RN> BOB KLAHN wrote in a message to ALL:

 BK>>  Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, made a comment that New Orleans
 BK>> will be a black city again, and that is how God wants it.

 RN> That's not exactly the way he put it or what he said.

 The meaning is close enough.

 RN> [...]
 BK>>  Still, it was stupid.

 RN> I agree with that.  What he actually said was stupid.

 BK>>  The part I did not hear about is where he said a lot more about
 BK>> how the black community had to take responsibility for improving
 BK>> itself. When Cosby said that he got headlines in the right wing
 BK>> media. When Nagin said it, it got zero coverage that I have seen
 BK>> yet.

 RN> That isn't correct, either.  They both got coverage, but
 RN> because Cosby is an established celebrity, his remarks got
 RN> more.

 Nagin got a lot of coverage, but the right win media gave no
 coverage to the part where he addressed the problems within the
 black race, and plenty with what applied to whites.

 RN>   I remember when New Coke came out and Cosby was the
 RN> one chosen to pitch it.  I lost some respect for him then
 RN> because New Coke made me sick and I called the home office
 RN> in Atlanta and told them about it.  But Cosby got my
 RN> respect back when 1) he lost a son and 2) tried to do
 RN> something beneficial for the black people.

 Yet that last was what Nagin tried to do. Oh, I also today found
 a reference that Nagins real political base is with whites, not
 blacks. He was a Cox communications exec. He apparently is
 trying to shore up his support among blacks.

 RN> What some don't know about Nagin is that prior to hurricane
 RN> Katrina, he was about to propose a tax hike on the New
 RN> Orleans citizens.  His excuse, for lack of a better word,
 RN> was that he was tired of the drive-by shootings and the
 RN> drug problem in the city.

 That sounds like he wanted to hire more cops, to control crime.
 He's guilty of trying to actually pay for what he tries to do.

 RN> If he really wanted to do
 RN> something for New Orleans, he knows where to begin.  New
 RN> Orleans hasn't had a decent mayor since Morrison.

 I don't know Morrison, but I don't see any real complaint there.

 OTOH, this could just be proof that government should not be run
 by business men. Maybe the old idea of the citizen legislator
 who serves a few years then returns to his previous life are not
 so great after all.

 RN> [...]

 BK>>  Seems when a black public figure says something it only gets
 BK>> coverage if it's something stupid that can be used against him,
 BK>> and all black democrats, or if it's a black man saying something
 BK>> critical of black people.

 RN> Oh please!  The editors of the media are always looking to
 RN> jump on anything that is anti-Bush or they think will sell.

 Read the top part again. I was talking about the right wing
 media.

 RN>  They are living in a fool's paradise and losing
 RN>  subscribers daily.  I know.  I was once a subscriber.

 BK>>  When a black democrat says something positive to black people it
 BK>> gets buried, esp if the right has something they can hang him  with
 BK>> at the same time.

 RN> See above.  Everyone has an agenda.

 Again, I was speaking of the right wing media. I first heard of
 this from the local right wing talk radio. (That's redundant,
 isn't it.)

 BK>>  Here is more of what he had to say, what you didn't hear from  the
 BK>> right wing media. When Cosby made similar comments I saw  posters
 BK>> on the right gloating over it. Not this time.

 RN> The media is anything but right-wing.  They are much too
 RN> liberal.

 Talk radio is pretty well owned by the right. Fox news is not
 liberal. The Wall Street Journal is not liberal. There is a lot
 of right wing media.

 BK>>  ...

 BK>>  Nagin described an imaginary conversation with King, the late
 BK>> civil rights leader.

 BK>>  "I said, `What is it going to take for us to move on and live
 BK>> your dream and make it a reality?' He said, `I don't think that  we
 BK>> need to pay attention any more as much about other folks and
 BK>> racists on the other side.' He said, `The thing we need to focus
 BK>> on as a community - black folks I'm talking about - is
 BK>>  ourselves.'"

 RN> I love that part.  It's a prime example of a man out of
 RN> touch with reality. Ask any psychiatrist.

 He'll probably think anyone who tries to psychoanalyze from that
 needs help.


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

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