 7.23.10 @ 9:31AM
Were these guys arrested by the local police, and prosecuted in Pennslyvania? How this did end up at the DOJ? There is no doubt this was voter intimidation in the most insidious form, and if these guys were white they would be in the slammer long ago.
martin j smith| 7.23.10 @ 9:40AM
Nancy in NC exactly correct--so where were the Philadelphia authorities--it was their city-right ? that too should be looked into.
TexasEngineer| 7.23.10 @ 10:41AM
While it is is nice thought that the Philadelphia PD would do something, having viewed the video with my brother, TexasCop (retired) and knowing that we can only comment based on how the Texas Penal Code would have been cited. At worst you have a Disorderly Conduct and a possible Terroristic Threat. That's a Class C and a Class B misdemeanor. Literally citations (tickets). The Class C is the same weight as a lesser speeding ticket. The only way to handle this type of thing is by the Feds and if DOJ is as corrupt as it seems, this could be Conspiracy Brother's greatest dream come true (you have to know about Undercover Brother to catch the reference).
Matt| 7.23.10 @ 4:20PM
Why hasn't anyone even considered pulling a gun on these criminals in self defense (at worst case, a misdemeanor)? The DOJ would have a hard time prosecuting the voter defending their right to vote and not the Black Panthers. word to the wise, don't pull this crap at my voting booth.
Oldefarte| 7.23.10 @ 10:52AM
Let me proclaim initially that I am possibly the biggest fan of Quin's writings, and have been so for a number of years [going back to his Alabama days]. That said and stated, this lengthly editorial is overkill, IMO ["....Let me repeat, for any other honest investigative reporters out there: POSSIBLE WHITE HOUSE INVOLVEMENT...."----are you kidding me, POSSIBLE?????]. There is no need for the DofJ, the Civil Rights Commission,etc [along with affirmative action policies, the federal lawsuit against Arizona, the lack of illegal immigration enforcement by the government, etc]; and these matters are a waste of taxpayer monies and stupid. Since 1954 [Brown vs. Bd. of Ed.], the playing field SHOULD HAVE BECOME LEVELED [but of course did not]. All public school children receive the SAME teachers, textbooks, computers, school buildings,etc; and therefore all have a EQUAL chance of education, success,etc starting out at the beginning. If some children succeed while others fail, that is NOT my fault of society's fault in general. Quit making EXCUSES for the failures of minorities,etc. When illegals commit crimes, the government protects them with a lawsuit against a state; when they're too stupid to educationally qualify for college entrance, the government intervenes; when black THUGS harrass voters at the polls, the government looks the other way; when moronic Harvard professors act like hoodlums and confront policemen's enforcement of laws, the government institutes a BEER SUMMIT;etc. People are sick and tired of this BULLEXCREMENT, and it way past time minorities take responsibility for their own lives, act like human beings [instead of animals] and JOIN THE HUMAN RACE [and stop extending their hands from cradle to grave for government-taxpayers to fill them with welfare largesse]. Vote, people, in November forward and start the process of elimination of this garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clinton nee Publius | 7.23.10 @ 11:17AM
What it says is that if the KKK shows up on November 2nd in force at the polls and intimidates voters, there will be no case as the KKK can claim selective enforcement.
If I was the KKK (or other kook lefty group) I'd be sharpening my knives and oiling my guns for November 2nd. This is their opportunity to take Obama's failure and turn it to their advantage.
John II| 7.23.10 @ 11:28AM
The unfolding DoJ Panther scandal may help explain the recent Shirley Sherrod overreaction on the part of the Obama machine.
Although the explanation for the Sherrod farce among conservatives and liberals alike quickly jelled into speculation about a certain lightweight incompetence on the part of the Obama administration, a larger explanation may be a mixture of bad conscience and political calculation.
Perhaps the Obama folks overreacted to the Sherrod incident with their blather about "zero tolerance" as a cover for the unfolding DoJ scandal.
To paraphrase Alfred E. Neuman, "What--me racially biased?"
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 10:21PM
1) I was disappointed by Noonan's article in the WSJ yesterday which...in lockstep with Lib think....leaned toward recognizing "intentions" as the key variable
2) Everyone keeps missing a critical point: Sherrod's whole thought structure revolves around Black and White - that's her social ontology if you will. She THINKS in race based separatist terms. "But she worked her way to the right outcome for White farmers" doesn't cut it. IT'S HOW SHE THINKS THAT MATTERS.....putting aside her story of redemption....she still obviously views the world through a racial lens.
sinanju| 7.23.10 @ 12:54PM
I go along with the opinion that this bizarre spectacle of the Obama White House's willingness to go to the mat and risk everything in order to protect Mr. "Kill the Crackas'! Kill they Babies!" is solely to send a message to the rest of the SEIU/ACORN/etc. bunch that they should feel free to do their worst come November 2nd; that they will be safeguarded from any consequences of their lawless actions come hell or high water in order to steal as many elections as they can.
