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Mahoganyanais
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mahoganyanais
Post Number: 238
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 29, 2005 - 05:05 pm: | 
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Racial Data Sought for Bush Event
By Dana Milbank
The Secret Service has requested racial information on journalists
and guests scheduled to attend a reception tomorrow night with President
Bush.
White House reporters said they were offended that after furnishing
the customary information -- name, date of birth and Social Security
number -- they were also asked for the race of each person expected to
attend the small reception scheduled before the White House Correspondents'
Association's annual dinner.
The Secret Service said that it has been routine for many years to
request such information of people who will be near the president, and
that the information allows for quicker and more accurate searches of
criminal databases. The policy has not been applied universally, however;
such information is not requested of the people who greet the president
and first lady at White House Christmas parties, for example, and is
not always asked of people who have appointments in the White House
complex.
After officers of the White House Correspondents' Association provided
the Secret Service with names, dates of birth and Social Security
numbers of those who would attend the VIP reception, an agent called back to
ask for racial identities. "It's offensive on the face of it," said
Edwin Chen, a Los Angeles Times White House reporter who is secretary of
the association and who provided the information. "Why do they need to
have race?"
Knight Ridder reporter Ron Hutcheson, the association's president,
said. "I just don't understand the need for it. There may be one, but I
don't know what it is."
A spokesman for the Secret Service, Lorie Lewis, said it is routine
for the agency to request all five main "identifiers" used in the FBI's
National Crime Information Center database: name, birth date, Social
Security number, sex and race. If all five were not requested before, "it
may have been a mistake or an omission," she said.
Lewis said the request has nothing to do with racial profiling. "The
Secret Service does not and will not tolerate racial or cultural bias,"
she said. "The standard background checks are not designed to profile
individuals involved with the event. Rather, it provides for a more
thorough and timely search of the national law enforcement databases."
A White House official from the Clinton administration said race was
not a field in the form it used to clear visitors into the executive
mansion. A Bush White House spokesman referred calls to the Secret
Service.
The agency has become more rigorous in all aspects of security since
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. White House correspondents are not always
subject to the same security measures as the public because agents know
the journalists.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the Secret Service is more frequently
asking for racial information from journalists. The Arizona Daily Star
complained last year after a Bush-Cheney campaign official, on Secret
Service instruction, called to ask for a photographer's race before she was
allowed to photograph Vice President Cheney.
Also last year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that journalists
covering a presidential debate there were asked to disclose their race
on a media credential application. In October, the Rocky Mountain News
reported that journalists covering a Bush appearance in Colorado were
asked to provide race and gender. And last month, the Orange County
Register reported that Cheney's staff requested race and gender information
before the vice president would meet with the newspaper's editorial
board.
Officials from the White House Correspondents' Association had
conflicting recollections about whether the racial information had been
requested for past receptions.
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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 183
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 29, 2005 - 07:57 pm: |
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Maybe they can have a "paper bag test" or something at the entrance of the White House... |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 2461
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 02:10 pm: |
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'Vette,
HAHA!
Yeah. Or you gottah take a fine-comb test. And if you can't run the comb through your (peasy) head, you must grab a mob/bucket and enter the Whitehouse through the rear door. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 2462
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 02:12 pm: |
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Note: I guess I should be more specific with the nicknames. Cause Yvettep and Yvette are so close, that using 'Vette may be confusing. |
Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 189
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 02:37 pm: |
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Yvette and Yvettep are one and the same--like you ABM/Amb, for some reason my name appears differently on different boards.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 2467
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 02:47 pm: |
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'Vette,
Thanks for clarifying. Because I thought my dyslexia was acting up again. |
libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: libralind2
Post Number: 52
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 01, 2005 - 09:07 pm: |
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Cedric The E. performed at this event and in talking about the Secret Service he said they do a great job and he was certain he does not have prostrate cancer. LOL |
abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: abm
Post Number: 2490
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 01, 2005 - 09:21 pm: |
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LiLi,
I saw Ced too. He was funny.
He really got off some good ones against Condi. But she seemed to take them in stride.
The First Lady was pretty funny too. She actually said that by her husband going to bed so early, she's become a "Desperate Housewife". |
libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: libralind2
Post Number: 53
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 01, 2005 - 09:43 pm: |
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Yep Condi was cracking up. I thought Laura Bush was very funny. I found myself laughing in spite of myself..LOL
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cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: cynique
Post Number: 2225
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 12:06 am: |
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Yea, Laura was getting some pretty good zingers in. Apparently ol George is getting his jollies from sticking it to everybody but her. Since they don't have to worry about being re-elected, I expect things between the first couple to be playing out a lot more in the public eye. Dubya may be a dude on his ranch, but he's probably a dud in the bed. |
abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: abm
Post Number: 2499
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 07:20 am: |
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Cynique: “Dubya may be a dude on his ranch, but he's probably a dud in the bed.”
ABM: (Haha!)...which is kinda ironic seeing as he’s suppose to be the ‘most powerful man on Earth’. But you know, they say W was once a bigtime party boy. So maybe he’s so worn out from chasing Condi around the Oval Office during the day that he’s plum tuckered out by dusk. |
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