Korean Job Discussion Forums

[regicide]

May 2, 2007

Byrd Statement on President�s Veto of Emergency Supplemental Bill

Washington, DC (HNN) -- U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., delivered the following statement on the Senate floor tonight (Tuesday, May 1, 2007) in response to President Bush�s veto of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill:

Four years ago, I stood in this very spot and warned against an ill-advised invasion of Iraq. Today, the situation in Iraq has spiraled out of control into a bloody, deadly sectarian civil war. Yet, the President and his team continue to hold fast to their stay-the-course nonsense. While they do, thousands of brave young Americans place their lives in jeopardy everyday. That reality is one that this nation and the world did not have to experience. It is a tragic reality brought on by a war of choice and an occupation that has yielded neither stability nor reconciliation.

Four years ago today, the President landed on the deck of the U-S-S Abraham Lincoln to declare, "Mission Accomplished." Four years ago. It feels like an age. For thousands of our soldiers and their families, and likely for the Iraqi people, it feels like a lifetime. How wrong the President was then, and how wrong he continues to be today.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." No matter how many times the President wishes it were so, peace in Iraq will not be found at the barrel of an American gun. No matter how hard the President hopes it will happen, sectarian violence will not be quelled with U.S. forces occupying the Iraqi nation. Cross your fingers. Pull out your lucky rabbit�s foot. Even nail a horse shoe over the Oval Office door. But, hoping for luck will never change the deadly dynamic in Iraq.

Peace demands an Iraqi-led political solution to transcend the ethnic and sectarian divisions that are splitting the country apart -- a political effort which, to date, the Iraqi government has been unable or unwilling to take on. Our legislation could have spurred that progress, but President Bush has defiantly said no. This White House clings to its "foolish consistency."

When he took office as President more than six years ago, George W. Bush issued a call for renewed responsibility in government. Where are the echoes of that call today? What is responsible about clinging to this failed course in Iraq and refusing to consider a new path? What is responsible about the President continuing to foster and manipulate the fears of the American people? Faced with the tragic consequences of its misjudgments in Iraq, the Bush Administration is paralyzed, unwilling to acknowledge, much less remedy, its catastrophic blunders.

President Bush has gone as far as to say that the way out of Iraq "will be decided by future presidents." What an outrageous abdication of responsibility!

the rest of the speech:

http://tinyurl.com/2sfwt3

[Ya-ta Boy]

[cbclark4]

This Robert Byrd of the KKK.

"Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds" Robert Byrd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

[loose_ends]

[bacasper]

[blaseblasphemener]

[cbclark4]

Senator Robert Byrd Receives KKK Lifetime Achievement Award
By N. B. Forrest


HANGMAN'S GROVE, WEST VIRGINIA � Billy Bob Cracker, President and
CEO of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), has chosen Senator Robert Byrd (D-
Wva.) as this year�s recipient of the KKK�s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award was presented at the 133rd Annual KKK Transparent Image
Awards, taped last night and scheduled to air April 1st (8:00 p.m. ET) on
FOX.

�The Lifetime Achievement Award reflects individuals at the pinnacle of
their respective fields who�ve made significant contributions to the
success of the KKK," Cracker said. "Senator Byrd exemplifies this
prestigious award; no living person has worked as hard as he has to keep
the black man dependant on, and subservient to, the white man. Not to
mention his outstanding work against Jews and Catholics.�


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/650968/posts

[loose_ends]

[cbclark4]

Goes to ones credibility.

I say post something from someone with credibility.

Robert Byrd is not worth listening to because he is a fraud.

You want a racist speaking on your behalf by all means go for it.

You listen to racists all you want.

I ain't listening to no racist.

He was an "Exalted Cyclops" ferchissakes.

[cbclark4]

[loose_ends]

[cbclark4]

[Rteacher]

People can change even deep-seated views from their youth, and evidently Senator Byrd has...

... In his latest autobiography, Byrd explained that he was a member because he "was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision�a jejune and immature outlook�seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions." Byrd also said, in 2005, "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times ... and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened..."

...In the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Congressional Report Card for the 108th Congress (spanning the 2003�2004 congressional session), Byrd was awarded with an approval rating of 100% for favoring the NAACP's position in all 33 bills presented to the United States Senate regarding issues of their concern. Only 16 other Senators of the same session matched this approval rating. In June 2005, Byrd proposed an additional $10 million in federal funding for the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, D.C., remarking that "With the passage of time, we have come to learn that his Dream was the American Dream, and few ever expressed it more eloquently." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

I think that Senator Byrd is also an eloquent orator and a fine stateman.

[cbclark4]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I think it's only fair to include the entire segment from Wiki:

In 1942, 24-year-old Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), whose parades in Matoaka, West Virginia, he had witnessed in his childhood. He was unanimously elected Exalted Cyclops, or leader, of his local chapter.[4]

Byrd, in his autobiography, attributed the beginnings of his political career to this incident, although he lamented that they involved the Klan. According to Byrd's recollection, KKK official Joel L. Baskin told him "You have a talent for leadership, Bob ... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd recalls that "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities. I was only 23 or 24, and the thought of a political career had never struck me. But strike me that night, it did."[4] He participated in the KKK during World War II, holding the titles Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops. He did not serve in the military during the war, working instead as a welder in a Baltimore, Maryland shipyard, where he helped build warships.[citation needed]

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy about racially integrating the military. Byrd, when he was 28 years old, wrote to segregationist Senator Theodore Bilbo, of Mississippi, vowing never to serve in such a military:

Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.[5]
He had earlier written Bilbo "I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side".[6][7]

When running for the United States House of Representatives in 1952, he announced "After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan." During this campaign, "Byrd went on the radio to acknowledge that he belonged to the Klan from 'mid-1942 to early 1943,' according to newspaper accounts. He explained that he had joined 'because it offered excitement and because it was strongly opposed to communism.'"[4] However, as late as 1946 or 1947, when he was 29 years old, he was still at least somewhat involved in promoting the KKK, as evidenced by a letter that he wrote to a Grand Wizard stating "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the nation."[8]


The 1940's is a very long time ago and Byrd has shown a markedly different attitude than he did during wartime when he was young. I'm with Rteacher and the much more contemporary endorsement of the NAACP.