Short Shots from an Ugly Un-American: Week 4
Posted by Ray Church on 04.20.2007
When a senseless massacre weighs on everyone's minds, what does Ray Church do? Totally avoids the topic and talks about other issues. Yes, it's an "elephant in the corner" edition of the Ugly Un-American...
Why No Conversation About Virginia Tech this week?
It's not in my nature to duck the big issues, but I'm not going to talk about the senselessness of Virginia Tech this week. That is not to say that I don't think it is important. I recommend you read the piece by Jason Easley here, by newcomer Rob Rabies here, by Brandon Crow here , by Big E here or Josh White here.
I don't think there is anything I can add at this early stage, and it seems a little unseemly for a foreigner to lecture Americans on what they can learn from this tragedy only a few days after it takes place.
Don't worry, I'm more than happy to lecture on other topics, just give this a few weeks to settle down first. In the meantime everything you are about to read will feel a little dated and out of place. Just enjoy the nostalgia for a minute…
Monicagate
Well, if you did google the terms "Monica", "Ken Starr" and "Whitehouse" in the last few weeks, you would notice you're not immediately sent to "The Oral Adventures of Big Willy in the Oval Office".
The new Monica on everyone's lips is Monica Goodling, and at least one media commentator has already made the Freudian slip of calling her Monica Lewinsky. Ms Goodling, however, is not being accused of doing anything with a cigar. She, instead, is "pleading the fifth" and refusing to testify before Congress about her involvement in the firing of Attorneys by the White House. She has hired for her attorney… wait for it… Ken Starr to protect her right not to incriminate herself.
OK, so this is not exactly new, but the question people have finally got around to asking is how did someone who is 33 years of age, who has only been a qualified lawyer for 8 years, become the Director of Public Affairs for the Department of Justice?
Well, here's a clue. She came to power under Attorney General John Ashcroft. Need another clue? She graduated from Regent University. Never heard of it? Well, maybe her earlier college will give it away… Messiah College. Messiah College. Still don't get it? No?
Oh come one people! You haven't heard of Regent University, founded by Chancellor Pat Robertson under the motto "Christian Leadership to Change the World". You know Pat Robertson, the wise and venerable educator who suggested we should "place a small nuke at Foggy Bottom", the head of the United States State Department, or the time he suggested America should Assassinate Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, or even when he suggested that Dover, Pennsylvania would be punished by God for refusing to allow Intelligent Design to be taught in Science Classrooms.
Shocked to hear that from these statements came from a venerable member of the education community? Well, how about I tell you he's a devoutly religious man who runs one of the most influential religious organizations, the Christian Coalition?
OK, that was one massive tangent, so let me bring it back to Ms Goodling and her credentials. Regent University is ranked a "tier 4" school by U.S. News, the lowest ranking given by U.S. News, which begs the question: why are there 150 graduates from this school serving in the current administration? Here's a clue: former Attorney General John Ashcroft now teaches at Regent University.
OK, so getting a degree from a Top University is no guarantee of Intelligence, just ask President George Bush, alumni of Yale and Harvard Universities, and conversely being a graduate of a lesser known University doesn't mean you're not as smart or as competent as other lawyers. But Monica Goodling is 8 years out of University and she held one of the most central positions at the Department of Justice. Why does the name Harriet Myers spring into my mind right now?
The Triumphant Return of Paul Wolfowitz
Who watches the Watchmen?
While we're looking at the "where are they now" file, we get the story of Paul Wolfowitz this week. The former Deputy Secretary of State and former right hand man to Don Rumsfeld (who himself was last seen simultaneously getting a pat on the back and a kick in the pants) was one of the lead architects of the War on Terror.
Unlike other prominent members of the planning committee, Wolfowitz was not given the Medal of Freedom; instead he was given a small job as head of the World Bank, and then disappeared from public scrutiny for two years.
Well, it seems you can't keep an unmitigated disaster out of the limelight, as it was revealed this week that there are calls for Wolfowitz to resign after it was revealed he organized a tax free job in the State Department for his girlfriend Shaha Ali Riza. The job put Riza on a higher rate of pay than her boss, one Condoleeza Rice, earning $193,000 a year, but was deemed necessary by Wolfowitz because if she had continued at the World Bank it would have been deemed a conflict of interest. Keep that last sentence in mind.
Quite frankly, this is the least despicable of the acts Wolfowitz has been responsible for in the World Bank. While Wolfowitz has spearheaded a campaign to rid the third world of corruption, he has, arguably, been responsible for the same sin himself. One of his first acts was to appoint two former members of the Bush Administration as close advisors, each netting a $250,000 job tax free. He placed a Republican activist, Suzanne Folsom, in charge of the Department of Institutional Integrity, which monitored charges of internal corruption.
As head of the World Bank he has been, among other things, in charge of paying for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Is Al Gore Hurting the Global Warming Debate?
Josh White got me thinking over the last week, and there's an entire column on what he got me thinking about so I won't ruin it here, but in short form he got me thinking about global warming, and that got me researching, and that led me to this interview.
The thing that struck me was the opinion poll on Global Warming. 75% of college educated Democrats accept it as gospel truth, 75% of Republicans think it's an outright lie.
It made me wonder if Al Gore is not part of the reason why this seems to be in so much doubt in America, while the rest of the world finished that debate years ago.
OK, follow my logic. With Al Gore as the spokesman for Global Warming in the US, the whole problem divides down party lines. To have the former Democratic Vice President and Democratic nominee for President in 2000 as the spearhead for the debate, this becomes a partisan issue when it clearly is not.
