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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Dallas County commissioner John Wiley Price’s lack of understanding of space phenomena is now national news

by PegNews wire

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price has brought national attention to Dallas after he overreacted to use of the phrase "black hole" during a meeting.

When County commissioner Kenneth Mayfield called the collection of ticket payments "a black hole", Price said it's become a "white hole." Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, demanded an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

The story has now hit political blog Wonkette as well as Rush Limbaugh.

Posted by T.G.

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

I will never stop laughing at this.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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The Wall Street Journal, too: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12156...

sdtex Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Yeah, WSJ has the best take on this I've heard yet:

<i>The central collections office is a "black hole" because paperwork goes in and disappears. It would be a "white hole" if instead it spewed papers out.

So how could Price have gotten this so wrong? Maybe it's not his fault. Maybe the Texas Legislature is just niggardly when it comes to funding science education.</i>

Mike Orren Staff

1 year, 4 months ago
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This is, at once, the most hillarious and the most depressing thing to happen in Dallas.

Also, I'm pretty sure the fairy tale of the boy who cried wolf should apply in this case; I'm pretty sure neither of those two people should ever, ever be taken seriously when complaining about racism again.

Or, we can feed them to wolves. I'd be happy either way, really.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Thanks everyone - all that laughing triggered an asthma attack.

It was worth it!

And the WSJ comment started it all over again...

Can we put forth some press release stating that the views/comments of elected official do not necessarily reflect the intelligence of the rest of the populace?

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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How much progress could Dallas make, what better reputation could Dallas have, how many more big businesses and educated, forward-thinking people could we attract to Dallas if we just got rid of some of the hopelessly dead wood. (No, I said nothing about a wood pile)

This isn't a racial thing, it's a stupid thing!

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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I wonder if anybody has found the footage on the youtube?

Chris Kidd Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Has JWP commented yet on whether he was actually stupid, or just being an jerkoff. Cause I would like to know.

Robert Kelly Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Te beauty of kowtowing your public into accepting any remote statement as a sleight in your favor... eventually you silence all the wiser voices around and you truly are heard.

Live by the sword...

This round is on me!

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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A clear case of both, per usual.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Robert Kelly: The commissioner <a href="http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6953163&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1">defends his black hole</a> here. (Also contains the original footage.)

And by "his black hole", I of course mean whatever they stuffed in his noggin in lieu of a brain.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Pavel's a racist bigot ITT.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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AHAHAHAHA, I love that Mayfield's initial reaction is to laugh at JWP. Its like he thought JWP was making a joke until he realized, he was serious......

LOL!!!

TJ Callaway Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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You know, it's a sad, sad day when I have to agree with the Wall St Journal.

And don't even get me started on Judge Thomas Jones. Just pray to whatever it is you pray to, if you're inclined to pray, that you never get a ticket in that court.

Scott Miller Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Chrisdanger, the footage is online here: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/H...

And here's Wiley Price defending the statement by invoking Devil's Food Cake: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/H...

Chad Jones Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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So why isn't it racially insensitive (besides being extremely childish) when he comes back and says "you mean a 'white' hole"? There goes the MillerCoors HQ after they get a first-hand glimpse of the ineptitude of the leaders of this city while they are making their final decision.

James Scott Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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On a side note: how cute is Fox4 (above link), asking for readers to "BLOG!" their feelings about the issue. I mean, if we're pulling out the dictionaries, let's go over this real quick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Chad Jones Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Actually this is no more embarrassing or surprising to me than some of the things our Yale and Harvard educated Commander in Chief has said over the years.

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Oh, Rick - You're shootin' fish in a barrel. They have desk calendars FULL of those. But put like that it really really is demeaning.

How do we elect these clowns?

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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James Scott has an interesting take re: snagging MillerCoors for Big D. I hope they don't read the paper.

Michael Davis Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Speak for yourself Jason - I didn't vote for ANY of them. (shudder)

The revolution is coming... and I cannot wait!

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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And he had been quiet for so long...I had almost forgotten what an absolute embarrassment he was.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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JWP is a disgrace. His actions over the years have done more to set back racial harmony, and they distract from the very real issues of racial divide we still face in this area. His ignorant overreaction to things like this are very much like crying wolf.

Steve Southwell Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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At least he's not taking it out on poor, defenseless windshield wipers anymore.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Though his days attacking defenseless commuters may have passed - windshield wipers still quiver in his presence.

I have long said that if there were a real and active white supremacist conspiracy, they'd be cloning the likes of JWP. Let's all be honest, there are issues, but I don't think laying claim to one half of the Pantone Color Index solves any of them.

And to wit, I find the terms "white dwarf" and "red giant" extraordinarily demeaning. I mean, first we de-planetize Pluto and now the rest of astronomy has to adjust for political sensitivity. It's almost enough to make you stay inside at night and watch TV.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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So very, very sad. I can't imagine why county gov't can't get a blasted thing accomplished.

LancasterEditor Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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If he is the only one associating the negative connotations of the color black with a race of people, doesn’t that in fact make him the racist? Wow, self racism. I think I stumbled on a new concept. I think it's funny how he compared this to an actual racial slur like “jewing down” as if the two were even relevant to each other. That kind of flew under the radar. Ahh, yes. The double standard. But of course.

clibby2 Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Are you kidding me? How can an educated person in a position of authority NOT know the scientific term “Black Hole”? How embarrassing! What an embarrassment he is to his position.

Beard1964 Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Oddly, I haven't been able to find out what his educational level is - perhaps he isn't educated - or else - he would know it is called a "black hole" because it is BLACK. His ignorace does muddy the waters for serious racial issues. Not to mention his sad attempt at justification comparing Angel vs. Devil Food cake was almost as pathetic as his original statement!!! Who voted for this moron!?

