From The Baton Rouge Advocate: U.S. Rep. John Cooksey, R-Monroe, told a network of Louisiana radio stations Monday that someone 'wearing a diaper on his head' should expect to be interrogated in the investigation of terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York City.
Here's the full quote: "If I see someone (who) comes in that's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over."
wil [email] said at 4:31 PM 09-20-2001: I got out my poison pen, and fired off the following:
Rep. John Cooksey
113 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
20515
20 September 2001
Dear Rep. Cooksey,
I read your remarks regarding racial profiling today in The Baton Rouge Advocate:
"If I see someone (who) comes in that's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over."
These remarks are not the remarks of someone who is worthy of a position in our government. Your remarks, sir, are ignorant, disgusting, and racist. I expect much more from a member of congress.
We Americans turn to you, our elected leaders, to provide leadership and guidance, especially during times such as these, when our democracy is threatened, and our population is frightened and confused.
A great leader once said, “A house divided against itself can not stand.” The terrorists who currently threaten us are counting on remarks such as yours, which will divide this country, and cause us to turn against ourselves.
I suggest that you take some time to read about the mass internment of Japanese Americans during the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, as those who are not familiar with history are condemned to repeat it.
heather said at 12:27 AM 09-21-2001: thank you for your rockin' response!
responding to reactionary idiots like that is unfortunately something i think about doing about 100 times more than i actually do so it's nice to see someone taking baton rouge's slogan, "pick up the stick", to heart.
as what's his name said, "i wanna rock with you, all night. rock with me baby, tonight." i can't get these lyrics out of my head or remember who sang them in the first place.
wil [email] said at 1:38 AM 09-21-2001: That was Michael Jackson. You know, the homosexual pedophile? Read those lyrics, and imagine him crooning them to a 12 year old boy at his magical ranch.
kiche [email] said at 10:43 AM 09-21-2001: ::sigh:: this is -so- la. it is one of the reasons i left (and am hoping against hope that i don't have to return). he actually might have even said it to float out a racist statement to strengthen his popularity base. sure it might be a statement which inflames the country into ripping itself to pieces but on the other hand, he may secure himself another term in office. in la. personal interests always come first, even over the lives of citizens and safety of school children.
i think it's also is a defense of la.'s schizophrenic and utterly stupid "profiling" practices. i remember that cops would pull over anyone they just thought looked suspicious. whenever anyone would say anything about it the police department would scream bloody murder about how leftist fanatics were tying their hands behind their back; but would never offer any proof that it worked, or even that it didn't just waste cops time.
the beauty of all this is that baton rouge has a very high crime rate. it could be argued that the cops needed to take drastic measures because of this; but ceases to make any sense when you realize the cops were mostly pulling over people with out of state plates.
on final note, i would like to say what i've been saying for years about b.r. if there is a crime committed in a one block area (especially if it's on the same part of a single street) put a cop there. every night. don't say it is just a bad neighborhood (redneck pc talk for "blacks"); because it is probably the same individual(s) doing it every night. and it encourages more crime because people see that you can repeatedly get away with it.
anotherben said at 4:41 PM 09-20-2001: not to defend the moronic comment but i think he meant a disposable diaper such as pampers or huggies. the bit about the fan-belt gives me the impression he wasnt talking about turbines in a derogatory sense. there were some guys stopped on a train after the attack with box cutters and $20,000 cash. i think its a safe assumption that someone traveling with box cutters and $20,000 cash is up to something. someone walking around with a diaper on their head fastened with car parts or just carrying a statue of elvis made out of paperclips is most likely not a threat to society.
Milk said at 4:48 PM 09-20-2001: Come again? I didn't understand a word.
Oh yeah, Wil, they don't call us the worst state in the union for nothin'.
Thanks for writing the letter. If I had a lobotomy and an accent, I'd be in public office right now.
anotherben said at 5:07 PM 09-20-2001: um.. the stupid politician was trying to say that suspicious characters should be interrogated. he instead made a vague reference to someone who wears unconventional headresses which could be misconstrued without too much difficulty as a reference to arabs. or maybe he thinks arabs use fan belts to fasten there turbines and i am completely off the mark.
Daisy said at 1:36 AM 09-21-2001: Arabs dont wear turbans so much as Hindi men, so now the Hindus are under attack? or is he just mixing his racial slurs?
Nathan d. koenig said at 4:22 PM 09-21-2001: Well, disposable diapers are bad for the environment. The Magical Student President Patrick McCune was giving a speech to the masses. When he said,"I have seen blood banks overflowing..," I decided I'd rather eat some mashed potatoes. But this guy Cooksey said about three three phrases in that article which conveyed that he's going the way of Earl K. He plans to run against Landrieu next year.
meredith said at 4:46 PM 09-20-2001: the university of virginia's football coach said in a conference call, in reference to the team traveling by plane: "i think, as far as the hijacking issue is concerned -- i'm not saying this to make light of it, by any means -- but i'm not planning on having any arabs in the traveling party. so therefore i think probably that the threat of our being hijacked is fairly remote."
clearly, only arabs hijack planes. no one else. i will sleep better tonight.
meredith said at 4:58 PM 09-20-2001: i'll meet you at dulles around nine. i'm going to wrap myself in an american flag and put my hair in pigtails. if you can't recognize me from that, i'll also be talking in my best texan accent.
mary [email] said at 5:25 PM 09-20-2001: oooh. this will work well. I've got bright blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. and my braces make me look about 14. I'll wear something plaid with white knee socks.
We could probably walk in with automatic weapons tucked into our backpacks and they wouldn't stop us.
what should we do with the plane once we hijack it?
meredith said at 7:01 PM 09-20-2001: we have to be back in time to party on saturday night, so we're definitely *not* crashing it into anything [go away, fbi]. the exorbitant airfare costs have always kept me from alaska...but would we have enough fuel?
also, i think we should skip the weapons and use tweezers. or, we could tuck candy bars into our shirts [a la 'the chase'] and pretend they are weapons.
Milk said at 4:52 PM 09-20-2001: Everyone say "Hooray" for stupid men whole love American football! Highballs and blonde jokes for everybody! Whoo-hoo!
dave said at 5:41 PM 09-20-2001: I'll defend the poor schmuck's statement. Look, if I saw someone who ACTUALLY had a disposable diaper on his head, strapped on with a fan belt, I would definately call the cops. Turbans, on the other hand, don't bother me.
From Plastic.com: "Rep. Cooksey's the one who should be wearing the diaper on his head, because he's obviously got shit for brains."
kiche [email] said at 10:26 AM 09-21-2001: i know this was said earlier, but i don't think anyone wearing a diaper over his head with a fan belt around it is going to be a menace to too many people.
if rep. cooksey wants to keep crime in la. down he should be on the lookout for rednecks with guns.
Neil said at 3:47 AM 09-21-2001: I would have expected that statement to come from Mississippi, sigh, not my home state. If he was supporting racial profiling, he should have just said that. The diaper analogy just does not work on any level :)
Speaking of racial profiling, a guy by the name of Nabil Al-Marabh was arrested in chicago in connection with an investigation into the attacks.
He looks "normal". I would say that he even looks Mexican/Spanish, more than arabic. It's difficult to single out the "arab" race from lets say an Indian, or a Turk for instance. My cousin's husband, who is a Turk, looks sorta like Nic Cage and he is 100% Turkish and is even related to Attilla the Hun. :)
mary [email] said at 1:50 PM 09-23-2001: One good thing to come from this: My friend Mike, who works for Mary Landrieu, says that Cooksey was Landrieu's main threat for her senate seat in the next election. Well, not anymore.
