“I DONT KNOW ABOUT IT”

Tom writes: “This is Unbelievable.” He includes this article:

“President George W. Bush met with the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday for the first time as a group in nearly four years, but what CBC members said stood out the most was the president’s declaration that he was “unfamiliar” with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed in the history of the United States.

“At the conclusion of yesterday’s 40-minute meeting, Bush - who attended along with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - was asked by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd) whether he would support the re-authorization of a portion of the Voting Rights Act that must be approved every 25 years (It will come up for consideration next year).

“I don’t know anything about the 1965 Voting Rights Act,” Jackson recalled the president saying in an interview with the Chicago Defender.

“He said that a hurried Bush went on to say that “when the legislation comes before me, I’ll take a look at it, but I don’t know about it to comment any more than that, but we will look at it when it comes to us.”

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=381

Nancy Morgan in Lutz, Florida:

“–glad to hear you’re on the mend! I have a new email account as you can tell. Anyway, here are my two comments: first, why were there polling stations in the U.S. for an election in a foreign country? Has anyone ever recalled another case of ex-pats in the U.S. being able to go to polls set up by us in this country to vote in an election in their home country???? Has anyone investigated why this happened, or even commented on it? I know it was another PR campaign by this lying administration, but not a peep about how very strange it was?

“Second, I did not get it, but now I do — I just finished George Lakoff’s book Don’t Think of an Elephant! He talks about why the Repugs won, and how progressives need to reframe the discourse. Amazing book, and it makes perfect sense. Bottome line is — this administration and their right-wing friends know how to “frame” issues, and cover up their hidden agendas. Of course, I prefer to call it like I sees it — as Al Franken so aptly put it — Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them!”

John Madison:

“I really appreciate your attention to significant details in the news we all get fed. However, I wonder why you never actually investigate the substance of the 911 event. There are so many unanswered questions and few will barely mention these outstanding contradictions and pieces of disinformation even in the alternative press. Why?

“This was a watershed event which will have significance for the world for decades to come. Is it because the administration has swept it under the rug that it gets almost no public investigation? Is something blocking a good hard look? ”

Response: I have been covering the issue and did try to make a film on it with 911 Citizens Watch. The problem: no money.

DEATH BENEFITS

Ron Shepston:

How many people knew that the government was paying families of soldiers killed in combat zones? Well, more of us know it now since Bush has increased the payment by about $250,000. What I’m sure is lost is the similarity between this and Saddam paying the families of suicide bombers about $25,000. So, the American public thinks it’s okay for our government to pay the families of it’s warriors killed in battle and somehow Saddam supports terrorism because he pays families of warriors who use the only weapons they have against their enemy.

I’m not buying that because Saddam was paying soldiers from another entity (country?) it’s somehow wrong. I’ve also heard the argument about “intentionally targeting civilians” and that makes it okay because we’re not doing that. Oh yeah, I get it; facts are not important. We can ignore dropping bombs in neighborhoods with innocent civilians or shooting into a crowd of unarmed civilians and because we have a name for it – collateral damage – it’s not the same thing. Isn’t it about time that skills in critical thinking were made mandatory in our schools? If idiot thinking can’t be completely wiped out in our lifetime maybe we can make a dent in it.

HONORING CIVIL RIGHTS HEROES

Lest we forget: today is February 1, Day l of Black History Month. I pay tribute today to Joe McNeil who went from my High School in the Bronx to study at North Carolina AT&T. On this day in 1960 in Greensboro North Carolina, he was was one of the four brave students who launched the sit-in movement at the segregated lunch counter at the Woolworths store.

Woolworths is gone but there is a historical plaque that I saw when I was last in town. It was that sit-in that sparked the southern student movement and got me involved in civil rights activism as a high school student. That led in a long and convoluted journey to what I am doing now..

I still believe We Shall Overcome.

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