Protest awaits Bennett visit (to University of Cincinnati)

[theHandpuppet]

From today's Cincinnati Enquirer
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/NEWS0102/510010347/1058/NEWS01

Protest awaits Bennett visit
Remarks on race and abortion rile UC Democrats

By Lori Kurtzman
Enquirer staff writer

University of Cincinnati College Democrats are planning to protest the appearance Tuesday of William J. Bennett, the former education secretary who said on his radio show that the country's crime rate would drop if every black baby were aborted.

Bennett's UC appearance, hosted by the College Republicans, had been in the works well before the controversy. College Republicans chairman Kevin Welch said his group wanted to bring a prominent conservative speaker to campus to counter the liberal speakers who have visited there, including filmmaker Michael Moore, who stopped by last October.

Bennett's comments Wednesday on his "Morning in America" call-in show drew sharp criticism from the NAACP and high-ranking Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who demanded Bennett apologize.

MORE....

[radfringe]

1. cracked me up

was talking to a friend last night - Mr. Morality Bennett's comments came up

my friend said "well if you want to get rid of the culture of corruption then we should be encouraging the spaying and neutering of republicans....."

[madrchsod]

2. bennett needs to drive

alone in certain sections of cincy and as those folks what they think about what he said...cincinnati is not a nice place...

[slor]

3. It is only "not a nice place" because of...

the conservative racist buffoons that have exerted their control over the years.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Yep -- the area is notorious for white extremist groups

There's a whole list of them to be found at the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's also a hive for anti-choice extremists and the breeding ground for fascist whackos like Kenneth Blackwell.

I lived in Cincy for years and though as a UC alum I have a fondness for Cincy proper, I have no illusions about its political base.

[Barkley]

30. Evendale (a Cincy Suburb) would give Bennett the keys to the city

They hired Steven Roach (killer of Tim Thomas).

[theHandpuppet]

4. A think a walking tour of Over-the-Rhine is in order

Don't you? ;) Forget the car for Bennett!

[slor]

6. No...put him in a car...

with his quote painted all over the car.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. Suggestion for the protesters

African American baby dolls, held aloft in a noose, with signs reading: "Taking a bite out of crime."

You likee?

ok, it's gross and disgusting, but it'd get Film At Eleven fer sure.

[Barkley]

29. I think a walking tour of the Freedom Center is order.

He'll probably go there first to show people he likes blacks.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
http://www.freedomcenter.org/index.cfm

[bos1]

7. Breaking Bennett News: Sponsors pulling out from his show!!!!!!

Here is message that Verbal Advantage, a main sponsor of the Bill Bennett radio program, is sending:

Dear customers and consumers of Verbal Advantage:

Please understand that we do not agree nor adhere to any beliefs or opinions of above said person. As a way of not standing behind the comments made by Bill Bennett we have detracted all association from him. We are neither longer sponsoring nor advertising on his radio show.

Sincerely,

Verbal Advantage

For those of you interested in making your voice heard, here is the email address for Verbal Advantage: [e-mail]

Write them and thank them for not sponsoring extremists!

For latest news see http://FIREBENNETT.cjb.net

[bunkerbuster1]

9. Verbal Advantage!

oh, how funny.

I first heard their spots years ago when listening to Rush. I envisioned thousands of dittoheads ordering their tapes and trying to learn them reel hard words wot the Intellectualistic Types use.

[Erika]

26. I emailed a thank you to Verbal Advantage

[AspenRose]

28. So did I

Time to turn up the heat...can't give up now, this is picking up major traction.

[Barkley]

31. I email 'em too - nt

[Bluerthanblue]

32. e-mailed my thanks as well, I had called them and left a voice

message on the day the show aired- the poor fella that got my call had no clue, but put me through to the 'sales' managers voice mail.

Nice to hear that they DO listen-
and that it's worth speaking out.

thanks for letting us know!

[tainowarrior]

10. so you counter Michael Moore's

views about how this country is losing its way, by bringing in a guy who thinks, even hypothetically, that aborting all black babies would reduce crime?

Classy, Republicans...Classy.

Technically, if you aborted ANY one race of people, crime would go down statistically. It's just stupid to suggest it or even think it hypothetically.

[alphafemale]

17. Michael Moore vs. Stupid White Man.

:rofl:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[malaise]

12. You'd better produce those stats

or chill!!

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bos1]

13. Get a clue. Bennett says there's genetic links between race, crime.

That's Nazism.

www.firebennett.cjb.net

[lakeguy]

15. i been on this board for about 5 mins...

today that is...and it's easy to spot a fool who is misusing statistics to promote a racist agenda.

[malaise]

16. Very easy

Edit -add link

I think he/she should start here.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/crime/race_and_crime.cfm

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rppper]

19. shoot the messenger???...whatever friend....

look at the schools and the locales of where the drop-out rates are the highest and start working forward. it's the bennetts of the world, with their voucher programs and underfunded NCLB programs that put the first bullets in the foot. it isn't a poor problem more than it is the underlying attitudes that are killing this country. bill bennett, as a quasi celebrity, is in a position to help these problems. instead he chooses to think out loud and expose himself for what he truely is. i might remind you that the drop out rate didn't drop during his term as secretary of education either....and he did'nt exactly shine as drug czar either...i recall crack addiction spiraling in urban areas during his tenure. maybe now we can understand his failings a little more clearly, can't we?

[salin]

20. misattribution of cause and effect?

have to consider economic factors - continued institutional racism in hiring, and promotions; institutional educational racism that encourages "pushout" in many low-income, high poverty, high non-white population schools (read Michelle Fine's Framing Dropouts for a close look at how schools do this - and having worked with schools that fit this description in several urban cities in our country - I can verify that what I saw mirrored what she writes; also visit Harvard's Civil Rights Institute and look for their 2001 paper on urban dropouts and race; and/or read Savage Inequalities per gross differences in school resources.)

