Although any bomb is potentially dangerous and should not be taken lightly, this story seems to indicate the rather simple and unsophisticated methods being used by allegedly Al Qaeda-linked misfits from Yemen. After all, what bonehead thought it would be a good idea to mail anything from Yemen with a mailing address of a Jewish organization in Chicago. Really? The Yemeni government and, in general, the Yemeni people, are not the most friendly towards Israel and the Jews. You might as well have printed “bomb” on the outside of these packages. Either Al Qaeda is storing up for something big, or they simply do not have the resources anymore to conduct any sizable operation with sizable intellect. Kudos to the intelligence organizations and our military for seemingly reducing the intelligence quota of this terrorist organization. We can never be too careful, and some worry about the increase in sophistication from the failed attempt in 2009 by the “underwear bomber,” but they will have to get better if they want to have a significant impact.
A redundant title, but one worth remembering. Friends and I had a great time this past summer in the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado. Beautiful scenery, great hiking, endless memories. One particular memory was our encounter with a mountain goat, a seemingly friendly intruder to our campsite. We had a fabulous campsite in the Chicago Basin along with great weather, so seeing a very regal-looking animal was all part of the package. He was quiet, wandered the periphery of the campsite, and headed for the hills when he realized that we were not going to feed him. We knew enough not to do that. On his way out, he climbed a rock and left us this memorable photo opportunity:
The Money Shot
We thought it was all pretty cool. A review of hiking guides for the area makes it clear that these encounters are not rare; in fact they are quite common. Pictures abound (although mine is still the best). Nevertheless, seeing one so close was a treat.
Never thought about the possible consequences should we have encountered an unruly member of the mountain goat family. But they exist, as recounted in a story about a recent goring in Olympic National Park in Washington. Wow, never considered such a side to these otherwise elegant animals. However, like other similar stories about wildlife gone truly wild, some suspect that these maulings indicate some imbalance in nature brought on by too much human manipulation. Imbalance or not, just be careful out in the wild!
Despite all that you may think about this country at certain times, there are moments that give us affirmation that we live in a fantastic country and nation. Today, more than 60 years after his death, our country celebrated the service of a downed soldier who participated in the D-Day invasion. His body was not recovered until 2009. Through all the noise of our relentless news media in 2010, it is nice to know that a small story still makes the national news and gives us promise that someone’s ultimate sacrifice still means something. Thank you, John Simonetti, for all of your service and dedication those many years ago in France. Glad to know that you are at rest in our National Cemetery.
While this video is pretty slick, and does give some food for thought, keep in mind the alternatives that lurk out there…they can be scarier than anything this video criticizes – besides, where are the pictures of the 43rd president’s dog and golf outings? What was HE doing when the economy tanked, the deficits went sky-high, and our enemies took advantage of our distraction?
Another prominent TV news personality finds his contract rescinded due to a verbal gaffe based on his own imagination. First it was Rick Sanchez at CNN who had some choice words about Jews and news executives. Now we find that a very well-respected news analyst, Juan Williams, who has been running double-duty on NPR and Fox News over the last few years, expressed some very personal views about Muslims. He was summarily fired by NPR, without an opportunity to fully express his regret. When given the opportunity, he confirmed his personal fears about Muslims on airplanes – but he continued to try to deny that these views were based on prejudice and bigotry.
His personal views spilled out when his host, Bill O’Reilly, asked Mr. Williams to address the situation around the “Muslim dilemma” – a phrase used by Mr. O’Reilly. Essentially, this “dilemma” arises over the feeling that since Muslims perpetrated 9/11, how can we feel safe around them? Mr. Williams agreed with Mr. O’Reilly and went on to express a concern about how he feels when he sees airplane passengers in “Muslim garb” – Mr. Williams feels fear because they are expressing their faith in public and it reminds him of 9/11. Ooops. He failed to mention that not a single hijacker wore “Muslim garb” when boarding those planes.
There are many layers to this story, but those layers are infinitely more complex because Mr. Williams uttered his statements on the Fox News program, “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Not surprisingly, Mr. O’Reilly has taken Mr. Williams’s firing as a “cause celebre” and tagged it with visions of censorship and liberal bias. We can thank Fox News for once again taking a difficult story and turning it into a journalistic sideshow. So, here we go, Bill O’Reilly has yet been given another opportunity to grandstand and showboat his way to the airwaves, and that becomes part of the story despite the fact that the news media is supposed to remain above the story, right?
Watch the full O’Reilly/Williams interview here:
So, maybe we all have this slice of bigotry somewhere in us, and maybe we even have some of the same thoughts as Mr. Williams when we walk on airplanes or in the mall or on the street. By all means, since we are in the United States of America, we have the right to express those views and to tell people what we think. We respect Mr. Williams’s right to speak freely. But we also reserve the right to judge Mr. Williams because of what he says.
In that vein, NPR, as well as Fox News and any other media outlet, has the right to hire and manage staff in support of its journalistic ethics and decorum. So, because his position at NPR was that of news analyst, not editorial commentator, NPR has the right to show him the door. Plain and simple.
Should NPR have handled this differently? Sure, and it is not surprising that a review of the decision-making process has raised issues with some of management’s decisions. At least NPR has the ethical backbone to question their own practices. But to listen to Fox News go on about “censorship” and to hear Mr. Williams (after the firing) talk about a liberal “gulag” at NPR is taking it to an extreme level of rhetoric that fits Rupert Murdoch’s disposition. In quick fashion, Fox News took up the banner with conservative politicians about de-funding public radio. Please! Go find another source for your tax cut for people earning $250K+! Public radio finances are not as reliant upon federal funding as is reported.
