Day: June 12, 2011

Weiner’s lying demeanor


Some people can get away with the most ignominious of crimes with the simple excuse the devil made me do it.  Flip Wilson used that line for years as a comedian and got plenty of laughs with it, but it’s not funny now in regards to Anthony Weiner who has decided to get help in order to be a better husband and a healthier person.  What kind of help that is, or where he’s going, news reports don’t say and they needn’t.  Whatever he does short of resigning, something most members of the Democratic party’s higher echelon have called for, will not satisfy the cries for his immediate departure nor will justice be served.  I don’t care that most of his constituents want him to stay, the irritating and common thread of his story and the many that have gone before him is the idea that he is otherwise perfect but is now  somehow sick and needs help, that his actions weren’t calculated and well thought out but rather impulsive or due to a suddenly appearing imperfection that can be cured.  It’s really an arrogant excuse that inherently places the one that uses it above everyone else, chosen as it were to be head and shoulders above all others but who has now suffered a fall from Grace. The imperfection that drove Weiner to descend into the bowels of humanity to this recent bad judgment is  simply his  humanity.  We all have given in to the dark side of human behavior in one way or another, either grandiosely or insignificantly and thereby acted inappropriately by some measure or other, but such lapses in moral judgment come with a price….especially for those who are in the public eye.

Moreover, why is Weiner dragging himself, his family his colleagues and his constituents through all this drama and revelation about his embarrassing behavior.  What is it about a person that makes them so insensitive to the pain they cause others even at their own expense that they inflict this emotional trauma upon themselves and by extension us repeatedly?  Perhaps it is the same ethos that drives them towards the political and very public spotlight.  Conversely, it is the personality trait that leads to their downfall. Weiner isn’t sick, he just let run loose inhibitions he didn’t want to control.  In that sense he’s just like everyone else and equally he must face the consequences of his actions.  Kudos to a unified Democratic party leadership that is calling for his resignation.  It’s sad scandal united the Democratic party;that seems to be the way of politics these days.  Weiner go home and stay there!

The Face of American Terrorism


American based terrorism doesn’t get much mention in mainstream media, maybe because those who are responsible for it in many cases reflect the ethnicity of those who write about terrorism.  I mean it’s much easier to call someone who looks different from you and has a funny name a terrorist than it is to call your next door neighbor or the person who attends your church or synagogue one.  Janet Napolitano knows a thing or two about what happens to people who take an even handed approach to this issue of homegrown terrorism because she was excoriated in the media by pundits for a 2009 report released by Homeland Security entitled, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. Because there’s no mention of Islam in the title, the report was denounced by many across the political spectrum.  Media Matters does a pretty nice job of detailing the arguments of some of the people opposed to labelling American terrorism just that, and their analysis can be found here.  Needless to say, the 2009 report doesn’t follow the meme so often repeated in public discourse that ‘all terrorists are Muslim’ because such a statement is false on its face, racially charged and bigoted.

Do you know who the people pictured above are?  They are members of Hutaree who see law enforcement as the enemy and  they planned to kill a police officer, possibly at a traffic stop, and then attack the funeral procession to kill more officers. Sounds much like terrorism to me, but instead these folks were charged with seditious conspiracy against the government, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.  Ever  hear of the group The Sovereign Citizen?  You can see for yourself the width and breadth of this group across the country here.  The FBI has a full page on them which says in essence they do not feel bound to obey the laws of America, do everything to circumvent the law up to and including murder of public officials and the destruction of government institutions.  The ubiquitous federal government isn’t the only entity to see the danger Sovereign Citizen members present to the general public.  A local Texas sheriff, Chief Smith has issued his  own terrorism warning saying in part

Chief Smith wants the Citizens to be aware that these people could be practicing their beliefgs in this area.  Chief Smith warns that these persons have the potential to act out in very violent manners with both citizens and law enforcement if the contact with them is negative.

The Chief has every reason to be concerned.  Just last week a ‘sovereign citizen’ in Florida, claiming he “did not have to follow the law or obey law enforcement officers” fired an AK-47 weapon at a store after calling them repeatedly to demand a product they did not have.  Larry Kelly then led law enforcement officials on a chase through the city of Ensley, Florida before being captured.  Again, last week another ‘sovereign citizen’ Matthew O’Neill was arrested after sending a white powder substance to the Colorado Department of Revenue which was dealing with his tax issues.  It doesn’t take a genius to understand the significance of that in post 911 America does it?  Then it was an act of terrorism, now it’s a disgruntled tax case.  But ‘sovereign citizen’ encounters with the law have also been deadly.  What’s significant is if one were to replace each of the above linked news stories with someone’s Arabic name or reference to their religious belief it would be a sure indicator of their terrorist inclinations, BUT absent such identifying tags, while still abhorrent and deadly, the acts are crimes which we have all too often been accustomed, absent the accompanying terrorism hysteria.  Conservatives have for some time bemoaned the increase in laws on the books to handle what they consider situations already adequately addressed in law, yet many on the right are the first to claim the need for increased laws to save America from ‘sharia law’, for instance to the presence of municipally approved places of worship to articles of clothing to any number of other things associated with Islam and Muslims in America. This is the dilemma America faces today; how to deal with the hypocrisy and demagoguery of politicians and political parties, such as the Republican  and Tea Party, while still legitimately addressing the role of the rule of law.  What’s good for the goose IS good for the gander as well.  It’s either all terrorism or it’s not, but most likely chances are it will not be classified terrorism, especially by the main stream media, as long as people who write about it look like the people above who perpetuate it.