Political Frenzy

When the “DC Madame”, Deborah Jeane Palfrey was arrested for running prostitution in Washington DC, she did what most would do if faced with inescapable charges - looked for a way out. She claims that what she provided was legal sex fantasies for men without actual sex, and she claims that mostly massages took place, not actual sex. In order to back up her claims, she needed evidence, and witnesses. Instead of getting her normal Johns to testify to the harmlessness of her services, she went straight for the current administration’s throat: Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias, who had now resigned over the controversy.

Randall Tobias is a married 65-year-old White House leader and Republican, whose phone records with Palfrey, which she provided during the investigation, proved he called her and she called him numerous times. Tobias has been in government positions for years, often advocating abstinence to prevent the spread of HIV in underdeveloped nations. He has also rallied hard against prostitution.

Tobias claimed that he was engaged in legal activities, which I personally, don’t care about. Palfrey claimed that she too was only engaged in a personal escort service, not penetrative intercourse. I also, don’t care.

What I care about is the patterns emerging from Republican leadership across the nation.

In what Dr. Susan Block of Counterpunch.org dubbed “Hookergate”, Republican Congressman Randy Cunningham, who is currently serving time in a Tuscon prison for corruption, was also knee-deep in prostitution, along with then CIA Executive Director Kyle Foggo.

Another Republican Congressman Mark Foley, was once known as the ultimate activist for protecting children from sexual predators, and as a married man and Republican stood for family values. Instead, he sent emails to 16 year old boys, sent text messages with 18 year old male pages asking them how they masturbate and offering them alcohol, and two pages have come forward as saying that after they turned 18 and 21 respectively, they has intercourse with Foley.

Conservative religious leader, Pastor Ted Haggard, often associated with Republican values and political agendas, was discovered as not only having engaged in sex with a male prostitute, but doing so while on the highly illegal drug of methamphetamine - also known as crystal meth. Though now he claims to be completely heterosexual, this is hard to believe given the degree and frequency of his sexual acts.

These kinds of scandals simply do not exist within the Democratic Party - the most blatant exception being the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski scandal, which involved neither drugs, prostitutes, nor young boys. All of the above scandals have actually involved breaking the law, whereas Clinton did not break the law until he lied about the issue.

I would not be nearly as outraged as I am if it were not for the total shirking of responsibility and excuse making by conservative pundits.

“Some people are so lonely they actually call people just to talk to them,” Joe Scarborough said about the Tobias controversy. As a married man with apparently many friends, this is not likely to be the case. And even if it were, you make friends, you don’t call hookers.

One pundit on FOX News, whose name and credentials escape me due to their insignificance, said, “What if she just dialed the wrong number!” referring to the release of Palfrey’s phone records. This kind of excuse is a joke, and offends me and my intelligence, as it should any good American.

Tobias also admitted to using another service with “Central Americans” prior to Palfrey’s service. But he maintains it was just naked massages.

Where is the outrage? The accountability? How about leading by example? Is it that the American people are simply too tired of these scandals? I know I’m weary of this bull, but the only way to stop it is to berate and accost these so-called moral leaders until they stop their song-and-dance number of moral purity, and simply live what they prescribe.

As Tobias told Frontline, “[T]he heart of our prevention programs is what’s known as ABC: Abstinence, Be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of Condoms, when appropriate. And it’s not ‘ABC: Take your pick.’”

That’s right, Tobias. You don’t get to leave “Be faithful” out just because you say so.

What an ass.

Richard Gere, if he ever goes back to his India, will be arrested for public obscenity for snogging Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness rally.

I think everyone, in this scenario, is an idiot.

Look… India… burning effigies? That’s what we like to call an overreaction. A straw version of Richard Gere going up in flames at a riot just makes you seem kinda dumb. Gandhi fought an empire by refusing to fight, and you fight a Hollywood star by emulating radical Muslims? I don’t get it, man. What are you trying to do? Get some kind of pan-South Asian movement going by making us all seem like unreasonably angry people?

And don’t start laughing, Gere. That was a retarded move. According to Reuters “[Shilpa Shetty] said Gere was only re-enacting his moves from the film ‘Shall We Dance’ to entertain the audience at the AIDS event and communicate in a Bollywood style as he did not speak Hindi.” First of all, no one in THIS country saw that movie, let alone anyone in India. And it’s very obvious from the footage that it was an unexpected, unprecedented, and, frankly, disgusting. It made my skin crawl and it was hard to watch due to its obvious creepiness. You weren’t giving her a polite kiss on the cheek. It reeked of lust and looked like a full-on snogging.

