RACE News:

John McCain - Rod Parsley - Racist - Politics - Government - Abortion - Law - Women - Parents - Health - Arizona - Ohio - 2008 Election - "McCain Spiritual Guide Accused Gov't Of Enabling 'Black Genocide'." ... "Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio -- whom [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain hails as a spiritual adviser -- has suggested on several occasions that the U.S. [United States] government was complicit in facilitating black genocide." ... "In speeches that have gone largely unnoticed, Parsley (who is white) compares Planned Parenthood, the reproductive care and family planning group, to the Klu Klux Klan and Nazis, and describes the American government as enablers of murder for supporting the organization." ... ""If I were call for the sterilization or the elimination of an entire segment of society, I'd be labeled a racists or a murderer, or at very best a Nazi," says Parsley. "That every single year, millions of our tax dollars are funding a national organization built upon that very goal -- their target: African Americans. That's right, the death toll: nearly fifteen hundred African Americans a day. The shocking truth of black genocide."" ... "He goes on." ... ""Right now our own government is allowing organizations like Planned Parenthood to legally take the innocent lives of precious baby girls and baby boys and even footing the bill for it all with our tax dollars, turning every single one of us into accessories to murder," he says. "You know who their biggest fans must be, that must be the Klu Klux Klan, because the woman who founded this organization detested black people.... African Americans were number one on Margaret Sanger's list. So this 'Lady MacDeath,' as I like to call her, studied the works of Englishman Thomas Robert Malthus, and embraced his plan of eugenics."" ... "However, there are issues with Parsley's stats. While black populations in America do have higher abortion rates than white populations, there are far more abortions among white mothers than among blacks." -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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Barack Obama - Christian - American - Race - Politics - History - 2008 Election - Israel - Military - Terrorism - Economy - Health-Care - Climate - Housing - Poor - People - Scholarships - Family - "A More Perfect Union." ... [Partial text of Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union". Read full text of speech or Watch speech.] "[Barack Obama:] I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed." ... "But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam." ... "As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all." ... "Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way[.]" ... "But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS." ... "In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:" ... ""People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."" ... "That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America." ... "And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years." -By BarackObama.com -read full text of Barack Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union" via HavenWorks.com

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John McCain - John Hagee - Rod Parsley - Rudy Giuliani - Pat Robertson - Terrorism - Politics - Military - Religion - Race - Obama - 2008 Election - Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans - Louisiana - Oklahoma - US - Israel - "The difference between Jeremiah Wright and radical, white evangelical ministers." ... "Ross Douthat and Ezra Klein are arguing about whether Jeremiah Wright's statements are comparable to those of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and John Hagee's." ... "The statement of Wright's which seems to be causing the most upset -- and it's one of two singled out by Douthat -- is his suggestion that there is a causal link between (a) America's constant bombings of and other interference with Middle Eastern countries and (b) the willingness of some Middle Eastern fanatics to attack the U.S. [United States] Ever since the 9/11 attacks, we've been told that positing any such causal connection is a sign of vicious anti-Americanism and that all decent people find such questions despicable. This week we learned that no respectable person would subject his children to a pastor who espouses such hateful ideas." ... "But the idea that America deserves terrorist attacks and other horrendous disasters has long been a frequently expressed view among the faction of white evangelical ministers to whom the Republican Party is most inextricably linked. Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God. John Hagee continues to believe that the City of New Orleans [Louisiana] got what it deserved when Katrina drowned its residents and devastated the lives of thousands of Americans. And [Oklahoma Republican Senator] James Inhofe -- who happens to still be a Republican U.S. Senator -- blamed America for the 9/11 attacks by arguing in a 2002 Senate floor speech that "the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America" because we pressured Israel to give away parts of the West Bank." ... "John Hagee privately visits with the highest level Middle East officials in the [Republican President Bush] White House and afterwards pronounces that they're in agreement. [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain shares a stage with Hagee and lavishes him with praise, as Rudy Giuliani did with Pat Robertson. James Inhofe remains a member in good standing in the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] Senate Caucus. The Republican Party has tied itself at the hip to a whole slew of "anti-American extremists" -- people who believe that the U.S. provoked the 9/11 attacks because God wants to punish us for the evil, wicked nation we've become -- and yet there is virtual silence about these associations." ... "Nor have the views of televangelist Rod Parsley, one of McCain's self-proclaimed "spiritual advisers," received a fraction of the attention generated by Wright. As both David Corn and Alan Colmes, among others, have documented, Parsley espouses views at least as extreme and radical as Wright, including his proclamation that "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion [Islam] destroyed." Unlike Wright and Obama -- for whom the former's controversial views are found nowhere near the latter's public or private conduct -- both George Bush and John McCain's Middle Eastern militarism are perfectly consonant with the most maniacal and crazed views of Christian Rapture enthusiasts such as Hagee, Parsley, Inhofe, and Robertson. Yet the controversy created over their close ties is virtually non-existent." ... "The Republican Party long ago adopted as a central strategy aligning itself with, and granting great influence to, the most radical, "America-hating" white evangelical Christian ministers in the country." -By Glenn Greenwald -Salon

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Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Race - 2008 Election - New York - Illinois - South Carolina - "Clinton apologizes to black voters." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton apologized to a gathering of black newspaper publishers Wednesday for a top fundraiser's controversial comments that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama's race has helped his candidacy." ... "The New York senator found herself in the hot seat after the remarks by Geraldine Ferraro -- a former New York congresswoman, Democratic vice presidential candidate and Clinton supporter." ... ""I rejected what she said and I certainly do repudiate it," Clinton said at the National Newspaper Publishers Association meeting in Washington." ... "Clinton was asked about remarks her husband, former [Democratic] President Bill Clinton, made while on the trail for his wife in South Carolina last month in which he seemed to imply that Obama's success in South Carolina would largely be based on his race." ... ""I'm sorry if anyone was offended. It certainly was not meant in anyway to be offensive," she said." -CNN

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Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Racist - Politics - 2008 Election - Illinois - New York - "Ferraro defends controversial comments on Barack Obama." ... "Former [Democratic] vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro today defended a remark she made to the Daily Breeze last week, in which she suggested that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama would not be where he is if he were white." ... "In an interview with the Breeze, Ferraro said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."" ... "The comment was picked up by political blogs and cable news shows across the country. The Obama campaign held a conference call today to denounce the remark, and Obama surrogates urged [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton to repudiate it." ... "In a follow-up interview today, Ferraro said her company had been deluged with vicious e-mail messages accusing her of racism." ... "But far from backing off from her initial remark, Ferraro defended it and elaborated on it." ... ""Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," Ferraro said. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"" ... "Obama campaign manager David Axelrod called Ferraro's comments part of an "insidious pattern" of remarks from Clinton supporters that have drawn attention to Obama's race." ... ""When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you're really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes," Axelrod said, according to ABC News." -By Gene Maddaus with contributions by Jim Farber -DailyBreeze.com

