I decided to check out the WSJ's OpinionJournal website, since blog-worthy news is quite slow today, and ran up on a piece by Jill Stewart featuring Ted Hayes, a social activist who's a member of the Republican Party in Los Angeles.  According to Stewart, Hayes is well known within the inner city, and is helping to clean up the streets and provide an alternative to gang life and drugs.

Usually Ambra is better at featuring people than I am, so I'll just let you read the column about some of the things Hayes has done for Los Angeles.  However,  I will say if inroads are to be made within the black community as well as the electorate that tends to vote leftward, conservatives should look for people who actually look like everyday people. 

That's not to shrug off the Ivy League scholars and the silver spooners, but the main reason why so many blacks cast their votes for the Left - whether it's Green or Democrat - is due to the fact that they know other blacks who vote the same way.  Say what you want about Cynthia McKinney or Barbara Lee (and there's plenty to say), but they do come across as more in-tuned to the voices of black people.

I really don't think conservatives realize that they are often considered out of touch and elitist.  It's ironic because I'm reading South Park Conservatives by City Journal editor Brian Anderson, and he mentions how Fox News journalists and anchors don't come off as elitist.  That may be true to a considerable amount of the population, but sometimes they don't realize that they look like a clique themselves.

I'm reminded of this quote:

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.”  - Eric Hoffer

It's a regular thing for high-profile conservatives to deride the "mainstream" media, although oftentimes they have more readers and viewers than the people they criticize.  They might not see this as being "mainstream", but others do.  I guarantee you people see Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and others not only as "mainstream", but elitist.

Ted Hayes and others give credit to conservatives being people of all fabrics and all colors.  Those are the people we truly need if conservative principles are to survive this century.

Let's be honest; we knew from the minute former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume announced he was running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland that he'd had a snowball's chance in hell of winning the primary, much less the seat itself.

Well today won't help matters, as the Washington Post found out about a confidential NAACP document detailing the accusations of a former female employee, Michelle Speaks, who says he showed favortism toward women in the organization whom he had "close personal relationships" with. 

According to the Post, this was a very sensitive document; once the members of the executive committee had time to read it at a meeting, the copies were taken back up before they left.  However, the Post was able to get a hold of some memos written by Marcia Goodman, a lawyer the NAACP hired to analyze Speaks's claims.  Speaks requested $140,000 - two years' salary - or threatened to file a complaint to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission and possibly a civil lawsuit.

The NAACP being reported to the EEOC.  How ironic.

The Post also obtained a separate memo detailing some of Mfume's transgressions:

In 1999, staff lawyers conducted an inquiry after two women got into a loud verbal altercation, allegedly over his attentions. One woman was disciplined; the other was promoted several months later, according to one document.

The altercation is described in a May 24, 1999, internal memo that lawyers for the NAACP wrote to Bond. "There appeared to be a widespread belief in the organization that President Mfume had displayed preferential treatment" to one of the women "based on a possible dating relationship," the memo says.

The lawyers then questioned whether Mfume "interfered with this inquiry by exerting improper influence on two key witnesses." Also, according to the memo, Mfume refused to answer questions in the inquiry.

So you have two women in the nation's oldest civil rights organization catfighting over the President.  That sounds like a story from the White House in the 90's.  I would say the early sixties too, but JFK kept his women in check.

But this is the part that takes the cake:

Mfume acknowledged yesterday that he dated one of the women in that altercation, a female NAACP employee, for "three months" and later adopted her 4-year-old son. The boy is now 15, he said. The woman now works for the Maryland Department of Transportation.

"It was for a very brief moment," he said of the relationship. "And I fell in love with this kid who was fatherless and was very withdrawn. He's [become] an unbelievably impressive young man."

I'll tell you what playa (© J. Anthony Brown), women will do it to you EVERY TIME.

Is the foster child the same child that, according to the Post, Mfume claimed to have wanted to spend more time with when he resigned?  Christopher, the son he said he wanted to spend more time with, and the foster child are both 15.

Something's gone terribly wrong when a public official's life sounds like a soap opera.

