Even better than blaming guns. Blame chicken. Maybe it’s a chicken plague?

In comments, Guav:

Lots of unpossibles here in just the last two months:

Bronx Girl, 15, Shot In Head By Stray Bullet
Teen Pulls BB Gun On Cops, Gets Shot In The Face
Drive-By Shooting On Lorimer Street In Brooklyn
Bronx Student Shot Outside High School
Brooklyn Teen Fatally Shot Outside Brownsville High School
Stray Bullet Kills 92-Year-Old Bronx Woman In Her Home, Teen Arrested
Teen Shot Dead In Flatbush Coffee Shop
13-Year-Old Queens Boy Fatally Shot in After-School Fight
Bronx Mom Killed In Afternoon Gang Shootout
Brooklyn Drive-By Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 1 Wounded

Maybe instead of banning guns, Bloomberg should just ban Brooklyn and the Bronx. Or teenagers.

“People asking for Glocks, because they hear about them in rapper songs,” said O’Brien, who has worked in the gun industry for 12 years. “I try to steer them back to models more suited for first-time buyers, but they say: ‘No, I want a Glock.’ And they don’t know anything about Glocks or guns at all.”

But red flags trump profit.

“If I don’t feel right about a sale, I won’t sell it,” O’Brien said. “Because I’m white, bald and tattooed, they think I’m racist when I refuse a sale.”

Think we’ll see any accusations of racism here?

Update: From comments, Oh my.

Seems white people are leaving urban areas and setting up their own Whitopias.

Also, the biological concept of race doesn’t mean much. A good read.

There’s one black among the Atlantic’s top 50 most-influential commentators. Thirty-eight of them are white males. Hmmmmmm. Haven’t some of them been playing the race card?

Continuing to kill the word racist.

Meanwhile, a summary of those Nazi/Racist/Brown shirt protesters.

Racist is dead. Long live racist.

You are killing the word “racist”. Just like you killed “fascist.”

He could have been a real somebody on this front.

Indeed.

Police are intimidating South African gun owners and defrauding citizens of their lawful property, black firearm owners said on Thursday.

Chairperson of the Black Gun Owners Association of South Africa (BGOASA), Abios Khoele, said the police had “legalised” theft and fraud.

[...]

Khoele said members had been subjected to discriminatory and arbitrary rejections of applications, unacceptable delays and a lack of service delivery by the police in relation to the act.

He said the Ministry of Police had still not entered into discussions with BGOASA on its grievances.

Via ACK

When researchers compared the shows to the CDC data, they discovered the strongest misrepresentations were related to alcohol use, relationships, and race among perpetrators and victims. Previous studies of actual statistics have shown that both perpetrator and victim were often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs when the crime occurred, differing from what the shows portrayed. Also, CSI and CSI: Miami were more likely to have described the victim and the attacker as Caucasian, which is misrepresentative. Finally, according to the CDC data, homicide victims typically knew their assailant; however, the television series were more likely to have portrayed the perpetrator as a stranger.

“Mary Norman, president of Auburn Heritage Association, said she was at her family’s burial plot in Pine Hill Cemetery when Councilman Arthur Dowdell removed the small Confederate flag from her great-grandfather’s grave Thursday afternoon.

“He pulled up the flag, snapped it in two and put it in his car,” said Norman, who is white.”

And:

Sarasota teen shot over Confederate apparel, police say

Classy, eh?

A pity that you have to choose words because other people are ignorant.

Can we talk about it yet? No?

In another bit of funny, all-around rube Oliver Willis puts his DoubleStuf stained fingers to work to refer to an entire geographical region as rubes. Which is funny because he’s the first to cry bigotry over, well, anything.

Because Obama has made it a platform issue to ban them. And they will, therefore, go up in value?

Anyway, it’s anecdotal but the other day I was at Coal Creek Armory and it was packed. More interesting was there were, in lily white west Knoxville, three black men in there buying handguns and assault rifles. And they were not together.

In the future, “Hey, I voted for Barack Obama!” will be every white person’s get-out-of-racism-free card.

In Chesapeake, the top scorers on a test to become a police officer included no blacks or women. Obviously, the test must be flawed.

If the average “White Power” neo-Nazi type making the news is truly the best the white race has to offer, then we Caucasians are in some pretty deep shit.

Meanwhile, compare that to the treatment of the First Dude’s genuinely loose association with the AIP.

Who’s the bigot again?

If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness – and hopelessness!

