The Political Funnies
Some things I found over the net this morning
Back in 2007-
The May 13 This Week opened with a pre-taped interview of Obama conducted by Stephanopoulos. The relevant portion of the roundtable panel, with Cokie Roberts and George Will in addition to Donaldson and Stephanopoulos, in which Donaldson referred back to the interview:
Sam Donaldson: “You raised something, let’s just put on the table: He’s an African-American. Is the country ready? Well, I think it is. And he said he thinks it is. He said he thinks he’ll lose some votes because of that, and so the question is what does the word ’some’ mean? In critical elections, not just in the South, it may mean something.”
Cokie Roberts: “Well sure. And it could be huge. But I think the fact that we’re having this conversation is just wonderful. I mean, the idea that we are at this point in 2007, if you had told us that 40 years ago when we were having all the civil rights debates that we would be talking very seriously about a black man being President of the United States in 2008, we would not have believed it.”
George Stephanopoulos: “Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m naive, but Sam I guess I think that anyone who’s not going to vote for Barack Obama because he is black isn’t going to vote [Roberts says at this instant “Democratic”] for a Democrat anyway. And I wonder if there are as many people who will vote for him-”
George Will: “More.”
Stephanopoulos: “That’s the question.”
Will: “The place where Barack Obama really helps is in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, right outside Philadelphia.”
Stephanopoulos: “Exactly.”
Will: “Moderate, mainstream swing district where it makes people feel good.”
Donaldson: “You already made him the nominee.”
Stephanopoulos: “Not yet Sam.”
Donaldson: “But I’m talking about the race for the nomination. Now, many states have crossovers I understand, but the states in which you have to be a Democrat in order to vote in the Democratic primary, that’s where- [talked over.]” (source)
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Why Even Hardened Racists Will Vote for Barack Obama
In the Electoral Marketplace, He Had to Pass the Halle Berry Test (source)
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On McCain’s visit to New Orleans
McCain distances self from Bush in New Orleans
Dan Nowicki
The Arizona Republic
NEW ORLEANS - John McCain on Thursday directly confronted what many perceive as one of President Bush’s most monumental failures: the bungled federal government response to Hurricane Katrina.
In doing so, McCain, the not-yet-official Republican presidential nominee, hopes to convince Americans, especially Black, Hispanic and working-class White voters, that he doesn’t represent a continuation of the unpopular Bush administration.
“Never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way that it was handled,” McCain said after taking a four-block walk to survey recovery efforts still under way in New Orleans’ devastated Lower 9th Ward. “Never again.”
[…]
After the walk, McCain heaped criticism on Bush, the sluggish federal bureaucracy and Congress, which earmarked money for often-trivial pet lawmaker priorities while ignoring critically needed infrastructure improvements. “Unqualified people” headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which became symbolic for government ineptitude after its much-criticized response to the storm’s catastrophic flooding, he said. They totally misread “the dimensions of the disaster,” McCain added.
“History will judge this president as they have earlier presidents, but it’s clear that this was an unacceptable scenario and one that would never happen again,” McCain said.
The senator also vowed to protect New Orleans from future Category 5 hurricanes, seeming to give little regard to costs.
>>And of course Democrats cranked up the wayback machine by bringing up a bunch of bills he voted against. Some of it is overreaching in their effort to label him a double-talker (which btw I do agree with the assertion), but this particular item, IMO is right on the money.
2006: McCain Voted Against Making FEMA an Independent Agency. McCain voted against the Clinton amendment (No. 4563) that would remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security and establish it as an independent, Cabinet-level agency. It would require the agency’s head to have significant expertise in the area of emergency preparedness and response. [H.R. 5441, S.V. 193, 7/11/06, failed 32-66]
This has been FEMA’s problem from jump–going all the way back to the Northridge earthquake back in 1994.
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Maya Angelo’s open letter in support of Hillary Clinton
Officers Acquitted In Sean Bell Trial
Reasonable doubt anchors Sean Bell ruling
BY ANTHONY DESTEFANO
newsday.com
The Queens judge who cleared the three detectives in the Sean Bell case found that the state’s case was riddled with problems and that the prosecutors had failed to defeat the cops’ claim that they fired in self-defense on Liverpool Street the night of Nov. 25, 2006.
