Tuesday, December 20, 2005

More Katrina Race Baiting

This news is a couple weeks old, but I can't help but comment on the Queen Victim Race Baiter, Leah Hodges. Here is a snippet of what the Louisiana had to say to congress about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

    First of all, I would like to offer condolences to the approximately 10,000 people who lost family members, and what certainly appears to me to be a mass act — an act of genocide and of ethnic cleansing.

    Anyway, I’m chair of a committee called Causeway Concentration Camp. Causeway Concentration Camp arose directly from the harsh military treatment and the tensioned fascist style under the I10 in Jefferson Parish at the causeway exit.

    The one person who was there to actually help people, he just vanished and we just never saw him again. The next morning all we saw was what appeared to be a bunch of hardened rednecks scowling and growling at us in military uniforms, just hostile, full of hatred, and pointing guns at us and treating us worse than prisoners of war. And in over 100 degree temperatures we were forced to stand out in that hot sun with a hundred percent humidity. We were exposed to skin cancer. We were tortured with sleep depravation. They created a garbage dump and they made us live on it and sleep on it and they flew helicopters over our heads and blew the garbage, the muck and the toxic mire back into our faces.

    But, you know, I will answer questions but I will say this, we have been exposed to genocide by ethnic cleansing, the rights of our children have been violated, women’s rights against discrimination have been violated, our economic, social and cultural rights have been violated, our human rights have been violated, our rights against torture have been violated, our rights as prisoners of war within the scope and jurisdiction of the Geneva accords have been violated, migrant workers’ rights have been violated.

    These and all other violations both expressed and implied arise directly from the failure of the United States’ government to eliminate apartheid practices and all other forms of oppressive government practices against poor and working poor citizens of the United States who are mostly African-Americans or otherwise people of color. These violations are historical and continuing.


Wow! I'm almost speechless. What the moron Hodges fails to recognize is that whites died at a higher per capita rate in New Orleans than did blacks. But let's not let facts stand in the way of her "I'm an oppressed black who is owed everything from racist cracker America" agenda.

I'm left to wonder who in their right mind invited this race-baiting buffoon with a 5 ton chip on her shoulder to speak to Congress? Secondly, did anybody call her on her ridiculous claims of "genocide", "ethnic cleansing", and "apartheid"? Thirdly, how does a racist wingnut allowed to hurl racist venom, calling whites "hardened rednecks"? Finally, what does the Geneva convention have to do with Katrina?

As it turns out, Hodges appears to be a member of the Black Panther Party. For more background (from Newsbusters), check out this story from 1970, where Hodges' "party" describes beating up under cover "pigs". And I'm still left to wonder how in the world the likes of Hodges could get a forum before Congress.

God save our country from fools like Leah Hodges.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Texas Longhorns: Doing What it Takes to Win (and keep players eligible).

I admit I'm biased against the Texas Longhorn athletic program. As a graduate of the top academic institution in the state, Texas A&M, I've come to root against the Longhorns whenever they take the field, in every sport.

The football team is enjoying their greatest season in years, and are playing for the national championship against USC in the Rose Bowl. Even though the Ags out-gained the might Longhorns by 60 yards, we still came out on the short end of the scoreboard. Clearly, Texas is deserving of playing in the Rose Bowl.

But how did they get to this position? How did they accumulate so much talent in Austin? Why is it that every junior who's a first-rounder-to-be stays in Austin for their senior years? Think Ricky Williams, Roy Williams, Cedric Benson, and Derrick Johnson. Each of these players was a sure-fire first rounder after their junior years, but chose to forego millions of dollars to return to Austin for their senior years. Care to guess what Vince Young will do after this year?

Another point of interest is the criminal behavior on the Longhorn team. Every program has their share of issues, but most teams discipline accordingly. A&M, for example, dismissed two of their young stars from the team (including their starting cornerback) after they were busted with marijuana. Here is a quick list of recent criminal issues in Austin:

  • Kwame Cavil and Aaron Humphrey among 4 kicked off the team for toking at the Cotton Bowl hotel. 2000 (not arrested)
  • Brock Edwards convicted of assault where the victim required facial reconstruction surgery. Edwards remained on the team. 2002
  • Benson arrested on posession and paraphenelia charges, 2002. Charges were dropped, and Benson remained on the team.
  • Larry Dibbles, Aaron Harris, Edorian McCullough and Selvin Young arrested for possession, 2003 The charges dropped after DA says illegal search and seizure, but players remained on the team.
  • Cedric Benson breaking and entering for his plasma, 2003. He was convicted, but remained on the team.
  • Matt Nordgren and Cedric Griffin assault and criminal mischief, 2003. They were convicted, but remained on the team.
  • Aaron Harris gets into a fight on 6th and gets breaking his jaw. Arrested along with Kaelen Jakes, 2003. Players remained on the team.
  • Erik Hardeman arrested for dealing in 2004. The trial is pending, and Hardeman is no longer on the team.
  • Ramonce Taylor, Cedric Griffin, and two other players investigated for aggravated robbery this December. Investigation underway, but both players will play vs. USC in the Rose Bowl.

    That's 9 incidents involving 12 players (including a couple multiple-offendors) in 6 years. Congratulations to Mack Brown to winning his first-ever conference championship in 20+ years as a head coach. Who cares if he has to play part-time warden?
  • Friday, December 16, 2005

    11 Million Americans Can't Read

    In what comes as no surprise to anybody outside of the Department of Education and perhaps the editors at CNN, a recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy has shown that 11 million Americans are illiterate. Gee, that 11 million number sure sounds familiar. Hmmm - where have I heard that figure before? Oh yeah - that's how many illegal immigrants are supposed to be in the United States.