Here's probably the most damning evidence that Speaks has:

To bolster her analysis, Goodman details salary information for several women who worked at the NAACP's national headquarters in Baltimore and states that those rumored to have close relationships with Mfume, or with his son, have fared better than those who did not.

If Speaks could adequately show a considerable gap between women rumored to have dated Mfume and ones who didn't, the NAACP is toast.  Goodman and the other lawyers who've analyzed the case can believe what they want, but the case is won and lost in court.  That's really all that matters.  Based on the information given, I'd be surprised if Bond and the executive committee hasn't settled with Speaks already.

The fault lies directly at Mfume's feet, no matter whether he truly was guilty of favortism or not.  The information given shows a pattern of sexual dalliances with employees, which could used against you later on.  If it was only one employee, it would be different, but ten?  Who's to say he won't do the same thing if the people of Maryland lose their minds and elect him Senator?

In an interview with the Post yesterday, Mfume said he doesn't engage in "inappropriate behavior".  I would definitely hate to see what he considers inappropriate.  No workplace I know of tolerates this kind of thing (well, actually the WWE does, but I don't think that's the standard Mfume or the NAACP wants to emulate).

I hope to have more on this later.

Over the last few months, Democrats have stepped up their attacks on controversial Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay.  They're still sore about the redistricting plan in Texas that saw them lose several seats in the House of Representatives, which gave them a net loss in Election 04 (nevermind the fact that Democrats have been doing those same redistricting tricks in the South for decades).

Note that Democrats haven't been accusing DeLay of anything illegal, only "unethical".  "Ethics" is a relative term, especially when you add in the fact that many Congressmen across the aisle have been guilty of the same things the Democrats, the media, and the left wing orgs have been accusing DeLay of.

Here's a great example.  Click on the map.

The Democrats don't want DeLay to actually defend the charges, because then there's a possibly he could be cleared of them, and thus they can't use it as propaganda anymore.  They expect the American people to stay stupid, and believe these charges are exclusive to the every-day activities of Washington politicians.  I don't mind these practices being ended, but I won't support a hatchet job being executed on someone by insulting the intelligence of the electorate.

Thus, I'm glad the Republicans did decide to return the rules to normal in order to expedite this ethics process and bring closure to these charges.  The AP and other media entities are characterizing this as a Republican "retreat", but if you've been paying attention to both DeLay and Speaker Hastert's comments, they are the ones that are calling for this so they can clear DeLay's name and finally eliminate this from the Democratic Party talking points.

I, like most people, didn't know Abu Gharib's anniversary was here.  Lucky for us, we had Ted Kennedy wobbling around to remind us.  Kennedy read a lengthy statement from the Senate floor reminding us of the scandal, or at least the anniversary of when the story broke.

Why would Kennedy or any Democrat attempt to place this back into the public spotlight with this speech?  It's quite simple, actually.  Abu Gharib marked one of the most critical moments of the Bush Administration's popularity.  The media aligned with the Democrats to use the scandal to trash the Administration every chance they got for months on end, although the Administration had nothing to do with the scandal.  In fact, top Army officials were cleared of any wrongdoing only days ago.

The Democrats' criticism of Abu Gharib was more about political advancement more than any real humanitarian concern.  Some probably were legitimately appalled, sure, but it was also during a campaign year that could have possibly booted President Bush out of office. 

The left knew the stakes, and they were willing to do whatever it took to recapture the White House, particularly with the financial backup of MoveOn.org and the left-wing 587s which were (and still is) crucial to the Democratic Party's agenda.  Bashing the military was just one of the perks, since most of them have never shown any concern for the military in decades.  National security is anathema to the left anyway; the United States is the cause of it's own problems.

The truth is, the media in conjunction with the Democratic Party pose more of a problem to the War in Iraq as well as the War on Terror than any scandal.  Any bad press that comes from it is guaranteed to be used by the Democrats as cannon fodder in order to attack the Republicans with.  It's time for the American people to ask the Democrats again, "What side are you on?"  They asked the Democrats that in 04, and they didn't like the answer.  The Democrats need to get their priorities straight, or they won't like the answer in 06 or 08.