It took Queens Supreme Court Juctice Arthur Cooperman less than 10 minutes to read his decision in which he acquitted detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper of all charges stemming from the 50-shot barrage that killed Bell and wounded two of his friends.
“The prosecution has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant was not justified” in using deadly force, Cooperman said.
As their supporters in the Kew Gardens courtroom gasped and cried in relief, the detectives were quickly ushered out of a back door, after having entered through the main public entrance earlier.
Though he praised the efforts of defense and prosecution attorneys, Cooperman didn’t disguise his feeling that the district attorney’s office didn’t marshal a convincing case in the nonjury trial.
“At times the testimony didn’t make sense,” said Cooperman, about the witnesses used by the Queens district attorney’s office to try and make the case. He also said that the proof wasn’t to be measured by any carelessness or incompetence, which prosecutors argued had been the way the cops acted, but rather by the standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
[…]
Cooperman said some witnesses had major credibility problems because they had given inconsistent statements on the witness stand, in the grand jury and in meetings with prosecutors, or had an interest in the outcome of the trial because of lawsuits. The latter was an apparent reference to Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, two friends of Bell who were wounded in the incident and were suing the NYPD.
But what Cooperman said swung him against the prosecution was the defense of justification — self-defense — which he said shifted the burden of proof to prosecutors in a way they couldn’t overcome.
The cops claimed that they suspected based on what Isnora and others witnessed outside the Kalua Cabaret, the scene of Bell’s bachelor party, that Guzman might have had a gun.
Although no gun was ever found, Guzman’s movements in Bell’s Nissan Altima led Isnora, who had been struck by the car as it attempted to drive away, to yell out “gun” and then commence firing 11 shots. That shooting sparked the firing by Oliver, who discharged 31 shots, and Cooper, who fired four times. Other cops who weren’t indicted fired the remainder of the 50 shots. (more…)
Will work for Google
I just happened to see this in Google this afternoon–
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Google Image Labeler
How does it work?
You’ll be randomly paired with a partner who’s online and using the feature. Over a two-minute period, you and your partner will:
* View the same set of images.* Provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see.
* Receive points when your label matches your partner’s label. The number of points will depend on how specific your label is.
* See more images until time runs out.
After time expires, you can explore the images you’ve seen and the websites where those images were found. And we’ll show you the points you’ve earned throughout the session.
What do you need to participate?
Just an interest in helping Google improve the relevance of image search for users like yourself. If you log in to your Google account, we will keep track of your points for you. You may also enter a nickname, but we do not require either a nickname or a login to use Google Image Labeler.
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I prefer cash.
Thumbs up for identity politics
“The real possibility that a Black president or a woman President will be elected – almost unthinkable just a few years ago – has put race and gender in the center of American dialogue. And that is a good thing.” (Ralph B. Everett, The president and chief executive officer of The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the premier Black political think tank based in Washington, D.C.)
[Link]
The end of smart T.V.
Many years ago, before I was married I bought the anniversary collection of Schoolhouse Rock DVDs for nostalgic purposes. Right smack in the middle of watching my usual lineup of Saturday morning cartoons as a child, I fondly remember seeing these short educational clips of cartoons with a catchy tune that to this very day is still buried deep in my brain (perhaps part of a secret scientific government conspiracy?).
When Schoolhouse Rock became a thing of the past in my high school years, I remember taking a history test which asked me to write down the Preamble. After freaking out for a few minutes, my brain slowly began to recall the lyrics and tune of the Preamble song from Schoolhouse Rock:
Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.?
Do you know about the government?
Can you tell me about the Constitution?
Hey, learn about the U.S.A.In 1787 I’m told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin’ people free.The U.S.A. was just startin’ out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.And they put those principles down on paper and called it the Constitution, and it’s been helping us run our country ever since then. The first part of the Constitution is called the preamble and tells what those founding fathers set out to do.
We the people,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America
Yes, I passed!
Miraculously, that same DVD set I bought years ago has survived and my kids are now in their second honeymoon with this collection. Unfortunately, some of the scratches made some of the clips impossible to watch, so I just paid the $12-13 and bought them a brand new copy the other day.
As your body grows bigger
Your mind grows flowered
It’s great to learn
Cause knowledge is power!