The hurdles are very high for the poor in this country - throw in the additional barriers that come with race and combine that with poverty - and there are a set of underclass issues that ought to be considered when you refer to these statistics.

Another issue - is the numbers considered would have to span long beyond this admin(given their penchant for playing wierd and willy with stats) - and ought to also look at sentencing rates. Back around 1999 or 2000 there were a series of studies (perhaps by the Urban Policy Institute) that studied massive size data sets to determine any differences in sentencing rates, for similar crimes based on race. Is it a big surprise that there was a signficant difference (I don't recall the size but it was gaspable.)

All that said - extrapolating out to suggest that if you prevented the birth of ALL of one segment of society that "the crime rate would go down" is more than a big stretch - and presumes that there are no other causal factors that COULD be addressed.

[slor]

22. Most serial killers are white men...

shall we starting aborting all white male babies, to avoid future serial killers? Now before you say it, I know we did not specify this particular style of crime, but they are certainly a singularly barbaric sort of criminal, and it would be a noble cause to prevent future serial killers, and some could argue that extraordinary efforts would be justified in this cause, so how about it? Is this a good idea in any way ?

[Face_in_the_Crowd]

34. You know what is so predictable about this response?

I wouldn't accept anything less than to see "I have black friends" in your response. Let me try....you know white people are less confrontational and more prone to projecting themselves as someone they really aren't....lets see what other nonsense can I come up with????

If you have black friends you should have a better understanding of the black community and the general view they have of "this society" and the role they play in it. I think that that would give you a better insight into all of your stats.

Nuff Said

[Bluerthanblue]

36. the playing field is anything but

level- and there are millions of white people who 'don't wish to participate'- you just can't point them out as easily- because they look like YOU.

That racism exists as strongly in this 'free' nation as deeply as it does is a disgrace, and that you justify it, or pretend to be the 'messenger' of anything other than your own bias, is sadder still.

Answer this if you will- what person, be they white, black, red, yellow, green, or purple, could fuck up their life the way * has, and end up being president????- those with money and power do nothing productive in life, yet come out on the plus side- because they were born into a life of privlidge. And I have no respect for them- there are many who are born into lives of privlidge, who go on to attempt to better the world, but bennett is not one of them.

I don't care how many 'black friends' you have- you aren't black- and you can't speak to the issue as a black person. Just as I have many male friends, yet, I have no personal experience to draw upon which gives any real credibility for what a man experiences.

[Old sixties guy]

25. Thats nonsense

First off,the REAL crimes in this country-the slaughter in Iraq,the rape of the environment,the mass layoffs and the wholesale mad capitalist race to the bottom are perped by almost all WHITE power brokers.
Also,many white people have the juice to use their influence to get off on their crimes.Especially their "wayward"offspring,a number of them whom I knew back in the day who did some very felonious things but are solid citizens now cause daddy used his influence to make a deal.
Finally,there may BE some truth to accusations of higher rates of black street crimes.What the hell do you expect them to do?Watch their kids starve?Hell,if I had no education worth a damn,no decent job prospects,etc,I'd be getting my hustle on too!

[Face_in_the_Crowd]

33. Please

The reaction is to how he introduced his point...whatever it was. You don't suggest that black crime rate is high by saying "aborting black babies will reduce the crime rate."

True he may have just been trying to prove a point, but by doing it the way he did showed how ignorant and how much of a bigot he is. Think if Baracka or Conyers or whoever said something like this to illustrate a point....just as many statistics could show how blacks are more prone to be pulled over or stereotyped by police or raised in poverty. So I don't understand your point.

[Bluerthanblue]

35. you are a fool-

if you can't see through the falsehood of what YOU YOURSELF have written.
The 'statistics' you cite are based on the FACT that people of color, AND people of lower financial status, are unfairly targeted by prosecutors, and less able to afford the appropriate legal representation that many 'white' 'white-collar' criminals have.
Driving while black is indeed a crime, in many many places- and I know that from personal experience.

One little tid-bit you might like to try and twist to make your vision of black people more prone to crime- consider this-

Thirty seven percent of the enlisted men and women of the US are NON-WHITE. A figure which should shame the white population who stand so firmly 'for' war. Also, in this very same military- 80 percent of the 'Officers' (those who are often not on the front lines) are WHITE.

There's a statistic mr. bennett and you might like to use to discredit the value of your brothers and sisters who wear a skin that is darker than yours-

I'm offended by your ignorance- and bias.

Statistics would prove, that if all males babies were aborted, there would be no more rapes, or need for 'abortions'. Those 'statistics' are true- but meaningless.- Just like mr. bennets are.

Bennett is a racist pig- he is admittedly anti- multiculturalism and against affirmative action. That he calls himself the 'moral compass' of anything is ludicrous.

[0007]

21. I'm laying twelve to one that Bill won't show. If he does

there will be a thousand policemen to protect him.

Welch, who calls the uproar over Bennett's comments "the latest example of political correctness run amok," said his group is excited that a conservative speaker is drawing such attention. He said he hopes the Democrats will stop in and listen."

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. "laying twelve to one." I got it! LOL!

[brentspeak]

23. If it was publicity he was looking to get

I'd say he was pretty successful. Of course, he'll now have to get used to being splattered with tomatoes and cabbage every time he walks to the podium on stage.

[AspenRose]

27. Good...I hope more protests follow that idiot wherever he goes.

Ooooh, I just got a thought....

Paging Hugo Chavez.....paging Hugo Chavez

Usually when he speaks, people listen. He should say something about this controversy.