Mael

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33896

THE MEAN SEASON
'Black' hurricane names
brewing swirl of dissent
Rush Limbaugh rips congresswoman's call for African-American storm monikers

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Posted: August 3, 2003
4:45 p.m. Eastern


By Joe Kovacs
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com



Was Hurricane Andrew too 'lily white'?

Do devastating hurricanes need help from affirmative action?

A member of Congress apparently thinks so, and is demanding the storms be given names that sound "black."

The congressional newspaper the Hill reported this week that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) feels that the current names are too "lily white," and is seeking to have better representation for names reflecting African-Americans and other ethnic groups.


Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas

"All racial groups should be represented," Lee said, according to the Hill. She hoped federal weather officials "would try to be inclusive of African-American names."

A sampling of popular names that could be used include Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn, according to the paper.

Jackson Lee's call is brewing its own storm of response across America.

A WorldNetDaily reader wrote:

"You can be sure if there were too many 'black' names assigned to hurricanes, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee would instead be complaining that this practice unfairly stereotypes blacks as violent. Let's hope this silly storm blows over!"

Another, Greg Cook, says, "This is ridiculous. How about naming the storms after gang members, or infamous criminals? How about not having any name at all associated with hurricanes?"

Regina Roberston writes: "We should only name hurricanes for foreign officials who are in hiding or considered to be terrorists, or assisting terrorists. We could name the hurricanes after known illegal immigrants, since they are both unwanted and unwelcome anyway. Or how about we only choose French names, so the fear of hurricanes will be put to rest?"

Radio talk-show giant Rush Limbaugh says he was having dinner with his wife when he first learned of the proposal.

"I just threw up my hands. I said, 'Has it come to this now?'" Limbaugh recounted on his show.

"There's discrimination and actually elected officials wandering around worried about the discrimination in the name of hurricanes. And hurricanes are destructive. You know nobody's very excited when a hurricane's heading their way, and yet here she is demanding that hurricanes be named after black people.

"You know it used to be that hurricanes were named only after women because they were destructive and unpredictable. And that's the reason. The feminists grew upset about that, demanded that hurricanes be named after men, and so now, the civil rights leaders are demanding black names for hurricanes.

Limbaugh continued his analysis, saying it was not the mainstream populace responsible for what he called the "Balkanization" of race relations in America.

"It is these elected black leaders, the civil-rights coalitions – they're the ones that keep causing all this racial divide, they're the ones that keep calling attention to all this," said Limbaugh. "They're the ones that keep stirring this pot. They're the ones who don't want there to be any colorblind society. They're the ones who keep being agitated and trying to agitate others over all this, and now it's descended into the meaningless element of the names of hurricanes."

According to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, hurricanes were for centuries named after the Catholic saints' days on which the storms fell.

In 1953, the United States abandoned as confusing a two-year-old plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) when a new, international phonetic alphabet was introduced. That year, weather services began using female names for storms.

The practice of naming hurricanes solely after women came to an end in 1978 when men's and women's names were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

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I hope she gets this change made. I can just imagine the headline... "Hurricane Uncle Tom rips through S. Louisiana. 100 dead, no cabins injured."


edit: there's a poll too! http://www.worldnetdaily.com/polls/ needs a login though.

Cynthetiq

maybe then after a while there will be hurricanes called himmicanes...

or even hurricanes of asians which will be weird because asians don't have hurricanes, they have monsoons.

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spectre

This is painfully stupid for two reasons:

1.) Who the fuck wants a hurricane named after them?
2.) Don't our elected officials have better things to do than bitch about the names of hurricanes?

I'm starting to understand why other countries think we're stupid.

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GakFace

not to mention Spec... for all the morons who make racial jokes... this will only fuel them... sadly enough.

Last I heard, the Hurricane names weren't too terribly inventive anyways. So who cares what they are called? I never cared for the name, I only worried if it was gonna hit people and hurt 'em.

Whats next.. Restraining orders against Hurricanes named John?

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World's King

I want hurricanes named after Italians.


Mugsy, Slim, Bruno... shit like that.

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Phaenx

Hurricane Lando Calrissian. FUCK LANDO CALRISSIAN!

What a retard.