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Barack Obama - Tim Russert - John McCain - John Hagee - Religious - Homosexual - Woman - Racist - Book - History - Media - Politics -  - 2008 Election - Illinois - Arizona - Arkansas - Texas - US - Israel - Germany - "Will MSNBC devote as much coverage to McCain's embrace of Hagee's support as it did to Obama's rejection of Farrakhan?" ... "Summary: On February 27, MSNBC devoted significant coverage to an exchange from the most recent Democratic presidential debate in which NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert repeatedly questioned [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama about praise he received from controversial minister Louis Farrakhan, whose statements Obama has denounced. The same day, Pastor John Hagee -- who has made controversial comments about homosexuality, Islam, Catholicism, and women -- endorsed [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain, who embraced Hagee's support. Hagee's endorsement and McCain's response to it raise the question of whether MSNBC will report on them as extensively as it did on Farrakhan's praise." ... "A March 7, 1996, article (accessed via the Nexis database) in the San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported:"

"Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church [in Texas], last week had announced a "slave sale" to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, "The Cluster."" ... "The item was introduced with the sentence "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and go home with a slave.""

"To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." Mr. Hagee apologized but, in a radio interview, protested about pressure to be "politically correct" and joked that perhaps his pet dog should be called a "canine American.""

"In his recent book "Jerusalem Countdown," Hagee wrote: "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.""

Barack Obama - Tim Russert - John McCain - John C Hagee - Religious - Racist - Political - Journalist - 2008 Election - Hurricane Katrina - Homosexual - New Orleans - Louisiana - Texas - "Some hateful, radical ministers -- white evangelicals -- are acceptable." ... "One of this week's hysterical press scandals was that Minister Louis Farrakhan praised [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama's candidacy even though Obama had previously denounced numerous Farrakhan remarks and the Obama campaign did nothing to seek out the Farrakhan praise. Nonetheless, [MSNBC TV political journalist] Tim Russert demanded that Obama jump through multiple hoops to prove that he has no connection to -- and, in fact, "rejects" -- the ideas espoused by Farrakhan deemed to be radical and hateful." ... "Yesterday, though, the equally fringe, radical and hateful (at least) [Reverend] Rev. John Hagee -- a white evangelical who is the pastor of a sprawling "mega-church" in Texas -- enthusiastically endorsed [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate]] John McCain. Did McCain have to jump through the same hoops which Russert and others set up for Obama and "denounce" Hagee's extremism and "reject" his support? No; quite the opposite. McCain said he was "very honored" to receive this endorsement and, when asked about some of Hagee's more twisted views, responded: "all I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support."" ... "McCain's sainted supporter, [Connecticut Independent Democrat Senator] Joe Lieberman, last year spoke to Hagee's group and lavished him with such obsequious praise that Lieberman actually compared Hagee, favorably, to Moses. Why is Louis Farrakhan deemed by our political establishment to be so radioactive as to not be fit for good company -- black candidates are required to repudiate his support even when they haven't sought it and denounce his views even when they've never advocated anything close to those views -- but John Hagee is a perfectly acceptable figure whom mainstream GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] politicians are free to court without any consequences or media objections?" ... "From an NPR interview Hagee gave to Terry Gross in 2006:"

"TG [Terry Gross]: If you use the Bible as the basis for policy, is there any room for compromise? And if you use the bible as the basis for policy, should Muslims use the Koran as the basis for their policy, and then again, what possible basis is there for compromise at that point?" ... "JH [John Hagee]: There is really no room for compromise between radical Islam --" ... "TG [Terry Gross]: I'm not talking about radical Islam. I'm just talking about Islam in general." ... "JH [John Hagee]: Well Islam in general -- those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews."
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"JH [John Hagee]: All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans [Louisiana] had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." ... "The newspaper carried the story in our local area, that was not carried nationally, that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it would was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades." ... "So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the Day of Judgment, and I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

Prison - History - Race - Women - People- Money - Politics - "1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says." ... "For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report." ... "Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars." ... "Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34." ... "The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 are behind bars but that one in 100 black women are." ... "With money from bonds and the federal government included, total state spending on corrections last year was $49 billion." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes 

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Terrorism - Radio- Language - Race - Politics - 2008 Election - Obama - "O'Reilly: "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels"." ... "Summary: In a discussion of recent comments made by Michelle Obama [wife of 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Barack Obama], Bill O'Reilly took a call from a listener who stated that, according to "a friend who had knowledge of her," Obama " 'is a very angry,' her word was 'militant woman.' " O'Reilly later stated: "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit."" -Bill O'Reilly via -MediaMatters.org

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Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Massachusetts - Rhode Island - US - Iraq - Military - Race - Gay - 2008 Election - "Sen. Kennedy endorses Barack Obama: Democratic elder statesman plans to campaign for candidate." ... "Two generations of Kennedys - the Democratic Party's best known political family - endorsed [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama for president on Monday, with [Massachusetts Democratic Senator "Ted" Kennedy] Sen. Edward M. Kennedy calling him a "man with extraordinary gifts of leadership and character," a worthy heir to his assassinated brother [two of Ted Kennedy's brothers were assassinated, Democratic President John F. Kennedy and Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy]." ... "He [Obama] was introduced by Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president [John F. Kennedy], who said Obama "offers that same sense of hope and inspiration" as did her father. [Rhode Island Democratic Representative] Rep. Patrick Kennedy also endorsed Obama from the stage before a boisterous crowd at American University." ... "In his remarks, Sen. Kennedy sought one by one to rebut many of the arguments leveled by Obama's critics." ... ""From the beginning, he opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that truth," he said, an obvious reference to former President Clinton's statement that Obama's early anti-war stance was a "fairy tale."" ... ""With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion." ... ""With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay," Kennedy said." ... "Lately, according to several associates, Kennedy became angered with what he viewed as racially divisive comments by [husband to 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, former Democratic President] Bill Clinton." -AP via -MSNBC 

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John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Economics - Workers - Energy - Poverty - Racial - Politics - "Edwards Excels in Ferocious Democratic Debate." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards tweaked both his opponents for making the debate about political squabbling instead of public policy. Returning to his populist economic platform -- especially salient as Americans ponder a recession -- he reminded voters that he was the only candidate to outline a comprehensive plan to end poverty, and the first to introduce a national economic stimulus proposal. His plan came out weeks before [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama. The program drove the "party's policy agenda," as Paul Krugman explained, by advocating "aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments," and alternative energy, (most of which Clinton later adopted in her plan). And while the debate moderators kept pushing trite racial questions, even asking Obama if Bill Clinton was the "first black president," Edwards outlined a vision of racial and economic equality, where "every American is of equal value."" -By Ari Melber -TheNation.com