I have been a fan of Fox's American Idol in the past (although I never vote).  But this year I've been quite critical of the judging during the competition, particularly from Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

I also suspected that one of the contestants, Nadia Turner, was booted due to collusion.  A seemingly good performance with no bad notes in it, Simon Cowell trashed it twice: after her performance, and then after Vonzell's performance.  It seemed as if he went out of his way to do so, knowing that it would kill whatever support she had.

Today, Drudge broke this story:

"We got all these ridiculous questions yesterday from an ABC producer," a top IDOL source tells the DRUDGE REPORT. "ABC can not beat us with programming, so they are attempting to bring us down with lies and false charges."

At the center of the questions, the IDOL source claims, are the actions of show judge Paula Abdul.

"[ABC] is trying to say Paula somehow cheats and picks favorite singers to nurture, in violation of some sort of network standards," the IDOL source, who demanded anonymity, explains.

Fellow Judge Simon Cowell will tell TV show EXTRA Tuesday evening: "Paula, to be fair to her, will spend more time backstage with the contestants giving encouragement and everything else.  But, that’s not a bad thing!"

I'll tell you this:  I'll watch it.  However this story won't have any teeth if ABC doesn't come up with some finalists, and I don't see that happening because they are all under contract (well, contracts could run out, right?)

Paula's been in a huge amount of trouble as of late.  First, she was charged for the hit and run incident from last December.  Last week, one of the former contestants announced he was writing a book about an affair she had with him - he is 24 and she is 42.  And there have been rumors that she has a pill addiction (which would explain her often-erratic behavior).  I wouldn't be surprised if the ABC story is enough for Idol producers to tell Paula her services won't be needed for another season.

I thought last year was embarrassing, but this season has been worse, despite having more talent.  Idol's ratings are at their worst, and I'm sure after next Wednesday things won't get any better.

Yesterday I talked about the Democrats seeking a compromise in order to save face from the nuclear option.

Today the answer was given.  Senator Bill Frist held a press conference on the Senate floor and said no to any deal that wouldn't place all of the nominees on the Senate floor and reserve the right for future nominees to get the same vote.  In other words, there isn't a compromise:

But Frist, in a rare news conference conducted on the Senate floor, said he would not accept any deal that keeps his Republican majority from confirming judicial nominees that have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

``My goal is to have fair up and down votes. Are we going to shift from that principle? The answer to that is no,'' Frist said. 

That means he and Reid are still at deadlock, because Democrats have said they would not accept any deals that would permanently ban them from blocking Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court or the federal appellate courts, the top two tiers of the judicial system.

Well, I'm mildly surprised.  I expected Frist to cave.  In fact, the question in my mind was how much he was going to get for it.

But maybe this had something to do with it:

Karl Rove rejected a compromise with Senate Democrats Monday on long-stalled nominations for the federal judiciary and strongly defended President Bush's choice of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations.

In an hour-long interview with USA TODAY and Gannett News Service reporters and editors, Rove, deputy White House chief of staff, dismissed suggestions from Democrats that they might drop threats to use filibusters to prevent votes on Bush's judicial nominees if the president would withdraw a few of the most controversial names.

Now I'm not one to go into Rovian-based conspiracies like the moonbats, but is it possible that Rove read the tea leaves and thought Frist was going to blow this, so he decided to handle this himself?  It's possible, and if he did I can't blame him.  Frist was probably going to make the Republicans look impotent.

Either way, it looks like they're finally showing some backbone.

Previous posts:

1. Democrats looking to compromise on nuclear option.
2. Backbone.

If there is one thing thats great about watching the NBA, it's watching it on TNT.

I watched Houston beat Dallas in a great game tonight.  Both teams played tough, but Dallas just doesn't have enough heart to pull it out.

Both teams had great playmakers.  T-Mac at times put Houston on his back and rolled with it, including hitting the deciding shot of the game with 2.2 tics left.  Yao Ming is simply an offensive monster when he wants to be.  There's no question he's the heir apparent to Shaq.

