Will he be remember as a Racist? KKK Member? Esteemed Senator that brought home the bacon for his state?

Democrat (remember, the Democrats were the traditional and historic “Slave Party”) Senator Robert Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1942 at the age of 24. He quickly ran through the ranks and became the head of his chapter. (Source). And he was devoted. Byrd wrote a letter to the KKK Grand Wizard after World War 2, “The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation.” After all, Black Americans had served bravely in the war and returned home with some hope for the future. They had served their country, surely Whites would recognize this? This was not to be as Byrd and his KKK friends would make sure Black’s knew their place. Blacks found little had changed. [An over simplification? YES, but it fits in perfect with how the Press is covering Byrd's past!]

Byrd was a master politician and climbed through the ranks in politics as well. He ascended the political hierarchy through the West Virginia state legislature until becoming a United States Senator for West Virginia in 1959 after serving 6 years in the House of Representatives. In 1999, Byrd became the first politician in the history to secure over $1 billion in federal taxpayer dollars for his state. No wonder his constituents loved him and continued to vote him back into office.

But his voting record, though long (14,000 or so), includes him being a staunch opponent of Civil Rights. Byrd vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he filibustered it for almost three months. He also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and when combined with his KKK associations, it is a wonder that none other than the NAACP can recall his service fondly. On Monday the organization released a statement from NAACP President and Chief Executive Benjamin Todd Jealous claiming that Byrd’s life “reflects the transformative power of this nation.” (Source)

The question also has to be asked, can only a Democrat be reborn, transformed and forgiven?

The USA Today whitewashed (downplays) Byrd’s racist past and then builds him up, “The honor is symbolic of how far Byrd came in the course of his long public career. Once a member of the Ku Klux Klan — an episode for which he profusely apologized — he endorsed the nation’s first African-American president and provided staunch support for Obama’s agenda on Capitol hill.” (Source)

The Associate Press simply noted, “The man who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 hours came to support the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday and supported Barack Obama in his bid to become the nation’s first black president.” (Source)

Another news organization, wrote, astonishingly, “Once a segregationist and a member of a white supremacist group (the Ku Klux Klan), Byrd evolved into an advocate for civil rights. He later apologized for his earlier positions on racial matters.” (Source)

I will add that I did like that the Good Senator was, for the most part, a man of the Constitution. And as one journalist noted, “He frequently pulled out a dog-eared copy of it from a pocket in one of his trademark three-piece suits. He also defended the Senate in its age-old rivalry with the executive branch, no matter which party held the White House.” (Source)

So what will it be? How will history remember the man? If today’s Press has its way, he will be very positively remembered. I wonder what future text books will say?

There are two ways to look at this: 1) we are engaged in the proper massive spending required to pull this economy out of the grips of a Great Depression. The comparison to World War 2 is, however, tricky as the economic situation then and now are completely different. (Will explain in later post); 2) or you can compare the massive spending and coming massive taxing like the failed New Deal programs of the 1930s.

We will see… More on this later.

This is some funny stuff. Any of these Museums sound like fun but who pays for this, please tell not tax payer money? I have to agree with the author that these “are just plain pointless.” If you have seen or visited any strange Museums post a comment, would love to get a laugh! From the article:

1. The Museum of Bad Art: The justification for this one was thin at best when it launched in the early 1990s, but at this point, it’s safe to say that the Internet’s a much better repository of terrible and useless art. Why not use this building to showcase, you know, good stuff?
2. The Museum of Menstruation and Women’s Health: Case in point: This website is devoted to the history of menstruation, for those who just can’t live another month without knowing what tampons were like in the 1940s. Totally random and completely unnecessary.
3. The Washington Banana Museum: It’s a museum. About bananas. Any money you spend getting here is money you deserved to lose.
4. Frank and Jane Clement Brick Museum: It’s literally rooms filled with old bricks. And just in case you want to pop in on a lark, it’s “by appointment only.” I guess brick fans are hardcore people.
5. The Cockroach Hall of Fame and Museum: If you’ve ever wanted to see dead roaches posed in a variety of scenes and costumes, this is the place. Seriously, though: How is there a demand for this kind of thing?
6. Leila’s Hair Museum: Started by a former hairdresser, this Missouri museum is devoted to hair, and features rows and rows of hair wreaths in frames. More than a little creepy.
7. The Hammer Museum: I refuse to believe there are enough different types of hammer — you know, a stick with a weight on the end — to justify the existence of an entire museum dedicated to their history. There are more than 1,500 hammers on display at Alaska’s Hammer Museum, which is 1,499 more than you need to know about.
8. The Giant Shoe Museum: It’s not a giant museum of shoes; it’s a museum of giant shoes. Dedicated to oversized footwear, this oddball museum in Washington ranks as one of the most superfluous in the country.
9. Kansas Barbed Wire Museum: I am sure that the proprietors of this barbed wire museum are wonderful people, but there is no more unnecessary field trip for local schools than a day spent looking at old hunks of twisted metal.
10. National Mustard Museum: This Wisconsin museum has been around for a quarter century, during which time nothing about mustard has changed at all. It’s still yellow and made for hot dogs. That’s it.
11. Bergstrom-Mahler Museum: Don’t let the vaguely normal name fool you: This museum is devoted to paperweights of all shapes and sizes. Pretty? Sure, if that’s your thing. But a museum dedicated to hunks of glass and metal used on coffee tables is a bit much.

