Tyler Perry Does The Right Thing

How traumatic must it have been for those kids to, in essence, be booted from that suburban Philadelphia swimming pool due to racism? Thankfully, one of the biggest names in show business is stepping forward to do something nice for those kids who had to experience the ugly side of the human experience. Tyler Perry is going to do something that will help those kids say, “I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”

PHILADELPHIA — Tyler Perry is paying for 65 children from a Philadelphia day camp to go to Walt Disney World after reading about allegations that a suburban swim club had shunned them because of racism.

The black and Hispanic children who attend the day camp run by Creative Steps Inc. cheered Monday when they learned about the actor’s gift.

Creative Steps director Alethea Wright says she’s thrilled about the offer, especially because Perry “comes from humble beginnings” like the children in her camp.

That’s great news. We’ve seen enough of the ugly side of the human spirit and it warms the heart to see the more pleasant side of the human spirit.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/tyler-perry-treats-65-swi_n_241750.html

Right-Wing Hater Pat Buchanan Continues To Attack Sonia Sotomayor

Far-right commentator Pat Buchanan is continuing his Sonia Sotomayor Attack Tour. Here is the latest attack by Buchanan against Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court if she is confirmed after being nominated by President Barack Obama. Instead of saluting the historic nature of this appointment, Buchanan continues to attack the way she allegedly learned to speak English.

What a classy guy.

BUCHANAN: Well I, again in that Saturday piece, she went to Princeton. She graduated first in her class it said. But she herself said she read, basically classic children’s books to read and learn the language and she read basic English grammars and she got help from tutors. I think that, I mean if you’re, frankly if you’re in college and you’re working on Pinocchio or on the troll under the bridge, I don’t think that’s college work.

Buchanan, of course, is not above unprovoked attacks against minorities or women. In this case, he gets the best of both of his worlds by attacking a woman minority. Buchanan is a left-over man who is troubled by seeing an increase in minority populations. He seems to see something slipping away from him and he is choosing to fade angrily and loudly into the night.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/01/buchanan-sotomayor-english/

Author Has Fox News Conservatives Going Nuts

Margery Eagan, a columnist for the Boston Herald, probably did not win any friends on the VERY far-right Fox News Web site, Fox Nation, with a recent piece she wrote.

Here’s a small taste of her column:

It’s been such fun watching the right-wing white boys sputtering over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic woman nominated by a black man!

“Our world domination’s slip, slip, slipping away,” you can almost hear them whimper. “What to do?”

Well, you can’t dump on the woman thing. That’s more than half the country. Can’t dump on the Hispanic angle. They’ll be more than half the country soon.

Knowing how so many people (particularly the loyal hardcore right-wing followers of Fox News) feel about racial issues, you can imagine the controversy this has sparked.

Boston Herald:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_05_28_Men_in_throes_of_Supreme_panic/srvc=home&position=2

Fox Nation (check out some of the anger-driven responses):
http://www.thefoxnation.com/politics/2009/05/29/right-wing-white-men-threatened-world-domination-slipping

Greg Gutfeld’s Racist Statement

Conservative commentator Greg Gutfeld is at it again with his nasty comments aimed at U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic woman to be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. As we know, a growing number of conservatives have been reaching for ammunition (both real and imagined) to use against the well-qualified Judge Sotomayor (this includes taking her statements out of context and, the irony of all ironies, calling her a racist).

Here is an excerpt from a blog written by Greg Gutfeld:

So President Barack Obama just named federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nominee for the next Supreme Court Justice.

So what do we know about her?

Well, she’s Hispanic.

Also, she’s Puerto Rican.

And…she’s Hispanic.

Plus, she’s Puerto Rican.

Case closed.

That’s the joy of racial politics and the media that swallows it– all you need to know about a person is their racial makeup - and in the words of the cop grimly taping off the bedroom in my vacation condo, there’s “nothing more to see here.”

Gutfeld takes a well-qualified judge, a scholar (a 1976 graduate of Princeton and and a 1979 graduate of Yale Law School) who has worked her way up from meager beginnings, and reduces her to little more than a Hispanic/Puerto Rican woman – as if she is just a token pick. It’s a shameful and unfair smear of a well-qualified judge by the same moron who got his smearing practice by disparaging the Canadian military.

Big Hollywood:
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/05/26/daily-gut-the-reign-of-race/

Great Blog By Crooks And Liars On Republicans Calling Sonia Sotomayor Racist

Crooks and Liars has a story about some of the far right wingers laughably trying to portray Sonia Sotomayor as a racist – if not calling her one outright. It’s the usual far-right individuals talking up that aspect. It all begins, as one might expect, from individuals like current Republican leader Rush Limbaugh and former conservative leaders like Pat Buchanan.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/look-whos-calling-sonia-sotomayor-ra

Glenn Beck Attacks Sonia Sotomayor On Race And Gender

From conservative Fox News host Glenn Beck’s radio show: “Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You’re empathetic … you’re in!”

Later in the clip, Beck goes on to make jokes about people who some might consider minorities.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200905260041

More Right-Wing Attacks On Sonia Sotomayor

Are you ready for some more attacks on Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama for the U.S. Supreme Court? Next up on the attack (as documented by Think Progress) is right-winger Curt Levey.

Here is what Think Progress has:

This morning on WTOP, Curt Levey, executive director of the right-wing Committee for Justice, compared Sotomayor to Harriet Miers:

I would point you to the Harriet Miers nomination under the second President Bush. She was also many people felt and intellectual lightweight, picked because she was a woman, people felt. And even though Republicans controlled the senate, she ultimately had to withdraw. And that could happen here. This is someone who clearly was picked because she’s a woman and Hispanic, not because she was the best qualified. I could certainly see red and purple state Democrats gawking at it and she may very well have to withdraw her nomination.

So, Sotomayor (implicitly) is being attacked as an intellectual lightweight. Levey is asserting that she essentially has no qualification for the high court beyond the fact that she is a woman and is Hispanic. Wow, you would not want to prejudge someone, huh?

This is typical of the kind of attacks we can expect from the right wing. Sonia Sotomayor seems to be a lot tougher than these right-wingers think.

By the way, did anyone think Clarence Thomas was the most qualified or best pick for the U.S. Supreme Court? I doubt very many people considered Thomas the most qualified.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/26/sotomayor-lightweight/

Keep This In Mind When Conservatives Begin To Smear Sonia Sotomayor Over ‘Policy’ Comment

Media Matters for America is on the case to put into context one of the weapons conservatives will attempt to use against Sonia Sotomayor, the woman who is being nominated by President Barack Obama for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here is a portion of the Media Matters story:

SUMMARY: Fox News host Jane Skinner asserted that Judge Sonia Sotomayor “is coming under some fire for making some comments that were recorded on tape a while back, saying that it’s her job, really, to make policy from the bench.” In fact, Sotomayor did not say “it’s her job” as a federal circuit court judge to “make policy from the bench.”

Check out the entire article to see the comments put into their full context.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/research/200905070035