Ringside Politics With A Punch

Last Tuesday, State Senator Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans) hurled a verbal stink bomb at her Senate colleagues. On the State Senate floor, she made the reckless claim that several of her Senate colleagues were voting against the expansion of Medicaid in Louisiana because of “the race of this African American president.” Carter Peterson offered no evidence for implying her colleagues were racists. As noted by Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere, there are plenty of reasons other than race to oppose Obamacare, which is similar to the type of program that conservatives opposed in the early 90’s. At that time, it was being pushed by Hillary Clinton among others as the answer to our healthcare problems. Fortunately, “HillaryCare” was defeated because Republicans were able to convince Americans of the dangers of nationalized healthcare. Race had nothing to do with the debate then and it is irrelevant to the discussion today. Carter Peterson should be...

In the politically correct world of sports today, it is no surprise that the media went crazy in praising Jason Collins, the first gay professional athlete to go public. Collins is a 7 foot free agent center who is a 34 year old journeyman in the NBA. He only averages a few points a game and is used sparingly, but, today, he is a household name. After his announcement, Collins was greeted with overwhelming support. He received a phone call from both President Obama and former President Clinton. Among the thousands of supportive tweets he received were positive messages from the First Lady and his college classmate Chelsea Clinton. Collins was besieged by requests for media interviews and had to admit that he was humbled by the strong show of encouragement. Collins does not have to worry about any type of discrimination. As an openly gay professional athlete, Collins will be given more opportunities in the NBA and will likely receive lucrative endorsement ...