Posted on 12/05/2001 3:00:31 PM PST by Howlin
Brit Hume reports that Mary Frances Berry, chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, is refusing to acknowledge the Bush White House's latest appointment to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
Ms. Berry sent a letter to the White House Counsel, Al Gonzales, saying that if they do intend to send the nominee to the meeting tomorrow, they best send along the U.S. Marshalls to seat him, as she will not allow it.
Fox reports that the term of one of the Democrats has expired and President Bush is exercising his right to appoint a member of his choice. The Panel on Hume's show said that this has NEVER been done before; that when someone is appointed to fill a term that hasn't been expired, when the term expires, the person leaves the committe. They also report that the woman who is being removed from the commmittee plans to show up tomorrow with a civil rights attorney and claim that she should get a full six year term, not just complete somebody else's.
Ms. Berry contends that the person leaving the committee was appointed for six years, not just to fulfill the term of a member who either died or left the commission (I can't remember which!)
CAUTION: this is typed from memory. Nothing on the news site yet.
A baring of the throat, if Trent Lott has anything to do with it. But I am hoping that Bush can "damn the torpedoes".
ROFLMAO. I remember that! I haven't heard a WORD about it either!
Freeper report on The O'Reilly Factor 2/18/99 ".On the O'Reilly Factor tonight, Mary Frances Berry of the Civil Rights Commission was accusing the House Managers of being against civil rights for minorities. This, I believe, is simply a covert way of calling them racists. Bill O'Reilly insisted that she give one specific example (in regards to Henry Hyde). She just kept filabustering with generalities until O'Reilly cut her off and told her she must answer his questions, and could not fillabuster; especially since she was accusing people of pretty nasty stuff. After the break Ms. Berry was gone. She decided not to continue the interview.."
Front Page Magazine 3/20/01 John Perazzo “…Mary Frances Berry, who chairs the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, attributes white-on-black violence to white people's persistent "belief in the inferiority of blacks." … Given their outspokenness on the subject of interracial crime, it is indeed noteworthy that none of the aforementioned individuals -- nor any other prominent civil rights spokesman in the country, for that matter -- has had even a word to say about the recent Fat Tuesday riot that erupted in Seattle. In the mayhem that occurred there, three-fourths of the rioters were black, and many of them deliberately targeted white victims for purely racial reasons…”
Yep, that was my first thought, too. I mean, somebody created this "Civil Rights Commission" a long time ago to pander to the victim crowd, right?
I would like to know:
1. How much does the maintenance of this pathetic joke cost taxpayers?
2. How much is paid out in salaries, cars, credit cards, health-care benefits, etc., for each member?
3. Does each member have his or her own "staff"? What's that cost?
4. One, just one, important accomplishment that can be attributed to this "commisssion".
That's all I need to know.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is threatening not to seat President Bush's choice to replace a Democratic-leaning commissioner
Bush's counsel, Alberto Gonzales, urged Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry in a letter Wednesday to respect the president's planned appointment of Peter Kirsanow, a Cleveland lawyer who is a member of the largely conservative Center for New Black Leadership. Berry disputes Bush's contention that a commission seat is now open.
Gonzales said her refusal to seat Kirsanow at the next commission meeting, possibly as early as Friday, would "violate the law." The White House announced Kirsanow's appointment late Wednesday.
Kirsanow's appointment would rein in the authority of Chairwoman Berry - a frequent critic of the 2000 elections and particularly Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, younger brother of the president.
"If you send somebody to the meeting, there will be no vacancy," Berry said she told Gonzales in a heated phone conversation Tuesday. Berry said the dispute is "about the independence and integrity of the commission. It's a unique agency - a watchdog over the enforcement of civil rights, by the president, the Justice Department and all federal agencies."
The sitting commissioner in question, Victoria Wilson, is politically an independent who often sides with chairwoman Berry. Wilson was appointed in January 2000 after the death of Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., who died in 1998.
The Bush administration maintains Ms. Wilson's term ended Nov. 29, at the time Higginbotham's term would have expired if he had lived. Berry and Wilson argue federal law only says new commissioners will fill a six-year term.
"The 1994 statute says that if there is a vacancy - the term of any new member is six years - period," said Leon Friedman, attorney for Wilson and a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University. He said the statute was amended in 1994 to simplify it.
But Gonzales said in his letter that it was clearly specified when Wilson was appointed that her commission would expire Nov. 29, 2001. He said there is no official record of any efforts by Wilson to contact the White House clerk and amend her appointment to a six-year commission term.
The commission is currently split 6-2 between commissioners who lean Democratic and lean Republican. The White House last month announced it intends to appoint Jennifer Cabranes Braceras to replace, Yvonne Lee, whose term expires in early December. The Kirsanow appointment would split the commission 4-4 along largely partisan lines and would likely hinder Berry's ability to take actions with the backing of a majority of the commission.