For those about to Barack we salute you Obama is not the anti-Christ. But he’s not the second coming either, which I think was the point of McCain’s ad.

Couldn’t it be that some of us actually care about the affected people and think we’d all be better if certain groups could thrive instead of wither?

No. It must be because we’re racist. It has to be or someone might be forced to deal with reality.

I never knew that “Economically depressed, politically disenfranchised social subgroup” began with an N?

This applies more to class than race, although this is a back-door attempt to scream the N-word.

And that, ladies and gentlemen (whichever one chooses to wear the pants), is why we can’t talk seriously about this issue. Thanks Mr. The C-Word for making my point.

Coincidentally, following the unspeakable class that accounts for half of murders while making up 3% of the population, is another class that follows in terms of gun violence. Poor rural white guys. So, is that my back-door attempt to scream Cracker err the C-word?

Update: Now, I’m using codewords.

But we can’t talk about this like grown-ups lest we offend the delicate sensibilities of someone. Clearly, guns must be to blame instead.

So far, most of the racism I’ve seen comes from folks associated with Barack Where’s the Beef Obama.

Interview

If you call Barack Chirac Obama an elitist, you’re a racist! Seriously?

Bill Hobbs did a post reminding Barack Tiberius Obama who is boss was. That boss quite clearly from the link meant the people. Then ZOMFG it’s a slave reference!

And ZOMFG! someone called Barack Gwen Stefani Obama a boy! But, you say I call people boy sometimes and I don’t mean nothing racist by it. I looked at my wife last night and said ‘that boy ain’t right’ and he was a white dude trying to push a rope. Doesn’t matter because Boy, in that context, is a racist remark, period. We don’t have to give you a reason, it just is! Dammit. And this is great:

The GOP clearly intends to yell “n*gger, n*gger” or “b*tch, b*tch” for the entire campaign in a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the complete mess they have made of the country.

Not really since the Dems are doing it for the GOP. I mean, I keep reading lefty blogs that say if you don’t vote for Hillsy, it’s ’cause you’re a misogynist. And if you don’t vote for Barack a² + b² = c² Obama, it’s ’cause you’re a racist.

In other news, years of pandering to identity politics is biting the Dems on the ass.

* Note: there really is real racism but none of this is it.

Funny.

BTW, it was a good speech. And he made some fine points. But I find it hard to buy what he’s selling.

Anyway, I’m amused that the Democrats are now turning their bread and butter tactics on each other. I mean, Obama’s race and Hillary’s vagina seem to be tearing that party apart. Well, not the party but their respective races (there I go again) to the presidency.

I guess the only encouraging thing about this is that one of them has to lose.

It was amazing. I’ve had two conversations recently in the real world that left me dumbfounded and uncomfortable. One was a guy that I know at a social setting. An educated man who is successful. And he said to me roughly I’m not voting for the nigger and I’m not voting for a woman. My response was that I’d vote for a black person and a woman, if it were Condoleezza Rice. We had a laugh at that and I moseyed away to find other conversation because that was awkward. As much as we like to pretend racism is a thing of the past, it’s not.

The other was in a more professional setting where someone (an educated and successful person) told me they couldn’t support Obama because they thought he was a closeted Muslim. Sweet Jebus! First, I find that claim laughable and second, so what?

I mean, if they both had said they won’t vote for a socialist, we’d have been cool. But, come on, the color of skin, who has a penis, and whose invisible man in the sky is better are the primary reasons?

Update: And for the record, one was a Democrat and one was a Republican.

As outrage spread nationwide over a Hillsborough County jail inmate being tossed from his wheelchair onto the floor, the detention deputy at the center of the controversy has been getting nonstop phone calls, many racist in nature.

“It’s not even just in Florida,” said Beverly Crecy, the roommate of suspended Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones.

“These calls are from out of state,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “People calling her ‘n—’ and ‘fat’ and all kinds of stuff. Seven o’clock in the morning and all through the night.”

Remember kids, when you call someone up to tell them that they are unfit for duty and, generally that you think they’re disgusting human beings, don’t call them racist terms or make fun of their apperance. Because it’s hurtful. I mean, not as hurtful as being dumped out of a wheel chair. But still, that’s mean.

One night, I’m mopping away. A couple of aisles over I hear the following conversation from a black couple in the frozen food section:

Black Dude: You know what white people like?

Black Chick: Huh?

Black Dude: You know, how they say we like watermelon and fried chicken?

