Transcript of All Commentaries for September-October 2005*

PROGRAM #1

Cindy Sheehan’s Bush-bashing and diatribe-peppered campaign was drowned out by Hurricane Katrina but America’s Far-Left extremists and other anti-war activists will try to bring her into their limelight again. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. – the independent voice of freedom in the black community.  From what we hear and read, the grief of Mother Sheehan doesn’t reflect the views of her family or the son who died a hero’s death in Iraq. Her verbal outbursts of pent-up hatred increasingly seem to betray even her sense of patriotism.  Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #2 

There’s no doubt Gulf Coast states and New Orleans, especially, are extremely grateful for the federal government’s emergency help and relief assistance. But…This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. – the independent voice of freedom in the black community. We’re not sure it’s healthy or wise for our government to commit so much of our national treasure and undertake so many federal resources to the rebuilding of the devastated area as President George W. Bush has proposed. Are we, as a nation, now promising that for every disaster, U.S. taxpayers will pay for the damage and manage the full restoration?  Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #3

Federal Court Judge Lynn Hughes has finally turned the tables on frivolous lawsuit litigants.  This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. – the independent voice of freedom in the black community. Ten years of legal claims, harassment and trials forced by the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation and some allied environmental groups against business tycoon Charles Hurwitz, turned out to be specious. So Judge Hughes decided the FDIC plaintiffs should cough up seventy-two million dollars for Hurwitz’s legal expenses because defendants who win shouldn’t be punished with undeserved legal costs.  Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #4

From roulette tables and state lotteries to slot machines and neighborhood card games or bingo, gambling in the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community…. Ever since the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, which provides that any federally approved Indian tribe may obtain a U.S. gambling license, nearly 300 casinos, some of them as sophisticated as anything found in Las Vegas, have sprung up on or very close by Indian reservations and some now are not even close by. Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #5

One of the ablest press aides and political strategists who ever served a President is fighting for his life at age 81 because of bladder cancer. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community…. Lyn Nofziger gave up a promising career as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for San Diego’s Copley Press news service and publishing chain in 1966 to become the loyal and effective press advisor to Governor and, later, President Ronald Reagan. It was a 22 year run. Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #6

Thanks to the people of Bozeman, Montana, and a Wall Street Journal editorial, there’s a simple way for Uncle Sam to pay for helping to restore a lot of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community….. President Bush has pledged billions of dollars to rebuild so Bozeman folks think Congress should rescind funding for over 6,000 special “pork” spending projects individual Members slapped on to the recent Federal Highway Act and send the funds instead to where they are really needed. We couldn’t agree more. Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #7

A man I knew well as a tried and true friend and a man in Chicago that many of us knew as one of America’s foremost black business entrepreneurs both died in August. Both will be sorely missed but for different reasons. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community. I met Gene McCoy from West Virginia in 1975 when he joined the Downtown Kiwanis Club of Washington, D.C.  John Harold Johnson of Chicago was the premier marketer of cosmetics for the black community and a publisher who focused on blacks for a national audience. Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #8

A long ago enacted law, known as the Davis-Bacon Act, requires contractors, working on government projects such as the Katrina disaster rebuilding effort, to pay workers the top prevailing wage in the area where work is to be done. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community. Contractors figure such top pay has to be matched by top skill workers. This inevitably means that a great many unemployed workers who may not be so skilled will be denied a chance to begin rebuilding their own lives and careers in the devastated work force. Complete Commentary

PROGRAM #9

One of the greatest actresses ever to grace motion picture screens would have been 100 years old had she lived to this September. She actually died in New York at age 84 in 1990 and her remains are buried in her beloved birthplace, Sweden. This is Jay Parker with the Lincoln Institute in Washington, D.C. –  the independent voice of freedom in the black community. Four times a nominee for Hollywood’s Best Actress Academy Award, but never a winner though she should have been, Greta Garbo’s life and greatest film achievements from her first performance in 1925 to her retirement at age 37 in 1942, are being celebrated this fall in Sweden. Complete Commentary

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