'Black' hurricane names brewing swirl of dissent

World Net Daily ^ | August 3, 2003 | Joe Kovacs

[rickmichaels]

Do devastating hurricanes need help from affirmative action?

A member of Congress apparently thinks so, and is demanding the storms be given names that sound "black."

The congressional newspaper the Hill reported this week that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) feels that the current names are too "lily white," and is seeking to have better representation for names reflecting African-Americans and other ethnic groups.

"All racial groups should be represented," Lee said, according to the Hill. She hoped federal weather officials "would try to be inclusive of African-American names."

A sampling of popular names that could be used include Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn, according to the paper. Jackson Lee's call is brewing its own storm of response across America.

A WorldNetDaily reader wrote:

"You can be sure if there were too many 'black' names assigned to hurricanes, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee would instead be complaining that this practice unfairly stereotypes blacks as violent. Let's hope this silly storm blows over!"

Radio talk-show giant Rush Limbaugh says he was having dinner with his wife when he first learned of the proposal.

"I just threw up my hands. I said, 'Has it come to this now?'" Limbaugh recounted on his show.

"There's discrimination and actually elected officials wandering around worried about the discrimination in the name of hurricanes. And hurricanes are destructive.

You know nobody's very excited when a hurricane's heading their way, and yet here she is demanding that hurricanes be named after black people.

"You know it used to be that hurricanes were named only after women because they were destructive and unpredictable. And that's the reason. The feminists grew upset about that, demanded that hurricanes be named after men, and so now, the civil rights leaders are demanding black names for hurricanes.

Limbaugh continued his analysis, saying it was not the mainstream populace responsible for what he called the "Balkanization" of race relations in America.

"It is these elected black leaders, the civil-rights coalitions – they're the ones that keep causing all this racial divide, they're the ones that keep calling attention to all this," said Limbaugh. "They're the ones that keep stirring this pot. They're the ones who don't want there to be any colorblind society. They're the ones who keep being agitated and trying to agitate others over all this, and now it's descended into the meaningless element of the names of hurricanes."

According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, hurricanes were for centuries named after the Catholic saints' days on which the storms fell.

In 1953, the United States abandoned as confusing a two-year-old plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) when a new, international phonetic alphabet was introduced. That year, weather services began using female names for storms.

The practice of naming hurricanes solely after women came to an end in 1978 when men's and women's names were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Well, if they would adopt this in the Pacific, you could have Typhoon Tyrone.

[boris]

When my father was in medical school, each student had to do a certain number of 'live births' to graduate. They did house calls. In the "ghetto"--i.e., to indigents who could not afford a hospital birth. This was ~1935.

So he and another student attended a difficult birth which lasted until the wee hours. When they filled out the birth certificate, the mother had not given an iota of thought to the name.

So they named the little black baby after the Dean of the medical school.

Naturally, word got back to the dean. Remember this was not "modern" America. He was furious; he called in my father and his friend and told them: "Gentlemen, I believe everyone should have one mistake in life. You have had yours. If I ever see you or hear your names again, you will be gone from here before you can pack your bags."

Dad kept a low profile after that one.

--Boris

[boris]

Mike Tyson?
O.J.?

[boris]

Oh yeah: another doctor told me a similar story of naming a little black baby "Meconium Brown".

[perfect stranger]

"Hurricane Ahmed Jamal (I am a jazz fan)."

"Ahmad Jamal" is an amazing player. Who's that guy? ;->

You bring up a good idea. Just name them after famous jazz musicians.

I'm waiting for "Hurricane Dave Brubeck"

[Khurkris]

Now that is a tribute I could get behind. Enough Black Jazz players to last quite a few seasons. GREAT IDEA!

[perfect stranger]

or perhaps old musicians that wrote songs usually full of despair and woe. Hurricane Robert Johnson. Hurricane Muddy Pearson.

Name them after Sax players that could also play Clarinet. Hurricane Bobby Milletello".

[HapaxLegamenon]

Actually, Houston has suffered the effects of Hurricane SHE-LA for years.

[Political Junkie Too]

I remember the faux outrage that Johnnie Cochran had during the OJ trial when a witness said that a voice in the distance "sounded black." Cochran went ballistic at the thought that someone could "sound black."

So, now they want hurricanes with names that "sound black?"

-PJ

[Heyworth]

Hurricane Ahmed Jamal (I am a jazz fan).

Hurricane Thelonious.

[HapaxLegamenon]

LOL! Great!!!. I was thinking along the same lines, made a post, then saw yours.

[HapaxLegamenon]

LOL! Great!!!. I was thinking along the same lines, made a post, than saw yours.

[HapaxLegamenon]

"Hurricane Shinequa be blowing like a muthafuka, swirlin' her crazy ass all over the damn place, thinkin she be all that. Bitch levelled Miami. Phucked it up. That sheeit ain't right, you knowhatimsayin? Folks down there be in deep shizzle, my dizzle. I'm out ... y'all be cool." ROTFL

[HapaxLegamenon]

Hopefully she will be gerrymandered out, if the re-districting ever finally goes throw.

[Paved Paradise]

GOOD JOB! Love the headlines!

[HapaxLegamenon]

In fact, I believe that not just the names, but also the reporting on weather in general needs to be 'more black'. "Hurricane Shinequa be blowing like a muthafuka, swirlin' her crazy ass all over the damn place, thinkin she be all that. Bitch levelled Miami. Phucked it up. That sheeit ain't right, you knowhatimsayin? Folks down there be in deep shizzle, my dizzle. I'm out ... y'all be cool."

Let us have more...

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) feels that the current names are too "lily white," and is seeking to have better representation for names reflecting African-Americans and other ethnic groups.

First of all...Mzzzzzz. Lee is an idiot.
Second of all, she is wrong.

Here is a list of past names:

2001

Allison
Barry
Chantal
Dean
Erin
Felix
Gabrielle
Humberto
Iris
Jerry
Karen
Lorenzo
Michelle
Noel
Olga
Pablo
Rebekah
Sebastien
Tanya
Van
Wendy

2002

Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
Isidore
Josephine
Kyle
Lili
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred

Thirdly, she is obviously not aware of hurricane naming conventions for Eastern North Pacific storms:

2003

Andres
Blanca
Carlos
Dolores
Enrique
Felicia
Guillermo
Hilda
Ignacio
Jimena
Kevin
Linda
Marty
Nora
Olaf
Patricia
Rick
Sandra
Terry
Vivian
Waldo
Xina
York
Zelda

While I do not see any of the contrived names that Mzzzzz. Lee considers African, I'm sure that the names in bold are representative of a great many people who are NOT "lily white".

[Uncle Meat]

Hurricane Buckwheat?Hurricane Erkyl?Naw,too demeaning.Hurricane Jimi would be cool.