India - cool down.

Gere - grow up. What were you, drunk?

I really hope this isn’t going to be a big problem between the US and India, because they’re pretty much the only South Asians who are going to help us at all in the Middle East.

Uncle Roger is apparently not in agreement with me on my last post.

Dear Attack, From the interviews of the students I saw many tried to include “cho” in their community. Do you really want to know who’s fault it was for the Virginia Tech shooting. The Shooter! The question is how many booger-eater silent clamed-up weidos do you have for lunch or have for sleep overs? If you, as an individual, wouldn’t do that why would you expect it of society. The fault of all this lies on the shoulders of the slime ball that pulled the trigger. In the following days you will see the hand wringers question themselves and society about how this boy (23years old) needed more love and understanding and eventually, in their minds, he will become the victim. Don’t fall for it.

The first most disturbing thing about this letter is that the man’s name, Cho, is in quotation marks. The implications of that sends shivers down my spine. It may not have been intentional, but that is, perhaps, far scarier. Although it would be easier to completely dehumanize a murderer, and surgically remove them from the society that created them, it is only denial.

It was not the 23 year old Cho Seung-hui who needed friends, it was the 8 year old Cho Seung-hui who needed them when he moved from South Korea with his parents to a foreign land with a foreign language.

In South Korea the Associated Press managed to track down the man whom Cho’s father rented his home from before the family moved to the United States, Lim Bong-ae “I didn’t know what [Cho’s father] did for a living. But they lived a poor life… While emigrating, [Cho’s father] said they were going to America because it is difficult to live here and that it’s better to live in a place where he is unknown.”

To be 8 years old and be transplanted, all of a sudden, in Detroit Michigan. Americans, on a whole, know nothing of the kind of culture shock that a monolingual child goes through in a nation where no one understands the words you grew up speaking. Less than one person in a hundred in Detroit is Asian, and the Korean community is nigh non-existent.

The kindness and openness of Seung-hui’s classmates is what one can often call “too little too late”. Social skills are like language - there’s a window of opportunity for development.

The feral child Genie, whose real name was Susan Wiley, would excessively masturbate when bored, and when angry would hit and cut herself. Susan was raised in the California by a blind mother and depressed father. Since she was left alone and never talked to, she never learned to speak until she was 13, and foraged for food. Her behavior was extremely animalistic. (Genie: a Scientific Tragedy by Russ Rymer)

Victor of Aveyron was another feral child, who could empathize and loved to hug people. When upset he would cry and seek comfort. He never learned to speak, but he did love to express himself through music once he had been captured by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre and brought into Bonnaterre’s home. Victor was never exposed to other humans until he wandered into the town of Tolouse. (l’Enfant Sauvage by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre)

So why could Victor, who grew to the ripe old age of 12 without having heard or seen a human his whole life, empathize so much more than Susan “Genie” Wiley? Bonnaterre gives us some insight. He noticed that if the boy whom he had named Victor had been completely alone for the entirety of his life, he would walk and run like a normal human being, ceding to his natural physiology in the lack of a stimulus. Instead the boy ran most effectively when on all fours, like a dog, contrary to human biology. Bonnaterre extrapolates from this that Victor was raised by either dogs or wolves.

What is the implication of this? That a family of canines will be more likely to produce an emotionally stable child than some American families.

Still want to say it’s not cultural?

That sexxxy ultra-conservative vixen Ann Coulter is at it again! She preaches abstinence, and then makes it so hard.

Pun intended.

Her article, “Let’s Make America a ‘Sad-Free Zone’!” gets under my skin.

First of all, she can’t get her own religion right. “But since Adam ate the apple and let evil into the world, deranged individuals have existed,” she confidently asserts. In fact, Genesis 2:16-17 says: ” Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘From every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’” He didn’t let evil in to the world, he simply became aware of it. I’m not even a Christian and I know that.

Then she says: “It’s certainly not against the law to be an unsociable loner. If it were, Ralph Nader would be behind bars right now, where he belongs.” Look, I’m not about to cast my ballot for Nader, but I like having seat belts, airbags, and a working swing axle in my car. Nader hasn’t hurt anyone, he’s saved lives. Why behind bars, Coulter? Pandering the rabble again?

To the meat of the story. The Playboy Pundit (which is her nickname as of now) is supporting the notion that more concealed weapons will equate to more safety. The figures prove her right! Many massacres have been avoided by having a would-be victim armed and firing back, stopping the attacker before they caused any more carnage. This is an indisputable fact that lefties conveniently ignore.