It’s Schoolhouse Rocky
That chip off the block
Of your favourite schoolhouse
Schoolhouse Rock!
Related link(s)
Today’s Working Girl
We have certainly come a long way from that 80’s flick “Working Girl”.
Women of Color Own 2.4 Million Business
By: Errol Mars
urbanhustler.com
According to the U.S. Census, 2.4 million (34%) of woman-owned businesses are owned by women of color (African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans).
As of 2002, there were nearly 7 million woman-owned businesses in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census, 2.4 million (34%) of those are owned by women of color (African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans).
This large group of minority business women are not just running traditional businesses like restaurants and hair salons. Many are running professional companies that offer a variety of services including: advertising, public relations, accounting, staffing, government contracting and more.
According to the National Association of Business Women and Moms (NABWM), women have also become incredibly active in the field of network marketing. Companies such as Mary Kay, Herbalife, Color Me Beautiful, Warm Spirit, and Isagenix have recruited a record amount of business women who now work as consultants and sales associates. It’s currently unknown, however, as to whether or not network marketing women are considered to be actual businesses owners. (more…)
Just admit that it was a bad gamble
Pay special attention to the following quote that you will hear in the video:
“Why pay a $3,200 payment on a 1200-square-foot home? It makes no sense,” Stephanie Valdez adds.
“That’s what you agreed to do when you bought the house,” Kroft points out.
“Fine. If the value is going up. But we’re not going anywhere. The price or the value is going down. It makes no sense because we will never be able to refinance and get a lower payment. There’s no way,” Stephanie Valdez replies.
Here in the California market, folks were making a killing during the height of the market. Many (NOT ALL) of these folks knew they were taking a risk, but assumed that values would increase. As we can see today, it didn’t.
Interesting study on alcohol abuse
Blacks Have Much Lower Incidence of Alcohol Abuse than Whites
By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
BETHESDA, Md., April 22 — Blacks are 40% less likely than whites to develop alcohol abuse and Hispanics are half as likely as whites to develop generalized anxiety disorder.
These are among the few surprises in a major study of the incidence of such disorders, reported Bridget Grant, Ph.D., of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and colleagues online today in Molecular Psychiatry.
The study showed that compared with whites, the odds ratio for blacks developing new cases of alcohol abuse in a year was 0.60 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.34 to 0.95. (more…)
‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ sugars
I found this interesting article on fast and slow sugars. For some of you, you may be well informed on this topic. But for the rest of you, please read and pass it along to people you know.
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The Dangers of Sugars and ‘Bad Fats’ Explained
by: Mike Donkers
(NaturalNews) By far the chief wreckers of our health today are sugars and bad fats. So which are the good ones and which ones are bad? My aim is to enable you to make better food choices for you and your family.
Sugars
Sugars are more than just the white grains you put in your coffee or tea. Sugars are also to be found in the caffeine in coffee, alcohol, honey, fruit juice without the pulp and peeled potatoes. Even the so-called slow sugars, such as whole grains, are still sugars. (more…)
Pennsylvania primary results by county
For you political junkies out there, click here to find out the results by county (you must click on each county for that information)
[Link]
A peek inside those smoke-filled back rooms
Vivian Bishop: ‘I lost a delegate spot because they didn’t believe I supported Clinton’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometime this week, the state Democratic party will release the list of delegates headed for the national convention in Denver this summer.
But already, we know the names of some of those defeated in a weekend round of voting. For instance, Vivian Creighton Bishop, wife of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, was rejected as a Hillary Clinton delegate.
Her husband is co-chair of the Barack Obama campaign in Georgia.
The Albany Herald quotes Vivian Bishop as saying she lost because her fellow Clinton supporters doubted her sincerity, and because the Saturday selection convention in the 2nd Congressional District was abruptly moved from Columbus to Americus.
She can’t win, it seems. Earlier this year, the congressman’s wife said she was accosted because she wasn’t supporting the black fellow in the presidential primary.
Here’s what the Herald reported from the weekend vote:
“There were some comments from those in my opponent’s camp, that they didn’t believe I was truly a supporter,” she said.
In addition to media attention, her decision to support Clinton has garnered criticism from members of the black community and occasional harassment, she said.
