READER ADVISORY: POLITICAL CONTENT. IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET RILED ABOUT A TRUE, BUT POLITICALLY INCONVENIENT STORY, HIT DELETE *RIGHT* *NOW*
Just a few days ago, I as working with my collaborator, Kenneth Nichols, on the screenplay I've been futzing around with for a couple of years now. One of my plot devices is that a small of Marines, having come upon a small girl who is one of few survivors of an ethnic clensing massacre, and not knowing her name, one guy says, 'I got it. Let's call her Anne Frank'.
To which the Team Leader says, 'Freakin' A!'
I know I will never forget the name Anne Frank.
And after what I read earlier today, I know I will NEVER forget the name Antoinette Frank. Just wondering: am I the only person who enjoyed watching the police drama, Homicide: Life on the Street? Does anybody remember the episode "The Saigon Rose"? Well, knock me over with a feather- that episode as, in very large part, based on an actual incident that happened in New Orleans.
As I pointed out in an earlier posting, I am VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED to Affirmative Action. If somebody can do the job, fine;they should get it regardless of race, creed, national origin, or sexual orientation, etc, etc. Most affirmative action advocates will NEVER admit, that lowering standards for a favored groups has a price tag...witness Antoinette Frank.
It seems that the New Orleans Police Department got the word on 'diversity, diversity, diversity' from the Feds. So, back in 1994, when Antoinette Frank, a black woman applied to be a New Orleans cop, she was in. Never mind she lied on her application about her psychological problems and family history...and got caught in those lies. A twofer is a twofer. A bit more than a year after joining the force, she was on trial for committing an armed robbery and a triple murder--WHILE ON DUTY. One of the people killed was her partner...who was moonlighting as a security guard at the resteraunt Frank and her boyfriend chose to rob. Frank has spent the past 14 years on Louisiana's Death Row.
Just wondering: until reading this, had ANYBODY heard that story? This is the sort of thing the mainstream media does NOT like to cover.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Mispronouncing a River
You wouldn't expect that you could get in much trouble for mispronouncing the name of a river. I've done it myself. For example, when I was a little kid, I did a lot of reading, and I guessed that the name of the river floing through London should rhyme with 'Ames,' Iowa. No such luck. The 'Thames' is pronounced 'temz.' Go figure.
Now, the Niger is the third largest river in Africa. It follows a boomerang course, flowing north, then east, then south, through Niger, then Nigeria. Back in 1972, Joseph A. Walker wrote a play entitled 'The River Niger,' which won an Obie as the top Broaday show of the year, and later a movie starring Cicely Tyson, and James Earl Jones. One day, my dear ol' mother, may she reast in peace, asked me about that play. Apparently she'd read about it, but had not heard anyone else discuss it. And Mom mispronounced the name of the river. Uh-oh! I was totally aghast. I said, 'Mom, it is called 'The River NIGER!' That's Niger! With ONE G! NI-GER! NOT the way you were pronouncing it!' "Are you sure?" 'Yes, Mom, I am sure! I am totally, 100% sure! Trust me on this one- it's 'Niger'!' I am SO glad I managed to make that correction before dear ol' mom committed a major gaffe.
P.S. All things considered, I'm grateful for the fact that my mother never met the activist, Niger Innis.
Now, the Niger is the third largest river in Africa. It follows a boomerang course, flowing north, then east, then south, through Niger, then Nigeria. Back in 1972, Joseph A. Walker wrote a play entitled 'The River Niger,' which won an Obie as the top Broaday show of the year, and later a movie starring Cicely Tyson, and James Earl Jones. One day, my dear ol' mother, may she reast in peace, asked me about that play. Apparently she'd read about it, but had not heard anyone else discuss it. And Mom mispronounced the name of the river. Uh-oh! I was totally aghast. I said, 'Mom, it is called 'The River NIGER!' That's Niger! With ONE G! NI-GER! NOT the way you were pronouncing it!' "Are you sure?" 'Yes, Mom, I am sure! I am totally, 100% sure! Trust me on this one- it's 'Niger'!' I am SO glad I managed to make that correction before dear ol' mom committed a major gaffe.
P.S. All things considered, I'm grateful for the fact that my mother never met the activist, Niger Innis.