    For further support of my thesis that illegal immigration is to blame, consider these three important facts from the study:
    • Whites made no advances in literacy rates from 1992 to 2003, but did show advances in computational skills.
    • Blacks made advances in every area of the test during this same time period.
    • Hispanics declined "sharply" during the 11 year period.


    Unfortunately, the results of recent immigrants have skewed the results of the Hispanic population, so we really have no idea as to whether English speaking Hispanics have made literacy gains or not.

    How do you fix this problem? Perhaps if our Houston Metro buses would stop blaring information in Spanish, immigrants would learn to comprehend English. Perhaps if we didn't spend hundreds of millions of dollars coding ATM machines, printing government forms, and creating Spanish speaking phone services, Spanish speaking immigrants would actually learn to speak English. The Poles did it. The Italians, Germans, French, and every other immigrant group that came to this country over the past 200 years managed to learn English. Why is it that simpletons at LULAC push dual language services, and why is it that our short-sighted government complies?

    Of course, if LULAC had their way, the next National Assessment of Adult Literacy will be conducted bilingually. Problem "solved"!

    Full story on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy here.

    Tuesday, December 13, 2005

    Stanley Tookie Williams' Legacy

    Last night Stanley Tookie Williams, who was the co-founder of the violent street gang Crips, was executed for murdering four people with a shotgun in 1979. The first man murdered, Albert Owens, was working the night shift at a 7-11. Owens told Williams and his cohorts to take everything. But Williams ordered Owens into a back room and shot him twice in the back, and later laughed about the crime.

    Williams' case has drawn national attention because he apparently had a change of heart, and became an anti-gang activist in prison, public speaker (via phone), and an author of children's books. On the other hand, Williams has never admitted his crimes, and has rejected opportunities to help authorities convict other gang members.

    Williams' legacy lives on. His son Stanley Jr. joined the gang founded by his father, and is now serving time for second degree murder. The Crips have expanded and are now bringing Williams' brand of violence across the nation. On the other hand, his eight book series titled "Tookie Speaks Out" which are targeted at kids in kindergarten through 4th grade, warn of the dangers of joining gangs.

    Today, only God knows whether or not Tookie's change of heart was genuine.

    Thursday, December 08, 2005

    CNN and Reuters at it Again

    I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices CNN's propensity to stay on the left side of the news. This is evident on TV, and on their web site. Today is no exception, although this is a Reuters story so perhaps this issue rests with them.

    In an article about Iran's lunatic president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today, the Iranian leader is quoted as saying Iran does not accept the claims made in regards to the Nazi holocaust. He goes on to recommend the Europe allocate land for a new Israeli homeland, so that the Jews could all leave Israel.

    The story then goes on to say "Historians say that 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi holocaust". So now Reuters is referring to the holocaust as something that allegedly happened? Why can't they factually claim what all the world understands as a historical fact?

    What's next?
  • George Bush, whom political scientists claim is the President of the United States, addressed the nation today.

  • December 7th marks the day when Japanese warplanes allegedly bombed Pearl Harbor.

  • Extremist anti-choice protestors, who claim abortion stops a beating heart, antagonized doctors outside a clinic today.

    UPDATE: CNN has actually updated their story, and the "Historians say" preface has been removed. Between X-ing out Dick Cheney and this gaff, perhaps the inmates are running the asylum at CNN. Then again, perhaps it's the leadership that belongs in an asylum.

    Story here.
  • Friday, December 02, 2005

    A Different Standard For Evacuees

    As is typical with Houston elementary schools, our children's school has welcomed many Hurricane Katrina evacuees. We have purchased school supplies for the children, they are given free meals, and their families are given free housing. We're blessed to live in a neighborhood where our elementary school is rated "Exemplary" by the state of Texas.

    Unfortunately, several of the New Orleans children are either incapable of expressing gratitude, or incapable of acting in a decent manner. We recognized the problem early on, when our son in 5th grade came home saying one of the new kids from New Orleans cussed quite a bit. We'd heard this before in years past, but when we got down to it the worse our son heard was "crap", or something similar. But this day, we discovered there was a boy saying "F*** You", and calling kids "d***head". We were of course disappointed, but understood that at some point our son was bound to hear some real cussing.

    But a few days later, our son was pushed to the ground and choked by one of the New Orleans kids. One of our good friend's sons was punched. We've heard similar stories from other families. Unfortunately, we heard nothing from the school about this mini wave of violence, and we received no responses to our emails. A few days later, our friend's son was attacked again, this time he had a large bump on his head when he came home from school. During a meeting to discuss the matter, the principal stated the boy was simply "misunderstood".

    So not only is the red carpet laid out for evacuees, but our school districts are now ignoring long-held policies that call for suspensions in cases of violence. Fortunately, the boy in my son's class was pulled out of the class for a couple weeks, but he was not suspended nor has he been sent to the alternative school. So if you're just an average Houstonian, you have one discipline policy. But if you're a New Orleans evacuee, in addition to the red carpet, you also are exempt from the disctrict's discipline policy.

    There's no doubting that evacuee families are suffering, and I'm very proud of my city for all the hard work and generosity displayed over the past few months. But we'd be foolish to set up a different set of standards for evacuee children and their parents. It's not fair to Houston children being terrorized, and in the long run it will do more harm than good to the evacuees.