Comedian Bill Cosby recently gave an inspiring speech to students at Xavier University as part of his “”A Call out With Cosby” national tour. Peter Bronson at the Cincinatti Enquirer has an opinion piece up about the speech — here are some excerpts from it:

“I can feel your guilt,” he said. “I can feel your shame. But most of all, I can feel how sedated you seem to be.”

The standup comedian who used to ask “Why is there air?” now asks much tougher questions and has answers that some people don’t want to hear. “Dr. Huxtable” was writing prescriptions at Xavier’s Cintas Center on Thursday, and his tough medicine was greeted with waves of applause from an audience of 1,200, 90 percent black.

I expected him to say something outrageous to rile up the Political Correctness Police who misplaced their sense of humor in the 1960s and can’t spot the honest truth in a police lineup of bald-faced lies.

But it turns out that the most outrageous thing is what some people find outrageous.

Education: “If your child has never asked you a question about what he is studying, you are not protecting that child. And if you’re not doing it, be ashamed of yourself … I want someone to say to them, ‘Where is your damn homework?’ ”

Dropouts: “The graduation (ratio) for black women to men is 70-30. I feel sorry and sad for all these highly educated females who are so intelligent and have no educated men to marry.”

Drugs: “If you have heard a child say, ‘I’m going to stop flipping burgers and go out and make some real money selling drugs,’ did you stop that idiot and say, ‘You don’t flip burgers for the rest of your life. You do it until you can be manager of the burger-flipping place’?”

Parenting: “When are you going to challenge them about CDs full of vulgarity and profanity? … When are you going to challenge them with, ‘I want to know who your friends are before you leave this apartment’?”

Cosby asked foster parents, grandmothers, aunts and uncles who raise someone else’s children to applaud, then pointed to the crowd: “There’s your reality.”

HAT TIP:
Lucianne.com

Cosby clearly isn’t afraid of straying from the ‘play the race card’ tactic we so often see utilized by the Revs. Jackson and Sharpton, among others. Earlier this month in New Orleans at a rally headed up by black ‘leaders’ Cosby said:

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Entertainer Bill Cosby urged New Orleans’ black population on Saturday to cleanse itself of a culture of crime as it rebuilds from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year.

Cosby, whose criticism of some aspects of modern African-American culture has stirred controversy in recent years, told a rally headed by black leaders that the city needed to look at the “wound” it had before Katrina struck.

“It’s painful, but we can’t cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound,” Cosby told the rally of about 2,000 people in front of the city’s convention center.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you had the highest murder rate, unto each other. You were dealing drugs to each other. You were impregnating our 13-, 12-, 11-year-old children,” he said.

“What kind of a village is that?” (continue reading post »)

First, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom declared gay marriage legal. Now, he’s publicly pledging to disregard federal law pertaining to illegal immigration. The Examiner reports:

SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Gavin Newsom said Thursday that The City will not comply with any federal legislation that criminalizes efforts to help illegal immigrants.

The mayor also denounced a bipartisan congressional proposal that would beef up border security and allow as many as 12 million illegal immigrants to gain legal status.

Newsom, who has not been afraid to wade into controversial national issues such as gay marriage, appeared with a group of elected officials on the steps of City Hall to support immigrants, “documented as well as undocumented.” Newsom also signed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, and passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors, urging San Francisco law enforcement not to comply with criminal provisions of any new immigration bill.

“San Francisco stands foursquare in strong opposition to the rhetoric coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Newsom said. “If people think we were defiant on the gay marriage issue, they haven’t seen defiance.”

It is not the first time San Francisco has weighed in on the immigration issue. In 1989, the Board of Supervisors made San Francisco a “City of Refuge.” The ordinance forbids city resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws or to gather or disseminate information regarding the status of residents of The City. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution reaffirming the ordinance in January.

And some people want to declare the President tyrannical??

The sheer arrogance of Newsom just makes me nauseous!

If you are a citizen of San Francisco and are disgusted with the latest antics of your mayor, let him know how you feel (and be civil, now! ;) ).