For some reason, Dirk Nowitski has simply been off in this series.  He had a good fourth quarter in this game, but he's been nonexistent in the seven quarters prior to that.  You can tell Mark Cuban is frustrated at the way his guys are playing.

One guy that might be gone in the offseason is Keith Van Horn.  He had a good third quarter, but he looked lousy down the stretch, including not picking up McGrady on the winning jumper off the Yao Ming pick.  Magic Johnson (I'm about to clown him in a second) felt it was due to Van Horn being an "offensive player", but that's garbage. 

First, this isn't football.  You have to play on both ends on the court at all times; in fact, the biggest problem Dallas has is that they don't make defensive stops.  Second, it wasn't like it was a complex play.  All Yao did was set a high pick - a play they killed the Mavs with all night - for T-Mac to come around and shoot the 15 footer.  Switching off to the ballhandler is something you learn to do in middle school.  With only eight seconds left on the clock, you can't afford to give a sharpshooter like T-Mac that kind of space.

If you haven't been paying close attention to the filibuster controversy in the Senate, on Sunday Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell announced the Republicans had at least 51 votes to place them over the top to ban filibusters.

The Democrats took this very seriously, as Senator Joe Biden called for a compromise that would have all but two senators to be sent to the floor of the Senate for a vote.  That pretty much sealed McConnell's statement as fact.  Democrats know they are whipped.  Lo and behold, we get news today of private talks between Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid:

Officials said as part of an overall deal, Reid has indicated he is willing to allow the confirmation of Richard Griffin and David McKeague, both of whom Bush has twice nominated for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. At the same time, the Democratic leader wants the nomination of Henry Saad scuttled. Democrats succeeded in blocking all three men from coming to a vote in 2004 in a struggle that turned on issues of senatorial prerogatives as well as ideology.

I know one thing:  if Frist makes a deal that doesn't include William Pryor, Janice Rogers Brown, and Priscilla Owen, I'm going to be very pissed, and there's going to be a number of conservatives that are going to be pissed as well.  The Republicans have the majority of the Senate and they have the votes to finish off this filibuster; they need to use their muscle. 

In fact, I don't see why Frist is so willing to seek a compromise anyway; the only compromise that should even be considered is that all of the judges they've tried to hold up to be placed on the Senate floor in place of keeping the filibuster option alive.  That's it.  If Reid and the Democrats aren't willing to do that, then tell them to take a hike.

Morrissey over at Captain's Quarters depicts this as backbone.  Let's hold our horses on that for a second, because we don't know what will come out of this.  Republicans have a way of screwing up these situations.  And it's gotten to the point that every time I hear about a compromise being forged, I cringe.  Somehow it's always conservative policies that get sacrificed.  Besides, this is more than just about getting judges confirmed; this is a matter of principle.  If the Republicans can't get their agenda with the advantages they were clearly given last November, then what else does the American people have to give them?

For those wondering, I am paying attention to them.

Right now there are only a couple of compelling matchups.  The rest look like sweeps. 

Here are the matchups:

Eastern Conference:

#1. Miami Heat vs. #8. New Jersey Nets

#2. Detroit Pistons vs. #7. Philadelphia 76'ers.

#3. Boston Celtics vs. #6. Indiana Pacers

#4. Chicago Bulls vs. #5. Washington Wizards.

Western Conference:

#1. Phoenix Suns vs. #8. Memphis Grizzlies

#2. San Antonio Spurs vs. #7. Denver Nuggets

#3. Seattle SuperSonics vs. #6. Sacramento Kings

#4. Dallas Mavericks vs. #5. Houston Rockets

Although this weekend didn't show it, there are a few compelling matchups. 

In the East, the Pacers/Celtics series is expected to be a good one.  This is Reggie Miller's last hurrah, so they have to make this one last.  As for the Celtics, the band is back together again, and they got some good supporting players to help them be a threat.

The Chicago/Washington series is a symbolic one.  They possibly represent the future of the Eastern Conference, if not the whole NBA.  Both have young teams that are hungry, and can make things happen in the next couple of years.  The "Baby Bulls" are favored by some to make it to the Eastern Finals.