“I think that’s silly, very immature and very misinformed. I certainly would not support (Obama) just because he’s black,” she said. “Just as I would not support Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman.
“I think it’s unfair for them to have to use that race card, like, ‘she’s not really for Hillary; she just wants to get there and support Barack.’ Hillary knows that and my husband knows that that is not true.” (source)
Defining his “loyalty”
Congressman Explains His Allegiance To The Clintons
Eric L. Wesson
kccall.com
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II has been under a great deal of pressure lately concerning his decision to support Sen. Hillary Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president and his decision to step down as senior pastor, after 35 years, of the St. James United Methodist church.
Rep. Cleaver went one-on-one with THE CALL to set the record straight.
ELW: Some community members are upset about your choice to support Sen. Clinton in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Some that I have listened to say that you have not stated a position other than they (the Clintons) are friends of yours. You were the first black mayor of Kansas City. Why not support the first black serious contender for president?
EC: “When I endorsed Sen. Clinton a year ago, there were people from across the state who came and endorsed Sen Clinton. African Americans from across the state sat with her and then endorsed her. That is easy to understand because, according to the polls, African Americans endorsed her by a margin of 70 percent.”
“When we made that endorsement very few African Americans really knew who Sen. Obama was. So it was not a big deal. He won the Iowa caucus and was victorious in South Carolina. African Americans began to leave Sen. Clinton and started endorsing Sen. Obama. I gave her my word and I did not say, ‘Well, now that there is a black man in the race with a legitimate chance to win, I am going to join the other side.’”
“I feel that such a decision would have been unethical, immoral. While some other people felt comfortable in doing that, I do not feel it would have been the right thing to do. The issue of loyalty is just one aspect of my personal relationship to Sen. Clinton.”
ELW: Help us understand the other factors outside of your personal relationship to Sen. Clinton which musters your loyalty and should muster the support of the community.
EC: “There is a core connection in the sense of community between Sen. Clinton and this community. When I made a request in a back room at the Mayflower hotel to get money for the future, President Bill Clinton told his Secretary of Transportation to make it happen. As a result we were able to get constructed, a project that had been on the drawing board since 1984. I proposed and was successful in getting the name changed to the Bruce R. Watkins drive. If it were not for the Clintons the project would still be begging for an opportunity to be constructed but for that
relationship. I am not the only person who drives Bruce R. Watkins drive. So when people think about the personal connection they don’t realize that they also have a personal relationship.”
[…]
“I hear people talking about the super delegates, but like most members of Congress they do not know what they do. Most members of Congress did not even know that they were super delegates before a few months ago. The most interesting part of this whole theory is the part where it appears that black people don’t like black people. We claim to but we don’t. The only people who are receiving attacks are African American elected officials.”
Sen. Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry represent the state of Massachusetts where Sen. Clinton won by 13 points. Yet, they are endorsing and supporting Sen. Obama. They are under no attack or assault. There are 25 white members of Congress whose districts voted for Sen. Clinton but they are endorsing and supporting Sen. Obama. They are under no attack. Two weeks after Sen. Clinton won New Mexico the governor endorsed Sen. Obama. He is under no attack or criticisms. People understand that is the way the system is. The only people who are getting attacked are black people. The Hispanic community did not attack the governor of New Mexico after he endorsed Sen. Obama.” (more…)
Legacy of slavery or just a poor self image?
Recently, I came across the following video (I believe this is the program my wife was telling me about last week–just thinking out loud) that caused me to take some pause. Check it out.
Not too long ago I took my kids (and the neighbor’s kids) to the local toy store. My daughter was the only girl in the group, so I stuck with her as she browsed the “girl section” (as she calls it). For whatever reason, I decided to do an impromptu doll test on her. I took two of the same Barbie dolls (one was White and the other was Black) and sat them on the shelf next to each other. I asked her some of the same questions the brutha on the video asked those children. Each time, without hesitation, my daughter chose the Black doll.
Now I do remember not too long ago talking about on this site how for a short time my daughter used to tell us that she wanted hair like her White classmates. My wife and I (mostly my wife) spent some quality time with her reinforcing the uniqueness of her hair. No we didn’t strap her down to a chair in a dark room while repeatedly showing her the first 15-20 minutes of the movie Coming to America. Instead, my wife would invite her to look through some of her Black hair magazines, Essence and Ebony to show her images of other beautiful Black women and their **cough** weaves **cough** (I mean) hair 
. Today, she is a very confident girl who loves her hair.