“Needless to say, Virginia Tech is a Gun-Free School Zone” she says. Well, no. Not so needless to say after a Virginia Tech student was caught carrying a licensed pistol onto the campus and right into class a while back. They had to debate whether or not discipline the student. Virginia Tech is no a zero-tolerance environment, so that argument falls flat.

But before we turn America into Sigma Iotia II, there’s something else that needs to be addressed. Coulter is subscribing to the logical theory “A or B; if not A then B”. This bypasses, however, the possibility of compromise, or even of a “C” option.

There are people allowed to carry firearms on campus - Campus Police. These people SHOULD have been there. Their absence is what allowed this tragedy to continue. Armed, licensed, responsible people should have been available to stop the shooter dead in his tracks - literally. We have an armed response force for these situations, they just need to be used. I assure you more killers have been stopped by this nation’s brave police forces than by vigilantes.

“Bowling for Columbine”, a rambling documentary by Michael Moore (who points out a lot of figures and sad anecdotes, but never really seems to offer any kind of solution) does provide an interesting question. Other nations such as Germany, Australia, the UK, Canada, or Japan don’t have these kinds of massacres - certainly not at the alarming frequency the United States seems to have them. It’s not a matter of gun control, everyone and his brother in the Outback has a rifle for shooting snakes. It’s not a matter of our movies or video games. Anyone who’s seen “Ichi the Killer” or played “Virtua Fighter IV” knows that the Japanese have a total boner for gore. So why is it?

It’s something deeper, something cultural. Something about the United States drives many people over the edge. I’m not sure, but I think I know why. But no legislation will solve this problem.

There is a growing self-destructive aura on our nation. I sense in my classmates at Seattle Central Community College a deep detachment from power of God in themselves, an aimless wandering, running from the lows and searching for the next high. And absurd as it may seem, it’s linked to our obsession with American Idol. Instead of striving for moral and personal achievement, we’re constantly seeking the applause of our “peers”.

From Columbine to Virginia Tech, these students have been ostracized from society from an early age, instead of being welcomed in the arms of their classmates and their communities. Our society is an exclusive society that makes outcasts out of the weird, the strange, and the abnormal. Goth, transgendered, Islamic, and booger-eating kids all deserve our love and acceptance.

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. And societies that crush our souls create killers.

On Monday, April 16th, at 7:15 AM EST, the police of the police of University Police received a report of a shooting West Ambler Johnston Hall, a Virginia Tech dormitory that 900 students call home. Then another shooting was reported at the science and engineering school, Norris Hall. In two hours, the police were alerted to the fact that the worst school shooting in all of American history had taken place in the halls of Virginia Tech. Thirty-two dead and fifteen wounded.

The police are still investigating if the shootings were related. If they weren’t, then I think we’re all in a CSI script, because that’s an unbelievable twist.

When you’ve had two shootings in two areas on campus, that should send up red flags. This tragedy could have been easily avoided if the police had had the competency to shut down the school and evacuate. When you have two crime scenes and no apprehension, that means you have a moving gunman, and that is a major problem. It took two hours for the gunman to get to the main hall, and that could have been two hours spent getting everyone out of the area.

“We knew that there was a shooting but we thought it was confined to a particular setting,” Charles Steger, the University’s President said. That is never a safe assumption.

Everyone say a prayer for the lives lost in Virginia.

For the first time in far too long, Congress is standing up to the White House, and flexing its legislative muscles - although the atrophy might make the first bits hurt.

What has annoyed this reporter for far too long is the de facto displacement of power from congress to the White House. Even though congress is the only arm of the government with the power to declare war, almost 100,000 American soldiers have died in combat initiated by Presidential authority alone - Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq have all been wars undeclared by congress. Our current President is completely determined to become a wartime leader, and will not let us forget that we are at war, but no declaration of war has been made by congress; Bush has abused his powers as Commander-In-Chief to wage a de facto war, while de jure he has no right to command them into conflict without authorization from Capitol Hill.

The acts of congress in the past few decades have been weak at best. They have been less than leaders, and little more than an assembly of grouchy old men and women shouting at each other and bringing new meaning to the term “filibuster” by bringing it to us on C-SPAN. But now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to assemble Democrats to cut off funding through the power of the purse.