Out West, the first upset of the playoffs happened last night, with the Spurs falling to the Nuggets.  Rejuvenated by the mid-season hiring of George Karl, this has now become a hungry team led by Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin.  Lucky for them, Tim Duncan still isn't back to fighting trim after missing 12 games in March and April. 

Dallas/Houston should be another compelling matchup.  Dirk Nowitski is one of the hottest players in the sport, but the Mavs are still dragging on defense.  Dallas doesn't have a chance to win if he goes 5-19 from the field tonight, however.

I see the other games as routs.  Miami didn't need Shaq to blow out New Jersey on Sunday.  Wade is simply too fast for Kidd to cover and Jones is the deep threat from beyond the arc, so all Shaq has to do is just stand there for the most part and grab a few rebounds until his thigh fully heals.  The Sonics are just too much for the Kings, although the Kings threatened a comeback late Saturday night.  Phoenix will have an easy time outscoring Memphis, and Detroit has too many weapons for a Sixers team that looks old and unprepared.

Tonight's games are Indiana @ Boston and Houston @ Dallas.  If you can't watch the games, check back here and peek at the Sports Ticker above to check out the scores.

(Photo:  Yahoo's The Contender Page)

In the last episode (which ended a couple of minutes prior), we saw Sergio Mora defeat Ishe Smith in a very close fight that pitted power and braun against speed and technical ability.  The boxer won.  The guys loved it, as they were glad Ishe was gone.  As soon as Sergio returned to the training house they all congratulated him and gave him a toast for getting rid of Ishe.

The next day, they got back to their training, and a number of them were noticing Alfonso.  Alfonso really impressed a number of people when he defeated Peter in the first episode, and the fact that Peter had returned to win another fight made Alfonso's reputation even stronger in the eyes of the boxers.  Well, all except Ahmed.  He thought Alfonso was out of shape.  What's ironic is that Alfonso ran his sparring partner out of the ring with some heavy blows at the time Ahmed was talking smack.

Later on, the boxers got together along with Stallone and Sugar Ray to present Sergio a new pendant; a gold one that had the Roman number four (IV) engraved in it.  Sergio also got a reward, in which he could take anyone else with him.  Sergio picked Alfonso to accompany him, and they went with Sugar Ray and Stallone to a country club to golf.  As both Alfonso and Sergio are both Mexicans, Sergio joked that they're used to cutting the grass on the golf course.  Both were pretty much out of their element, but it seemed as if they had a fun time.

Later, Joey started talking about how dangerous Ahmed was.  Ahmed may have lost the fight with Ishe, but that didn't take away any respect the guys had for him.  Personally I felt it was stupid to bring Ahmed back just for Ishe's sake.  Once again, they brought back a guy that has a pretty good shot of defeating someone down the line.  Ishe's gone, and there really wasn't any fireworks between those two, so now they're stuck with a guy that could do some damage.

Joey realized that, and started getting Ahmed to trust him.  He felt the best way to neutralize Ahmed's emotions was to get Ahmed to confide in him and thus take his guard down.  It worked, as Ahmed felt Joey was trying to help him out.  As we saw in the last episode, it's every fighter for himself.  Ahmed doesn't know that yet.

It was challenge time, and this time it was the cart races.  One member of each boxer's family would sit in one of the chinese-style carts.  The boxer would have to pull the cart around a horsetrack.  The first race would eliminate the last three boxers, and the winner of the second race won the challenge and would also win a Toyota Tacoma pickup.

This was probably the most important challenge of the show to date, if only because of the results.  First, Anthony pulled his hamstring and could barely walk after the race.  The second thing stunned everyone.  Joey was well ahead to win the challenge, but when he got to the finish line, he stopped and dropped the cart.  Peter raced ahead for the victory.  Joey said he did it because Peter deserved the truck more than he did since he had a wife and kids.