While the portrayal of Blacks in the media is something that should never be taken lightly, as a parent I do not rely on the media to help formulate self esteem for my kids. Getting a Black face in front of Vogue magazine is not nearly important to me as a child that does not have a support system who can help formulate a sense of worth. And Lord knows, we have MANY children who do not have such a support system.
The other day I ran into a gentleman (Black, probably in his mid-50’s or so) who began to tell me and my friend who was with me at the time about how just when he was about to enjoy his golden years with his wife, his son fathers a child that he simply is not in the frame of mind to care for. Long story short, this gentleman had to intervene and get custody of the baby because A. the mother was not caring for the child at all (feeding the child spoiled milk, feces around the apartment, etc.), B. The son did not want to work–leaving the child in a total state of uncertainty. So this gentleman did what any caring parent would probably do in the same situation–he fought to get custody of his grandchild. My heart really went out for this brutha because grandparents are not supposed to be raising kids. As a parent of two young kids myself, I know how much time they can take away from mommy and daddy’s time. Since he lives in my community, I offered to help watch this child from time to time (with my wife of course) so that they can have at least a few hours or so to steal away with each other. While I cannot be a father to this child, I can certainly do something to help this child feel some sense of worth. It may not be much, but it is better than nothing.
The doll test will always be something that will cause our blood to boil. But unless we are willing to hold each other accountable to the plight of these kids and not mainstream media, the issue of poor self image will always haunt our offspring.
Translation: The whole thing was a big joke
ISG moves from consensus to conflict
By DANIEL LIBIT
politico.com
In December 2006, in an effort to build a national consensus on a “new way forward in Iraq,” the Iraq Study Group painted itself as a portrait of bipartisan chumminess, with all political hackery checked at the door.
Sixteen months later, seven of the 10 ISG members are backing presidential candidates with radically different views about how to proceed in Iraq.
Republicans James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Ed Meese are supporting Sen. John McCain, who argues that the United States should be sending more troops to Iraq. Democrats Vernon Jordan, Leon Panetta and William Perry have endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has vowed to start bringing U.S. troops home immediately. Earlier this month, Democrat Lee Hamilton endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, who vows to start bringing the troops home and to engage in “aggressive personal diplomacy” with Iran.
Consensus?
Panetta, who served as President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, says Hillary Clinton and Obama are closely aligned with the Study Group’s recommendations. “The only one who is not, obviously, is John McCain,” he says.
Meese cries hogwash. McCain’s Iraq views are “by far” the closest to the ISG’s, says the former attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. “I think the principal, the primary, part of the report was we should go on to support the effort in Iraq and we should not cut and run or surrender,” he says. “John is the only one of those three that has taken that position.”
[…]
Moreover, in returning to the partisan fray, ISG members may be guilty of doing exactly what they said shouldn’t be done: cherry-picking some of their report’s recommendations and bending others to fit the political angles of the candidate they now support.
[…]
While Baker has endorsed McCain, he has tellingly avoided commenting publicly on the Arizona senator’s war stance, focusing more on the candidate’s character than on his policies. Through a spokesman at his Houston law office, Baker declined to speak for this story.
Baker’s co-chairman, Hamilton, says that when it comes to interpreting and applying the report in the context of the 2008 presidential race, “every member of the Iraq Study Group has to speak for themselves.
“I hold firm to the principal recommendations,” Hamilton says, adding that he doesn’t feel “constrained” by the consensus reached two years ago. “It doesn’t give me any heartburn,” he says.
Says Eagleburger: “What that means is he’s walked away from the report, too. We all have.” (source)
HBCU look to almums to give more
Black colleges seeking more financial support from alumni
By DIONNE WALKER
ETTRICK, Va. (AP) — Making money, administrators at Virginia State University have learned, takes money.
The majority black school has spent millions of state dollars renovating buildings, partly to heighten school pride among alumni they hope will respond by opening their own wallets.
It’s working: Alumni support has risen from 7 percent five years ago to 10 percent, and individual gifts have increased from hundreds of dollars to thousands, development vice president Robert Turner said as he showed off libraries and academic buildings recently.
