Have a restful weekend.
———————————————

6/28 & 12:39 a.m.: Just a couple of notes before I crash. Pam Spaulding and I couldn’t be more different on social issues. For example, she’s a liberal lesbian who believes in same sex “marriage.” I’m a straight conservative who wants to protect traditional marriage. And that’s just a starting point. What we disagree about could fill volumes. (But we’ve agreed to do an annual photo together and post it on our blogs to freak people out.) When meeting people you disagree with face to face, there’s only one thing you should agree on: being civil.

All the liberal bloggers I talked to tonight were civil. Dare I say nice? Yes, they were nice people. We’re worlds apart on most issues, but hey, you can’t have everything. I had a civil conversation with Oliver Willis (we talked about religion, evolution v. Intelligent Design – amazing) and I enjoyed talking to him. Go figure!

And I’m so glad I met Faye Anderson (a conservative). She’s a doll. See what other bloggers had to say about the debate at the MBA page. I met Professor Kim and Liza Sabater, who is a liberal and a feminist, but she’s “crazy,” funny, and has a great laugh. And a cool video camera. Check her site tomorrow for videos.

I sidled up to Tavis Smiley, as I said I would, but forgot to ask about being on his show. Instead, I asked why PBS hadn’t invited conservative and/or libertarian journalists to ask candidates questions. Why all liberals? I didn’t care about the answer. I wanted to get close enough to him so my blogging pal from way back, NewsBusters’ Matt Sheffield (pictured with Smiley), could take a photo.

Smiley seemed amused by the question. In response, he said something about being limited to only three journalists, and no matter which three you pick, you’d never satisfy everyone…you do what you can and make your selections. As he drifted away to another questioner, he looked back at me and said something like, “That’s all you can ask of anybody, right?”

I’ve got a brilliant idea for PBS. They can kill three diversity birds with one stone by selecting me to lob questions at the Republicans in September: I’m black, a woman, and a conservative!

There were a couple of funny moments during the debate that I didn’t catch. Dodd went over his time, Smiley said something to him about Paris Hilton, and then Hillary said something about Hilton. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the essence of it for you, but it was funny.

The fun part of the night began when the “debate” was over and we were free to walk around, introduce ourselves to people, take photos, make fun of the candidates, etc. As I said earlier, the place was filled with people: print journalists and bloggers on one side of a very large room, broadcast media on the other. There was one large screen in the middle and two smaller ones on the sides for us to watch the event.

Lots of VIPS in the auditorium (?) with the candidates. Well, VIPS to some people: Cornel West, writer Terry McMillan, actress Victoria Rowell, Harry Belafonte, various black congress people, and many others I can’t recall right now. A few of the VIPS came to the media room to do interviews, answer questions, and pose for photos. No Hillary or Obama, though.

One more item: When Hillary mentioned today’s Supreme Court ruling (schools cannot use race to assign students), I clapped. Out loud. I was the only one. And it felt good. No one mentioned illegal immigration. Not one journalist asked candidates about the defeated amnesty bill.

It’s almost 2 a.m. Time to crash. Thanks for reading.

——————————————————————————-

8:38 p.m.: I can’t imagine why conservatives are actually interested in this “debate,” but I was invited to cover it, and I accepted the invitation. Get ready for high comedy!

This place is packed with bloggers, print and broadcast media…I naively thought it would be a medium-sized gathering. It’s a hall of people. Check the event page at Media Bloggers Association for updates from other bloggers.

I got here too late for the food, though. Or the ice. Just a warm bottle of water.

Liza Sabater’s got a chat room set up. Check it out.

9:04 p.m.: The event has begun. Tom Joyner is say something about “African Americans” and “black America” and the “struggle.” Now Tavis Smiley is on. Is he married? He’s saying something I’m not listening to, and introduced a couple of teenagers. Who are they? I don’t know. Smiley just introduced Mass. gov Deval Patrick. Why is he speaking? Hey, he’s not a bad looking guy…OK, focus on the issues.

Patrick is introducing the liberals. (Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Mike Gravel, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama, and Governor Bill Richardson)

The audience in the “debate” center is going crazy. Somebody in the audience yelled, “Obama!” Was it Cornel West? Lots of VIPS in the debate center. Someone asked if race is still the most intractable issue in the 21st century? Hillary Clinton is answering the question, very loudly. She cited Brown and said race is still front and center, or some such. I guess she doesn’t realize that Brown outlawed government’s use of race in assigning students.

Biden answered the question. Not worth blogging. Bill Richardson is saying that race is not just passing new laws; race is dealing with bigotry “that still exists in this country.” He’s rambling about affirmative action. That’s race preferences to you and me.

9:19 p.m.: John Edwards is rambling about “two school systems” in the U.S.: rich and poor, blah, blah, blah. Universal health care… Obama’s up. He’s invoking Thurgood Marshall. Applause, applause.

Somebody asked about AIDS. Disproportionately higher rates in the “black community.”

