A Criminal Re-elected, Commemorated, etc.

William Jefferson, a man caught months ago with $90,000 in bribe money hidden in his freezer (the precise source of that bribe is well-documented) has won re-election to his seat. Any guesses about his party affiliation? Yes, Jefferson is a Democrat from Louisiana who refused to resign his seat when the bribe money turned up in Tupperware containers in his freezer. His constituents did not see his criminal conduct as any cause to oust him. He is a victim of society, the descendant of slaves after all.
In other crime-related news, the House of Representatives passed a resolution days ago, "condemning the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted murderer of Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Faulkner." The motion, which did not carry the weight of sanctions or any other action, produced a landslide 368-31-8 vote along predictable lines. Of the 31 lawmakers who voted for commemorating the murderer, and eight who voted "Present," all were Democrats, naturally. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, an outgoing lame duck who yesterday produced a bill to impeach President Bush, voted for commemorating cop killing and John Lewis, a Georgia Representative who was beaten by police on the Civil Rights march in Selma forty years ago, voted "Present."
Looking at the demographics of the Congressmen favoring commemorations for murderers, none came from South Carolina, I am proud to report, but the plurality reside in New York. Nine of New York's Representatives voted for commemorating a cop-killer, more than the combined total of eight Representatives from the eleven states of the Confederate South. Out of the 39 who voted for commemorating Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1 Representative is Asian by race, 4 are Hispanic, 13 are White and 21 are Black, including 4 of the 5 officers of the Congressional Black Caucus. (CBC) The entire CBC boasts exactly 39 members, which means that over half of the CBC voted to commemorate a murderer of a policeman. I need not mention that this voting pattern is far out of proportion with the rest of Congress. Opposing criminals should not be a partisan issue at all, but evidently a strong majority of one certain group of Representatives cannot find it in their hearts to condemn the murder of police officers.