Americans seeking justice and healing for crimes committed during the civil rights movement, from about 1953 through at least the 1970s, championed a proposed law that would establish a unit in the Justice Department to clear up some of these old cases before the perpetrators all die — sort of a civil rights cold case division.
H.R. 923 is called “The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act” in honor of the slain young boy whose murderers were convicted by a racist-tinged jury, and then bragged about the murder in a national magazine.
The bill passed the House of Representatives June 21, 422 to 2.
It was scheduled for a quick vote in the U.S. Senate, a unanimous consent motion, to speed the bill to President Bush, so the investigations can begin quickly.
Then that old curmudgeon hurdle to progress and to the 21st century, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn stepped in. He put a “hold” on the bill, which is a notice that a senator has gross objections to a matter. As a matter of courtesy in that great deliberative body, holds are honored.
The bill is dead, unless Coburn removes his hold.
Coburn may be a nice guy otherwise, but his recent holds, stopping action honoring Presidential Medal of Honor winner Rachel Carson, and now, delaying justice already too long denied, go beyond the pale of polite society. These are thuggish actions.
I hope he’ll reconsider. But if past history is any sign — his refusal to allow the Senate to vote to stop cockfighting was one mackerel by moonlight — he won’t.
Say a prayer for America today. When justice and honor cannot be had in the U.S. Senate, because one man is a crank — when his saner colleagues cannot prevail upon him — our nation is in trouble. Don’t fly your flag upside down today — but be sure it flies in protest of Sen. Tom Coburn’s inactions.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
what the??
What a douche bag. (If you don’t mind me being crude on your blog.)
LikeLike