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Hillary Clinton - John Edwards - Barack Obama - Race - Language - Radio - Ads - Nevada - Union - Money - 2008 Election - Iowa - North Carolina - "Clinton, Edwards campaigns blast radio ads backing Obama." ... "The campaigns of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates] Hillary Clinton and John Edwards took aim at [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama Thursday over radio ads in Nevada funded by a third-party group that is backing his candidacy." ... "The buy is allegedly being funded by the Unite Here Campaign Committee on behalf of the Culinary Workers Union, which has endorsed Obama." ... "On a conference call with reporters late this afternoon, Hispanic supporters of Clinton’s presidential candidacy criticized the union for incorrectly implying that “Si Se Puede” – a slogan associated with the late activist Cesar Chavez – was also the Obama campaign’s official slogan." ... "John Edwards was criticized by Obama in Iowa for not calling an independent group that supported the former North Carolina senator to demand they pull ads they were running in support of his candidacy. “When Sen. Obama says ‘turn the page,’ he obviously means turn to whatever page is most convenient. He loudly and repeatedly attacked independent ads by unions in Iowa as the product of special interests,” said Edwards Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince." ... "“But when a different outside group starts running ads on his behalf in Nevada, there's not a peep from him or his campaign. It must be because he's burning up the phone lines calling the head of Unite Here personally to demand he pulls the ads down right away.”" -By Rebecca Sinderbrand -CNN

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Hillary Clinton - Language - Race - Civil Rights - Law - History - Media - Politics - 2008 Election - "New York Times Keeps Running Truncated Version Of Hillary's Quote About Martin Luther King." ... "For the second time, the [The New York Times] paper has run a truncated version of something [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton said about Martin Luther King that has become a major campaign issue -- even though the full transcript has been available for days." ... "But as Josh [Marshall, editor and publisher of TPM Media,] pointed out on TPM the other day, here's Hillary's actual quote from the interview:

"I would point to the fact that that Dr. King's dream began to be realized when [Democratic] President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that [Democratic] President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the President before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done. That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became a real in people's lives because we had a president who said we are going to do it, and actually got it accomplished."

Ron Paul - Race - Gay - Politics - Media - History - 2008 Election - "Angry White Man: The bigoted past of Ron Paul." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Ron] Paul's newsletters have carried different titles over the years--Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report--but they generally seem to have been published on a monthly basis since at least 1978. (Paul, an OB-GYN and former U.S. Air Force surgeon, was first elected to Congress in 1976.) During some periods, the newsletters were published by the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, a nonprofit Paul founded in 1976; at other times, they were published by Ron Paul & Associates, a now-defunct entity in which Paul owned a minority stake, according to his campaign spokesman. The Freedom Report claimed to have over 100,000 readers in 1984. At one point, Ron Paul & Associates also put out a monthly publication called The Ron Paul Investment Letter." ... "Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by him, though the vast majority of the editions I [James Kirchick] saw contain no bylines at all. Complicating matters, many of the unbylined newsletters were written in the first person, implying that Paul was the author." ... "But, whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him--and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics." -By James Kirchick-TNR.com 

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Money - Discrimination - Crime - Maryland - Homeowners - Consumers - Ohio - New York - "Baltimore Is Suing Bank Over Foreclosure Crisis." ... "Baltimore’s [Maryland state] mayor and City Council are suing Wells Fargo Bank, contending that its lending practices discriminated against black borrowers and led to a wave of foreclosures that has reduced city tax revenues and increased its costs." ... "The recent surge in homeowner defaults nationwide, generated by lax lending practices during the real estate boom, has officials bracing for a range of problems that often accompany foreclosures. Some municipalities, including Cleveland [Ohio] and Buffalo [New York], are trying to make lenders responsible for abandoned properties to ward off crimes like arson, drug use and prostitution." ... "In the suit, Mayor Sheila Dixon joined with the City Council to ask that the court bar Wells Fargo from charging higher fees to black borrowers. Many of these borrowers paid more under the bank’s subprime lending program, designed for less creditworthy consumers, and are more likely to default on their loans." ... "In 2006, Wells Fargo made high-cost loans, with an interest rate at least three percentage points above a federal benchmark, to 65 percent of its black customers in Baltimore and to only 15 percent of its white customers in the area, according to the lawsuit. Similarly, refinancings to black borrowers were more likely to be higher cost than to white ones and to carry prepayment penalties." -By Gretchen Morgenson -NYTimes 

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John Edwards - Music - Des-Moines - Iowa - Farm - History - Working - Poverty - Race - 2008 Election - "Edwards Wins the Mellencamp Primary." ... "So it is that [singer John] Mellencamp will come to Iowa Wednesday to close the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards campaign off with a "This Is Our Country" rally at the not-exactly-Hollywood Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines [Iowa]. (In case anyone is missing the point here, they will be distributing the tickets from the United Steelworkers Local 310 hall.)" ... "Where [Oprah] Winfrey brought a big name but little in the way of a track record on the issues that are fundamental to the rural and small-town Iowans who will play a disproportional role in Thursday's caucuses, Mellencamp is more than just another celebrity taking a lap around the policy arena." ... "For a quarter century, the singer has been in the thick of the fight on behalf of the rural families he immortalized in the video for "Rain on the Scarecrow," his epic song about the farm crisis that buffeted Iowa and neighboring states in the 1980s and never really ended." ... "Mellencamp has not merely sung about withering small towns and farm foreclosures. As a organizer of Farm Aid, he has brought some of the biggest stars in the world to benefit concerts in Iowa and surrounding states, and he has helped to distribute the money raised at those events to organizations across Iowa." ... "Farm Aid is nonpartisan. It's not endorsing in this race. But Mellencamp is. The singer, who this year will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but whose music remains vital enough to have earned a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, was lobbied for support by other campaigns, especially Clinton's. But he has a long relationship with Edwards. He has an even longer relationship with the issues that Edwards is talking about. Indeed, his credibility is grounded in the recognition that Mellencamp has repeatedly taken career-risking anti-war, anti-racist and anti-poverty stances that other celebrities of his stature tend to avoid." ... "What matters, of course, is the fact of that credibility -- and the fact that it is so closely tied to the farm and rural issues that have meaning even in the more urbanized regions of Iowa. That is why, if there is an endorsement that is going to have meaning with the people who drive down country roads to attend caucuses on what looks to be a very cold and unforgiving Thursday night, it is likely to be that of the guy who proudly sings that, "I was born in a small town..."" -By John Nichols -TheNation.com 