9:26 p.m.: Tavis is introducing the moderators. Journalist DeWayne Wickham asked what candidates have to say about the academic achievement gap between blacks and everybody else. Biden is giving “read to your kids” advice. So glad he didn’t mention “government programs.” Broken record, Dems are. Richardson says we should pay teachers more. At-risk program. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. Knock me off my seat!

Edwards says we should start kids in school much earlier than Kindergarten. Obama says we need to put more money into after school programs. No mention – no mention – of private solutions to the problem. Kunich said “stop funding war, start funding education!”

Chris Dodd, who praised former KKK member Robert Byrd on the Senate floor (taxpayers’ time) and didn’t get in trouble like Trent Lott did for praising Thurmond at a PRIVATE party, is rambling about early childhood ed. Hillary pulled out the “it takes a village” line. Applause!

9:43 p.m.: Sorry. I didn’t catch much of the AIDS stuff. Just “sex education,” more money, more money. Nothing about “stop screwing around,” be chaste, be responsible, accept responsibility. AIDS doesn’t just fall down from the sky, you know.

Hillary said that if white women were getting AIDS the way black women are, there’d be an outrage. She got a standing ovation for that. This whole thing is just a useless exercise in slogan throwing, one-liners, preening, preaching…

More taxes for the rich. Broken record.

What? An hour into the debate, somebody finally mentions Hurricane Katrina. Obama made the reference, but it didn’t make sense in the context of whether “we” should raise taxes on the rich.

10:00 p.m.: Bathroom break…

10:07 p.m.: I come back to some babble about Hurricane Katrina and returning displaced people to New Orleans. Obama’s talking about how the people of NO were neglected before the hurricane. Neglected by whom? The GOVERNMENT, who else?

10:15 p.m.: The topic is outsourcing. You can read the soundbites tomorrow. The bloggers are falling asleep. Clarence Page is at the next table. He’s yawning.

10:23 p.m.: Something about Africa…And the debate ended abruptly. It’s over! Did you have fun?

——————————————————————————————–
Sort-of-breaking news (3:11 p.m.): King George’s amnesty-for-illegal-aliens bill returns to the trash heap from whence it came…

Supreme Decision

Though the decision is being spun as a rejection of “diversity,” the Supreme Court ruled today that schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Seattle, Washington, cannot use race as a deciding factor in school assignments. (More here)

Some of you may be too young or too apathetic to recall, but the whole point of the assault on legal segregation beginning some 45 years ago — an era otherwise known as the “Civil Rights Movement” — was to get government out of the skin color business. Forty-five years after that turbulent period, the government still is in the skin color business. Somewhere along the way, in the name of skin deep-only diversity, the government decided that treating citizens differently based on race wasn’t so bad after all.

The SCOTUS blog is covering the race cases and the rest. I’ve written about the school assignment and other preferences cases here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.

I’ll have much more to say about the decision later.

Just for Laughs

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m live-blogging the Democratic presidential “debate” tonight at Howard University. I will join a group of credentialed bloggers to watch and listen to the debate from a different location (in other words, the media and the candidates won’t be in the same room). I’m told we’ll have an opportunity to ask these characters some questions afterward. I don’t trust politicians — Democrats or Republicans — and I don’t know what asking questions will accomplish. Other than more frustration for me. They’ll tell you whatever they think you want to hear. And in front of a group of mostly liberal bloggers “of color,” you can easily guess how they’ll answer.

Democrats scheduled to attend are: Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Mike Gravel, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama, and Governor Bill Richardson. I don’t want to meet any of them or take pictures of or with them. All I plan to do is mock their non-answers and obfuscations and contradictions, as well as the race-focused questions moderators will throw at them, and sidle up to Tavis Smiley, introduce myself, and offer to be a token conservative guest on his PBS show.

But in the interest of public discourse and all that, I’m opening up the floor to take your questions. Should I get the opportunity, what questions do you want me to ask the liberals?

(Photo credit: Reuters)

Update: Ha! I like this question from commenter Bill: “Please ask them: ‘Who do you say Jesus is?’”

That’s a good one for Republican candidates, too, especially Romney.

Heliotrope says: “Please ask the candidates to delineate what criteria are used to make the determination that a person is black and therefore qualified for the benefits of affirmative action. Also, at what scientific point is a person not black enough for special government benefits?”

Update II: FYI, the media will not be in the “debate” area. We’re in a separate location. Three moderators — no bloggers — will ask questions during the show. I’ve been told that the candidates will (maybe?) venture over to where we are afterward. I’ll try to get in a couple of questions, especially the one about race. Depending how many media people show up, I might have to settle for one. Or zero.

Bear with me as I coast through blogger’s block. Updating this blog every day has moved down my must-do list, and I’m enjoying the freedom of not blogging if I don’t feel like it.

Today and tomorrow:

• Radio interview with Focus on the Family’s Family News in Focus today at 11:30 a.m. EDT to talk about government-sponsored prayer in schools.
• Live-blogging the Democratic presidential “debate” at Howard University tomorrow night from 9-10:30 p.m., as a credentialed blogger with the Media Bloggers Association. More here.

Non-political:

• Deathly Hallows countdown