'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.

[Batrachian]

You get the prize for this thread.

[SwinneySwitch]

She's right! Never thought I would ever agree with her on any damn thing! Need to ammend this years list PDQ to include Sheila, Jackson and Lee!;^)

[Mears]

Thanks for my second good laugh of the day!

Antwon!!!!

[WhatWouldReaganDo]

Might as well let her have her way - hurricanes aren't given names anyway.
Tropical storms are given names.

[Viking2002]

LMAO The sad part is, there's an entire constituency out there that keeps voting this ignorant pig into power. It would be fitting if Tropical Cyclone Noxzema wiped them all out.

[Alouette]

What, no Muslim hurricane names? Now that's discrimination. Somebody call CAIR, quick!

[gorush]

a distinction, obvious as it is, that has only hovered ethereally about my cranium...I thank you for providing an anchor.

[NCLaw441]

And, by the way, what IS a black-sounding name? Isn't Sheila Jackson Lee black? Her name is even spelled correctly. Now, Antwon, that would work.....

[YankeeinOkieville]

Okay, if we must include all ethnicities then couldn't we choose just one or a few names and keep repeating them. example: Guiseppe would be the 7th hurricane, Joseph would be the 10th, Yehosaphat the 25th...

[oldtimer]

Sheila Jackson Lee is a laugh, and I'll bet the hairdresser costs the US citizens $50,000 to braid up her 'hair'

I too almost fell off my chair when I saw this one...how about Excretia, La Tusha, Simian (yes there is a pro football player with that name), but we have to be politically correct you know. Gotta add Brucie to this list. LOL

[GreenHornet]

Hurricane Mr. T..........I pity the fool that gets caught in this storm!

[YankeeinOkieville]

When we have himmacaine #19 would we name it Shaun, Sean, or Shawn? Someone's not going to get to be represented. Hrumph, I am offended!

[southernnorthcarolina]

Interesting that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee herself has a "white sounding" name. The phenominon of "black sounding" names wasn't around to speak of when Ms. Lee was born, and it will be, I suspect, short-lived. Call it racism if you wish, but a resumé with "Susan" on it stands a better chance of making the first cut than one saying "Laquisha."

Assimilation, folks. It works. More and more blacks will come to realize that.

[aBootes]

You know it used to be that hurricanes were named only after women because they were destructive and unpredictable.

Well, if we really want the names we give our hurricanes to reflect destruction and unpredictability, how about we name them after members of Congress?

[X-FID]

That's stupid good dawg!

[F.J. Mitchell]

So name a few hurricance Rastus, Saphire, Remus, Alphalpha, etc,, and make everybody happy.

Sheesh! Can't we all just get along?

[Riley]

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.

Rush, don't eat your hands.

[SuziQ]

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee must have been elected for comic relief. There's never a time when this woman doesn't come out with something stupid to say.

Boy, isn't THAT the truth!

[Morgan's Raider]

OK. Second hurricane next year will officially be dubbed "Hurricane Buckwheat".

[x]

After the first "Black" named storm does any damage, there will be an outcry and charges that giving storms such names is "racist." There will be allegations that Whites decided that the really destructive storms would be named Lakesha or Janekwa and not Bob or Debbie, to stoke the fires of race hatred. Didn't feminists complain when the hurricane names were exclusively feminine?