Bill Maher wondered out loud if the Voting Rights Act was hindering minorities. In an article for Real Clear Politics he wrote,
“What they wanted to do, back in the ’60s, is make sure that blacks had representation in Congress. So, they redrew — and that’s gerrymandering — districts so that all the black votes would be in one district, and yes, we now have something like 40-something black members in Congress. But when they did that, what it also did was create a lot of lily-white districts, where you could have crazy right-winger Republicans get elected. And that’s not good for the country. So, what do you think? Should they get rid of the Voting Rights Act or not?”
That’s a big NEGATIVE Bill. You call it gerrymandering, I’ll call it leveling the field. As long as those lines remain, upholding the VRA will be worth its weight in gold come elections in 2016 as far safeguarding an individual’s indivisible right to vote in America. It will be a lot easier to identify suppression of rights in certain districts of color or of other so-called minority districts, if there is evidence of consistent violations of this and other vital protections under the law in within district lines.
Attorney General Eric Holder‘s said it best as he prepared for a speech he was to give at the Edmund Pettus Bridge Crossing Jubilee,
“Let me be clear: although our nation has indeed changed, although the South is far different now, and although progress has indeed been made, we are not yet at the point where the most vital part of the Voting Rights Act can be deemed unnecessary. The struggle for voting rights for all Americans must continue — and it will.”
GOP efforts last November to suppress votes in many states attest to Holder’s statement. Let us proceed. ♦
Who died and made Dennis Rodman Ambassador to North Korea!? The former NBA baller wasn’t but five minutes off the plane from to that country, where he travelled with The Harlem Globetrotters and an HBO camera crew to film for the upcoming series ‘VICE’, when he announced he had a message from the country’s young dictator Kim Jong Un: Yo! Barry, hit me up sometimes bro’! Rodman said in an interview with ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos on ‘This Week’,
“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him. He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”
Rodman, who’s unexpected and unprecedented trip to Pyongyang, North Korea threw the world completely off guard, became the first known American to publicly meet with the 28 y.o. Kim since he assumed command following the death of Kim’s father in 2011. You’ve read in a previous blog that the young leader was experiencing crippling UN ordered sanctions against N. Korea due to his continuing to conduct nuclear missile launch tests, which it was reported, he intended to eventually use against the US.
Rodman’s personal assessment of Kim?,
“He loves power. He loves control,”But guess what? He doesn’t want war. That’s one thing he doesn’t want.”
And Rodman’s practical solution to quell the mounting tensions between the U.S. and North Korea,
“[Kim] loves basketball. And I said the same thing, I said, ‘Obama loves basketball.’ Let’s start there.”
The new diplomacy, a friendly game of one-on-one b-ball!? These days, anything’s possible. Obama will kick his ass anyway. ♦
“…I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal. To those I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness.”
“My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me”!? Excuse me Cardinal O’Brien but we weren’t expecting you to have had any sexual conduct period! Did you not take the required vow of celibacy when you were inducted into priesthood? Have these men and women of faith yet proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that enforced celibacy does not necessarily lead to Godliness but will most certainly drive you to the brink of sexual madness? You can pretty much look to the prison system for proof of that point. ♦
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking into a method of birth control for rats as it tries to get the rat population under control. The agency is testing a bait that makes rodents permanently infertile. The company behind the bait said it’s safe for other animals and humans, and has worked well in rural areas. But urban rats have a more discriminating palate, meaning the bait has to taste better than things like pizza or Chinese food to draw them in. Later this month, baits with different scents and flavors will be placed at various subway trash rooms to find out what works best. The MTA said the public will not be exposed to the bait. h/t NY1
Famous last words. ♦
Later pilgrims…