Spreading it Around
On November 30, 2003, I helped my Greataunt Hazel Blecha celebrate her 109th birthday. I had a great visiting with my second cousins, and saw some really interesting places in Des Moines, Iowa. (Yes, Des Moines, Iowa. Who knew?) When it came time to leave, it occurred to me that there was a very real chance I would never see her again, so I decided to give her a really great goodbye. (Greataunt Hazel managed to surprise me, her doctors and just about everybody else by sticking around for another 2 years and 11 months.) She was in a wheelchair in the dayroom of the Assisted Care Facility she was living in, so I knelt down, and smooched her on the forehead, oh, about a dozen times, and then maybe about a dozen times more.
*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*smooch*
At that point, the lady sitting in a wheelchair next to her, looked over at me, and said, 'Ya wanna spread that around a little?' And I thought to myself, why do women have to be living in a nursing home before they take such a helpful, cooperative attitude?
Meeting Senator Gore
When I was on my way to my very first assignment as a PACE Professor in early November 1988, I got onboard a flight to London (where I would catch a flight to Bahrain, and get onboard the USS Josephus Daniels). Who did I see but Senator Al Gore and his wife Tipper. (As I recall, Gore as on his way to give a speech at the Oxford Union.) Before I took my seat, I stepped over to the Senator, told him that I thought he'd run a good campaign and that the Democrats would have done a lot better if he'd been on the ticket. He smiled at that. Then I complimented Tipper on the work she'd done restricting youth from hearing profane record lyrics, and then I managed to shut up and take my seat. End of story.
That much is the truth, the truth and nothing but the truth. I like to *imagine* that about 3 years and 8 months later, when Bill Clinton on the Democratic nomination, Senator Gore called him up, and said, "Congratulations on winning the nomination, Bill. But Kent Mitchell says, "you'll do better with me as your VP."
He would reply, "Well, if Kent Mitchell says so..."
I can't prove that theory, but I will point out that Al Gore was on the Democratic ticket for the next three Presidential elections after 1988, and in all three the Dems did better than they did with Dukakis/Bentsen.
Kent
Alaska Tales I
As someone who lived in Alaska for a bit over five years, I watch the press coverage of Sarah Palin with a mix of amusement and disgust. As in, are Lower 48ers such complete ignoramouses? Well, as any Alaskan will tell you, Lower 48ers have an amazing blind spot when it comes to anything north of Seattle. Several years ago, a Canadian comedian filmed a series of clips of him asking Americans (frequently at Ivy League colleges) questions, i.e.
'Will you sign a petition protesting the Canadian practice of disposing of senior citizens by placing them on ice floes?' 'Should the Government of Saskatchewan allow a controlled rhinocerous hunt?' 'Should Canada have a Navy since it is a landlocked country?' (I have known some Canadian sailors, and they are a fine bunch of fellows), 'What is your feeling on Canada adding a ninth year to its educational system? To Canada completing its one-thousandth mile of paved road? To Canada's first Afro-Canadian Prime Minister?'
Alaskans were laughing twice as hard as the Canadians. (I saw that comedian say in a later interview that the only Americans who were wise to him, and got the joke, were people in uniform...that figures.)
My dear old Dad would frequently send me clippings from the Sunday New York Times, imparting their wisdom about "What Should Be Done About Alaska." I got in the habit of sending him clippings from the Anchorage Daily News, which would, without exception, have responded to the NYT editorial with a column saying, "look at what those Fidiots in New York are saying now!" For anyone who is interested, 35 years ago, the New York Times as predicting the imminent onset of a New Ice Age and opposed the construction of the TransAlaskan pipeline on the grounds that it would lead to the extinction of Alaskan caribou. So the US Senate voted, tied, and the Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, cast the deciding vote. (Yes, Agnew later resigned in disgrace, but he hit a home run that day.) Over 35 years later, the caribou population has QUADRUPLED. The reason almost all Alaskans loathe the New York Times, is you'll never convince Alaskans that the NYT does not long to make all Alaska a giant park with no human inhabitants except those whose ancestors were there prior to 1867...or maybe 1492. In contrast, I favor demolishing all manmade structures on Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island, thus restoring those places to their original pristine state.
I have now lived long enough to have been around for Troopergate I and Troopergate II. Troopergate I was the report by members of Bill Clinton's State Trooper security detail that he as partial to sneaking out of the Governor's Mansion for late night trysts in his limo. Well! I mean, the very idea that WJC would...hmmm... I'm sure that's just as baseless as the FBI agent's account that JC liked sneaking out of the White House for evening trysts...hmmm. Sounds like his standard operating procedure, doesn't it?
