Congressional Black Caucus

Britain's Tory Party would be better off without a leader. U.S. Democrats have not had one in years.How dare Hizzoner throw legal patronage to his mentors at Olander and Shapiro when the Bible, U.S. Constitution, City Charter and First Law of Thermodynamics require that Venable et al get it all!The Congressional Black Caucus has decided to redistrict the Supreme Court.Modern life is just one long search for longer and longer holidays.

In the competition to bring voter intensity to the approaching midterm congressional elections, the Republican Party is looking to the emerging tea party movement to swell its ranks at the polls in November. The voter phenomenon got a questionable push the other day from one of its leading lights, conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. She sought and won creation of a Tea Party Caucus in the House by petitioning the Democratic chairman of the House Administration Committee, Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania.

More than 60 leading entrepreneurs, politicians and academic experts are to gather this afternoon in Baltimore to start "Black Entrepreneurship in America," a three-day conference that seeks to promote black business.Registration starts today at 3 p.m. and is followed by EXPO '94, a trade fair featuring businesses seeking minority vendors. During the evening, executives from host company Dow Jones & Co. will greet participants.Tomorrow, politicians such as Gov. William Donald Schaefer and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke will speak, followed by a round-table discussion on problems and opportunities facing black-owned businesses.

The Congressional Black Caucus has been growing impatient with President Barack Obama, and this political strain has leaked out to the press. Caucus members feel that Mr. Obama hasn't paid enough attention to the fact that the current economic difficulties have had greater impact on African-American and other minority groups than on the rest of the population, and that therefore something extra needs to be done for them. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri is quoted as saying: "Obama has tried desperately to stay away from race, and all of us understand what he's doing.

WASHINGTON -- A group of black conservatives and the predominantly liberal Congressional Black Caucus confronted each other yesterday in the opening round of what promises to be a head-to-head fight over the fitness of Judge Clarence Thomas to sit as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.The pro-Thomas conservatives and the anti-Thomas caucus held news conferences at which each claimed to speak for the national black community on the issue of whether President Bush's nominee, a judge in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, should be confirmed for the Supreme Court by the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- More than a month after the hanging of Nigerian human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Clinton administration is considering how best to strengthen its campaign to isolate Nigeria's military dictatorship in protest against the execution.The United States has withdrawn its ambassador, suspended Nigeria's application for financial credits, tightened the granting of visas to Nigerians with ties to the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha, and refused to sell it weapons.But so far the administration has shied away from using what is potentially the most effective weapon, an embargo on Nigerian oil, which generates 95 percent of the government's foreign income.

T he Congressional Black Caucus has been growing impatient with President Barack Obama, and this political strain has leaked out to the press. Caucus members feel that Mr. Obama hasn't paid enough attention to the fact that the current economic difficulties have had greater impact on African-American and other minority groups than on the rest of the population, and that therefore something extra needs to be done for them. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri is quoted as saying: "Obama has tried desperately to stay away from race, and all of us understand what he's doing.

The purpose of the day could have been summed up in the opening song -- a choir's soulful rendition of "We Shall Overcome." Instead of singing "some day" at the end of that phrase, the choir and crowd sang "We shall overcome today." About 350 people gathered at Coppin State College's James Weldon Johnson auditorium yesterday to discuss concerns in Baltimore's African-American community. But instead of just talking about the problems, those convened were determined that, at the end of the day, plans would be in place to solve them.

WASHINGTON -- While courageous American troops and Iraqi civilians risk life and limb for the right to vote in war-torn Iraq, President Bush has made the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus, currently all Democrats, more than a little nervous about how much he values voting rights back home. According to witnesses at a private meeting in the White House Cabinet Room last week, the president was characteristically cordial yet remarkably noncommittal in responding to a wide range of questions, mostly about racial disparities concerning such issues as employment, education, health care and legal rights.

IN THIS dispiriting political season comes a ray of hope: Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, is considered a possible candidate for mayor of Baltimore. Also, some state lawmakers wisely are planning to cut Baltimore's residency requirement for political office from a year to six months so Mr. Mfume, a Catonsville resident, could run if he decides to. Baltimore is at a crossroads this mayoral election year. Mayor Kurt Schmoke, cerebral, decent, but understandably burned out, leaves with a mixed record.

Dear Don Imus: So how's that suspension working for ya, buddy? You know, Don, you really ought to, as the current slang expression goes, "holla at a brother" sometimes. And I don't necessarily mean me. Any brother would do. You need to stay in the loop when it comes to black folks. If you'd bothered to holla at a brother, Don, you wouldn't be in the fix you're in now. Suspended from your job. The Revvum Jesse Jackson calling for your head. Having to go on the Revvum Al Sharpton's radio show and eat crow.

WASHINGTON -- Members of the Congressional Black Caucus pressed President Bush on post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction aid, the war in Iraq and social programs during an hourlong meeting at the White House yesterday. The Democratic House members said afterward that they would take Bush at his word that he would consider their concerns about the slow pace of reconstruction in New Orleans and his proposal to make budget cuts in federal health care programs. Several lawmakers said their expectations were low heading into the session -- which some, including Rep. Maxine Waters of California, chose to skip.

WASHINGTON -- While courageous American troops and Iraqi civilians risk life and limb for the right to vote in war-torn Iraq, President Bush has made the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus, currently all Democrats, more than a little nervous about how much he values voting rights back home. According to witnesses at a private meeting in the White House Cabinet Room last week, the president was characteristically cordial yet remarkably noncommittal in responding to a wide range of questions, mostly about racial disparities concerning such issues as employment, education, health care and legal rights.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Elijah E. Cummings has had legacy on his mind this month. Winding down a two-year stint as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Baltimore Democrat said he hopes history is kind to his tenure at the helm of the largest minority caucus in the House of Representatives. The caucus, which has 39 Democratic members in the House, is as divided as it has ever been. Republicans control Congress and the White House, making it harder to gain a foothold for the group's priorities on health care, education, small business and a balance of local and national security.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, was chosen yesterday to lead the Congressional Black Caucus and immediately criticized Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott for hailing the 1948 presidential bid of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond. Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican, ran for president on a "Dixiecrat" ticket that opposed "social intermingling of the races." Cummings called Lott's remarks, made at a 100th birthday party for Thurmond, "extremely upsetting" and vowed that "action will be taken" by the caucus.

The purpose of the day could have been summed up in the opening song -- a choir's soulful rendition of "We Shall Overcome." Instead of singing "some day" at the end of that phrase, the choir and crowd sang "We shall overcome today." About 350 people gathered at Coppin State College's James Weldon Johnson auditorium yesterday to discuss concerns in Baltimore's African-American community. But instead of just talking about the problems, those convened were determined that, at the end of the day, plans would be in place to solve them.

Dear Don Imus: So how's that suspension working for ya, buddy? You know, Don, you really ought to, as the current slang expression goes, "holla at a brother" sometimes. And I don't necessarily mean me. Any brother would do. You need to stay in the loop when it comes to black folks. If you'd bothered to holla at a brother, Don, you wouldn't be in the fix you're in now. Suspended from your job. The Revvum Jesse Jackson calling for your head. Having to go on the Revvum Al Sharpton's radio show and eat crow.

IN THIS dispiriting political season comes a ray of hope: Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, is considered a possible candidate for mayor of Baltimore. Also, some state lawmakers wisely are planning to cut Baltimore's residency requirement for political office from a year to six months so Mr. Mfume, a Catonsville resident, could run if he decides to. Baltimore is at a crossroads this mayoral election year. Mayor Kurt Schmoke, cerebral, decent, but understandably burned out, leaves with a mixed record.