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Mitt Romney - Civil Rights - Race - History - 2008 Election - "Romney never saw father on King march: Defends figurative words; evidence contradicts story." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney acknowledged yesterday that he never saw his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. as he asserted in a nationally televised speech this month, and historical evidence shows that Michigan's Governor George Romney and the civil rights leader never did march together." ... "Romney said his father had told him he had marched with King and that he had been using the word "saw" in a "figurative sense."" ... "But historical evidence, including news accounts at the time, shows that George Romney never marched with King, though he supported King's agenda." ... "Romney has repeated the story of his father marching with King in some of his most prominent presidential campaign appearances, including the "Tonight" show with Jay Leno in May, his address on faith and politics Dec. 6 in Texas, and on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, when he was questioned about the Mormon Church's ban on full participation by black members. He said that he had cried in his car in 1978 when he heard the ban had ended, and added, "My father marched with Martin Luther King."" ... "Mitt Romney went a step further in a 1978 interview with the Boston Herald. Talking about the Mormon Church and racial discrimination, he said: "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."" ... "Yesterday, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that was not true. "Mitt Romney did not march with Martin Luther King," he said in an e-mail statement to the Globe." -By Michael Levenson -BostonGlobe 

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John Edwards - Working - Family - College-Education - Money - Race - Des-Moines - Iowa - NC - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - 2008 Election - "The Road Warrior: Even if he loses in Iowa's bigger cities, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts." ... "For months, Edwards has been rounding up support in the state's rural precincts where the front runners have paid less attention. While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines [Iowa] and Ames [Iowa], Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City [Iowa] (population: 2,189). That's important, the strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. In other words, even if he loses to Obama and Clinton in the state's bigger cities, he can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts that other candidates have ignored. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear." ... "This could be wishful thinking from an ailing campaign. But it's worth keeping in mind just how wrong the media echo chamber can be when it comes to predicting winners and losers. At about this time four years ago, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was the press-anointed darling who could seemingly do no wrong in Iowa. Dour John Kerry was scorned by reporters as the should-have-been who had blown it and couldn't possibly win. But on caucus night, Kerry wound up the victor—and Dean wound up screaming. Reporters were left to wonder what they had missed. One story the talking heads may be missing this time: just how badly John Edwards hates to lose." ... "The desire to get ahead—to win—is no small thing for Edwards. He was raised in the depressed town of Robbins, N.C. [North Carolina], where his father, Wallace, worked in a now long-gone textile mill. It's a biographical detail the candidate mentions so often in speeches and campaign ads that it can sometimes border on self-parody. Yet his father's story is what Edwards's campaign, and political career, is all about. His dad worked his way up in the mill and was promoted to supervisor. But without a college degree, there was only so far he could rise. "He heard his mother and I talk about it at the dinner table, so he knew what I was faced with," his father tells NEWSWEEK. Money was scarce. Wallace was determined that John and his younger brother and sister, Wesley Blake and Kathy, would attend college. He set an example of self-improvement. He took classes offered by the mill, and tuned in to the education channel on TV early each morning when the station aired lessons in statistics and probability." ... "Tall and good-looking—and he knew it—John Edwards was a popular student and a star football player, skinny but fast. His high-school friend John Mashburn remembers Edwards as a leader. "In a little redneck town, he was different," he says. There was still racial tension in Robbins in the early 1970s, and black students were sometimes mistreated. In protest, several of them once held a sit-in. Edwards persuaded his white friends to join in. "Johnny got a lot of the athletes, myself, our girlfriends … he was instrumental in encouraging us," Mashburn says. John Frye, another high-school friend, says it was a gutsy thing to do. He "stuck his neck out," Frye recalls. "There was a price to pay in how some folks treated him after that. We had people who didn't embrace desegregation even though it had been a bridge crossed years earlier."" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Arian Campo-Flores and Suzanne Smalley Dec 24, 2007 Issue -Newsweek

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Mitt Romney - Civil Rights - Race - Politics - Michigan - Massachusetts - Texas - 2008 Election - "Romney fields questions on King: Campaign says claim not literal." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he watched his father, the late Michigan Gov. [Governor] George Romney, in a 1960s civil rights march in Michigan with Martin Luther King Jr." ... "On Wednesday, Romney's campaign said his recollections of watching his father, an ardent civil rights supporter, march with King were meant to be figurative." ... ""He was speaking figuratively, not literally," Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said of the candidate." ... "The campaign was responding to questions raised by the Free Press and other media after a Boston [Massachusetts] publication challenged the accuracy of Mitt Romney's account." ... "In a major speech on faith and politics earlier this month in Texas, Mitt Romney said: "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."" ... "He made a similar statement Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said, "You can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights."" -By Todd Spangler and Alice Pepper -FreeP.com 

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Gordon Smith - Trent Lott - Racism - History - South Carolina - Mississippi - Oregon - "Gordon Smith Defends Lott's Segregationist Comments." ... "Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-OR [Republican-Oregon], offered a passionate defense of the pro-segregationist comments made by his colleague and friend, [Mississippi Republican Senator] Sen. Trent Lott, more then three years ago." ... ""I was half way around the world when an event befell Trent Lott that shook me deeply," Smith said, referencing Lott's 2002 remarks in praise of Dixiecrat [South Carolina Republican Senator] Strom Thurmond's 1948 run for the White House. "I was celebrating my re-election and on vacation. I watched over international news as his words were misconstrued, words which we had heard him utter many times in his big warm-heartedness trying to make one of our colleagues, Strom Thurmond, feel good at 100 years old. We knew what he meant. But the wolfpack of the press circled around him, sensed blood in the water, and the exigencies of politics caused a great injustice..."" ... "In 2002, Lott lost his Senate Republican Leader post after he was quoted praising the staunch segregationist Strom Thurmond during Thurmond's 100th birthday party. "I want to say this about my state: when Strom Thurmond ran for President, we voted for him," Lott boasted. "We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."" ... "Lott apologized repeatedly for his remarks, calling them "insensitive," "repugnant" and "inexcusable" during an appearance on a black-oriented cable channel." ... "Lott recently found himself back among the leadership ranks. His election as minority whip in November 2006 came by a 25 to 24 vote. Sen. Smith played a key role in the internal party election." -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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WATCH Oregon Republican Gordon Smith defend Mississippi Republican Trent Lott's celebration of South Carolina Republican Strom Thurmond's segregationist run for President in 1948.