[Source]

Read these news stories:

FCC set to reconsider broadband regulations

High-Speed Internet Rules Might Prove Costly

New Bill Gives Presidnet ‘Kill Switch’ To Shut Down The Internet

FTC floats Online News tax

Now I am sure that the government knows best and is doing what is best for us. I’m sure they are only looking out for our best interests and have no political agenda…. you know now that we’re in an era of “transparency” and “change we can believe in…”

I don’t know how they do things in Utah, but our horrible education program out here in California  teach “American Government” (They should be teaching “Civics”) and Economics in the 12th grade. Where will you fit these two subjects if students or parents decide to “opt out” of the 12th grade? Research shows that the majority of students today don’t even know who the Vice President is, what the Bill of Rights consists of, or who their city mayor is. In fact, I would argue that many don’t even know the purpose of a city council! And economics, an issue highly relevant in today’s economic climate is to be eliminated? How is one to understand why we are in the deficit ridden economic mess we are in if they are not taught the subject? Furthermore, many colleges don’t require that economics be taken for a Bachelor’s Degree. that means thay educated people will not learn the topic. But we are assuming that all the students will be attending college,which if they don’t they will never learn it at all!

We need education reform, not elimination. We can disagree on what reform is, but naming the slave trade something else because it is a “negative connotation” (Um, duh!), and getting rid of two courses essential to “creating productive members of society” is not the answer.

What do you think?

Here’s the article:

Texas city revives paddling as it takes a swat at misbehavior
By Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 16, 2010

TEMPLE, TEX. — In an era when students talk back to teachers, skip class and wear ever-more-risque clothing to school, one central Texas city has hit upon a deceptively simple solution: Bring back the paddle.
This Story.

Most school districts across the country banned paddling of students long ago. Texas sat that trend out. Nearly a quarter of the estimated 225,000 students who received corporal punishment nationwide in 2006, the latest figures available, were from the Lone Star State.

But even by Texas standards, Temple is unusual. The city, a compact railroad hub of 60,000 people, banned the practice and then revived it at the demand of parents who longed for the orderly schools of yesteryear. Without paddling, “there were no consequences for kids,” said Steve Wright, who runs a construction business and is Temple’s school board president.

Since paddling was brought back to the city’s 14 schools by a unanimous board vote in May, behavior at Temple’s single high school has changed dramatically, Wright said, even though only one student in the school system has been paddled.

“The discipline problem is much better than it’s been in years,” Wright said, something he attributed to the new punishment and to other discipline programs schools are trying. Residents of the city’s comfortable homes, most of which sport neighborly, worn chairs out front, praise the change.

To read more…

Consider the following (source link here);

They’ve been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement—and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation’s first black president.

“I’ve been told I hate myself. I’ve been called an Uncle Tom. I’ve been told I’m a spook at the door,” said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.

“Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks,” he said

I think it is sad that to be black means, to some, you have to be Democrat! There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Tea Party movement. I understand that. It has been vilified. Won’t go into that. Are there always some radicals on the Right and Left, yes, and they do not represent the whole. (I am still waiting for the video or audio of the actual racial slurs and other epitaphs that was claimed. With all the cell phones with cameras!) The Tea Party movement is made up of a lot of average folks, and some if not many are Democrats and Independents. I attended a Tea Party gathering of over a thousand recently and found it to be peaceful and respectful.

