Farracops, Klan Springtime & Bennett Rings The Bell

If you wondered why the New Orleans police force fell apart in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including going AWOL and even joining the looters of the Big Easy, part of the answer is probably as bad, or worse, than you suspected:

In June, the Bayou Buzz reported that [Mayor Ray "School Bus"] Nagin's police department hired [Nation of Islam Chieftain Louis] Farrakhan deputy Dennis Muhammad to conduct "sensitivity training" sessions for New Orleans' cops after a rise in "anti-police" sentiment in the city.

In an item picked up by the Drudge Report, Police Chief Eddie Compass explained that "members of the Nation of Islam have some type of relationship" with the community and might be able to help ease tensions.

The Muhammed appointment immediately sparked controversy, with New Orleans Police Association spokesman David Benelli telling the Bayou Buzz that his phone had "been ringing off the hook" with complaints from the rank and file.

One wonders to what Mr. Muhammad was teaching NOPD'ers to be "sensitive." More likely he was trying to indoctrinate them in Farrakhan's execrable race hatred and bigotry, and perhaps a touch of Islamic fundamentalism as well.

In the bigger picture it shows that this recent Nagin-Farrakhan meeting was hardly anomalous, but appears to be an ongoing relationship, and would be little different than if it had come out in the aftermath of 9/11 that then-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani had had a long-running friendship with David Duke.

Somehow I don't think the Extreme Media would have been as reticent to give any coverage to that connection as they have been to this one. Otherwise we'd have heard more about West Virginia Democrat Senator Robert "KKK" Byrd's fond, glowing recollections of his time in the, well, KKK in his autobiography Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields:

According to the eight-term West Virginia Democrat, the Klan he remembers was "a fraternal group of elites – doctors, lawyers, clergy, judges and other 'upstanding' people."

At no time, said Byrd, did he hear his fellow Klansman preach violence against blacks, Jews or Catholics.

Byrd recalls that his admiration for the racist organization began early, when he was a little boy watching his father march in KKK parades.

"Watching from the window, young Byrd saw people dressed in white hoods and robes and wearing white masks over their faces. Some years later, he wrote, he learned that his father had been a member of the Klan and took part in the parade" - according to a Washington Post synopsis of Byrd's book.

By the age of 25, the top Democrat saw the Klan as an opportunity to prove his mettle. After joining up in 1942, Byrd rose quickly through the organizational ranks, earning his stripes within months as a Kleagle - the Klan term for recruiter.

Byrd excelled in the role - boasting in his book that he'd recruited at least 150 new Klansman. The feat helped him get elected to the position of "Exalted Cyclops" - a race Byrd proudly notes that he won "unanimously."

Trent Lott pays tribute to Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat presidential run at the man's final birthday party and it generates a media firestorm. Bob Byrd writes a memoir that makes the Klan sound like the Kiwanis Club and there's nary a peep.

No wonder a Calypso Louis disciple can be mayor of a major American city, abandon countless helpless hurricane suvivors, and let his police department be debased into a racist paramilitary organization, and still be aided and abetted in casting all the blame due him onto President Bush - as well as the attempted quarter-trillion dollar shakedown of the American taxpayers to boot.

But, of course, as Dan Rather gushed the other day, Hurricane Katrina was the media's "finest hour."

Not.

UPDATE: With regard to Bill Bennett's "controversial" comment made on his radio program Morning in America ("I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”) - which (1) is factual and (2) was offered as part of an argument against black abortion - Newmax lends some excellent perspective to the knee-jerk left-wing self-righteous reactions it has triggered:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said last year that the Supreme Court's lone black member was "an embarrassment to the court," is demanding that Bennett "issue an immediate apology not only to African Americans but to the nation.”

Left wing Democrat Ted Kennedy, whose brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, ordered the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King, called Bennett a "racist."

And Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who suggested last year that most blacks hold menial jobs, called Bennett's comments "hateful" and "inflammatory" - and called on him to apologize. [emphases added]

And let's not forget the incipient racism evident in how the liberal media were so quick to believe and publicize the false horror stories of rape and cannibalism and war-zone-magnitude murder in majority-black New Orleans. Not only does it illustrate which side of the aisle is truly racist, but it also shows how cynically those racist tendencies are used - and projected - for base partisan advantage.

And let's remember something else: Bill Bennett is not a politician. He's not in government, hasn't been for a decade and a half, and is never going to be again. He's not even the media titan that Rush Limbaugh is. So why would a "controversial" comment on his modest radio program prompt such an eruption from top elected Democrat poobahs?

Seems to me Double-B was doing more than just making a provocative argument - he was also conducting a psychological exercise as well. Pavlov and his dogs, and all that.

Which, on Hannity & Colms last night, included a rolled-up newspaper:

"I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence....He should make no judgments at all about other people. He shouldn't be in the Senate."

Like I said, Bennett will never be in politics again.

Heck, with that devastating bluntness, one has to question whether he's still a Republican....

UPDATE II: Here's Bennett's official statement:

"On Wednesday, a caller to my radio show proposed the idea that one good argument for the pro-life position would be that if we didn't have abortions, Social Security would be solvent. I stated my doubts about such a thesis, as well as my opposition to such a form of argument (the audio of the call is available at my Website: bennettmornings.com).

"I then stated that such extrapolations of this argument can cut both ways, and cited the current bestseller, Freakonomics, which discusses the authors' thesis that abortion reduces crime.

"Then, putting my philosophy professor's hat on, I went on to reveal the limitations of such arguments by showing the absurdity in another such argument, along the same lines. I entertained what law school professors call 'the Socratic method' and what I would hope good social science professors still use in their seminars. In so doing, I suggested a hypothetical analogy while at the same time saying the proposition I was using about blacks and abortion was 'impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible,' just to ensure those who would have any doubt about what they were hearing, or for those who tuned in to the middle of the conversation.

"The issues of crime and race have been on many people's minds, and tongues, for the past month or so - in light of the situation in New Orleans; and the issues of race, crime, and abortion are well aired and ventilated in articles, the academy, the think tank community, and public policy. Indeed the whole issue of crime and race is not new in social science, nor popular literature. One of the authors of Freakonomics, himself, had an extended exchange on the discussion of these issues on the Internet some years back - which was also much debated in the think tank community in Washington.

"A thought experiment about public policy, on national radio, should not have received the condemnations it has. Anyone paying attention to this debate should be offended by those who have selectively quoted me, distorted my meaning, and taken out of context the dialogue I engaged in this week. Such distortions from 'leaders' of organizations and parties is a disgrace not only to the organizations and institutions they serve, but to the First Amendment.

"In sum, let me reiterate what I had hoped my long career had already established: that I renounce all forms of bigotry - and that my record in trying to provide opportunities for, as well as save the lives of, minorities in this country stands up just fine."

I guess the moral of the story is, "Don't employ the Socratic Method with people who can't count past ten without slurring the numbers or removing articles of clothing."