Louisiana's Contribution to the National Debate Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Peter Bell Louisiana Adds Another Valuable Dimension to Our National Conversation Louisiana -- the Southern state famous for inbreeding, electing Ku Klux Klan members to office, fabulously corrupt politicians and police and architectural rot that makes the worst-maintained buildings in Havana look like palaces, without even contemplating the "shotgun shack" infamous as cost-effective housing for poor folks who don't mind the lack of indoor plumbing and, should they happen to be black, the far greater likelihood that they'll be under a plume of toxins blowing in from the local chemical plant, plus some of the ugliest incidents in the USA's grim history on race -- turns a new page on race following the attack on New York, indeed begins writing a whole new chapter. This chapter for the new millenium looks as if it'll read a whole lot like the chapters from the 18th century forward. Louisiana is the kind of place from which emanate what are charitably called the American Taliban: clinically psychotic Bible-thumpers who preach that Jesus, were he alive today, would recite from the King James translation of the Bible, not speak in vulgate tongues such as modern English. In Louisiana, there are many people who still believe, deep in their hearts, that racially structured hereditary slavery is in fact the Divinely ordained natural order -- and who will be happy to quote voluminously from their 19th-century sources on this topic. Comes now to the podium the Right Honorable John Cooksey, one United States Congressman from the Great State of Louisiana, speaking over the radio to his constituents as regards The Current National Crisis. Is he recommending that our intelligence services consider hiring a few Farsi and Arabic speakers (and, please, do vet these people carefully -- the recent FBI cattle call does seem an invitation for infiltration, and the FBI and CIA have had some trouble in that area of late)? That law enforcement act effectively on the leads generated by the now year-old investigation into the near-sinking of the USS Cole, or the far older investigation into the embassy bombings in Africa, which leads put several of the hijackers on our apparently laughable watch list? No. He's suggesting that the painstaking work of surveillance be taken up by one and all, by donut-humping county sheriffs, town constables and apparently by individual citizens exercising some previously overlooked codicil to citizens' arrest: the citizens' interrogation of those looking like they need extra attention. Hearken now to Congressman Cooksey's invaluable advice on how to implement our new national mood: "If I see someone come in and he's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked," this utter imbecile announces to all who can hear. Alan Simpson (R-Montana) once observed that in a representative government, every group has a right to representation, including idiots. Perhaps he'd just had a meeting with Rep. Cooksey. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Congressman.html Congressman Apologizes for Remark By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 4:10 p.m. ET NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A Louisiana congressman apologized Thursday after coming under fire from Arab-Americans for saying anyone with "a diaper on his head" should be stopped and questioned. Republican Rep. John Cooksey, who is planning to run for Senate next year, made the comment Monday in a radio interview broadcast statewide. [Think how enriched the more deliberative chamber will be by the addition of this man! The skin, verily she tingles in anticipation of the new heights to which debate will rise!] "If I see someone come in and he's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked," Cooksey said. Ziad Asali, president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, called Cooksey's remark "very unfortunate." [Mr. Asali is suffering an immense fool with exceptional grace.] On Thursday, Cooksey issued a statement, saying, "The man I had on my mind was Osama bin Laden and I never intended to disparage loyal Americans of Arab descent." [The Congressman is expecting to see Osama sometime soon?] But the congressman went on to say that extra scrutiny is necessary, and that a war on terrorism cannot be won "if we have to stop every five minutes to make sure we're being politically correct." [How about we stop in the morning and make sure our head's out of our ass? Is that too much to ask? [If you would like to convey the Thanks of a Grateful Planet for Rep. Cooksey's invaluable insights into stemming the nightmare of terrorism in our time, you may reach him at (202) 225-8490, or via e-mail at congressman.cooksey@mail.house.gov [Special note: If you are Osama bin Laden, please stop by room 113 of the Cannon House Office Building on your way in to surrender. Rep. Cooksey would like to "check you out." He may well need fresh undergarments after he voids himself in blind fear upon seeing you, though, so please give him a few moments to compose himself. Would you mind reading a magazine while you wait? Please don't mind the smell.] --PB ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.21.01-08:00:53-14470