News Roundup for 6/8/09

Lewiston-Porter School Board President Robert J. Weller

-Headline of the day-
"Buffalo pastor demands apology for alleged racist e-mails in Lew-Port."

I'm not exactly sure what the "allegedly" part of this is, since the emails were sent and they're pretty much the definition of racist -- and sexist and stupid. Lewiston-Porter (NY) School Board President Robert J. Weller is catching some flack for some emails he forwarded to everybody and everyone in the Lewiston-Porter area who has an email address. According to the report, this is what he does -- Weller "regularly forwards what he considers to be humorous e-mail messages to a list of friends and fellow board members..."

Included in this treasure trove of hilarity are:

-A photo of Barack Obama, depicted making a campaign promise to deliver jobs to "everyone who can work." In the background of the doctored image is a group of African-Americans running away.

-A mock news release from the Detroit Police Department that claims the department will replace German shepherd police dogs with "coon dogs, due to the fact the city is not having any problems with Germans."

-A doctored photo of Chelsea Clinton holding up a T-shirt that reads, "My mom is getting her ass kicked by a Negro."

-A list of a dozen male chauvinist "jokes," including an explanation that women have smaller feet to allow them "to stand closer to the kitchen sink," and a woman’s broken watch shouldn’t be fixed because "there is a clock on the oven."

Weller has a defense of the emails. It makes absolutely no sense at all, but he does have a defense. "They can accuse all they want to," says Weller, "but I didn't do anything other than what everybody else in the world does... The president of the School Board is no more holy than a minister, and a minister probably sends a lot more stuff than I do. These are just jokes. If somebody wanted to take offense, they had the opportunity to shut if off, just like a radio."

And people getting obscene phone calls have the option of turning off the phone. Like I said, it doesn't make any sense.

I guess I better get around to mentioning the pastor, since the headline does. The report tells us "the pastor of a prominent East Side Buffalo church said today he is organizing an e-mail campaign anong more than 3,000 congregants to persuade Weller to apologize or resign his post, and church members may attend the next Lewiston-Porter School Board meeting."

Good luck with that, the guy sounds like a complete ass. (Buffalo News, via Wonkette)


-Speaking of funny jokes...-
You may have heard that Newt Gingrich and Tom Tancredo jumped Sonia Sotomayor and broke her ankle with ax handles and baseball bats because she's so racist. Yeah, that's not what the media's reporting, but what do they know?

Anyway, as America plunged into panic and terror at the Nation's Favorite Wise Latina's fate, professional jokester Rush Limbaugh decided it would be a good time to get everyone to lighten up a little.

"She fractured her ankle in an airport," he said. "She stumbled in the airport on her way to senate meetings. Now, the question is, would a white male judge have fractured his ankle in the same circumstances in the same airport on the way to senate meetings?"

Maybe you should tell that one to Scooter Libby, Rush.

For the record, this sort of thing isn't helping. (Think Progress)


-Quote of the day-
"Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us 'time to deliver' on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND." - GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley.

He really does talk that way. Ask anyone who knows him. (AMERICAblog)