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kukyfrope

this is asinine.

dis hurricane all am be called hurricane jamont. it be bustin up grill pieces all over dis bitch.

BBtB

Eh, whatever. Lets just not make a "thing" out of this.

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seretogis

Oh god, that is hilarious.

I agree with spec, though, about the moron politician that obviously has nothing better to do.

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Pragma

If the elected officials have nothing better to do, they can work on getting us money back, not renaming fucking hurricanes.

I've got a "big issue" with the government - the fact that I pay so much money to social security (100$ out of my last paycheck, in which I took home 890$ for two weeks), despite the fact that I'll never see a dime in social security. Fix that. Not hurricanes.

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MacGnG

what about name them after dogs?
hurricane fido, rover, lassie, ruffus...

this is silly but it must be a slow news day or something.

Jesus Pimp

Hurricane Dolemite heh..

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redravin40

I think naming them after heavy metal bands would be the best way to go.
"Today Hurricane Black Sabbath destroyed Miami"
"And for an update on hurricane Slayer."
"The winds of hurricane Rammstein reached 150 mph."

DEI37

Yes, how fucking stupid can somebody be?!?! I agree that it's this kind of thing that just fuels on the racial anger. Those who want the peace need to just cool it. They are calling attention to it.
I agree that naming hurricanes is dumb anyways...I know I'm not out there lobbying for a hurricane Joe or Joseph. What a stupid bitch. I hope a hurricane hits her house!! Well, kinda.

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juanvaldes

I always figued they were named after whoever first notced it was a hurricane.

Halx

HURRICANE SHANEQUA IS HEADED OUR WAY!

Oh well, I still remind the most devastating hurricane in recent history.

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JadziaDax

Tell me, please, how all these names are "Lily White"? I see Latino/a, Italian, French, etc. All different types of names representing as many Nationalities as possible (these are the list of hurricanes for Atlantic storms. For a list of Pacific names go here).

2001: Allison, Barry, Chantal, Dean, Erin, Felix, Gabrielle, Humberto, Iris, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Michelle, Noel, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van, Wendy

2002: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Isidore, Josephine, Kyle, Lili, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paloma, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, Wilfred

2003: Ana, Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fabian, Grace, Henri, Isabel, Juan, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor, Wanda

2004: Alex, Bonnie, Charley, Danielle, Earl, Frances, Gaston, Hermine, Ivan, Jeanne, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter

2005: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince, Wilma

2006: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Keith, Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie, William


Give it a rest people. There are better things to worry about.

aintyoboyfriend

For some reason, reading this right now, infuriates me.

Has affirmative action and anti discrimantion laws gone so far, that the only things that minorities have to argue about are the names of fucking hurricanes?

Macheath

Rubin Carter surrenders...

obediah

I don't see any problem in giving a hurricane a "black" name. It does kind of fly in the face of the trend of removing 'black' or phrases that sound "black" from common saying with negative connotation (black market, etc...)

Although as a whitey, I'm entitled to my one consipiracy theory, and mine is that a there is a secret council of minorities that tracks the use of all offensive terms and as a great joke, makes every sensitive term offensive as soon as it has replaced the previous offensive term.

My dream is to come up with a universal inflection system that can be used with every term to denote respect, indifference, mockery, threat, etc... Think of all the arguments we could avoid.

miked10270

2 things disturb me.

1. Hasn't Rep. Shiela Dackson Lee ANYTHING better to do with her time?

2. What the FECK is Texas of all states doing with a Female, Black, Democratic Congressional Representative? Somebody PLEASE tell me that she's gay, disabled, anti NRA, & a Volvo driver as well.

Mike.

docbungle

*blank stare*

If this woman tripped on a shitty diaper and smashed her face through a plate glass window and fell down three flights of stairs and hit the ground so hard she bounced all the way back up the stairs and then landed on a thumbtack......well, that would be ok with me.

*blank stare*

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clavus

Of course, if hurricanes had traditionally been given "black" names, you KNOW this cunt would demand that the tradition be discontinued, because it would "cast African Americans in a negative light."

I'm still having trouble with the "black" names thing . I share the first name of a famous black guy. I'm a white guy. Go figure.

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DEI37

Wow, doc...you alright? That's just funny!!!