Vice President Dick Cheney had this to say: “It’s time the self-appointed strategists on Capitol Hill understood a very simple concept: You cannot win a war if you tell the enemy you’re going to quit”

Quite right, Mister Cheney. Only one problem. We’ve already lost. It’s time to give up. Sorry. I know, it’s hard to cope, but let’s face it. We can stay there and keep shooting things, but let’s face it, the insurgents, terrorists, guerrillas, and radicals just aren’t going to disappear before we actually do run out of money. It’s better to cut our losses and run. “Cut and runner!” Yes. Cut and run, dammit. We have enough problems at home. Shut up.

Like many times, Doonesbury says it best:

Congress, Power of the Purse, Harry Reid, Doonesbury

A fellow 451press blogger, Paul of toybender.com, has decided to take issue with my analysis of the Stallone’s Australian Steroid Adventure. Paul is 451’s resident doll expert, who has been decidedly snarky to me. His comment warranted response, I believe.

So if a foreign movie star comes over to the us and gets busted for something… like I dunno… getting a bj from a hooker, would that mean they are representing their country then and would you get all fired up about it? Stallone is an individual, not a government official in any capacity.

America is, without question, the number one exporter of culture in the entire world. How do we export this? Not on ships or planes or trains, but through the image of Americans in the media. Stallone doesn’t have the right of celebrity, he has the responsibility of celebrity. His actions reflect upon the culture he comes from, which is ours. He has done a great disservice to us all in Australia. That is my opinion on the social aspect.

However, legally, American celebrities are notorious for abusing foreign law *COUGHMADONNACOUGH* and getting away with it. This needs to stop. The “American royalty” has gotten away with too much, and I say Australia should string up Stallone as a warning to other celebrities: your movie credits are not a shield. Obey the damn law.

Sylvester Stallone, Australia, Human Growth Hormone

Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show last night: “I don’t understand why Karl Rove can’t just walk in to congress, put his hand on a Bible, and tell the f***ing truth.”

So, Rove why can’t you? The white house and its advisers shouldn’t have so much to hide from the people.

Jon Stewart, Karl Rove, Subpoena

When American star Sylvester Stallone came to Sydney to promote his new “Rocky” movie, he was stopped by customs officials, delaying him and preventing him from attending the Australian premiere of the movie. Stallone joked in the news about smuggling in a cheetah, or the Australian officials finding his wife in his luggage

But his tone changed soon after officials raided his hotel room and private jet. According to E! News Online, the Aussies found contraband illegal substances, allegedly steroids and hormones. Stallone was even seen dumping something out of his Park Hyatt hotel window.

Although Stallone was allowed to leave to film for the new Rambo film in Thailand, he is now officially being charged in Australian court. He will be required to show up April 24th to enter a plea. Perhaps the American movie star thought his celebrity would guard him. The maximum fee for the crime is a measly $96,600 American, but hopefully the magistrate will punish him to the fullest extent of the law, setting an example that the American royalty will not be above foreign law.

I personally am offended that Stallone would do such a thing as a social ambassador from the United States to a foreign country. I am not surprised that the US government is staying far away from this one, but I believe it would do Stallone some good to serve at least a few months behind bars in the outback.

People like Stallone and Paris Hilton and Madonna do more to tarnish America than any president could ever do. The President is (supposedly) elected on ballots, but celebrities rise to power on our dollar bills, the greenback being the most powerful force in the United States. They are our only truly elected representatives, and people, we have not been voting wisely!

Impeach Stallone.

United States, Australia, Crime, Sylvester Stallone, Steroids

In one day, two major events in the history of the United States happened seemingly at once, tied with an ironic inversion of qualities: one is a cause of celebration marred by future possibilities, the other a cause for mourning with the future holding a ray of hope.

In the first story, Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted on four of five charges and faces 25 years in prison, all stemming from his outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame aka Valerie E. Wilson. Although I share no love for the CIA and have written earlier about how I believe the CIA’s secrecy can be detrimental to America, the motives behind the outing were less than noble. According to the former CIA operative’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, it was punishment from the executive branch for his outspoken criticism of the current White House. This kind of Presidential (or in this case, Vice-Presidential, as Libby was an aide to Dick Cheney, and President George Bush has not been directly linked to the scandal) bullying cannot be allowed to happen, as it is step one to an invasive totalitarian government.

But the celebration of Libby’s first glimpse at old-fashioned American justice ground to a halt when the question of Presidential pardons came up. Will Bush pardon Scooter? It would undoubtedly be a screw-up of Gerald Ford proportions, but a lame-duck President has nothing to lose. It would be his constitutionally secured power to pardon Libby if he saw fit.