Mojo Risin| 7.23.10 @ 1:11PM
Does this woman hear voices in her head, maybe she has imaginary playmates? Good grief make-up your freaking mind. The Panther, King Shoebox Shebebe Dowah is on the deck flipping like a fish out of water and DJ just says go free, go free!!! Holder is a partisan and should resign, as of yesterday, he's useless...
edward del colle| 7.23.10 @ 2:53PM
for mr hillyer, i'd like the magazine to refute in some manner what one of hannity's panel members was fulminating about last night. i caught only a tail of her position but it seemed to include that the new panther case was not a violation of the voting rights act in any way, that there were no voters present in the scene shot so many citizens have witnessed but only republican operatives or plants if you will in a predeominantly black voting district. she also claimed to have read everything there is on this non-issue according to her view. alas, hannity didn't have a response to nullify or correct her. please have someone including yourself combat these radicals on the left. thank you
Mojo Risin| 7.23.10 @ 4:26PM
Said panel member was Kirsten Powers, who should know better and was taken to the shed by Megyn Kelly a while back. Powers was severely beaten down about the same issue she was trying to speak to last night, that being, there was no evidence of voter intimidation perpetrated by King Shoebox Shebebe. Powers just won't get it and the leftist narrative overwhelms her...
Matt| 7.23.10 @ 4:12PM
Try this in most of the US, and the headline will read, "2 people shot while trying to intimidate voters." I'm betting this would make headlines. Get between me and my right to vote and you will have brought a club to a gun fight. No prosecution necessary.
RCV| 7.23.10 @ 7:17PM
I thought the right was vigilant about protecting "gun rights" -- we were told that it was perfectly OK for white ring activists to parade around with guns while the President was speaking, holding signs that read, "The tree of liberty needs to be refreshed!". That's not intimidating, but it is when a black man is holding a gun?
RCV| 7.23.10 @ 7:18PM
that should read "right wing", although "white ring" fits just as well I suppose.
Liberal Reader| 7.23.10 @ 9:16PM
Amongst the fascists that support the Obama regime there are many types. Bullies like the Panthers or union thugs try to intimidate and saps like RCV try to confuse and communicate their idiotic talking points. They are different arms of the same monster. RCV represents the feminine aspects of the regime.
Tim*| 7.23.10 @ 8:46PM
There were NO GUNS , Buffoon .They were brandishing a nightstick .
J. Christian Adams, the former voting-rights attorney in the Justice Department's civil-rights division who led the effort to prosecute the case .
"When you set up a gauntlet like that, you're also preventing poll-watchers from getting in and seeing what's going on inside, if election procedures are being followed. There were poll-watchers who were threatened - they were African-American poll-watchers who were working for the Philadelphia Republican Party who were called race traitors, and they were petrified inside there. "
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 8:28AM
distractor.
the NBP was using the threat of violence to intimidate voters. the whites you were referring to were not.
RacerJim| 7.25.10 @ 10:56AM
The msm showed us a reduced-size video of a "white ring activist" parading around with an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder while POTUS Obama was speaking, but when Fox News showed that same video at normal-size the man with the automatic weapon was black. Next?
dw| 7.23.10 @ 4:41PM
What is intimidating about a couple of black guys holding weapons standing in front of your neighborhood polling place? I mean we are "about to be ruled by a black man". Their just showing their pride and that's their way of celebrating. Holder understands the misconception and has made sure justice prevails.
Anyone that doesn't understand that is just a racist pure and simple.
RacerJim| 7.25.10 @ 11:47AM
And someone(s) replacing 10 McCain-Palin yard signs approaching a polling place with Obama-Biden yard signs on election day was also just someone(s) showing their pride and their way of celebrating?
And a large black female wearing an ACORN polo shirt with an Obama-Biden button passing two large "NO POLITICAL APPAREL, MATERIAL OR POLITICING BEYOND THIS POINT" signs at the entrance to a polling place, entering, coming back out with the Chief Judge of the polling place and vehemantly demanding that the McCain-Palin table be moved to a less prominent position than the Obama-Biden table was also just showing her pride and her way of celebrating?
I put those 10 McCain-Palin yard signs along the road approaching that polling place at 5AM on election day, and there weren't any Obama-Biden yard signs there at that time. I also set-up (and manned) the McCain-Palin table on election day, and the Obama-Biden people didn't arrive to set-up their table until about 30-minutes later.
Anyone who doesn't accept what the above illustrates is in fact a racist, plain and simple.