Just think back to the last few debates you heard about global warming and think about the number of times Al Gore's name comes up. Just look at the whole smear campaign on Gore's energy usage bills. (Josh, you can play this at home by counting the number of times Gore's name appears in the video you sent me).
By having Gore as the public face of the debate, it has become a turf war. It's become the Sharks v the Jets, the Bloods v the Cripps… the Democrats v the Republicans. It's no longer about the truth, it's about which side wins.
This is, of course, getting the argument ass backwards. It's not that Gore is destroying the debate by being a Democrat, it's that people take offense to his ideas because he is a Democrat, and it is not that he is the only dog in the fight, just that he's the only dog people recognize. So what, for the rest of the world is a cut and dry issue (90% of the worlds nations with 90% certainty) becomes, in America, Al Gore v Fox News.
International News
Iraq
How strange it is that I get to include Iraq on this without it being about the US involvement.
With all the talk about Don Imus, and later the tragedy at Virginia Tech, you may have missed news that the Iraqi Parliament building was attacked this week (well, last week now). An explosion inside a café within Parliament took place 10 minutes after the Council of Representatives broke for lunch, and killed 8 people including two parliamentarians (ironically, Sunni representatives).
A group called Islamic State in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The group is apparently backed by Al Qaeda.
This was followed by four bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday that, between them, claimed the lives of 183 Iraqis, making Wednesday the bloodiest day in Iraq since Bush's surge plan began.
Japan
The mayor of Nagasaki, and prominent anti-nuclear activist Iccho Ito, was shot dead on Tuesday by a leader of the yakuza gang Suishin-Kai. Unlike Hitoshi Motoshimo, former mayor of Nagasaki who survived an attempted assassination after he made comments about the Japanese emperor's level of responsibility for World War 2, this assassination was not politically motivated.
No, Ito was shot because apparently the gangster's car was damaged at a public works site.
Ito was a four term mayor, and had been in office since 1995. He had made repeated comments promoting peace and an end to nuclear weapons over his years as mayor. To have a prominent mayor killed over a small amount of damage to a fender is both senseless and stupid.
Obviously this gangster's car was overcompensating for something small.
Poetry and Politics
I know, I promised I wouldn't talk about Imus, but I'm sick of this claim that he started a debate about what is appropriate to say in America.
He didn't start it; he did little more than start the latest flair up. If you want to claim someone started it (at least in America), I suggest Walt Whitman. If you want a comparison to the phrase "nappy headed hos", let me suggest Whitman's poem "To a Common Prostitute", which (unless you happen to be in Brandon Crow's English classes) you will not encounter in your average English class, as it was among 12 poems that were deemed obscene in his seminal poetry anthology "Leaves of Grass".
My girl, I appoint with you an appointment—and I charge you that you make preparation to be worthy to meet me, / And I charge you that you be patient and perfect till I come
If you want a debate about race, may I suggest "Huckleberry Finn" and its depiction of "Nigger Jim", which was deemed too sympathetic when Mark Twain wrote it and too racist 100 years later.
Imus didn't start anything. This debate has been around for a long time.
Shut the Hell Up Award
Now, I had no idea who this person was, but apparently she is an attorney, radio talk show host, columnist and blogger from Detroit. (Nothing too bad so far… hell I'm two of those things). She is a regular guest on the Howard Stern Show (eh), Sean Hannity (my dislike meter is ticking) and Neil Cavuto (the system is blinking). She is a supporter of Congressman and Presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo (Danger! Danger Will Robinson!).
Her name is Debbie Schlussel, a vocal anti immigration advocate and, from what I can gather, a wannabe Ann Coulter.
Her blog this week was a perfect example of why I am staying silent until we know more about it and the immediate wounds have time healed.
Here was her blog from when the first information about the Virginia Tech story came to light.
Here's what we know about the murderer of at least 32 students and maimer of at least 28 more at Virginia Tech, today:
* The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as "a young Asian male."
* The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan (per terrorism investigator Bill Warner).
* Pakis are considered "Asian."
* There were 2 attacks at least half a mile apart.
Now, if you've been paying attention at home, you would know that one of these pieces of information is untrue and one is completely irrelevant. The shooter was not a Pakistani, which lead to this update…
**** UPDATE #2: The shooter has now been identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. Lovely. Yet another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students. ****
Which was also wrong. He was not a Chinese National, he was South Korean, and he wasn't there on a student visa, he was a permanent resident, which she finally had to admit on her third update.
**** UPDATE #3, 04/17/07: The shooter has now been identified as a South Korean national, who is a permanent resident. ****
DING! Thank you for playing!
Now, if you never read Mad Magazine when it was culturally relevant, they once ran a piece called "you never can win with a bigot", (this was before it was reduced to rather banal jokes about people's bottoms), where it didn't matter what you said, the bigot had something they would object to. This plays just like an episode of that strip.
"He must be a Pakistani. There's a lot of Pakistani's there".
"Actually, he was South Korean."
"All the more reason we have to crack down on people who abuse our student visas"
"Well, he's actually a permanent resident."
"Typical immigrants!"
You never can win…
The Section Formerly Known as Pimping
I think I've already mentioned most columns in the introduction, but as I am two days late on this I get the chance to mention Justin's column, so please check him out here. Justin, Josh and I all started here at 411politics the same week, so we will all be celebrating our one year anniversary next week. I have the feeling that if you counted the columns, I have posted the least of the three of us, but as my columns are twice as long I figure I have the right to claim seniority.
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