black…MYstory

This “Middle Finger Award” goes out to the Democratic leadership of the House who, for a brief while, banned Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Mississippi) from speaking on the floor for his comments about another representative, Tom Price (R-GA), whose proposed amendment Taylor saw as being putative to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who are still seeking reconstruction funds to rebuild their homes.

Taylor’s speaking privileges were restored and he apologized but, he sticks by the sentiments of his remarks.

Taylor took exception to Price attempt to bar the use of community development block grants to help fund the rebuilding effort, claiming that doing so was good fiscal responsibility. Taylor took exception to this and said the following:

“He wants to punish [towns affected by Katrina] for mistakes of the Bush administration. Mr. Price, I wish you’d have the decency, if you’re going to do that to the people of south Mississippi, that maybe you ought to come visit south Mississippi, and see what has happened, before you hold them to a standard you would never hold your own people to, and that you fail to hold the Bush administration to.”

Later, a spokeswoman for Rep. Taylor, Courtney Littig, offered the following:

“This is somebody with no idea what he’s talking about, who hasn’t visited Waveland, Mississippi. He doesn’t know that no one is living there, the City of Waveland has no tax base, they can’t rely on regular police patrols, they’re using volunteer firefighters, and there is no way for parts of south Mississippi to rebuild unless they’re able to use community development block grants.”

Another interesting not is that Rep. Taylor still lives with his brother after his home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina so, he might know what he’s talking about.

I’ve always found it interesting that Congress is so worried about civility when issues of life and death are on the line. Today, for putting concerns about civility over concerns about people first, I give the Democratic leadership of the house the middle finger.

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