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Thread 5088

Thread ID: 5088 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-02-18

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Texas Dissident [OP]

2003-02-18 19:24 | User Profile

[url=http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/5205936.htm%22%3E]Flag vote doesn't sit well with some business leaders[/url]

Associated Press

Feb. 18, 2003

ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank isn't rallying behind a vote on the state flag that could lead to the return of the Confederate emblem.

In fact, the co-founder of Home Depot and several other business leaders said Monday that the referendum as proposed is unacceptable and divisive. The executive committee of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau was expected to discuss the issue during a meeting Wednesday.

"In my opinion, the citizens of the state should not be asked to vote on a flag that's repugnant to a significant portion of the state," Blank told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"A lot of my frustration is that this distracts time, energy and resources away from the problems we should be working on collectively as a group," Blank said.

Last week, Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue proposed a referendum next year on whether to bring back the former state flag with its massive Confederate emblem. Perdue said he wants the nonbinding vote to be held the same day as the state's presidential primary in March 2004.

Supporters of the Confederate emblem say it represents Southern heritage, while blacks and others say it represents racism and slavery. The state NAACP has threatened an economic boycott of Georgia if the state goes back to a flag with a prominent Confederate emblem.

"In the past, we have been very clear about the fact that we didn't want to have any flag that would be divisive," Georgia Chamber of Commerce chairman Robert Brown said. "We wanted to have a design that would continue to encourage unity."

The referendum proposed by Perdue would have to be approved by both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House. The Legislature could then use the results to decide whether it would consider making a change.

Under former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, the state Legislature changed Georgia's flag two years ago, reducing the size of the Confederate emblem that was adopted in 1956 amid Southern segregationist defiance.

Business executives warned that the flag flap could hurt Atlanta's chances to host a future Super Bowl and its bid for the future headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

weisbrot

2003-02-18 21:17 | User Profile

November 26, 2001 [url=http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/2001/November/er.Nov26/11_26_01blank.html]http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchiv...26_01blank.html[/url] Blank gives $5M for institute endowment

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

Emory’s Institute for Jewish Studies has received a five-year, $5 million “challenge” grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, giving the fast-growing center the springboard it needs to leap to the forefront of Jewish scholarship in the United States.

The institute hopes to establish a $10 million endowment, and the Blank gift was made with the understanding that Emory would raise the additional $5 million. The gift also gives naming rights for the institute to Arthur Blank, co-founder and retired co-chairman of The Home Depot. Blank is an Emory trustee and distinguished executive in residence at Goizueta Business School.

“We are absolutely thrilled,” said Deborah Lipstadt, institute director and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies. “It’s a tremendous vote of confidence in our program for Arthur Blank to make such a generous contribution to the institute and the University.”

“Arthur Blank’s generous and thoughtful contribution,” said President Bill Chace, “will give great impetus and encouragement to the University’s plans for Jewish studies and will place Emory directly in the center of one of the most important intellectual and cultural areas in academic and public life.”

Emory College Interim Dean Bobby Paul said the gift presents the institute with a unique opportunity. “Emory is already blessed with an outstanding program in Jewish studies, numbering among its relatively small but distinguished faculty some of the best known and admired scholars in the country and indeed in the world in their respective fields, from Rabbinics to Holocaust studies to the Middle East,” Paul said. “Thanks to the far-seeing generosity of Arthur Blank, Emory will now be able to take a giant step forward to become one of the premier centers for Jewish learning anywhere.”

“I am delighted that this wonderful and outstanding man has supported Emory again and in such a meaningful way,” said Bill Fox, senior vice president for Institutional Advancement. “Jewish studies has made a significant contribution to scholarship and the enrichment of community life, and Arthur believes in and supports both in his generosity and in his personal life. He is a superb human being.”

“Our family foundation is pleased to be able to support Emory University and the Institute for Jewish Studies,” Blank said. “The endowment we are helping to establish will allow this outstanding institute to further enhance staff and study programs to the benefit of all its students.”

Lipstadt said the institute’s goals for the endowment are “multifaceted” and address everything from faculty recruitment and program space to scholarship and curriculum expansion. In a written summary identifying key needs for the program, Lipstadt also mentioned the need to hire a full-time, professional executive director.

“We’re already stretched so thin—there are a lot of students who want to come and study with us,” she said. “We’ll just go from strength to strength [in using the new resources].”

David Blumenthal, Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies, said he believes Blank saw an opportunity to take a program that was already very good and turn it into something excellent. “Just look at our website (www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/JewishStudies),” Blumenthal said. “There’s a lot going on here. This gift will allow us to create an island of excellence, certainly in the Southeastern United States and probably at a national level.”

A native of Flushing, N.Y., Blank graduated with distinction from Babson College. Currently, he serves on a number of boards in addition to Emory’s, including the Carter Center, the North Carolina Outward Bound School, Cox Enterprises, Post Properties and Staples. He will begin serving as chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 2003.

Founded in 1995, the Blank Family Foundation is committed to supporting programs and organizations that create opportunity, enhance self-esteem and increase awareness about cultural and community issues among young men and women. Grants to date total more than $40 million.

Emory established the Institute for Jewish Studies in February 1999 to pull together its existing graduate program in the field and create an undergraduate component. The institute has a core of 13 faculty, three of whom hold chaired professorships, with another 13 professors serving as associate faculty.

“Emory’s long and admirable openness to the Jewish community of the South and of the nation is one of its distinctive and unique features,” Paul said. “The gift from the Blank Found-ation is a fitting capstone to this worthy tradition.”

Back to Emory Report November 26, 2001

Drakmal

2003-02-18 22:40 | User Profile

Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Feb 18 2003, 13:24 ** The state NAACP has threatened an economic boycott of Georgia if the state goes back to a flag with a prominent Confederate emblem. **

When I read this, I had to double-check that I wasn't reading The Onion. :lol: That's hilarious!

Robbie

2003-02-20 23:41 | User Profile

Originally posted by weisbrot@Feb 18 2003, 21:17 **

“We are absolutely thrilled,” said Deborah Lipstadt, institute director and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies. “It’s a tremendous vote of confidence in our program for Arthur Blank to make such a generous contribution to the institute and the University.”

**

Deborah Lipstadt--Ah yes; the broad who brought down David Irving :angry: .

amundsen

2003-02-21 12:41 | User Profile

"In my opinion, the citizens of the state should not be asked to vote on a flag that's repugnant to a significant portion of the state," Blank told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Yet another reason not to watch sports. This owner is concerned for blacks who might be offended by an inanimate object while employing blacks whose behavior on and off the field is quite often childish, disgusting, against the law, and in violation of Western (White) morals. If Whites didn't support football it would dry up overnight and there wouldnt be this wealthy class of degenerates that modern athletes have become.

Sertorius

2003-02-22 18:25 | User Profile

I find Jewish culture distorters like Blank to be repugnant.

To hell with Arthur Blank and the Superbowl. I couldnt care less whether Atlanta gets it or not. Shoot, after Ray Lewis/Buckhead shooting incident, it wouldnt bother me if we never had another Superbowl.

One of the best reasons to hold the vote is to show the so-called "business community" that our culture and history come before their profits. If the carpetbagger Blank doesnt like it he can go back to Flushings, along with the other multinationals-- just dont forget to take your illegal alien workforce with you and the multiCultist crap you and your buddies fund with you.