David| 7.23.10 @ 5:22PM
Hey dw, does that stand for dimwit?
dw| 7.23.10 @ 5:53PM
What I don't know about you is, are you too stupid to understand satire or are you a leftist that is just too stupid.
hyrdr| 7.23.10 @ 10:29PM
Fortunatly the Black Panthers were just recorded with clubs cause if they had been arrested or delt with in ANY other manner it would have been billed as a racist attack.
When this country tires of this HUZANGA hopefully it will still be America. One thing for sure. These boys would not have intimidated me from voting. Hope they do it again.
RCV| 7.24.10 @ 12:54PM
...and I hope you refer to them as "boys" when you guys meet up!
Tim*| 7.25.10 @ 11:10AM
You Speakin' For The Black Panthers Now , LawBoy ?
Duke of Hurl| 7.24.10 @ 12:18AM
And B. Hussein Obama wants the Afghan government to be less corrupt?
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 8:29AM
bngo!
martin j smith| 7.24.10 @ 11:10AM
The Black Panther voter intimidation case is not only worth persuing but learning from. You know ( here is a secret now ) I hear there is an election coming up you know. And, guess what there will be voter fraud and attempts at intimidation. Get your cell phone, DSLRs and other digital cameras ready folks. Also any other communications media.
RCV| 7.24.10 @ 5:19PM
In the Southwest, there has been voter intimidation against Latinos for decades by GOP "poll watchers". I was a pollwatcher in East Texas during the 2008 primary/caucus and personally witnessed intimidation of black voters by local poll workers.
Liberal Reader| 7.24.10 @ 6:00PM
In the Southwest Latino Democrats have violated secret ballots which has all kinds of intimidating possibilities. GOP poll watchers have been threatened in my home state so that funny business could take place. When it comes to corruption of democratic processes nobody can beat the Democratic Party past or present.
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 8:33AM
sic semper CHICAGO!!!!!
and lets nor forget the equality minded Mr Sharpton and his unrelenting press for equity in places like...say...North Carolina!
if this all devolves down to lex talionis...then so be it!
the irony is that never has there been a more opportune time for middle to right of center Blacks to win office in the Republican party. think of it as an external economy to mr obama's otherwise hugely destructive presidency.
jamesthomas| 7.24.10 @ 2:29PM
The policy allegedly articulated by Fernandes, if true, comes directly from Obama. Who listened to Reverend Wright for 20 years? Who has long ties to ACORN, which specializes in voter fraud? Obama is not just spreading the wealth around. He is spreading power around by ignoring the rules and, possibly, the law. That has always been the plan.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.24.10 @ 6:00PM
One thing you can take away from this is that collectivism always leads to racism. Collectivists never spread the wealth around, they simply spread the fear around.
Dave M. (now in S. Korea)| 7.24.10 @ 9:10PM
I know that Ben Smith is a big time JournOlist and everything, but this time I think I am going to go by what I saw on the video. Yep, I'll just have to believe my "lying eyes" on this one.
martin j smith| 7.25.10 @ 7:51AM
RCV-where is your proof ? Where are videos ? If they existed they would be all over TV and the internet --so you are FOS. Could the Democrat Left concoct with "actors" a film--of yes they would.
And, could they use illegals in bit parts--you bet..
In all political propaganda--verify before you trust
Liberal Reader ?
carnot| 7.25.10 @ 8:39AM
martin....of course he's FOS. but that's what he's here for.
think he was manning the ramparts in the name of justice during the lacrosse team debacle at Duke? of course not. folks like him don't care about justice one wit. you know he was thinking "true or not....it's great to see the shoe on the other foot."
obama the great healer! bahahahahahahahahahaha
ironhorzmn| 7.25.10 @ 3:23PM
Holder=Obama=WHITE HOUSE INVOLVEMENT.
Disagree? Then why hasn't Holder been fired?
Paula| 7.27.10 @ 8:42AM
Oldefarte- There are huge differences in public schools. For you to state that all public schools are equal with regards to teachers, books. computers etc just makes you sound uninformed. Maybe you should check out a public high school in Beverly Hills and compare it with a public high school in Compton. I have and you do not know what you are taking about. Maybe you do not care about this but please do not act like there is a level playing field in the public school system.
Oldefarte| 7.27.10 @ 12:07PM
Paula, obviously you do not UNDERSTAND my point. Considering your example, Compton [wherever in the woods that is] has public schools that are attended by BOTH blacks and whites, so why is it that twenty years after graduation, the previously graduating whites [from Compton High School] are working for a living, supportinn families, paying taxes,etc; while their black counterparts are non-working aand living off of governmental welfare funding/paid for by their white counterparts [fellow Compton graduates]. Don't be a DUMBARS!!!!!!!!!