Black Chick: Yeah.

Black Dude: They like pizza. Look at this aisle, it’s half pizza.

This website reminded me of that. Via Brittney.

1/3rd of evangelicals vote Democrat.

And, as reported here before, voters still hate gay cooties and Godless heathens.

America is filled with gun nuts, and any one of them could turn Obama into Martin Luther King Jr. at any moment.

Update: more here.

I can’t believe this. A bunch of drunken hoodlums show up at a man’s house, hollering “nigger,” obviously looking for a fight, the man defends himself and his son, and a jury convicts him? Of what?

Update: As is always the case in these things, there’s another side to the story that makes it unclear (in comments from original link):

I read the account in Newsday. White and his son walked out in the driveway carrying a pistol and shotgun, apparently going right up to the teenagers (according to the account, the dead boy was ‘inches away’. The son was shouting racial insults and slurs of his own.

The prosecutor said he should have stayed inside, locked the doors, and called police.

Escalating the situation is never good. But no one should be forced to rely on waiting for the police who, when seconds count, are only minutes away.

Conversely, I wonder what the result would have been were races reversed.

One of the things rarely discussed (because it’s just not PC) is violent crime and race. It’s OK this time, because a black guy’s doing it:

Last year, among the nation’s 10 largest cities, Philadelphia had the highest murder rate with 406 victims. This year could easily top last year’s with 240 murders so far.

Other cities such as Baltimore, Detroit and Washington, D.C., with large black populations, experience the nation’s highest rates of murder and violent crime. This high murder rate is, and has been, predominantly a black problem.

According to Bureau of Justice statistics, between 1976 and 2005, blacks, while 13 percent of the population, committed over 52 percent of the nation’s homicides and were 46 percent of the homicide victims. Ninety-four percent of black homicide victims had a black person as their murderer.

Blacks are not only the major victims of homicide; blacks suffer high rates of all categories of serious violent crime, and another black is most often the perpetrator.

Liberals and their political allies say the problem is the easy accessibility of guns and greater gun control is the solution. That has to be nonsense. Guns do not commit crimes; people do.

Deb also notes: If Guns Cause Crime, Why Aren’t All Communities Affected?

Now, I’ve touched on this cultural phenomenon before. And, notably, Useful Fools did some comparisons across countries and via race, noting that the US had a substantially lower violent crime rate than European countries but a higher murder rate. And that the homicide rate for blacks was 20.5 whereas the rate for whites was 3.3. And, while overall violent crime and homicide among non-blacks declined, among blacks it continued to rise.

And, according to the Justice Department, Firearms Violence 200% Higher for Blacks Than For Whites. Other race based stats:

* Firearm violence rates for blacks age 12 or older (8.4 per 1,000 blacks) were 40% higher than rates for Hispanics (6.0)

* 200% higher than rates for whites (2.8 per 1,000).

* Blacks were about 9 times more likely than whites to be murdered with a firearm.

* On average black victims of firearm violence were 3 years younger than white victims — 29 versus 32.

* From 1993 through 2001 blacks accounted for 46% of homicide victims and 54% of victims of firearm homicide but 12% of the U.S. population.

A Metro Nashville middle school teacher with a long history of opposing gay bias was suspended without pay for asking a black student how she would feel if he called her by a racial slur.

Well, that’s gay.

1) performance and testing.

2) because they’re a certain color.

If you picked 2), The Tennessean agrees.

Policing is serious and dangerous business that can result in people getting killed or put away for a long time. I’m sorry, but I want the most qualified person based on their performance being in charge. And I don’t care what color they are.

But wait, there’s more: Turns out the original shooter also had a permit. He says his car was rammed and six men approached him, one with a gun. So, he was firing at them. He has been charged with reckless endangerment. Notes on this fellow:

He had a handgun carry permit.

He called the police.

That indicates he’s not a criminal and I don’t think his intent was criminal. But it was rather cowboy to shoot across traffic. And he did hit a bystander’s car.

Mediaverse thinks there’s a racist element to it, noting:

The brothers are being called heroes because they did something. Roberson, who did something too, is being called a “gunman,” a criminal. No, he should be called a hero too.

What did he do so differently than the Webbers?

Probably because he endangered others by firing across traffic. As a permit holder, you are responsible for any shot you fire. You can’t go shooting across traffic. I’ve seen no indication in the story that the assailant he was shooting at actually fired shots. I think his crime here is being a bit overzealous.

A pilot, you racist!