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Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Drug - Criminality - Race - Religion - New Hampshire - Iowa- South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Clinton's stereotyping of Obama may backfire." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama said Friday that he accepted the apology of Democratic presidential rival [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton after Bill Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire cochairman, suggested that Obama's teenage drug use would hurt him in the general election." ... "It was clear, though, that the apology did not cover all the recent shots at Obama that raise questions as to whether the Clinton campaign is getting desperate." ... ""The kindergarten stuff was not mentioned," Obama said in an interview after a morning town hall event here in eastern Iowa. The Clinton team was ridiculed in political circles for dredging up an Obama kindergarten I-want-to-be-president essay." ... "That leaves open as to how far the Clinton campaign, whose poll leads have evaporated in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, will go to stereotype Obama as not only naive, but cast him in a sinister light in a nation where black drug use and criminality is exaggerated in the media and where Muslims face undue wariness. Earlier this week, the Clinton staff fired two Iowa volunteer coordinators for circulating a hoax e-mail saying Obama, a Christian, was a Muslim who might help destroy the United States." -By Derrick Z. Jackson -BostonGlobe via -SeattlePI

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Bernard Kerik - Officer - Race - Politics - Rudy Giuliani - New York - 2008 Election - "Settlement for former corrections officer who claims Bernard Kerik had race bias." ... "The city [New York City, New York] will pay $125,000 to settle a suit by a former Correction Department officer who claimed that disgraced ex-Commissioner Bernard Kerik sidetracked his career because he's African-American." ... "Former Deputy Warden Eric Deravin agreed to the payout on the day his federal racial discrimination trial was set to start in Manhattan [borough of New York City]." ... "Deravin claimed he was passed over for promotion six times between 1998 and 2000 after he successfully fended off a harassment claim lodged by Kerik's former lover, Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero." ... "Deravin was promoted in May 2000." ... "Kerik admitted a nearly two-year romantic relationship with Pinero that ended in early 1997. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani [now 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] named Kerik commissioner the following year." -By Thomas Zambito -NYDailyNews.com

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Trent Lott - Mississippi - South Carolina - Racism - History - 2008 Election - 2012 Election - "Trent Lott announces his resignation." ... "Mississippi [Republican Senator] Sen. Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announced Monday he will retire from the Senate by end of year." ... "Lott's colleagues elected him as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption for the Mississippian after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring [Republican Senator] Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for southern segregationist policies." ... "Mississippi's [Republican Governor] Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will appoint Lott's temporary replacement, who will serve until the 2008 elections, when voters will elect someone to serve out the balance of Lott's term, which runs through 2012." ... "The smooth-spoken Lott found himself in hot water in December 2002 after Thurmond's party.   Lott said Mississippi voters were proud to have supported Thurmond when he ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948, and added: "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."" -MSNBC 

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Gordon Smith - Trent Lott - Racism - History - Miss - South Carolina - Oregon - NH - Tennessee - "Smith supported Lott's leadership bid." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith was a key backer of [Mississippi Republican Senator] Sen. Trent Lott's return to a leadership post." ... "Lott, R-Miss. [Republican-Mississippi], this week won his bid to become the minority whip, the second-highest Republican post in the Senate. He defeated [Tennessee Republican Senator] Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. [Republican-Tennessee], in a 25-24 vote." ... "During the closed-door election, [New Hampshire Republican Senator] Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. [Republican-New Hampshire], nominated Lott, and Smith seconded the nomination, Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said. Smith then spoke in support of Lott." ... "Lott had been the Senate's majority leader - Republicans' top post -- until he stepped down in four years ago after being criticized for remarks praising [South Carolina Republican Senator] Strom Thurmond, who ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform [separating races]." -By Jeff Kosseff -Oregonian

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Los Angeles - California - Police - Government - Mapping - Religious - Peoples - Race - Civil Libertarians - Scientific - Terrorism - Intelligence - Law - "LAPD defends Muslim mapping effort: Police call program an effort to improve relations with Islamic community. Civil libertarians criticize profiling while other skeptics note that population is dispersed and defies easy classification." ... "The [Los Angeles, California] LAPD's plan to map Muslim communities in an effort to identify potential hotbeds of extremism departs from the way law enforcement has dealt with local anti-terrorism since 9/11 and prompted widespread skepticism Friday." ... "In a document reviewed Friday by The Times, the LAPD's Los Angeles Police Department's counter-terrorism bureau proposed using U.S. census data and other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and then reach out to them through social service agencies." ... "LAPD officials said that it is crucial for them to gain a better understanding of isolated parts of the Muslim community. Those groups can potentially breed violent extremism, the LAPD said in its plan." ... ""This is not . . . targeting or profiling," Police Chief William J. Bratton said Friday in defending the program. "It is an effort to understand communities," he said." ... "But the effort sparked an outcry from civil libertarians and some Muslim activists, who compared the program to religious profiling." ... "Others noted that the effort faces enormous practical difficulties. The U.S. Census Bureau is barred by law from asking people for their religious affiliation. As a result, there is no scientific data on the size of the nation's Muslim population, let alone its location, with estimates of the population nationwide ranging from about 1.4 million adults in a Pew Research Center study this year to the 7 million or more claimed by some community organizations." ... "Census data on ancestry also would not yield accurate Muslim estimates, because significant numbers of ethnic Iranians are Jewish and many ethnic Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians are Christians." (1, 2) -By Richard Winton, Teresa Watanabe, and Greg Krikorian with contributions by Jean-Paul Renaud -LAtimes

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Alberto Gonzales - Bradley Schlozman - Michael Mukasey - Poor - Race - Politics - People - Election - Civil Rights - Enforcement - "Justice Department returns to enforcing voter laws." ... "The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is reversing course and has begun taking steps to enforce a 1993 law that's intended to make it easier for poor minorities to register to vote." ... "The division, which has come under attack for allegedly pursuing policies aimed at suppressing the votes of Democratic-leaning minorities, has demanded that 18 states provide evidence that they're complying with the National Voter Registration Act." ... "If it is fully pursued, this new action will represent the first significant return to traditional enforcement of voting-rights laws since a scandal erupted earlier this year over the alleged politicization of the Justice Department." ... "McClatchy Newspapers disclosed last spring that the Civil Rights Division had failed to enforce a variety of voting-rights laws intended to protect the ability of minorities, especially African-Americans, to vote. The controversy led to the resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and seven other officials, including Bradley Schlozman, the former acting civil rights chief." ... "Now attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, whose confirmation was debated by the Senate Thursday night, has pledged to insulate the agency's law enforcement decisions from partisan politics." ... "Some election watchdog groups are skeptical, saying that the enforcement push might be a cosmetic response to widespread criticism and congressional scrutiny of the division." -By Greg Gordon -McClatchyDC.com

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Religious - Racism - "Ann Coulter on CNBC Show: Jews Need 'Perfecting'." ... "Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author [Republican] Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they needed to "perfect" themselves into -- Christians." ... "It led Deutsch to suggest that surely she couldn't mean that, and when she insisted she did, he said this sounded "anti-Semitic."" ... "Asked by Deutsch whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament." -EditorAndPublisher