However, Sergio smelled a rat.  Sergio remembered Joey discussing a book he had read called The 48 Rules of Power, which showed people how to get an upper hand in almost any situation possible.  Well, Sergio had read that book too, and knew Joey was using some of the tips from it to his advantage.  Sergio told Jeremy, the head trainer, about it, and that's when Jeremy stirred the pot.  While Peter was in the showers, Jeremy said, "He gave you a $40,000 truck so he could win a million."  It was a very compelling argument, and Sergio sat in front of the cameras and explained everything Joey was doing came from that book.  Probably one of the best segments of the season.  Or at least it was for me, because I love the detective work.

Jeremy told Peter he should fight now while he got the chance.  Peter kept it in mind, but didn't think Joey was that conniving in order to do something like that.  When it came time to make the fight, Peter decided not to choose Joey to fight, since he gave him the truck (and Sergio had a field day talking about that one), nor did he let Anthony fight since he was injured.  Instead, he played matchmaker and chose Ahmed and Alfonso.

Ahmed Khaddour vs. Alfonso Gomez.  It was a good fight on paper, and Ahmed was believed to give Alfonso problems coming into this fight.  Ahmed had good hands, and some good power that possibly could neutralize Alfonso's busy hands and aggressiveness.

In the first round, they exchanged punches, both getting a feel of what the other will throw.  Finally, Alfonso broke up that monotomy with a flurry of straight jabs that got Ahmed covering up.  Ahmed never answered at the end of the round.  Alfonso won it easily.

In the second round, Ahmed tried to come out throwing hooks, but Alfonso was able to weather that storm.  Then he delivered his own, as he pummelled Ahmed with those jabs.  Ahmed's defense was poor;  he couldn't stop the barrage of jabs coming right for him and didn't know how to properly defend against them.  Alfonso showed he had some strength following those punches, and Ahmed once again had no answer.  Another easy round for Alfonso.

In Round three, Ahmed once again came out swinging.  He mixed it up a bit, connecting with hooks and uppercuts.  One good punch actually sent Alfonso's mouthpiece flying.  That shows Ahmed does have good strength.  However, that only made Alfonso mad, and he finished the round in a flurry, tagging Ahmed at will.  The round was a lot closer than the other two, but Alfonso still won it.  That means Ahmed will have to knock him out, and I don't think that's going to happen.

The fourth round saw Ahmed try a different tactic.  He didn't simply charge in and start banging, he stayed to the outside and tried to use his reach.  It seemed as if the fight came to a standstill, because Alfonso never fought anyone that used their reach (a weakness, maybe?).  Ahmed actually looked like he was getting the better shots off, but it was still too close to call.  I'd be tempted to call that a 10-10 round, leaning Ahmed's way.

The fifth round was dramatic.  Ahmed had finally turned the tide of the fight his way, and was rocking Alfonso with some HUGE shots.  At one point Alfonso looked as if he was going to go down.  Had that been an experienced fighter, he would have realized that and not given him any space whatsoever.  Alfonso was clearly hurt, and started to tie Ahmed up.  Once the ref broke them up, Alfonso raised his hand, possibly as a sign that he was alright.  Ahmed did the exact same thing and was met by a straight right hand.  It was poetic justice for two reasons:  (1.) Ahmed showboats too much when he should be serious about knocking this guy out and (2.) Ahmed had been eating that jab all night long.  Alfonso finished with a good combo to end the round, but I don't think it was enough to steal it.

Alfonso won by unaminous decision.  Ahmed suffers another defeat.  Looking at the fight twice, Ahmed would have probably knocked Alfonso out within another two rounds.  Alfonso definitely benefits from the short 5-round fights.  I don't think that will help him down the road.  Whoever fights Alfonso in the semis can learn a lot by watching this fight.  Ahmed, however, takes that journey home again with that barbie doll fiancee of his, and wishes Alfonso well.  He says he'll be back.  Let's hope he's a lot smarter than how he fought on this show.

Next week we have fight 3 of the Quarterfinals.  See ya then.

My Other Contender Posts:

1.  The Contender Quarterfinals:  Ishe vs. Sergio
2.  The Contender, Episode Eight:  Jimmy vs. Joey
3.  The Contender Episode Seven:  Juan vs. Tarick
4.  The Contender Episode Six:  Anthony vs. Brent
5.  The Contender Episode Three:  Ishe vs. Ahmed