Troopergate II is the report that Governor Palin asked the State Director of Public Safety to fire her ex-brother-in-law, and when the DPS refused, fired him. As Governor, Palin had the right to fire the DPS for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. Most of the press reports state that it as quote a nasty divorce endquote. Only a few reports mention that that ex repeatedly threatened Palin's sister. I know of few people scarier that an angry man with daily access to firearms.
Granted, Governor Palin did NOT handle that problem like a True Alaskan would. If someone makes credible threats of violence against a True Alaskan's family, that TA will get a 12 guage shotgun, load the magazine with three shells of deer load and three shells of double 0 buckshot, empty the magazine into the threat at close range (repeat if necessary) then, if it is wintertime, dump the body through a hole cut in river ice, or, in summer, dump the body where the bears will dispose of it.
There is nothing funnier to an Alaskan than a gun conrol advocate who thinks they are ever going to have success in Alaska. Never mind the fact that the strictest gun control laws in America *were* in the District of Columbia (go ahead, look up how DC ranks in crime statistics). First off, in the case of a real emergecy, when seconds count, the State Troopers might be hours aay (or if a blizzard is on, more than 24 hours) Secondly, while Lower 48ers like to make jokes about Alaskans shooting moose, for a family of ten out in the Bush, shooting a moose can take care of half the grocery budget for several months.
I once represented a sixty year old Yup'ik guy who was accused of shooting a musk ox. Yes, I have seen crime scene photos of a dead musk ox. Those critters became extinct in Alaska about a hundred years ago, so the Fish & Game people loaded up a herd from Greenland, and shipped them through the Panama Canal- I suspect they didn't much enjoy the trip- and set them up on Nunavik Island. A couple wandered off the island on the pack ice, to the mainland, and ere doing fine til my client shot one. Seeing as how every game warden in Alaska was monitoring them, he might as well have taken a shot at George W. So I ask my client why he shot the musk ox' He reply was 'I got tired of eating caribou'. He pled out in return for time served, a fine, and probation. Gee, if we'd gone to trial, maybe I could have convinced a jury that my client finally snapped after enduring years of sexual abuse by the musk ox.
I've seen columns in www.slate.com that claim Alaska has the highest rate of rape of any of the 50 states- which entirely true- and that Sarah Palin is to blame for that. Moose nuggets! Oh sure! All Governor Palin needed to do as make a televised address, and say, 'Women and girls of bush Alaska- stop getting so drunk that you're passed out on the floor!' That would have solved everything-or at least two/thirds of the rape cases in rural Alaska. If getting high BACs as an Olympic event, I think Yup'iks would sweep the medals. One of my first trials in Bethel, I represented a teenage kid who'd been riding a snowmachine, with a BAC of .297.
I suppose I should mention that in Alaska we had Troopergate 1.5. The first Native American head of the AST was just about to retire when he got into a total Fatal Attraction situation. He'd been having an affair, then tried to break it off. His girlfriend took exception to this by sneaking into his house, shooting him to death, shooting and wounding his wife, and then fatally shooting herself. Bill Clinton is lucky he stayed in Arkansas.
Kent
*Note: The original version of this article distributed via e-mail erroneously asserted that the Troopergate II probe of Palin's actions was conducted by a "Democratic controlled" body. Twelve people on the commission voted, 8 Republican and 4 Democrat. I regret the error.
'Will you sign a petition protesting the Canadian practice of disposing of senior citizens by placing them on ice floes?' 'Should the Government of Saskatchewan allow a controlled rhinocerous hunt?' 'Should Canada have a Navy since it is a landlocked country?' (I have known some Canadian sailors, and they are a fine bunch of fellows), 'What is your feeling on Canada adding a ninth year to its educational system? To Canada completing its one-thousandth mile of paved road? To Canada's first Afro-Canadian Prime Minister?'
Alaskans were laughing twice as hard as the Canadians. (I saw that comedian say in a later interview that the only Americans who were wise to him, and got the joke, were people in uniform...that figures.)