There was a bit of silence. I was stumped. Is that something you have to ask these days? I really was uncertain how to respond. I, of course, have no problem with it but, obviously, at some point that was an issue for the guy. I, after recovering a bit from the awkwardness of that question, said that I had no problem with any new player. I surely have no problem with them based on skin color. Bring him on. I could use the [redacted]. I guess it may be an issue for some folks as racism is not a thing of the past.

Whenever we have our [redacted] game, we have a Hispanic dude that plays with us every week. No one ever asked if it was OK if he could come. And I hate Mexicans*.

* that’s a joke, for people that need to be told that sort of thing.

But, here’s an observation: Biden basically said what the media have been pushing for a year or so now. After all, Obama is really a rather mediocre political candidate. His career has not been that long nor has it been particularly stellar. Why the love affair if not due to race, presence, and looks? Take out race, and he’s John Edwards.

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed

Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.

“I think they’re real happy I’m not going to join,” said Cohen, who succeeded Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., in a majority-black Memphis district. “It’s their caucus and they do things their way. You don’t force your way in. You need to be invited.”

Cohen said he became convinced that joining the caucus would be “a social faux pas” after seeing news reports that former Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., D-Mo., a co-founder of the caucus, had circulated a memo telling members it was “critical” that the group remain “exclusively African- American.”

Other members, including the new chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., and Clay’s son, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., agreed.

“Mr. Cohen asked for admission, and he got his answer. … It’s time to move on,” the younger Clay said. “It’s an unwritten rule. It’s understood. It’s clear.”

The bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, a House aide said, but no non-black member has ever joined.

Update: Ok, ok, fine. It’s in bad taste. It’s a joke, get over it. BTW, the Mexicans who live up the street have an immaculate lawn.

Are there some voters who would not vote for an African America candidate because of race? I’m sure there are. Those are the same voters who probably wouldn’t vote for me because of my politics.

That’s as lame as me pointing out that his middle name is Hussein when it’s unnecessary. See, I don’t vote for big government, nanny-statists regardless of skin color. Rich says: I think I’ve learned all I need to know about Mr. Obama.

I just heard on CNN that Harold Ford, when pushed about the race issue, said that Black guys are undefeated in Tennessee.

Update: But that’s not as funny as this voter fraud.

Harold Ford, Jr. can’t say the word Ask
He has a big schlong
He doesn’t, err, eat at the Y (if you know what I mean)
He may have once talked loudly during a movie

As for Bob Corker, well, he can’t dance.

What? It could happen.

Trollphylactic: I preemptively call myself a racist.

Update: Ford also doesn’t tip very well.

And can get uppity.

My question is: under what circumstance is it appropriate to print the word? Obviously, not as a slur but is it okay in other circumstances? Should it be asterisked as though it were a curse word or should one use the political correct term “N-word”?

Now, AC blogs for the man, the MSM, part of the problem. So, he has to cater to the delicate sensibilities of people. I don’t. He asked this question in reference to my post in which I (intentionally) said gays and godless heathens are the new niggers. You, if you were a smart person, probably realized that I was using inflammatory language to reference the widespread dehumanization of blacks by using a derogatory term. You, if you were a dumbass, thought I was a RACIST!!!! (for examples of such dumbassery, see comments at AC’s joint).

And Brittney, who also blogs the man, the MSM, part of the problem, has a pretty funny image here. I thought it was funny. And even thought I may snag a copy. I notice the name of the files was respectthecock.gif. I thought it was funnier. I commented on how funny I thought the name was and she said that was almost the title the post. I assume she thought the people who watch WKRN wouldn’t find it so funny.

If I worked for the man, I couldn’t say things like that. Or talk about a bunch of stuff I talk about here.

I know people fear gay cooties but why not atheists? Just curious.

Something is missing from the list. I notice Middle-Easterner isn’t on there.

In the beginning, some DC politico got into trouble for using the word niggardly. Turns out, some ignorant twits just needed to buy a damn dictionary as it’s merely a synonym for stingy. Then, there was the time where some school official used the term yard-apes, and everyone called her a racist. Yard-ape, they said, was a derogatory term for black people. Well, it’s also a derogatory term used for children, which was her intent. Then I recall the time when someone asked if the phrase That’s Mighty White of You is racist. turns out, one definition of white is Honourable; square-dealing.