HAT TIP: Ed Driscoll

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah

UPDATE:
AP: Nearly 50,000 march in San Diego for immigrant rights
(looks like the Associated Press forget about the word “illegal”)
Michelle Malkin: “Here We Go Again”

RELATED:
San Fran supervisors: Impeach Bush!
“Supporting the troops” - Sheehan-style
Riceroni — The San Francisco Retreat
S.F. Examines Power of Dog Droppings
Moonbat Voters: Only In San Francisco

Publisher’s Note: This post bumped to top

On Friday the 7th:

SAN FRANCISCO - Peace activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, is scheduled to speak to students at San Francisco’s Lowell High School this Friday — to the chagrin of at least one parent.

Sheehan is scheduled to speak for approximately 45 minutes at an optional morning assembly that students can attend with their teacher’s permission, according to Lowell Principal Paul Cheng. Sheehan’s visit was arranged by students in the school’s Revolution Youth group, an after-school club. [Editor’s note: So maybe the event should be after school?]

When parent Matt Mitguard, who has two children at Lowell, heard about the visit, he contacted Cheng to express concern about the school hosting an assembly featuring one point of view on the war and asked if a counter-point speaker could also be asked to participate.

“The left-wing agenda is rammed down your throat here, so kids with a different point of view are not going to speak up,” said Mitguard. “The onus is on the district to provide balance.”

Principal Paul Cheng said he was not opposed to having a speaker that supported the United States’ military action in Iraq come to the school, but also felt confident that students could hear only Sheehan and understand that she represented just one point of view.

“That’s our philosophy, that all points of view should be allowed,” said Cheng. “The students are able to analyze all the pros and cons and discover for themselves what they want to support or not, and what they want to believe.”

Which explains why only one point of view will be represented.

Hat tip: Expose the Left

blonde sagacity has more info on Lowell High School:

Lowell High School is an “alternative” public school (Naomi Wolf is an alumni, so that explains a lot) and this little shindig with Sheehan is a students-only event. Apparently the school is being pretty tight-lipped about the event… I want to know if she is being paid for her speech!?

In this week’s school bulletin it only says “Color Wars Rally” on the day she is supposed to be there. There is also an announcement for “Rainbow Week coming in April”.

Before anyone on the left who reads this jumps the gun, I’d like to point out that the speech is “optional” for students to attend. But that’s not the point. The point is that there is apparently no alternative viewpoint being provided for the students. Also, have parents been notified? (continue reading post »)

Read all about this amazing woman, described by the NYTimes as a Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside of Los Angeles. From the article:

Today, thanks to an unusually blunt and provocative interview on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21, she is an international sensation, hailed as a fresh voice of reason by some, and by others as a heretic and infidel who deserves to die.

In the interview, which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.

She said the world’s Muslims, whom she compares unfavorably with the Jews, have descended into a vortex of self-pity and violence.

Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose.

In response, clerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats. But Islamic reformers have praised her for saying out loud, in Arabic and on the most widely seen television network in the Arab world, what few Muslims dare to say even in private.

“I believe our people are hostages to our own beliefs and teachings,” she said in an interview this week in her home in a Los Angeles suburb.

Dr. Sultan, who is 47, wears a prim sweater and skirt, with fleece-lined slippers and heavy stockings. Her eyes and hair are jet black and her modest manner belies her intense words: “Knowledge has released me from this backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs.”

Perhaps her most provocative words on Al Jazeera were those comparing how the Jews and Muslims have reacted to adversity. Speaking of the Holocaust, she said, “The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling.”

She went on, “We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people.”

She concluded, “Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.”

Here’s a partial transcript of that interview. If you want to view a video of it, click here. It’s so powerful that you might be compelled to stand up and clap at the end of it.

I salute the efforts of Dr. Sultan, and other brave people like her, who take the ultimate risk (their life) in speaking out against Islamofascism.

HAT TIP:
Dafydd at Big Lizards.

RELATED:
Alexandra at All Things Beautiful blogs about a call from Muslim clerics in Denmark for an official apology from the Danish goverment over the Mohammed cartoons as well a demand for laws that would punish those who offend Muslims. Exact quote from the UK Daily Telegraph piece:

“We want the laws in Denmark and the European Union to be changed, either to have free speech for everyone including on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, or to change the law to respect religious figures like Mohammad,” Suweidan said.

Michael van der Galien responds appropriately.