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Racism - Radio - Politics - "Gibson knew school shooter was white because "[b]lack shooters don't" shoot themselves; "they shoot and move on"." ... "On the October 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated Fox News Radio show, while discussing 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, who earlier that day shot four people at his Cleveland high school before killing himself, Fox News host [Republican] John Gibson asserted that "because the school is very heavily African-American, I did leap to a conclusion" that "the shooter might have been African-American." Gibson went on to say that he "knew this was not a classic hip-hop shooting" once he learned Coon killed himself. Gibson continued: "Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves. They walk away. Now, I didn't need to hear the kid was white with blond hair. Once he'd shot himself in the head, no hip-hopper." Gibson later stated, "I know the shooter was white. I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again." Gibson added: "I know there's a few of you who want to call me racist. But when you do, remind -- let me remind you, African-Americans are dying in major cities because people won't face this problem."" ... "After a commercial break, Gibson repeated his assertion: "All right, it turns out, though, the kid in Cleveland who did the shooting today -- three teachers, three students -- white." Gibson added: "And I could tell right away 'cause he killed himself. Black shooters don't do that; they shoot and move on."" -MediaMatters.org

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Don Imus - Racism - Money - Radio - Media - Job - Civil Rights - Sports - Women - Politics - "Don Imus Sued by Rutgers Basketball Player." ... "Don Imus is facing his first lawsuit from a player on the Rutgers Women's Basketball team for derogatory comments that cost him his job as a radio host in April, ABC News has learned." ... "Of the networks that aired "Imus in the Morning," the lawsuit alleges that they "wrongfully, intentionally, willfully ... created, tolerated and maintained an atmosphere in which the making of outrageous statements and comments was acceptable, encouraged, and/or rewarded for many years prior to this occurrence and/or overtly encouraged the statements made."" ... "The lawsuit alleges that use of the slanderous terms was intentional and motivated by greed and financial gain: In using insults against otherwise innocent people, Imus would get higher ratings, making more money for him and his employers. Among other infractions, the suit alleges that Imus violated the players' civil rights." ... "Earlier today, The Associated Press reported that Imus had reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with former employer CBS over his firing. ABC News has learned that Imus could be back to broadcasting as early as January, and is being courted by major media outlets. That settlement, said [attorney Richard] Ancowitz, rewards Imus while leaving little justice for the women of the Rutgers basketball team." (1, 2) -By Lara Setrakian with contributions by Michelle Ruiz and Lauren Pearle -ABCNEWS.com

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David Vitter - Trent Lott - Racism - Politics - Immigration - Legislation - Civil Rights - History - Mass - La - Ky - Miss - SC - Ala - 2008 Election - "Senate immigration bill fails; issue "is going to have to wait." ... "The political battles that helped bring down sweeping immigration legislation in the Senate are sure to rage on, although the bill is all but dead until after the 2008 elections." ... "[Massachusetts Democratic Senator] Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the bill's architects, compared the fight with the Senate's long struggle for civil-rights legislation against segregationist opponents." ... ""You cannot stop the march for progress in the United States," he declared." ... "To that, [Louisiana Republican Senator] Sen. David Vitter, R-La., among the bill's most aggressive foes, snapped: "To suggest this was about racism is the height of ugliness and arrogance."" ... "Republicans on both sides acknowledged the immigration fight had riven the GOP. Republican Senate aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Senate Minority Whip [Mississippi Republican Senator] Trent Lott, R-Miss., was furious with Minority Leader [Kentucky Republican Senator] Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., over the leader's refusal to confront the bill's most implacable opponents, who had virtually commandeered the Senate floor, blocking introduction of amendments, refusing to offer amendments of their own, then complaining that an unfair process was preventing them from improving the bill." ... "Lott told McConnell that Sens. Vitter, [South Carolina Republican Senator] Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and [Alabama Republican Senator] Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., were becoming the uncompromising faces of the Republican Party, a prospect that could set them back for years as the Latino vote grows in power." -SeattleTimes.NWsource 

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John G Roberts - Race - Politics - Children - Education - History - "Justices reject school integration efforts: The 5-4 ruling amid strong dissent suggests a sharp change in direction for the Supreme Court and education policies." ... "In a decision that may herald a new era in the long struggle over racial integration in public education, the Supreme Court declared Thursday that officials may not use race to assign children to schools, even if the goal is greater diversity." ... "Some lawyers following the case said the ruling could spell trouble for racial guidelines in as many as 1,000 school districts across the nation. But each district's program differs, and it is unclear how sweeping the effect of Thursday's ruling will be." ... "The ruling also raised questions about how the high court, with its [Republican] conservative bloc strengthened by the addition of [John] Roberts as chief justice in 2005, will deal with the legacy of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision that ignited half a century of struggle over busing and other efforts to promote racial integration in schools." ... "The court's four [Democratic] liberal justices accused the majority of turning its back on Brown and the promise of racial integration." ... ""This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret," Justice Stephen G. Breyer said in a long dissent delivered in the courtroom." ... "Breyer delivered a 68-page dissent that accused Roberts and the majority of reaching out to strike down policies that were bringing about greater equality." ... "Calling the Brown decision "this court's finest hour," he said: "The last half-century has witnessed great strides toward racial equality, but we have not yet realized the promise of Brown."" (1, 2) -By David G. Savage -LAtimes 

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Ohio- Race - Politics - Law - Enforcement - 2004 Election - Civil Rights - Homes- "Ex-Justice official accused of aiding scheme to scratch minority voters." ... "Four days before the 2004 election, the Justice Department’s civil rights chief [under Republican President George Bush] sent an unusual letter to a federal judge in Ohio who was weighing whether to let Republicans challenge the credentials of 23,000 mostly African-American voters." ... "The case was triggered by allegations that Republicans had sent a mass mailing to mostly Democratic-leaning minorities and used undeliverable letters to compile a list of voters potentially vulnerable to eligibility challenges." ... "In his letter to U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott of Cincinnati [Ohio], Assistant Attorney General Alex Acosta argued that it would "undermine" the enforcement of state and federal election laws if citizens could not challenge voters’ credentials." ... "Former Justice Department civil rights officials and election watchdog groups charge that his letter sided with Republicans engaging in an illegal, racially motivated tactic known as "vote-caging" in a state that would be pivotal in delivering President Bush a second term in the White House" ... "The tactic ["vote caging"] entails sending mail stamped "do not forward" to voters’ homes and requiring a return receipt. Voters who do not sign for the letters or postcards can then be challenged at the polls or in pre-election hearings on grounds such as whether they meet legal residency or age requirements." ... "J. Gerald Hebert, a head of the Voting Rights Section in the early 1990s and now executive director of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, says the tactic is unfair for multiple reasons: it is often racially motivated; voters may be out of town or refuse to sign return receipts on letters from the GOP, and addresses may be inaccurate." -By Greg Gordon -McClatchyDC.com 