Now, comes the latest. It seems that George Allen called some Indian fellow a Macaca. I didn’t know what that was either. Turns out it’s a species of monkey. Kevin tells us:

Macaca, in case you did not know, is an old and well worn racial slur

Trouble is, when you hit that link, it says:

Macaque

(Belgium & France) a Negro (originally) or a person of North-African origin (more recently); derived from macaque monkeys

So, it 1) is spelled differently; 2) is slang in other countries; and 3) doesn’t reference Indians. The cool part, though, comes from the WAPO article which says:

Asked what macaca means, Mukherjee said: “What it means, I don’t know. But it’s going to cause him some grief.”

Muhkerjee called the comments hurtful but doesn’t have any idea what it means. Ah, feigned ignorant outrage. My favorite. Idiot.

Meanwhile, the Allen camp says it was a reference to Mohawk because this guy apparently has a mullet or some such.

Keep it moving people, nothing more to see here. Well, except partisan political hackery.

Update: In comments, kevin says:

First, the original article has the phonetic spelling. The phonetic spelling that is a common mispronounciation among racists.

And the racist certinaly seme to now what the word means:Here
And Allen speaks French and his mom is a French colonial from tunisia, where tword is a racist slur along the lines of n*gger.

Any more excuses?

You be the judge.

Update 2: AC has video.

Gov. Bredesen repeated his request to the Judicial Selection Commission to select a new panel of three candidates to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.

Bredesen rejected a panel of finalists in July, saying it was unacceptable to have to choose between two white candidates following the withdrawal of the only black finalist.

So, where’s the Asian, Indian, Hispanic, and Jew? To bad no one nominated a Hispanic, Hindu, French-speaking, physically-handicapped, communist, gay black woman*.

*Bonus for the reference.

Let’s go ahead and tackle this now (on Friday, late, when no one is looking): Can a black man win the Senatorial race in Tennessee?

I hate to say it but I think the answer is no.

Facing criticism, potential 2008 presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden has been forced to explain his recent remark that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

On a recent edition of the C-SPAN series “Road to the White House,” the Delaware Democrat is shown shaking hands with a man and boasting about his support among Indian-Americans.

“I’ve had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking,” Biden said.

Seriously, this is why people are upset?

There are a few phrases that I hear quite often that are inarguably racist. I think these phrases are so ingrained in the local vernacular that people who use them do not really mean them in that racist way but they’ve just been used for so long that it’s acceptable. Heck, I’ve even heard my black friends (both of them) use them. One phrase is nigger-rigged (i.e., shoddy quality and thrown together haphazardly). And I hear it a lot.

But there is a bit of overeagerness in labeling things racist, which is what I think MTA has done here. For example, there was that time a public official was almost fired for using the word niggardly, which turned out to really be a sign that a lot of folks needed to buy a damn thesaurus. Then there was the time when a Tennessee school official used the phrase yard-apes, which I’ve always heard as being a derogatory term for children, not black folks. Some folks are just overly sensitive.

Where do we draw the line? Beats me. I hate racism and racist comments with one exception and it is: if it’s damn funny. Sure, some jokes are crude and offensive but if they’re funny, go for it. Hell, Carlos Mencia and Dave Chappelle made entire careers on that premise. And I think they’re hysterical. Feel free to make fun of Asians who can’t drive, black folks who can’t swim, Jews who complain a lot, or how white people can’t dance if it makes me laugh. But do it in a way that’s funny. If it’s just mean, I don’t want to hear it.

Also, I wonder what stereotypes there are about white folks that I don’t know about? I mean funny ones, not the ones about us being in league with Satan.

What’s white and 12 inches long?

Nothing.

Personally, I think that (like the Wellstone funeral) such posturing for political gain is disrespectful to the deceased. But people can do what they want, I suppose. I think it lessens their message to do so at such an event. But TeeVee time is TeeVee time.

Amusing in all this is the side that decided to use racist caricatures to point out, well, I don’t know what:

Oh lawdy, lawdy, lawdy Miss Mellie, I do decleah these Democrats are so ungenteel! Why, they were talkin’ politics and singin’ and dancin’ and actin’ all Negro and everything!

[snip]

Typically, his supporters’ knee jerk response is to rhetorically lynch African Americans.

Emphasis added for those that need to be told that sort of thing. Digby ends with For shame. That’s an appropriate response to his own post, which consists of unfounded accusations of racism presented in a nice little racially divisive package.

I’ve ruled out access to guns, because other countries with fewer guns have higher murder rights. And other Western countries where gun ownership is generally banned have higher violent crime rates. And some countries with access to more guns (or where owning military weapons is mandated by law) have a lower murder rate.