“This” — Turner said, surveying the hilltop campus — “obviously converts to good will.”
As state and private funds shrink, historically black colleges are refreshing outdated efforts to solicit former students, by adding specialized staff, crafting personalized “asks,” improving campuses and increasingly using Internet outreach.
They’re targeting a wider base — more blacks are graduating — and younger alumni who’ve moved into a broader range of careers.
At VSU, efforts as subtle as adding a donor recognition dinner have heartened alumni like Anthony Spence.
“If I’m going to give my money to a university, I want to be sure that it’s used for the very best,” said Spence, 41, a Miramar, Fla., entrepreneur who’s given about $60,000.
Administrators plan computer network upgrades devoted to online giving at Atlanta’s prestigious Morehouse College, where alumni contributions dipped from about $3.1 million in 2006 to $1.3 million last year.
Wiley College in east Texas will use a nearly $840,000 grant from the United Negro College Fund to help scout 200 major gift prospects a year, create new online giving opportunities and beef up staff.
Wiley, featured in Denzel Washington’s 2007 film “The Great Debaters,” has nine staffers focused on institutional advancement.
“At some of the larger, predominant institutions, they may have an advancement staff of say 20, 30, 50 people,” said Karen Helton, vice president for institutional advancement. “That’s how the Harvards and the Stanfords and the UCLAs generate billions.”
Such measures are commonplace at some mainstream institutions. But they represent a major investment for the nation’s more than 100 historically black colleges and universities, whose resources often are stretched.
The fundraising push by these schools foreshadows an expected slowdown in levels of state higher education funding, at the same time that predominantly white universities are pushing harder to attract high-achieving black students. (more…)
“There is an urgency about this as we look at our network of institutions and look at trying to sustain them,” said Elfred Pinkard, executive director of the Institute for Capacity Building, part of the United Negro College Fund that represents 39 private historically black schools.
Since 2006, the institute has granted more than $8.1 million to 29 member schools for projects that include increasing alumni support.
“There was a recognition that alum of these institutions represented a very important constituency that had not been tapped in any systematic way,” Pinkard said.gi
Another “I’ve been good to you coloreds” moment
“I mean this is just, you know… You gotta go something to play the race card on me — my office is in Harlem. And Harlem voted for Hillary, by the way. And I have 1.4 million people around the world, mostly people of color in Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and elsewhere, on the world’s least expensive AIDS drugs. I appointed more African American, Hispanic and women judges and U.S. Attorneys than all previous presidents put together and had nine African American Cabinet members. (Frm. President Bill Clinton during radio interview in Philly yesterday)
Cherokee nation faces battle over funding
Frank sides with CBC, holds fast on Cherokee funding
By Kevin Bogardus
thehill.com
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has threatened to block housing legislation for Native Americans if the final bill does not include a funding ban against the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma .
Frank shares a concern first raised by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), whose members have proposed several measures to punish the tribe for changing its constitution last year to exclude the Freedmen — a group of largely black Americans who are descendants of freed slaves once owned by tribe members — from its ranks.
The tribe’s actions have led to an intense fight between the Cherokee Nation and the CBC. The tribe has hired a number of lobbyists to push back against punitive legislation as it also battles the issue in federal and tribal court. The powerful House Financial Services Committee chairman is yet another obstacle for the Cherokee.
“We would not pass the bill. We would not acquiesce to give funding to the Cherokees,” said Frank, whose committee has jurisdiction over the legislation. Frank said he would not bring a conference report to the floor for a final vote without the ban firmly in place.
The House version of the bill passed in September with an amendment by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) that would bar housing funds for the Cherokee. Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), however, amended Watt’s provision so that it would not take effect until a tribal court battle between the Cherokees and the Freedmen is resolved.
That has been a primary argument of the tribe: Let the courts, not Congress, decide the issue. If the bill sponsored by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) becomes law, Watt’s measure would cut $30 million of federal housing funds for close to 7,400 Cherokee, according to the tribe’s estimates. (more…)
Related:
Taking the time to smell the roses
From blogged.com
Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it an 8.6 score out of (10) in the Society/Culture category of Blogged.com.
This is quite an achievement!We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.
After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 8.6 score.
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