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Bradley Schlozman - Civil Rights - Government - Women - Employees - Race- Politics - "Political Hiring in Justice Division Probed." ... "Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. They had good performance ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division. And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago -- over the objections of their immediate supervisors -- by [Republican] Bradley Schlozman, then the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights." ... "Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided that his real motive was to "make room for some good Americans" in that high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said they heard the account from Dugan." ... "Schlozman has acknowledged in sworn congressional testimony that he had boasted of hiring Republicans and conservatives, but he denied taking improper actions against the division's career officials. That account was challenged by six officials in the division who said in interviews that they either overhead him making brazen political remarks about career employees or witnessed him making personnel decisions with apparent political motivation." ... ""When he said he didn't engage in political hiring, most of us thought that was just laughable," said one lawyer in the section, referring to Schlozman's June 5 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Everything Schlozman did was political. And he said so."" (1, 2) -By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost

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TV - Race - Politics - William J Jefferson - Louisiana - Michigan - "Fox News apologizes for tape goof." ... "Fox News Channel apologized on-air Tuesday for running tape of a different congressman while reporting Monday on the indictment of [Louisiana Democratic Representative] Rep. William J. Jefferson on bribery charges." ... "The network ran footage of House Judiciary Committee Chairman [Michigan Democratic Representative] John Conyers of Michigan instead of Jefferson. Both congressmen are black." ... "The apology apparently wasn't accepted by Conyers." ... ""Fox News has a history of inappropriate on-air mistakes that are neither fair, nor balanced," he said Tuesday. "This type of disrespect for people of color should no longer be tolerated. I am personally offended by the network's complete disregard for accuracy in reporting and lackluster on-air apology."" -By David Bauder -AP via -Yahoo 

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Monica Goodling - Tim Griffin - Alberto Gonzales - Paul McNulty - Karl Rove - Harriet Miers - Noteworthy - US Attorneys - Military - Students - Race - Politics - Law - 2004 Election - Arkansas - Florida - "Raging Caging: What the heck is vote caging, and why should we care?" ... "Last week, in her testimony before the House judiciary committee, [Republican] Monica Goodling referred several times to "vote caging" possibly done by Arkansas' soon to be ex-interim, never-confirmed [Republican] U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin. Yet Goodling was questioned about this almost not at all, nor did the media do much more than report the words of the former liaison between the [Republican President Bush's] White House and [Republican] Alberto Gonzales (why a "liaison" is required between two institutions with no boundaries between them is incomprehensible, but perhaps another story). Meanwhile, liberal talk radio, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the blogosphere went nuts. So, which is it: Is vote caging the most underreported part of this U.S. attorneys scandal or the most over-hyped?" ... "One of the reasons the mainstream news reports (including mine [Dahlia Lithwick]) barely touched the vote-caging story was that nobody had any idea what Goodling was talking about. "Vote caging, what's that?" we e-mailed each other at Slate. The confusion seemed to extend to Goodling herself. The subject came up in her testimony about former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. In saying he had not been forthright with the House judiciary committee in his testimony on the firing of the U.S. attorneys, she cited three areas, one of which was McNulty's failure "to disclose that he had some knowledge of allegations that Tim Griffin had been involved in 'vote caging' in the president's 2004 [election] campaign," when he spoke to Congress." ... "Vote caging is an illegal trick to suppress minority voters (who tend to vote Democrat) by getting them knocked off the voter rolls if they fail to answer registered mail sent to homes they aren't living at (because they are, say, at college or at war). The Republican National Committee reportedly stopped the practice following a consent decree in a 1986 case. Google the term and you'll quickly arrive at the Wizard of Oz of caging, Greg Palast, investigative reporter and author of the wickedly funny Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans—Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild. Palast started reporting allegations of Republican vote caging for the BBC's Newsnight in 2004. He's been almost alone on the story since then. Palast contends, both in Armed Madhouse and widely through the liberal blogosphere, that vote caging, an illegal voter-suppression scheme, happened in Florida in 2004 this way:"

"The Bush-Cheney operatives sent hundreds of thousands of letters marked "Do not forward" to voters' homes. Letters returned ("caged") were used as evidence to block these voters' right to cast a ballot on grounds they were registered at phony addresses. Who were the evil fakers? Homeless men, students on vacation and—you got to love this—American soldiers. Oh yeah: most of them are Black voters." ... "Why weren't these African-American voters home when the Republican letters arrived? The homeless men were on park benches, the students were on vacation—and the soldiers were overseas."

Worker - Women - Race - Alabama - Business - Alito - Roberts - Scalia - Kennedy - "Worker Job-Bias Claims Limited by U.S. Supreme Court (Update4)." ... "Workers can't sue under a federal job- bias law to claim they are underpaid because of gender or race discrimination that occurred years earlier, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a victory for employers." ... "The justices, voting 5-4, rejected a $360,000 award to Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. worker who said that almost two decades of discrimination meant her salary was 15 to 40 percent lower than what her male counterparts earned." ... "The 1964 Civil Rights Act typically gives workers 180 days from the time of the alleged discrimination to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The question was whether workers can claim that their most recent paychecks are affected by bias that took place outside the 180-day window." ... "``Current effects alone cannot breathe life into prior, uncharged discrimination,'' Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. ``Ledbetter should have filed an EEOC charge within 180 days after each allegedly discriminatory pay decision was made and communicated to her.''" ... "Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas joined Alito's opinion. Lower courts were divided on the issue." ... "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's only woman, took the unusual step of reading a summary of her dissent from the bench as she sat next to Alito. She said the majority ``does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination.'' " -By Greg Stohr -Bloomberg 

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Hans von Spakovsky - Government - US Attorneys - Civil Rights - Poor - Race - Law - Politics - Georgia - Arizona - "Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting." ... "During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article." ... "Writing as "Publius," von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was "no evidence" that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately." ... "Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters." ... ""Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him." ... "He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots." ... "In interviews, current and former federal officials and civil rights leaders told McClatchy Newspapers that von Spakovsky:" ... "-Sped approval of tougher voter ID laws in Georgia and Arizona in 2005, joining decisions to override career lawyers who believed that Georgia's law would restrict voting by poor blacks and who felt that more analysis was needed on the Arizona law's impact on Native Americans and Latinos." ... "Congressional committees investigating the firing last year of nine U.S. attorneys are looking into allegations that prosecutors nationwide were urged to pursue voter fraud to build a basis for tougher ID laws." -By Greg Gordon -McClatchy via -RealCities