My dear old Dad would frequently send me clippings from the Sunday New York Times, imparting their wisdom about "What Should Be Done About Alaska." I got in the habit of sending him clippings from the Anchorage Daily News, which would, without exception, have responded to the NYT editorial with a column saying, "look at what those Fidiots in New York are saying now!" For anyone who is interested, 35 years ago, the New York Times as predicting the imminent onset of a New Ice Age and opposed the construction of the TransAlaskan pipeline on the grounds that it would lead to the extinction of Alaskan caribou. So the US Senate voted, tied, and the Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, cast the deciding vote. (Yes, Agnew later resigned in disgrace, but he hit a home run that day.) Over 35 years later, the caribou population has QUADRUPLED. The reason almost all Alaskans loathe the New York Times, is you'll never convince Alaskans that the NYT does not long to make all Alaska a giant park with no human inhabitants except those whose ancestors were there prior to 1867...or maybe 1492. In contrast, I favor demolishing all manmade structures on Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island, thus restoring those places to their original pristine state.
I have now lived long enough to have been around for Troopergate I and Troopergate II. Troopergate I was the report by members of Bill Clinton's State Trooper security detail that he as partial to sneaking out of the Governor's Mansion for late night trysts in his limo. Well! I mean, the very idea that WJC would...hmmm... I'm sure that's just as baseless as the FBI agent's account that JC liked sneaking out of the White House for evening trysts...hmmm. Sounds like his standard operating procedure, doesn't it?
Troopergate II is the report that Governor Palin asked the State Director of Public Safety to fire her ex-brother-in-law, and when the DPS refused, fired him. As Governor, Palin had the right to fire the DPS for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. Most of the press reports state that it as quote a nasty divorce endquote. Only a few reports mention that that ex repeatedly threatened Palin's sister. I know of few people scarier that an angry man with daily access to firearms.
Granted, Governor Palin did NOT handle that problem like a True Alaskan would. If someone makes credible threats of violence against a True Alaskan's family, that TA will get a 12 guage shotgun, load the magazine with three shells of deer load and three shells of double 0 buckshot, empty the magazine into the threat at close range (repeat if necessary) then, if it is wintertime, dump the body through a hole cut in river ice, or, in summer, dump the body where the bears will dispose of it.
There is nothing funnier to an Alaskan than a gun conrol advocate who thinks they are ever going to have success in Alaska. Never mind the fact that the strictest gun control laws in America *were* in the District of Columbia (go ahead, look up how DC ranks in crime statistics). First off, in the case of a real emergecy, when seconds count, the State Troopers might be hours aay (or if a blizzard is on, more than 24 hours) Secondly, while Lower 48ers like to make jokes about Alaskans shooting moose, for a family of ten out in the Bush, shooting a moose can take care of half the grocery budget for several months.
I once represented a sixty year old Yup'ik guy who was accused of shooting a musk ox. Yes, I have seen crime scene photos of a dead musk ox. Those critters became extinct in Alaska about a hundred years ago, so the Fish & Game people loaded up a herd from Greenland, and shipped them through the Panama Canal- I suspect they didn't much enjoy the trip- and set them up on Nunavik Island. A couple wandered off the island on the pack ice, to the mainland, and ere doing fine til my client shot one. Seeing as how every game warden in Alaska was monitoring them, he might as well have taken a shot at George W. So I ask my client why he shot the musk ox' He reply was 'I got tired of eating caribou'. He pled out in return for time served, a fine, and probation. Gee, if we'd gone to trial, maybe I could have convinced a jury that my client finally snapped after enduring years of sexual abuse by the musk ox.
I've seen columns in www.slate.com that claim Alaska has the highest rate of rape of any of the 50 states- which entirely true- and that Sarah Palin is to blame for that. Moose nuggets! Oh sure! All Governor Palin needed to do as make a televised address, and say, 'Women and girls of bush Alaska- stop getting so drunk that you're passed out on the floor!' That would have solved everything-or at least two/thirds of the rape cases in rural Alaska. If getting high BACs as an Olympic event, I think Yup'iks would sweep the medals. One of my first trials in Bethel, I represented a teenage kid who'd been riding a snowmachine, with a BAC of .297.
I suppose I should mention that in Alaska we had Troopergate 1.5. The first Native American head of the AST was just about to retire when he got into a total Fatal Attraction situation. He'd been having an affair, then tried to break it off. His girlfriend took exception to this by sneaking into his house, shooting him to death, shooting and wounding his wife, and then fatally shooting herself. Bill Clinton is lucky he stayed in Arkansas.
Kent
*Note: The original version of this article distributed via e-mail erroneously asserted that the Troopergate II probe of Palin's actions was conducted by a "Democratic controlled" body. Twelve people on the commission voted, 8 Republican and 4 Democrat. I regret the error.
