There goes that "excluding Indians not taxed" clause again

Hat tip to Prometheus 6 for judicious quoting of the Constitution over at his place on the 2010 census issue.

October 28, 2009
California Would Lose Seats Under Census Change
By SAM ROBERTS

A Republican senator’s [Vitter, R-LA --ProfGeo] proposal to count only United States citizens when reapportioning Congress would cost California five seats and New York and Illinois one each, according to an independent analysis of census data released Tuesday. Texas, which is projected to gain three seats after the 2010 census, would get only one.

I can't see Texas giving up two potential congressional seats (representation, $$) just to avoid the Constitutional mandate to count "the whole number of persons in each state." But the state has been known to cut off its nose to spite its face. Texas might, if properly cajoled by its jingoist inbred cousins in Louisiana, join in the attempt to leave non-citizens (oh, whoever could they mean? Our Canadian and British guest workers? Right...) out of the 2010 census. That's a lot of legal residents unsupported.

Even though the proposal to leave out certain whole persons is blatantly unconstitutional, they might get brownie points from the ultra-right for talking a good game-- just for bringing the matter up. That's sad in itself.

Why I hate the Confederacy, Part I: Slave Names

Oooh! ®

Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.

"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten says. [emphasis added --ProfGeo]

Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change names
By MELANIE DABOVICH, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 26, 2009
(10-26) 05:57 PDT Taos, N.M. (AP) --

Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

What's next, a note from massa giving you permission to travel?

The department also wonders why Bromley's trainer, Senior Cpl. Daniel Larkin, failed to catch his trainee's mistake.

I don't wonder much at all! (Video at the WFAA link)

Dallas cop cites woman for not speaking English
10:50 AM CDT on Friday, October 23, 2009
JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV

DALLAS — A Dallas police officer, just out of the academy and still under supervised training, ticketed a woman recently for leaving her drivers license at home, making an illegal U-turn, and being a "non-English speaking driver."

"At first I thought it was a joke," said Brenda Mondragon about the ticket issued to her mother, Ernestina. "We moved from California two years ago, so I thought maybe it's a law here."

It's not, of course. (Crime blog w/ image of original citation)

I am further amused by the fact that, at the leading outlet, the Dallas Morning News, "comments have been disabled on this story" . No, I don't wonder at that either. Nor do I wonder about the 38 other illegal citations for the same thing that this incident brought to light.

Quote of the Week (a TOTF Instant Tradition)

The sheep proudly raised their heads. "Justice!" they bleated in chorus. "Justice!"
     --Leonie Swann (from Three Bags Full)

Earth to Tangipahoa Parish, LA: You need to let go

With hat tip to Julie Dermansky (jsdart) of Flickr, I found several "man on the street" video follow-ups to the Jim Crow flashback story of Keith Bardwell, the "Marryin' Sam" who, in 2009, wouldn't marry interracial couples.

This one is African-American Tangipahoa resident "John Brown":




There are a couple more by the same interviewer. Just to, uh, be complete (but not fair and balanced, thanks) I am including the following video comments of "John Green," a Ponchatoula resident. File under hoist on own petard:

Part 1:


Part 2 (has plenty of US history, Southern-style):

NewBlackMan

NewBlackMan

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Louisiana: so much for my nice post-Katrina story

Hat tip to JJP for the first post I saw about this one, "Interracial couple denied marriage license in Louisiana. It's not 2009 everywhere." Apparently it's not even 1909 in some places.
Oooh! ®

Here's the original story from the Hammond (LA) Daily Star. My first glance at the comments there was enough...

JP refuses to marry couple

By Don Ellzey

A justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple last week because of concern for the children who might be born of that relationship.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish’s 8th Ward, also said it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

“I’m not a racist,” Bardwell said. “I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children.”

Beth Humphrey, 30, said she and her boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, intend to consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.