Former employees of the commission said independence is central to the agency's task of criticizing powerful government agencies on their civil rights performance. And they predicted any dispute over the intent of the statute would likely have to be settled in the courts.
"It would be most regrettable if the outcome is the naming of an ideologue who will not contribute to the work of the commission as an independent agency," said William L. Taylor, a former executive director in the 1960s.
Berry has criticized every president since Jimmy Carter, who appointed her and later got pressure from her over the levels of financial aid for the poor. President Reagan fired her but had to reinstate her after a lawsuit. Former Presidents Bush and Clinton haven't been spared.
"You went so far as to state that it would require the presence of federal marshals to seat him," Gonzales said in his letter, referring to Kirsanow. "I respectfully urge you to abandon this confrontational and legally untenable position."
COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriations, 2001 .......................... $8,800,000
Budget estimate, 2002 .......................... 9,096,000
Committee recommendation ................... 9,096,000
The Committee recommends an appropriation of $9,096,000 for the salaries and expenses of the Commission on Civil Rights. The recommendation is identical to the budget request. The Committee recommendation includes $100,000 to hold hearings in Alaska on recent incidents of racially motivated violence and to make rec-ommendations to improve interracial relations. The Committee recommends bill language which provides: (1) $50,000 to employ consultants; (2) a prohibition against reimburs-ing commissioners for more than 75 billable days; (3) a prohibition against reimbursing the chairperson for more than 125 billable days; and (4) a limitation of four full-time positions under schedule C of the Excepted Service exclusive of one special assistant for each Commissioner.
Time for a recall and a revamp of this misuse of our taxpayer funds. Let's do it for the children!
The Father and Son Y-Indian Guide Program was developed in a deliberate way to support the father's vital family role as teacher, counselor and friend to his son. The program was initiated by Harold S. Keltner, St. Louis YMCA director, as an integral part of association work. In 1926 he organized the first tribe in Richmond Heights, Mo., with the help of his good friend, Joe Friday, an Ojibway Indian, and William H. Hefelfinger, chief of the first Y-Indian Guide tribe. Inspired by his experiences with Joe Friday, who was his guide on fishing and hunting trips to Canada, Harold Keltner initiated a program of parent-child experiences that now involves over a quarter of a million children and adults annually in the YMCA.
While Keltner was on a hunting trip in Canada one evening, Joe Friday said to his colleague as they sat around a blazing campfire: "The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, track, fish, walk softly and silently in the forest, know the meaning and purpose of life and all he must know, while the white man allows the mother to raise his son." These comments struck home, and Harold Keltner arranged for Joe Friday to work with him at the St. Louis YMCA.
The Ojibway Indian spoke before groups of YMCA boys and dads in St. Louis, and Keltner discovered that fathers, as well as boys, had a keen interest in the traditions and ways of the American Indian. At the same time, being greatly influenced by the work of Ernest Thompson Seton, great lover of the outdoors, Harold Keltner conceived the idea of a father and son program based upon the strong qualities of American Indian culture and life--dignity, patience, endurance, spirituality, feeling for the earth and concern for the family. Thus, the Y-Indian Guide Program was born.
The rise of the Family YMCA following World War II, the genuine need for supporting young girls in their personal growth and the demonstrated success of the father-son program, in turn nurtured the development of YMCA parent-daughter groups. The mother-daughter program, now called Y-Indian Maidens, was established in South Bend, Ind., in 1951; three years later father-daughter groups, which are now called Y-Indian Princesses, emerged in the Fresno YMCA of California.
In 1980, the YMCA of the USA recognized the Y-Indian Braves Program for mothers and sons; thus completing the four programs and combinations in Y-Indian Guide Programs.
Although some Y-Indian Guide groups had extended their father-son experiences beyond the first three grades from the beginning, it was not until 1969 that the Y-Trail Blazers plan was recognized by the National Long House Executive Committee for sons 9 to 11 years old and their fathers. Trail Maidens, Trail Mates and Co-Ed Trail Blazers have also been developed and recognized in YMCAs across the country. The Y-Indian Guide Program has been expanded to include preschoolers and their parents in the Y-Papoose Program developed by the Central Florida YMCAs.
T'hell with Marshalls! Send in the Marines! Mary Berry Daisy Cutters....the whole she-bang!
Cruz Reynoso was on the Rose Bird California Supreme Court and was voted out of office by the citizens of the State of California, along with Rose and one other judge, over their opposition to the death penalty.
This could be his "airtraffic controller's moment"
Sieze the moment, Mr. President
So why to Amerinds (American Indians) insist on becoming non-entities in America?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.