Dogs' Names and Owners
As I have pointed out before, Man made Dog in his own image. I think it is frequently true that a dog (and the dog's name) can tell you a great deal about the owner. For example, a good friend of mine is a retire Marine who has three dogs: Freedom, Liberty, and Independence (also known as 'Indy'). How everlovin' patriotic can you get!?!?
I remember one client who had dogs whose names struck me as downright scary. She had two pit bull puppies she named 'Felony' and 'Misdemeanor'
Lordy, lordy, lordy!
I remember one client who had dogs whose names struck me as downright scary. She had two pit bull puppies she named 'Felony' and 'Misdemeanor'
Lordy, lordy, lordy!
Mrs. Henderson's Story (Political Content Advisory)
NOTE WELL: this is a treat story. If political content is going to offend you, hit "DELETE" RIGHT NOW!
More than ten years ago, I had a weekend gig circulating petitions to put liquor iniatives on local ballots. The irony is that I'm a teetotaler, but what the heck; it improved my cashflow situation a bit.
One day, I walked up to a house that had a car out front with a bumper sticker that read 'Proud Parent of a United States Marine.' I saw from the voter registration printout I had that it was the Henderson residence. When I spoke with the Lady of the house, I kidded her that if she ever checked into a hotel near a Marine base, she might try saying, 'Yes, we're the Henderson's- and please, no special treatment.' (Probably wouldn't work. After all, a Marine aviator named Henderson won a posthumous Medal of Honor at Midway. Henderson Field on Guadacanal was named for him.)
As I looked into the house, I saw a framed picture of a young Marine sergeant shaking hands with President George H. W. Bush (aka #41). Mrs. Henderson told me that her son had worked on the security detail at Camp David, and that he'd been there through parts of both the Bush (41) and Clinton administrations. I asked if they had one of him shaking hands with President Clinton. Uh...well, yes, but their son asked them not to display it. Mrs. Henderson then told me that while everybody in the Marine detachment thought #41 was OK, and they all just loved Barbara Bush, they did not like the Clintons at all- largely because they got the very strong impression that the Clintons did not like them. Indeed, Mrs. Henderson told me, a one point, the Marines finishing their tours at Camp David told their Officer-in-Charge they would just as soon not do the usual 'Grip n' Grin' with the Commander-in-Chief. So they all received a direct order from the brass- you will shake hands with the President, whether you want to or not.
On one level, that's a pretty sad story, on the other hand- there are quite a few countries in the world where, if the members of the military do not like the Head of State, he is in serious danger of very rapidly being out of a job, or being dead. Not here. 232 years of American history, we've never had a coup.
Bush doing the "grip-and-grin" with a brave, young Marine.
More than ten years ago, I had a weekend gig circulating petitions to put liquor iniatives on local ballots. The irony is that I'm a teetotaler, but what the heck; it improved my cashflow situation a bit.
One day, I walked up to a house that had a car out front with a bumper sticker that read 'Proud Parent of a United States Marine.' I saw from the voter registration printout I had that it was the Henderson residence. When I spoke with the Lady of the house, I kidded her that if she ever checked into a hotel near a Marine base, she might try saying, 'Yes, we're the Henderson's- and please, no special treatment.' (Probably wouldn't work. After all, a Marine aviator named Henderson won a posthumous Medal of Honor at Midway. Henderson Field on Guadacanal was named for him.)
As I looked into the house, I saw a framed picture of a young Marine sergeant shaking hands with President George H. W. Bush (aka #41). Mrs. Henderson told me that her son had worked on the security detail at Camp David, and that he'd been there through parts of both the Bush (41) and Clinton administrations. I asked if they had one of him shaking hands with President Clinton. Uh...well, yes, but their son asked them not to display it. Mrs. Henderson then told me that while everybody in the Marine detachment thought #41 was OK, and they all just loved Barbara Bush, they did not like the Clintons at all- largely because they got the very strong impression that the Clintons did not like them. Indeed, Mrs. Henderson told me, a one point, the Marines finishing their tours at Camp David told their Officer-in-Charge they would just as soon not do the usual 'Grip n' Grin' with the Commander-in-Chief. So they all received a direct order from the brass- you will shake hands with the President, whether you want to or not.
On one level, that's a pretty sad story, on the other hand- there are quite a few countries in the world where, if the members of the military do not like the Head of State, he is in serious danger of very rapidly being out of a job, or being dead. Not here. 232 years of American history, we've never had a coup.
Bush doing the "grip-and-grin" with a brave, young Marine.
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