Beard1964 Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Yeah, and what’s worse is that we’re prettysure he was specifically referring to Doyle with the “jewing down” comment. I was personally offended on his behalf.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 4 months ago
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Please, let's stop thinking this is a technical misunderstanding. It's not education. It's not like the term Gravitational Singularity is common accepted parlance that Mayfield chose to disregard in favor of vulgarity.

This is how JWP has always worked.

Oh, and jtmbls, as a fellow SWPL type, we must correct the euphemism for bargaining or haggling and with due respect to the euphemism's ancestry and proponents, the term should hence be "hondling".

BTW Fun read JWP.com

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Here's <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/071108dnmetblow.41f4132e.html">Steve Blow's take</a> on the brouhaha. He's going for a sensitive-to-all-parties middle ground stance, it seems.

John Meyer Staff

1 year, 4 months ago
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I've always liked Blow's writing. He doesn't usually soft pedal and is pretty circumspect. I don't think I'd call him middle ground. I'd just use the word "good."

But Price's claim of "A teachable moment" is by any accounting, pretty lame. Man, if you insist on dishing it out - catching people in stupid vulnerable moments and blowing it sky high to build a career - then you better learn to take it, too.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 4 months ago
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Re: Steve Blow's column Dallas commissioners' 'black hole' brouhaha exposes depths of racial chasms at the Dallas News site, which I see mentioned here:

What you're expressing isn't understanding, you're capitulating to ignorance and absurdity.

I don't care what Price claims he said or meant to say, the video of the incident and his asinine justification - which obliterated any notion that his reaction was misconstrued - is available for all to see. No matter how long he spent or says he planned to spend on the point, the fact that he took umbrage at all, and that this judge Jones saw fit to call for an apology is glaring evidence of the constructs within their minds. There's nothing reasonable or "perfectly understandable" about the commentary of either of them.

"Different viewpoints because of different life experiences" my ass. You're attempting to excuse and legitimize stupidity. Mayfield didn't say "tickets are disappearing like watermelons 'lil Black Sambo stole from the field". He said "black hole". Why should he look for another way to say it? It's a perfectly adequate, apt metaphor. Why should Mayfield check his speech on the offhand chance someone may irrationally perceive some offensive intent? Who can anticipate all permutations of ludicrous interpretation and why should they give them any consideration?

Price calls this a "teachable moment"? To teach what? That an ignorant fool can obtain a commissioner's seat? That a man who I personally wouldn't want adjudicating a pie-eating contest can be in a position to make decisions with the force of law behind them because of some mandate of political correctness?

Something I haven't seen addressed, if this judge Jones is this quick to find a racial motivation with no logical justification, to call for an apology for using an established term of science that happens to include the word "black", is it outside of the realm of plausibility to consider whether this predisposition might color his decisions in the courtroom?

And what do you mean you don't understand what it's like to have your skin tone associated with negativity? Are you kidding? You're "the man". The great oppressor of women, minorities and small furry animals. The White Devil. Given the placating tone of your commentary, I just assumed you were consumed with White guilt.

Even if were true that black has some universally and exclusively negative character - ever heard of the story "Black Beauty"? The Black Watch. Black gold. Our company is in the black - it appears your PC-ness has apparently dulled both your sensory perception and your memory. Truth of the matter is, their skin *isn't* black. It's various shades of a sort of mottled brown. The term "black" is the result of a cultural hissy fit because some didn't like the word "negro". It was good enough for the United Negro College Fund but apparently not for 60's radicals who wanted to divest themselves of something they felt the White man "imposed" on them. If they felt "black" was wholly and exclusively negative, seems odd that they would insist on its usage.

What I can just see happening in some perverse eventuality is that as the result of this nonsense Price becomes some kind of national figure the way Al Sharpton gained notoriety by being a media whore at the forefront of the Tawana Brawley debacle. The public at large knows who Sharpton is not because of any noble act, not any achievement of intellect, but because he championed a pathological liar. Which to my knowledge he's never publicly acknowledged.

If equality is what's sought, then that should mean equal opportunity to be labeled as an idiot when the shoe fits, not hand-wringing accommodation and suffering of idiocy.

nononsense Anonymous

1 year, 3 months ago
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Ahhh...The voice of reason. Such a rare and beautiful thing.

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 3 months ago
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Too long; didn't read.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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Ahhh...The voice of ADD. Such a rare hey plastic bag plastic bag plastic bag

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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Fun fact: you can now <a href="http://www.johnwileyprice.com/campaignFundraiser.html">get a $25 JWP bobblehead</a>! Perfect for throwing into your nearest spacetime singularity.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 1 month ago
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You know, they could have really sold these like crazy if they were just a little more realistic. Say, maybe with his foot in his mouth?

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 1 month ago
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-- Or if it had one of those motion sensors like all the Halloween stuff that howls and hoots when you walk by. That way anything that moves in the room can be shouted down as a racist.

Might be too real, then. Hmm. Needs some refinement.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 1 month ago
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TIME FOR JOHN WHILEY, to slip into the outer limits, a socity of space and earth and the frighten use of space on our earth and alien socity...beside, you may have cool hair, but you got to come into the 21st Socity.....A.T...H.2.O, grand daddy to the black hole.

alexander troup Verified

1 year, 1 month ago
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Oh that would be greatness! Everytime someone walked into the room he could scream "What'd you say, Cracka?!" and his head could spin. Hoohaa! Good fun!

jtmbls Anonymous

1 year, 1 month ago
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NOW.....now, I like peanut butter and crackers....it goes down better, Just add milk and it washes down so good.... besides oh J. W has a second life to live soon...A.T.. H.2.O