MORE: Watch Dr. Sultan’s first English language interview, done yesterday on Tovia Singer’s Israel National News Radio show. (HAT TIP: Powerline)

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah

UN Sec. General Kofi Annan wasn’t greeted warmly yesterday by UN staffers at a meeting where he presented his ‘management reform’ plan:

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. staffers heckled and booed Secretary-General Annan yesterday in a raucous meeting after he presented a “management reform” plan that includes cutting jobs for New Yorkers employed at Turtle Bay.

In a clear sign that U.N. employees have lost confidence in a leader who rose from their ranks, one staffer told the secretary-general bluntly, “Nobody believes you.”

When asked by a staffer if U.N. jobs will be farmed out to Kinko’s from now on, Mr. Annan showed how out of touch he has become from his underlings and from his fellow New Yorkers. “What is Kinko?” he asked.

Something that rhymes with “pinko.” ;)

Seriously, you know it’s been a bad day for Mr. Annan when he gets treated worse at the UN then the President.

Oh, and about the management reform plan — guess who endorses it?

[…] warmly endorsed by America’s U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, who has long urged profound reform of how the organization is managed […]

Heh.

Read more commentary via Bryan Preston, Blog For All, In the Bullpen

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah

It looks like Mayor Ray “Chocolate New Orleans” Nagin, with a little help from some Houston NAACP folks and other local black community ‘leaders’, is fanning the racial flames regarding New Orleans’ upcoming April 22nd election:

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin on Saturday asked black community leaders here in Houston to help evacuees vote absentee or in person in the city’s April 22 primary election.

[…]

Most of the Houston leaders in attendance were supportive of Nagin, murmuring “amen” and clapping as he bemoaned complicated election procedures that he implied were racially motivated.

“This process that’s before us is one that I’m getting more uncomfortable with every day. This is not about Ray Nagin,” he told the group. “There is potential for major changes in the political structure.”

‘Few of them look like us’

Nagin noted that 23 candidates entered the mayoral fray before the registration deadline last week.

“Very few of them look like us,” he told the almost totally black crowd of about 200 persons who attended the meeting at the NAACP Family & Technology Center on Fannin.
(continue reading post »)

… and the Republicans are losing ground, according to the latest Fox News poll:

NEW YORK — Most Americans oppose allowing a Dubai company to run some U.S. ports, even as a majority understands the U.S. would continue to control port security, according to a new FOX News poll. One in four sees the United Arab Emirates as a strong ally, but most either disagree or are unsure. In addition, the poll shows Republicans have lost ground on the issue of terrorism, and by a wide margin voters now think it would be better for the country if Democrats win control of Congress in this year’s midterm election.

For only the second time of his presidency, the poll finds that President Bush’s overall job approval rating has fallen below 40 percent — today 39 percent of Americans say they approve and a 54 percent majority disapproves. Late last year the president’s approval hit a record-low of 36 percent (8-9 November 2005).

This is also one of only a handful of times that Bush’s approval has dropped below 80 percent among Republicans. Today 77 percent of Republicans approve, down from 82 percent in early February. Disapproval among Democrats went from 79 percent in early February to 84 percent today. Approval among independents is essentially unchanged at 35 percent.

“People’s opinions of the president are based largely on how they perceive things in the country are going in general rather than how he is doing in his day-to-day job,” says Opinion Dynamics Vice President Lawrence Shiman. “When you combine the fact that people are paying more attention to Iraq than any other issue with the perception of Iraq as being on the brink of a civil war, it is not surprising the president and his party are struggling in the polls.”

The port controversy, along with the situation in Iraq (fully 81 percent of Americans think it is likely Iraq will end up in a civil war), appears to be taking a toll on Republicans.

At the beginning of the year the Republican Party held a 13-percentage point advantage over Democrats on being the party trusted to do a better job protecting the country from terrorism. Today Republicans still have the edge, but it has dropped to 5 points.

Obviously, this isn’t good. And even the lopsided sampling of Democrats surveyed for this poll doesn’t take away from the fact that Republicans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with Congress — and the President. (continue reading post »)

First they voted against a resolution supporting a bid to move the hisoric battleship Iowa to SF, where it would be converted into a floating museum. Now, there’s this:

San Francisco’s supervisors jumped into national politics Tuesday, passing a resolution asking the city’s Democratic congressional delegation to seek the impeachment of President Bush for failing to perform his duties by leading the country into war in Iraq, eroding civil liberties and engaging in other activities the board sees as transgressions.