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StormBerlin

Can black people not be named Andrew?

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StormBerlin

Hilarious... Just what I was thinking?

seretogis

Hahaha, that, sir, is a brilliant observation.

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Infinite Hybrid

*rolls eyes*

This is downright stupid. I mean really now.

And this is coming from another black person.

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zxello

OMG, one of my really good black friends is named Aaron, and another one of my white friends is named Aaron, so can the next hurricane be named Aaron or would that not be pc? this is so stupid that this congress woman has nothing better to do with her time than to bitch about a FLIPPIN HURRICANE!!

I can just see it now.... *drifts into a day dream*

The year.... 2010....headlines read "New Law in all states : White people can only have named that sound "black" and must not have vowels"

this congress woman needs to lay off the tainted sugar cane in my opinion.

just my 2 cents.....

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Hrothgar

Let's Hope Rev. Jesse Jackson, Johnnie Cochran, and Rev. Al Sharpton don't hear about this.

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tricks

On a not-really-related note, what is the origin of "black" names anyhow? Coincedentally, I asked some friends who are black where the names came from just last week. They had no clue.
Any ideas?

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Bill O'Rights

Y'know...I've often wondered that myself. I've run across the name Decabooter before. Now, where the Hell did <b>that</b> come from? Decabooter Jones...of course he was a little gangsta. Had to be, I suppose, else he was gonna get his ass beat for havin' that name.

What really frosts my balls is that with all that ills this country, as of the time that I read this, this is where our Congress decides to spend valuable time and resources. I suppose that perhaps I should be tickled pink that things are aparently so rosey that this was the best use of their time.

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RoadRage

Does she mean African continental names, like Mbuto Sese Seko? Or the modern habit of naming some child some random phonemes that someone pulled out of their ass, like Lateeka or Shalaylee? (Oddly enough, the Shalaylee I've met is white.)

Andrew Young should be pissed off that Texas Congresswoman is calling his name "white". Or maybe he's "too white" in her opinion.

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Mael

on the bright side, it seems to only one congressperson behind this, i don't think the article said she had any real support. just the fact that she thinks it's important though could end up wasting time for the rest of them.

maybe what they should do is just get more hurricane's. that way more need to be named, and more diverse names can be used. that way names from every culture can be represented. if there are only 5 hurricanes one year, then that might not get any non-lilly white names used.

i propose that any storm that has winds within 20 mph of the amount that designates it a hurricane gets designated a hurricane. i know, it doesn't really deserver it. but then she can name that one a black name, or any other name she wants as long as it isn't from an underrepresented ethnicity (sorry, that means no asian or indian (dots not feathers) names). i think we should find other ways in which to introduce affirmative action type programs into all aspects of life. it could be a hoot.

butthead

Heh, hurricane Jamal.

TwistedFate

I agree with RoadRage that some of the black people I've met have names pulled out of thin air, but here are a couple I've actually met and where their names came from.

Frankeisha - from her father named Frank and her mother Keisha
Lemonjello - pronounced (le-mahn-je-low) Named for the lemon jello the mother was served in the hospital
Orangejello - pronounced (o-rahn-je-low) twin to Lemonjello. You can figure out where this one came from.
Female - pronounced (feh-ma-lee) any guesses?
De'wayne - ok the ' is a way to distinguish it from other Dewaynes, but the name is pronounced de-juan (WTF??)

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wlcm

Wasn't there that one black boxer that was the Hurricane? Denzel Washington played him in the movie?

Anyways i had always thought there was an international council that named the hurricanes, so what does a US congress woman have to do with anything?

Its pretty embarrassing that she from texas too...

I want some hurricanes named and written in chinese. Maybe even named in tounge click languages.

tricks

Either way, the way things are going in Texas, she's going to get re-districted out of office.

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XenuHubbard

I demand that hurricanes be named after Swedish people.
Minnesota agrees.

Hurricane Sven is coming, people.

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MikeyChalupa

From her own site:



She couldn't name her own kids "African-American" names, but wants to waste everyone's time with this crap. Read up on this woman, her main agenda seems to be illegal immigrants. She's all for them.

http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/

Cornelius Bennett was a fuckin' great football player though. Go BILLS!

-Mikey