Why does the President retain the power to pardon anyone? Ask Alexander Hamilton, the one who came up with the Presidential pardon. He was also the genius who thought it might be a good idea to rest all power of the United States in the hands of an elected King. As a Federalist, Hamilton was also opposed to the Bill of Rights. His lasting legacy is proving a serious pain in the rear for freedom loving Americans, and a tool for those who would like to see the United States under the iron fist of a single man.

And clearly tragedy besets tragedy! Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, beloved Marvel comic book Superhero and extreme patriot, was shot dead in the latest issue of his serial. Statements made by Marvel President, Dave Buckley, imply that Steve Rogers will remain dead, despite Marvel’s tendency to resurrect its characters. Observers agree that Marvel has learned from the Death of Superman fiasco of rival comic publisher DC Comics, and that to kill a character and revive them quickly is a major marketing and plot mistake.

Instead, Buckley implied that Steve Rogers the man is dead, but Captain America’s red boots will be filled by another person who will pick up where Steve Rogers left off. In fact, several characters have been known to fill in for Captain America when Steve Rogers could not don the suit, but this will be a much more extreme shift. While comic fans such as myself will miss the character of Steve Rogers, I believe it will re-invigorate the Marvel Universe to re-imagine the man behind Captain America.

Indeed, both of these stories are more linked than one might think. Steve Rogers was from a different time; a time when being American meant giving your all to the government, a time when American culture had clear-cut rules and little variation across the country, a simpler and harder time. Scooter Libby comes from a different time; a time when government took advantage of its citizens, a time when all the country would just nod their collective head and agree, a simpler and harder time.

That time, like Steve Rogers, is dead. Now we must live in a world where our government refuses to represent us, we have little faith in those who govern us, and scandals have become synonymous with Washington D.C.

If ever we needed you, Captain America, now is the time.

United States, Republican Party, Dick Cheney, CIA, Crime, Marvel, Comics, Scooter Libby, Plame Incident, George W. Bush

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California met with Rudy Giuliani, former New York Mayor and presidential hopeful to discuss the crime problem in Los Angeles, sometimes called the “Gang Capital of America”. Governor Schwarzenegger has not openly endorsed any candidate, and has said that he will be meeting with many candidates in the upcoming months to the primaries.

Many dismiss Schwarzenegger as a former body-builder and actor who won the California election simply due to his celebrity. However, many do not realize the real political experience he held before his term as governor.

During the presidency of George H. W. Bush, Schwarzenegger was Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which involved lobbying for better fitness and health education programs in every state. Between 1990 and 1993, Schwarzenegger spent his own personal money going from state to state to meet with every Governor to discuss their state’s education plans.

In 2002 he served in a very similar capacity as Chairman for the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. He successfully drafted the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, which passed and enabled government funding of after-school programs in the state to keep youths out of gangs - the very problem he is still tackling.

Schwarzenegger has been active in American politics for years. He recounts his first encounter with the American political system in an interview on MSNBC in 2002:

Well, I think because a lot of people don’t know why I’m a Republican, I came first of all from a socialistic country which is Austria and when I came over here in 1968 with the presidential elections coming up in November, I came over in October, I heard a lot of the press conferences from both of the candidates Humphrey and Nixon, and Humphrey was talking about more government is the solution, protectionism, and everything he said about government involvement sounded to me more like Social Democratic Party of Austrian socialism.

The power Schwarzenegger now wields in the Republican Party and the national political arena is surprising, and he is gaining respect.

Rudy Giuliani would certainly gain a boost from an endorsement from Schwarzenegger, especially considering their main shared interest - the crime rates of the United States, or more specifically of their respective regions. Since the advent of the war on terror, major interest in the domestic problems of the United States has diminished. The crimes more people talk about these days are the white-collar crimes such as Enron, and the cloud of controversy surrounding Haliburton.

It is this reporter’s opinion that Giuliani, known for his tackling of New York’s crime problem, would make a powerful alliance with Schwarzenegger, as their combined political weight could lead to some major changes on this subject. That is if Schwarzenegger decides to back Giuliani.

Although, even if Schwarzenegger doesn’t officially back him for the presidential candidacy, and if Giuliani isn’t nominated or elected, the two could do some wonderful work lobbying for reform in the crime prevention system, as former President Jimmy Carter did for the housing crisis, or Bill Clinton is now doing for dietary reforms.

United States, Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani, 2008 Presidential Race, Schwarzenegger, Crime