The supervisors, in voting 7-3 for the resolution, made it likely that San Francisco again will become grist for radio and TV talk shows. The city has appeared in the national media spotlight recently for voters’ passage in November of a nonbinding measure banning military recruiters from public high schools and for Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval’s recent comment on a Fox News show that the United States doesn’t need a military.

Supervisor Chris Daly, one of the most progressive members of the board, sponsored the resolution, which also calls for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. Daly said the measure is justified in light of the administration’s case for and handling of the war in Iraq, the federal government’s inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina and recent revelations about a domestic wiretapping program.

“I think the case is clear, and I think it’s appropriate for us to weigh in,” Daly said.

Hmmm. This must be some of that poo power city officials are ‘hoping to harness.’ ;)

On a broader note, here’s a shout out to San Francisco conservatives, who no doubt face uphill philosophical battles daily in one of the most (if not THE most) liberal cities in the US.

Publisher’s note: Sistah, most people have no idea how bad. But we keep fightin’ the good fight. One reader at a time.

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah

RELATED:
S.F. Supervisor Sandoval: “What I Really Wanted
To Say” — And Still Defiant
Riceroni — The San Francisco Retreat
S.F. Examines Power of Dog Droppings
Moonbat Voters: Only In San Francisco

The latest in the rumor mill regarding a possible step down for VP Dick Cheney comes from Insight Magazine. They write:

Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to retire within a year.

Senior GOP sources envision the retirement of Mr. Cheney in 2007, months after the congressional elections. The sources said Mr. Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing political liability to President Bush.

The sources reported a growing rift between the president and vice president as well as their staffs. They cited Mr. Cheney’s failure to immediately tell the president of the accidental shooting of the vice president’s hunting colleague earlier this month. The White House didn’t learn of the incident until 18 hours later.

Mr. Cheney’s next crisis could take place by the end of the year, the sources said. They said the White House was expecting Mr. Cheney to defend himself against charges from his former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, that the vice president ordered him to relay classified information. Such a charge could lead to a congressional investigation and even impeachment proceedings.

“Nothing will happen until after the congressional elections,” a GOP source said. “After that, there will be significant changes in the administration and Cheney will probably be part of that.”

The rumors about a possible Cheney resignation have persisted throughout his tenure as Vice President - for example, back in October during the height of la affaire de pLame, US News reported that “government officials and advisers” were fueling the grapevine with speculation that Cheney would step down.

If the latest scuttlebutt on this proves to be true, I doubt it will have much - if anything - to do with any pressure on the part of the President to push Cheney into stepping down. Bush is nothing if not loyal, and I believe he wouldn’t try to exert any influence one way or the other on Cheney’s decision.

A Cheney resignation would put the left in a bit of a quandry as he — along with Karl Rove — have been on their political hit lists going back to before the President was inaugurated the first time. They consider having him in office as a Republican weakness on which they can capitalize. But if he steps down, they Congressional left would be in the position of helping to either approve or disapprove his successor - the person who could very well be considered a contender for the office of the Presidency come ‘08. The Congressional right would be chomping at the bit to get someone in that seat who they think could breathe new life into Republican party supporters who are tired from weathering so many storms on behalf of both Cheney and the President.

Professor Bainbridge has posted a just for kicks poll which asks the question: “If Dick Cheney Resigns, Who Should Bush Pick as the Next VP?” — make sure to cast your vote.

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah

Michelle Malkin blogs today about her blog recently being hit by what she describes as a “large, foreign-based denial of service attack.” She goes on to write even more disturbing news about a concerted effort from Islamic hackers to hack into and take over websites that have published the offending cartoons, and also includes a sampling of the threatening emails she has recieved.

Consider it a must-read. It goes without saying that what’s happening here is disturbing and scary. The fanatics are trying to intimidate from the streets and on the web as well.

A couple of days ago here I had a really hard time accessing my admin controls for most of the day. Makes me wonder …

As a sidenote, I wonder if Antonia ‘there’s hate behind the right wing offending cartoons blogburst’ Zerbisias will be reporting on this anytime soon?

Cross-posted at SisterToldjah