Mr. Williams had been walking a fine line as NPR analyst and Fox News commentator, and this conflict was bound to get him into hot water. His roles were very different, and he needs to realize that his Fox News persona cannot be integrated with this NPR responsibilities of fair and objective news analysis. So, Juan, say what you want to say, but do not expect NPR or any other organization to keep you on the payroll despite what you say. There are limits to free speech. Take your $2 million at Fox, the newly found respect from Mr. O’Reilly, and say all you want. Good luck with that.
Oh, Mr. Williams, here is why you were fired – what you said was based on illogical fear, prejudice and bigotry. No other reason. NPR was not “out to get you” because you also worked on Fox. Your comments were not becoming of someone who claims to have journalistic integrity. You want to be concerned about someone’s dress on an airplane? Then be concerned about the guy riding in First Class dressed in a button-down shirt. Be concerned about the guy in tennis shoes in seat 8C. If you want to be vigilant and sow fear, be vigilant in a smart and serious way. Not a SINGLE one of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 wore “Muslim garb” to their murderous rampage. Mr. Williams, think about that while you cash those Fox News checks for the next few years. Feel good that you are completely free to say what you want to say on Fox News. We will mourn the fact that you have left real journalism and now have to proactively say that you are “fair and balanced” precisely because you are not. Good luck….and be careful when you fly. That woman in her Wall Street business suit might just blow you up.
Continual harassment of Anita Hill serves no purpose other than to confirm how low some people can go (or already are). Almost twenty years after hearing about pubic hairs on a Coke can and the acclaimed sexual prowess of a future Supreme Court justice, we again have to be subjected to a Thomas going out of his/her way to harass Anita Hill. Enough already. News is that Virginia Thomas, wife of the esteemed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, took time out of her busy day to call Anita Hill and leave her a voice mail. No need to wonder if it was a prank since “Ginny” admitted to making the call and leaving the message. She’s looking for an apology after all of these years.
So, what was the founder and head of Liberty Central doing? Leaving a voice mail at 7:30 in the morning? Pretty lame! Maybe a call in the middle of the day would have been more appropriate? But we suspect that her call was simply a publicity stunt in order to bring attention to her efforts to secretly raise millions of dollars to bash her and her husband’s enemies.
Ms. Thomas, find other ways to bring attention to yourself. Your husband already won – he has the lifetime appointment and the lifetime pension. He gets to shape American jurisprudence for years to come. He successfully gamed the system to become one of the most inexperienced Supreme Court justices in history, and he continues to show his one-track mind on every single opinion. Will he ever actually consider options before writing any opinions? Or does he just huddle with Justice Scalia to develop the party line? No Thurgood Marshall is he!
Leave Ms. Hill alone. She wants to live in peace and she has long since moved on. So did the country. We all took our sides in 1991. What side we took really no longer matters. Was Ms. Hill lying and a pawn of the Left; was Clarence Thomas the subject of a “high-tech lynching” as he so allegedly claimed? Was he really as inexperienced as his record showed? Why did George H.W. Bush hang on to him? Just so he could court the Right that did not help him in 1992? None of this matters anymore….and even then it was an issue best left behind…
We are simply left with your husband. If you are not going to keep quiet on policy matters, and you are willing to stoke illogical fears with your cause, at least talk about things that matter. Oh, and now we get to hear what Lillian McEwen has to say…hmmmm….
The news is out: Christine O’Donnell, Republican candidate for US Senate to represent Delaware (her third attempt), seemed to suggest in a debate that the Constitution does not make reference to the separation of Church and State. The audience had a good laugh. The video is all over the place:
But, you know what…she’s actually correct. We should all know that the Constitution does not contain the words “separation of Church and State” or anything close to such a phrase. Thomas Jefferson used those specific words only in a letter in 1802 when he was president, years after the ratification of the US Constitution. O’Donnell’s opponent, Chris Coons, did what most people typically do in this situation – he quoted the “Establishment Clause” of the Bill of Rights (First Amendment) which famously prohibits the federal government from establishing a religion or preventing the “free exercise thereof.” Nothing really about “separation,” right? By its very nature, government (federal, state or local) could not possibly operate without somehow intersecting (and potentially interfering) with religious freedom and exercise.
So why are we laughing? She’s correct, isn’t she? Of course she is not correct. All fair-minded people know that the Constitution is silent on MANY topics and that we have spent over 220 years interpreting, amending and understanding the intent of the document and its purpose. We also know that this process has established some very strong “knowns” such as the right to a fair trial, the right to own private property, and equal protection under the law. Institutions and ideas that are so strong that “we the people” consider them bedrock principles in this country. The “separation of Church and State” is one of those; there may be disagreement as to what it actually means, but there is generally no debate that it is not a “founding” principle. So, we laugh when we hear someone question its existence.
But no one should be laughing. This little incident, which will be “spun” by the O’Donnell-Palin wing of the Republican Party into a comment “taken out of context,” actually points to something truly not laughable….that there are people running around (and running for office) thinking that because The Constitution does not specifically say it, there is not a requirement for separation. Their logic has been used to infiltrate school boards and local governments in an attempt to push Intelligent Design and other religious concepts into school curricula and scientific “debates.” Since “separation” does not exist, a government should be able to allow for the equal treatment of these topics. People who make this argument cannot (and will not) tell the difference between scientific theory and religious principle; and they do not acknowledge that a proper “wall” does exist between a priest and public school teacher.
We need to stop laughing. We need to be concerned. O’Donnell can be ignored as a “wing nut,” but not the rest of them.
Not exactly…..Fareed Zakaria provides one of the more succinct summaries of the impact of World War I, a war that officially ended in October 2010. Gives new meaning to the phrase: “the end of combat operations.” Or better yet: “Mission Accomplished.”
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