Then, I read this post by Kim du Toit. He was commenting on Kevin’s homicide stats. Kevin opined:

It suggests that the homicide by firearm problem is concentrated in a small, identifiable group. It suggests that homicide is heavily concentrated in the overall black demographic, and especially in young black men.

Kim stated:

The United States has always had a higher murder rate than other countries, not because there are more guns around, but because we are a nation of immigrants. When people have few or no ties to a community, their propensity towards lawlessness is much higher. (It’s why, for example, small-town sheriffs had a habit of telling strangers to leave town—they were playing the odds.)

I began to think that was nuts. Then, as the day wore on, that thought kept coming back to me. And I realized that it made a sick sort of sense. The nation of immigrants factor is just about the only thing we don’t have in common with other comparable western nations.

But what that doesn’t explain is why, in our country, the homicide rate is heavily comprised of murders of black people by other black people. After all, black people share a heritage and do have ties to the black community. I suppose another factor in that equation is the proximity to drug dealing and concentrated areas of poverty.

It’s very clear that America has a problem with black on black violence. But it will never be given the attention it deserves because examining the cause would be viewed as racist.

AP Poll: Blacks Likelier to Celebrate MLK

And whites apparently notice that the banks aren’t open.

In other, other news: SayUncle discovers that Likelier is a real word.

Racist humor seems to be making quite a comeback. I have to confess that I enjoyed Chapelle’s show. And currently, I really do enjoy The Boondocks (animated series), Drawn Together, and Mind of Mencia. The shows are really funny but they definitely have a racist element to them. I wonder when this became hip again? Or even acceptable, with the PC police that own the networks.

The Boondocks, Chapelle and Mencia are done by minorities, which may explain letting some of that stuff slide. Not sure who does Drawn Together. Wednesday’s episode of Drawn Together was particularly racist with all the Asians getting their eyes widened. But it was hysterical. The Boondocks racist humor seems to be particularly offensive, as illustrated by the bit on A Nigga Moment.

Maybe, as a culture, we’re getting over some of this PC business. Or at least the 18-24 year old demographic targeted by Comedy Central and Adult Swim is. There is hope for the future of humor.

Update: *And if you don’t get the joke, you should watch Drawn Together.

Update 2: Maybe, like South Park, it’s OK because two of these shows are cartoons?

I think it’s past time for there to be a changing of the guard in black leadership in America. People like Farrakhan, Sharpton and Jackson are no better than hustlers, bigots, and crooks. There are hundreds of black leaders who believe in improving the lives of black Americans, and America in general, but the media keeps giving time to the Axis of Irrelevancy.

Oliver Willis today:

Republicans think that because their candidate is black, he can wave magic pixie dust over Marylanders (Republicans think that black people are incapable of making up their minds for themselves and are compelled to vote based on skin color, how insulting) and hide the fact that Steele is just another right-wing Republican far out of touch with the values of Maryland and the future of our state.

So, if that leadership is Republican it’s not cool? Or do you not think that Steele believes in improving the lives of black Americans, and America in general? After all, that’s only something a Democrat can do, right?

And stating that an entire political party thinks that black people are incapable of making up their minds for themselves and are compelled to vote based on skin color is baseless rhetoric.

The Legislative Black Caucus, which has recently come under fire for gaps in disclosure of funds for its annual Legislative Retreat, now appears to be linked to Tennessee Waltz, the undercover FBI operation that exposed several corrupt law makers. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that undercover FBI agents posing as E-Cycle reps hosted a dinner during the legislative retreat and along with Charles Love, an indicted “bagman,” tried to convince several black legislative leaders to take an E-Cycle junket to Miami.

So, our reps are ready to apologize and make it right, you would think. Guess again:

Some black leaders say they are concerned that most of those indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz are black, but investigators in the federal bribery sting say they don’t, and can’t, consider race.

State Rep. Ulysses Jones, D-Memphis, said the racial breakdown “raises eyebrows” and that blacks and whites are discussing it.

“Within the political community, a lot of people are starting to see there are a lot of African-Americans targeted,” said Rep. Jones, who has said he was offered bribes in the case and suspects he was videotaped by the FBI.

How about being concerned that most of those indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz are crooks?

Update: Joe Public:

I really can’t say for sure that there was no racial bias involved in the FBI sting. I can’t read the investigators’ minds.