My hat is off to those Black Republicans that risk far more than I do to identify themselves as Republicans. I am not, I am a registered Indepedent and have voted for Democrats (Clinton), Republicans, and Libertarians.

[The photo is of Fox News political analyst Angela McGlowan as she announced at the Tupelo, Miss., City Hall, that she is running for the 1st Congressional District as a Republican.]

My only comment at this time, for a President and current Congress that promised to be the most “transparent” and “ethical” in history, it seems the difficult and more honorable path would be to buck the trend. To stand up and acknowledge minority rights and to honor the constitution, as has clearly not been done – that would have been what this administration promised.

Congress is broken and has been for some time. We The People must consider insisting that our politicians begin to honor the constitution. The Republicans have used this option to lower taxes and do things that Democrats cried foul over, just as Republicans are now doing. Both have been wrong. We need change, real change.

Here is a look at reconciliation’s controversial history:

Dec. 5, 1980 | Though reconciliation was established during the Ford administration as a means to keep spending in check, it went unused until the final days of the Carter presidency. As one of his last acts in office, President Jimmy Carter signed the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980, designed to slim the budget deficit through revisions to a range of entitlement programs.

Aug. 13, 1981 | The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981, passed by a Republican Senate, cut $130 billion from several discretionary programs, including welfare and food stamps.

Sept. 3, 1982 | A Republican Senate approves the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, which first opened Medicare to HMOs.

Sept. 8, 1982 | For the second time in less than a week, Congress uses reconciliation to pass a $13 billion bill amending the food stamp program, the federal employee pay program and farm subsidies.

April 18, 1984 | The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1983, approved by a Republican Senate, was a deficit-reduction measure that made changes to the annual cost-of-living adjustments to the retirement accounts of federal employees.

April 7, 1986 | A Republican Senate passes the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, otherwise known as COBRA. The act allows laid-off workers to keep their health care coverage.

Oct. 21, 1986 | The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 cuts $17 billion from the nation’s deficit through changes to Medicare and the sale of the government’s stake in the Consolidated Rail Corp.

Dec. 22, 1987 | Democrats, back in control of the Senate, pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 establishing federal standards for nursing homes under Medicare. The measure also expands Medicaid eligibility.

Dec. 19, 1989 | Democrats approve the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, stripping $39 billion from the deficit while overhauling doctor payments for Medicare.

Nov. 5, 1990 | President George H.W. Bush signs a Democratic measure, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990; In addition to establishing pay-as-you-go rules for federal spending, the bill also implemented tax increases and added cancer screenings to Medicare.

Aug. 10, 1993 | Democrats, in control of Congress and the White House, pass the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993. It cuts $504.8 billion from the budget while creating new tax rates for businesses and individuals and also establishing federal vaccine funding for children.

Dec. 6, 1995 | Republicans, back in control of Congress, pass the Balanced Budget Act of 1995 through reconciliation. President Clinton vetoes the measure.

Aug. 22, 1996 | President Clinton’s welfare reform bill is passed by a Republican-controlled Congress through reconciliation. The bill separates Medicaid from welfare for the first time.

Aug. 5, 1997 | Republicans use reconciliation to pass President Clinton’s Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Besides setting the U.S. on the path to a balanced budget, the bill created the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The same day, a tax-cutting measure is also passed through reconciliation.

Sept. 23, 1999 | President Clinton vetoes Republicans’ Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999.

Aug. 5, 2000 | Republicans in Congress pass the Marriage Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000, which President Clinton vetoes.

June 7, 2001 | A day after his party loses control of the Senate, President George W. Bush signs the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, his first major tax cut.

May 28, 2003 | President Bush, with Republicans back in control of Congress, signs the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Act of 2003, his second round of tax cuts.

Feb. 8, 2006 | After Republicans use reconciliation for the third time in his presidency, President Bush signs the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005; the bill cuts spending on Medicare and Medicaid.

May 17, 2006 | President Bush signs an extension of his earlier tax cuts approved by a Republican Congress in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005.

Sept. 27, 2007 | Democrats, in control of Congress once again, use reconciliation to pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. President Bush signs the $20 billion reform of student aid.

Sources:

* The Brookings Institution
* The Library of Congress’ THOMAS
* Congressional Research Service

My source