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Attorney General Eric Holder and his minions, along with some of their slavish apologists in the media, are deliberately trafficking in lies of great note. They prevaricate with great enthusiasm, and they excuse lawlessness with fierce disdain. They -- both the Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and their leftist amanuenses pretending to be journalists -- brazenly ignore the public's right to information, and intentionally distract attention from relevant facts and from their own deep beliefs.These conclusions arise from the accumulated weight of evidence in what should be a broadening scandal emanating from the infamous New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation...

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights came out in December with a draft of its interim report on the New Black Panthers Party scandal. Earlier today a final report was posted on the commission's website, and with it, a flurry of rebuttals and separate statements from a number of the commissioners. The import of these statements should not be minimized. ~snip~As Gaziano and Heriot do, commissioner Peter Kirsanow (a Republican appointee) goes through the evidence of malfeasance by an Obama political appointee, Julie Fernandes: Mr. [Chris] Coates [who headed the NBPP trial team] came forward and testified to the...

The federal government's dismissal of voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party has not only stirred debate at the national level and among various media outlets, but created a firestorm within the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which has announced a separate investigation of the matter. In a statement, five Republican and independent commission members — describing themselves as "conservative-leaning colleagues" — took issue with comments by Commission Vice Chairman Abigail Thernstrom, also a Republican appointee, who called the New Black Panther Party probe "politically motivated." "Our fellow member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Abigail Thernstrom,...

Abigail Thernstrom, vice chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, has written what Pete Kirsanow aptly described as a "bewildering" response to my column of a week earlier. I had taken issue with Thernstrom's absurd claim that the Justice Department's dismissal of the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case is "small potatoes." I haven't gotten around to replying yet, but Pete (Thernstrom's fellow commmissioner) and former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky (Thernstrom's friend) have both demolished Thernstrom's response.There remain a few more things to say, but for now, I have a pressing question for Dr. Thernstrom: Are you serious?In her NRO...

Abby Thernstrom is my friend and we usually agree on voting matters, but I have to say with due respect to her that her view of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case is wrong for a number of reasons, from her characterization of the evidence in the case to a misunderstanding of the applicable legal standards. On the other hand, Commissioner Thernstrom seems to have backed off somewhat on some issues in her latest posting at National Review. Whether or not this is because of the sharp criticism by Andy McCarthy, it is hard to tell, although I...

Almost a month ago, I published a piece in NRO titled “The New Black Panther Case: A Conservative Dissent.” The main thrust of the article — now forgotten by everyone, it seems — was that the Obama Justice Department’s enforcement of the Voting Rights Act was deeply troubling. I am no fan of Attorney General Eric Holder’s policies, and the voting section had just proposed important new regulations interpreting the statute that will likely result in the widespread racial gerrymandering of legislative districts following the 2010 census. The revised regulations will deeply affect the landscape of American politics for the...

Abigail Thernstrom is wrong to belittle this shocking episode. Forget about the New Black Panther Party case,” writes Abigail Thernstrom. It’s “very small potatoes.” She is suddenly upset over the “overheated rhetoric filled with insinuations and unsubstantiated charges” about the case that she grudgingly admits may “perhaps” have been a civil-rights violation. So she has explained in an NRO op-ed. Naturally, her “conservative dissent” has been seized on by the “nothing to see here” Left, which can now get back to its preferred big-potatoes-diet of Bristol Palin, Karl Rove subpoenas, and leaking classified information. It was just a year ago,...

Wikipedia is not welcome here, but here's the link: SourcePolitico Story: A conservative dismisses right-wing Black Panther 'fantasies'

One Race, One Vote? by: Mytheos Holt, June 30, 2009 In her recent book Voting Right—And Wrongs: The Elusive Quest for Racially Fair Elections, noted race relations scholar Abigail Thernstrom makes the argument that, in the aftermath of the election of Barack Obama, the Voting Rights Act has actually begun hampering and damaging the very racial group it was originally intended to protect. “Today the Voting Rights Act arguably serves as a brake on black political aspirations and a barrier to greater integration…the law has created a black political class too isolated from mainstream political discourse,” Thernstrom writes in...

BooknotesNo Excuses C-SPAN Washington, District of Columbia (United States) Thernstrom, Abigail, Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom have produced a book that should rock the nation. "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning" is an absolutely brilliant analysis of what ails education. Though the Thernstroms will doubtless receive a certain amount of abuse for tackling this sensitive subject, no fair-minded person reading this scholarly and lucid book can fail to recognize their good faith. It is hard to imagine a more necessary book about domestic policy. The Thernstroms deserve the title "civil rights activists" more than any other living Americans because they are outraged about the greatest obstacle to full racial equality...

Last week's column discussed parts of Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom's new book, "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning." It's a gap that finds the average black high-school graduate having achieved only what the average white youngster has achieved by the seventh or eighth grade. Popular recognition of the education meltdown has led to calls for student testing as a condition for high school graduation. The public education establishment resists such tests. Theodore Sizer, former Harvard Graduate School of Education dean, in his opposition said, "The myriad, detailed and mandatory state curriculum frameworks, of whatever scholarly brilliance, are attacks...

Left behind The racial achievement gap in education is the major civil rights issue of our time. But the old solutions won't make the grade. By Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom, 10/26/2003 THE STUDENT BODY of Cedarbrook Middle School in a Philadelphia suburb is one-third black, two-thirds white. The town has a very low poverty rate, good schools, and a long-established black middle class. But in an eighth-grade advanced algebra class that a reporter visited in June 2001, there was not a single black student. The class in which the teacher was explaining that the 2 in number 21 stands...

<p>Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom have produced a book that should rock the nation. "No Excuses: Closing the Racial" is an absolutely brilliant analysis of what ails American education today. Though the Thernstroms will doubtless receive a certain amount of abuse for tackling this sensitive subject, no fair-minded person reading this scholarly and lucid book can fail to recognize their good faith. It is hard to imagine a more necessary book about domestic policy.</p>

"Excellent schools deliver a clear message to their students: No Excuses. No excuses for failing to do your homework, failing to work hard in general; no excuses for fighting with other students, running in the hallways, dressing inappropriately and so forth."  That's part of the prescription for ending educational mediocrity discussed in Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom's new book, "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning" (Simon & Schuster, 2003). <see the new book review from Townhall.com> It's no secret that, as the Thernstroms point out, the education achieved by white students is nothing to write home about. In civics,...

2003 NEWS RELEASES, PRESS ADVISORIES AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS OPPOSES BAN ON RACIAL DATA COLLECTIONCites Critical Need for Data in Civil Rights Study and EnforcementWashington, DC - The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights affirmed that race data is essential to the advancement of civil rights enforcement, data collection and accurate analysis. By a 6-2 vote, the Commission approved the following statement during its monthly business meeting:"Given the significant role that scientific and empirical data play in academic study and enforcement of civil rights, the Commission opposes efforts to ban the ability of government entities or public...