GOP lawmaker in trouble over racist Katrina email

[quaoar]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_4530453,00.html

Racially charged e-mail stirs outrage
Rep. Welker cites his 'poor judgment' in forwarding essay

A Loveland lawmaker has been blasted by his colleagues for e-mailing an essay written by someone else that accused "welfare-pampered blacks" of waiting for the government to save them from Hurricane Katrina.

Rep. Jim Welker, a Republican, said Thursday morning that he forwarded the article because of its message about society victimizing people by making them dependent on government programs.

He said he didn't agree with everything in the essay.

One passage says, "President Bush is not to blame for the rampant immorality of blacks."

[rodeodance]

1. unless he did not read it all--He knew exactly what the jest of the messag

e was!

[Jack Rabbit]

5. And if he didn't read it all, he should have

What he did was unpardonable.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Good puppy dog welker

You are almost right. Its not that bush is not to blame for anything, its that he is not held accountable for anything BY HIS OWN PARTY. And thanks for shedding a light on how you really feel. The rep should feel good now that the truth is out there. Gosh, I wish I could be pampered with a welfare check each month. Rampant immorality? You mean like money laundering and insider trading and lying about anything and everything.

Ole jim welker is such a hoot.

[Brazenly Liberal]

3. Damn! I have to dig up that old "Hate State" poster

Somewhere in this mess (shuffles papers and assorted socks around), I have a poster that says "Boycott Colorado - The Hate State."

It's from 1992 when Colorado voters passed Amendment 2, a Colorado constitutional amendment prohibiting gay rights protections.

"He said he didn't agree with everything in the essay." Is that to say he found some of it just fine and dandy?

[autorank]

4. Here's how Katrina victors are treated by their own state. Great post.

The Disenfranchisement Of Katrina's Survivors

Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 3:02 pm
Article: Michael Collins
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0603/S00016.htm#
Adding Insult to Injury for Katrina Survivors
- Barriers to Voting Due to Inadequate State & Local Efforts
- Two Law Suits Fail to Remedy the Situation.

Special for "Scoop" Independent Media
Michael Collins


Does this Katrina evacuee have the right to vote in the upcoming
New Orleans municipal elections? Without a doubt but her prospects
have been limited by an unresponsive state legislature and Federal authorities.

Wash. DC. - Two court decisions this weekend create barriers to voting for hurricane Katrina survivors spread around the United States. The U.S. District Court of Louisiana (Eastern) denied a lawsuit that sought to delay elections and allow special measures to enable voting by several hundred thousand displaced New Orleans evacuees. Advancement Project, a civil rights organization, filed the suit with ACORN (a national community rights organization) and individual voters.

The suit asked for immediate relief for displaced voters through satellite polling places in major evacuee locales, publicity efforts in these areas to let people know their right to vote, and an expanded form of identification to include Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross documentation with a New Orleans address. The suit also asked the court to declare that the Louisiana legislature's Act 40 and the Secretary of State's emergency voting plan "impose a severe burden on displaced voters' fundamental right to vote."

<snip>

Evacuees away from home, out of touch, and eager to get back, find Louisiana officials offering them the very least assistance in casting their vote and influencing their future. Rather than a proactive effort to reach all citizens eligible to vote, the states Act 40 makes clear that the Secretary of State has little authority to work beyond the borders of the state or even Orleans parish. FEMA, responsible for much of their distress and pain, offers little in the way of assistance. The voters are alone, away from their homes. Their only support comes from each other and the community organizations who seek relief in courts and through governmental agencies.

The betrayal of New Orleans has been manifested for years through poor planning, poor execution, sloppy workmanship, and negligent oversight of basic safety requirements.

The Federal government provided Louisiana $24 million to fund voting machine purchases in 2004. In that same year, it withdrew $24 million from levee maintenance support in the Federal budget. The de facto and de jure disenfranchisement of New Orleans evacuees is shaping up to be one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of American governance. The ballot box, the purported solution, is hidden, swathed in absurdist regulations and out of reach for those most in need of access. The denial of voting rights to Katrina evacuees is a denial of their right to self determination. It is a national disgrace.

Who benefits?



New Orleans is the only city in the world where
you can hire a jazz marching band for your funeral.
Hopefully, there will be no funeral for the voting
rights of Katrina survivors.


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