Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) paid tribute to the civil rights legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and spoke about President Bush’s final State of the Union Address in the ICC auditorium tonight.

Following an introduction by visibly nervous Hoya guard Jessie Sapp, Rangel praised the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement. He cited the diversity of the Democratic presidential front runners and the growth of the Congressional Black Caucus as evidence of America’s progress towards equality.

Rangel wasn’t as pleased with Bush’s policies, calling them antithetical to King’s vision. Drawing parallels to King’s opposition to the Vietnam War, Rangel attacked the Iraq War and the conduct of the administration as regressive and detrimental to American ideals and interests.

Rangel also addressed the current stimulus package. He claimed that the bill was a poor fix for the supply-side economic policy of the past several years. To conclude his speech, Rangel exhorted the audience to continue on the path of the Civil Rights generation and work for change, concluding that “where the country goes remains in your hands.”

Rangel took a few brief questions, including one from a man advocating a 20% value-added tax (Rangel dismissed the man, asking for a serious question) and one from an intern from his Ways and Means office (Rangel told the audience to direct all remaining questions to the intern), before hurrying out of the auditorium to attend the State of the Union address across town.

—John Cooke

Photo by Vivian Chen, Contributing Editor 

That’s what New Yorker reporter George Packer would have you think. He uses the experience of our own Barbara Feinman Todd, Associate Dean of Georgetown’s brand-new graduate journalism program and the reason Georgetown even has what anemic undergraduate offerings do exist, to explain how Senator Hillary Clinton has a “habit of undermining herself, when the worst might have been averted by a little candor and grace—a tendency that has reappeared in the past few weeks.”

Feinman Todd, before and while at Georgetown, worked as a freelance journalist and particularly as a ghostwriter, and her most famous job was working with the then-first lady to write “It Takes A Village.” Clinton didn’t thank her in the book’s acknowledgments, causing a minor scandal at the time, but Packer’s sources, apparently editors at Simon & Schuster, claim that Feinman Todd really did a bad job and didn’t deserve the credit. I e-mailed Feinman Todd, who declined to comment specifically due to a confidentiality agreement, except to say that she believed the piece to be inacccurate. I’m waiting to hear back from Packer about the story, but in the meantime you can read the relevant excerpt after the jump and judge for yourself.

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Shortly following the announcement that Heroes star Hayden Panettiere was coming to speak at Georgetown, the GW Hatchet announced their own famous speaker: right-wing cheerleader Ann Coulter.  GW apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that, like a small cut on the inside of your mouth, the only way to make Coulter go away is to ignore her.  But at least one GW student thinks its a good idea.  From the Hatchet:

“We feel that GW is deprived from the conservative movement,” said GW YAF’s [Young American Foundation] President, Sergio Gor. “We feel that our students are lacking the substance of a pure education. We are exposed to bias and all these opinions that are very one-sided, and it really has to be our group that brings in the conservative cause and conservative movement to campus.”    

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“We encourage all our liberal friends to come out and learn,” Gor said. “It’s a huge thing for GW to be having Ann Coulter. She’s one of the biggest stars on the speaker circuit. For us to be having her is a good thing for us.”

For those who need a refresher course on some of the more horrific things Coulter has said, check out the Stephen Colbert-Ann Coulter Challenge, from New York Magazine, in which you try to pick which quotes Colbert said and which quotes Coulter said.  (Hint: Colbert didn’t say this: ”Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of ‘Kill everyone who doesn’t smell bad and answer to the name Muhammad.’”)

A certain high-ranking person in Washington’s government doesn’t leave home without his or her Glock, according to WUSA anchor Bruce Johnson. This is especially newsworthy since the Supreme Court is going to consider Friday whether to hear a federal appeals court decision that overturned DC’s ban on handguns.

Johnson saw the official’s gun but was told it was legal. He’s making the lame decision not to say who it is until he finds out more about whether the official has a permit. If there is no permit, that official definitely won’t be wearing their gun after seeing Johnson’s post, so he killed the story before it became anything. At least his blogging is crazy:

It’s information that I have been wrestling with for days now. I learned…no make that…I saw for my own eyes… a gun hidden in the backside of a DC Government official…

At this point I’m not sure that it’s necessary to reveal the name or position; I’m seeking advice on this; but I will say this person holds a visible high ranking public position and comes in contact with the public as part of the job. This city official heads an agency that makes decisions that affect us all at some point.

Did the official really have the gun in their back pocket, like Johnson seems to mean? That’s not working under the gun laws–that’s flaunting them.

-Will Sommer, blog editor. Flickr photo from Greenmelinda.

Turns out Bush is ruining it for Republicans on days you didn’t even know there were elections. Democrat Steven Beshear unseated Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher in Kentucky, and Satan is being fitted for a fur coat. Locally, Dems took control of the Virginia Senate for the first time in a decade, and some Republican SFS grad who I’m totally not related to is the new Supervisors Chairman (what?) in Prince William County, where he’ll put his international relations skills to work by ordering some Taco Bell.

-Mike Stewart, Managing Editor

The October Rebellion, an umbrella group of protest groups, launched an unpermitted march through Georgetown Friday night. The march started at Washington Circle and ended when police cordoned off protests and released them in small groups. According to police, a young woman was hit in the face in front of Wisconsin’s Abercrombie and Fitch and was taken to the hospital. More on the Voice’s Flickr account.

These two protesters were arrested after a policeman was knocked off his motorcycle.

Groups met at St. Stephen’s Church. I saw a can of spraypaint and a slingshot. Someone near me said, “I have three rocks for throwing or whatever.” When they found out we were journalists they threw us out.

But at least we got a picture of their gender-neutral bathroom first!

The Abercrombie & Fitch where the girl was hit in the face with a brick. You can see the bloodstain by the door. I asked a cop if they knew who did it and he said they had no idea because it was thrown from the crowd.
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GU Pride held a rally in Red Square today in response to the hate crime allegedly committed by a Georgetown student in early September. Thursday’s Voice will have more coverage of the rally, as well as any developments with the alleged assailant, Phillip Cooney (MSB ‘10). Until then, why not enjoy some pictures from our Flickr account?

This poster was hung up during the rally. It’s not clear through the paint, but underneath it says, “Why Can’t You Just Be Normal.”

On the left, a speaker at the rally.

-Will Sommer, blog editor

It seems like the Lecture Fund has decided not to bring new speakers to campus this semester; instead, Georgetown is hosting encore performances of past, minor hits. How else to explain their heavyweight guests thus far this year: Bill Richardson (who spoke last year) and Christopher Hitchens (who rocks and all, but lives in D.C. and spoke two years ago)?

I have neither the desire nor the chops to pursue a beef with Hitchens (people who do always come to bad ends), but Richardson’s an easily-punctured puffball of bad ideas. Being gay is a choice? He supports the balanced budget amendment? This isn’t the kind of speaker that students are begging to be see reprised.

The situation is made worse by the hype they built around the Richardson announcement. In the last two days I was told by many Lecture Fundamentalists that a major presidential candidate was coming to speak. I don’t expect the top tier Democrats to come, but anyone is more interesting than someone we’ve already seen. Mike Gravel would be great, and you know he doesn’t have anything else going on. [Ed. note: No one wants to see Mike Gravel, either.]
-Will Sommer, blog editor

Flickr photo from VictoryNH