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Imus - Racist - Gay - Woman- Journalist - Politician - Radio - Business - University - Women's - Sports - Opinion - "[Howard] Kurtz: "Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians. He called them lying weasels. This was part of his charm"." ... "On April 12, during a report on the controversy sparked by Don Imus' remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, ABC's World News aired comments by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, in which he said: "Over the years, Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians. He called them lying weasels. This was part of his charm." Kurtz's quote aired shortly after CBS Radio announced it would discontinue broadcasting Imus in the Morning." ... "Despite Imus' propensity for incendiary remarks, Kurtz has previously been a guest on the Imus program, a fact he acknowledged in his April 12 Washington Post column. Kurtz wrote: "Journalists like me who have gone on Imus's show have done so because we enjoyed the opportunity to talk about politics and media without the stuffiness of so many other programs. And it's probably true that too many of us looked the other way when he went over the line with some of his cruder comedy bits." Yet, as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting documented, Kurtz wrote in his 1996 book, Hot Air (Crown) that "Imus's sexist, homophobic, and politically incorrect routines echo what many journalists joke about in private."" -MediaMatters.org

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Radio - TV - Business - Opinion- University - Women's - Sports - People - Gay - Religion - Politics - Don Imus - "It's not just Imus." ... "On April 11, NBC News announced that it was dropping MSNBC's simulcast of Imus in the Morning in the wake of the controversy that erupted over host Don Imus' reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The following day, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves announced that CBS -- which owns both the radio station that broadcast Imus' program and Westwood One, which syndicated the program -- has fired Imus and would cease broadcasting his radio show. But as Media Matters for America has extensively documented, bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Smerconish, and John Gibson." -MediaMatters.org

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Don Imus - Radio - Media - University- Women's - Sports - People - Politics - "CBS Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur: Dismissal Caps Week Of Uproar Over Radio Host's Comments About Rutgers Women's Basketball Team." ... "CBS announced Thursday that it has fired Don Imus from his radio program, following a week of uproar over the radio host's derogatory comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team." ... ""There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision." ... "One of those discussions took place at noon today with a coalition of leaders from the civil rights and women's movements, who said it was time for Imus to go, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes." ... "Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when shock jock Howard Stern departed for satellite radio early last year. The program is worth about $15 million in annual revenue to CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station, WFAN-AM in New York, and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show across the country. CBS Corp. is also the parent company of CBSNews.com." (1, 2) -AP -CBSNews 

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Don Imus - TV - Radio - Employee - University - Women's - Sports - Civil Righs - Advertising - Politics - "MSNBC Drops Imus Program Amid Furor Over Remarks." ... "MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program. The decision comes amid growing outrage about radio host Don Imus' demeaning comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team." ... "Imus triggered the uproar on his April 4 show when he referred to the mostly black Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." His comments have been widely denounced by civil rights and women's groups." ... "The program originates from New York radio station WFAN and is syndicated to other radio stations by CBS Radio. Both, like CBSNews.com, are part of CBS Corp." ... "MSNBC's decision to drop the simulcast came after a growing list of sponsors — including American Express Co., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. — said they were pulling ads from Imus' show for the indefinite future." -WCBStv.com

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John Edwards - Free Speech - 2008 Election - Don Imus - Media - Entertainment - Business - Politics - Language - Women - University - Sports - "Edwards On Imus Spat: 'I Believe In Forgiveness: Presidential Candidate Stays Mum On Future Imus Appearances." ... "Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards' spoke exclusively to CBS 2 on Wednesday morning about the Don Imus and Rutgers University controversy, and though he feels Imus deserves a second chance, he wasn't so sure about his future on Imus' popular radio show." ... ""I believe in redemption, I believe in forgiveness," Edwards said of Imus, who was suspended earlier in the week after calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed hos."" ... "Unlike candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who say they will continue to appear on Imus' radio show, Edwards says he hasn't seen enough from the shock jock to make that decision just yet." ... ""What he said is wrong because it's wrong. It has to be condemned, we have to speak out when people use this kind of language," Edwards said. "This is a very serious matter, it should be taken very seriously."" -By Marcia Kramer -WCBStv.com 

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2008 Election - Don Imus - Media - Television - Humor- Business - Employee- Language - Censorship - Politics - Women - University - Sports - Daughters - Human Rights - PeopleIllinois - "Obama: Fire Imus: [Illinois Democratic Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate] Obama [is] First White House Contender to Call for Imus' Firing Over Racial Slur." ... "In an interview with ABC News Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called for the firing of talk radio host Don Imus. Obama said he would never again appear on Imus' show, which is broadcast on CBS Radio and MSNBC television." ... ""I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus," Obama told ABC News, "but I would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude."" ... "Obama said he appeared once on Imus' show two years ago, and "I have no intention of returning."" ... ""He didn't just cross the line," Obama said. "He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women — who I hope will be athletes — that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested in supporting."" ... "Tuesday, the basketball team held a press conference." ... ""I think that this has scarred me for life," said Matee Ajavon. "We grew up in a world where racism exists, and there's nothing we can do to change that."" ... ""What we've been seeing around this country is this constant ratcheting up of a coarsening of the culture that all of have to think about," Obama said." ... ""Insults, humor that degrades women, humor that is based in racism and racial stereotypes isn't fun," the senator told ABC News." ... ""And the notion that somehow it's cute or amusing, or a useful diversion, I think, is something that all of us have to recognize is just not the case. We all have First Amendment rights. And I am a constitutional lawyer and strongly believe in free speech, but as a culture, we really have to do some soul-searching to think about what kind of toxic information are we feeding our kids," he concluded." (1, 2) -By Jake Tapper with contributions by Clayton Sandell -ABCNEWS.com 

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2008 Election - Don Imus - Politicians - Journalists - NY - Ariz - "Rudy, McCain say they forgive and support." ... "Embattled radio host Don Imus is getting support from many of the politicians and journalists who frequently grace his show - including presidential hopeful [Republican] Rudy Giuliani." ... "Despite many calls for the shock jock's resignation, Giuliani said he would again appear with Imus, and after talking to him on the phone he believes Imus "understands that he made a very, very big mistake."" ... "[Republican Presidential candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a frequent guest whose campaign Imus has backed, said he would continue to appear with the cranky commentator." ... "[Democratic Presidential candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), however, said Imus' cracks just confirmed her opinion." ... ""I've never wanted to go on his show and I certainly don't ever intend to go on his show, and I felt that way before his latest outrageous, hateful, hurtful comments," she said." -By Jonathan Lemire -NYDailyNews.com 

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-  - "Racial initiative ignites medical worries:  Researchers fear Prop. 54 will hinder collection of data." ... "Researchers are sounding alarms over the potential health effects of Proposition 54 -- the initiative to ban state government from collecting racial or ethnic data -- fearing it will jeopardize efforts to pinpoint cancer hot spots, keep tabs on disease outbreaks and fashion effective health messages." ... "Initiative backers say that opponents are using scare tactics and that they have no intention of interfering with legitimate health research -- including epidemiological studies and health surveys." -By Ulysses Torassa -SFGate.com 

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