U.S. President George W. Bush came to a joint session of the U.S. Congress Tuesday night to give his 2007 State of the Union speech. It has some traditional aspects and formalities, which were described by the C-Span host. The protocol isn't as weird as the Sovereign speech in the United Kingdom that I watched earlier this year, but it was also much less entertaining. The video and transcript are available at the White House.
According to the Nielson TV ratings available via FutonCritic, "FOX's "Idol" remains untouchable as "State of the Union" coverage disrupts most networks' lineups." In the key 18-49 year-old TV demographic, three times as many people watched "Idol" as watched the President's State of the Union speech.
Sometimes, I think people just don't care anymore. Either that, or it's just that Bush has lied so many times in the past that it's pointless to continue paying attention to anything that he has to say. Given that Bush's popularity with average people is about equal to that of venereal disease, I'm not going to bother disecting his entire speech.
I would like to point out an ongoing lie about his administration foiling a terrorist plot: "We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast."
He's starting to believe his own propaganda. He trotted the Library Tower plot out last year to defend his wiretap program. That "plot" turned out to be bogus, likely derived from a tortured confession. Next, he'll be taking credit for saving the Sears Tower in Chicago from the Miami Seven al Qaeda cell.
I listened to the speech Tuesday night, expecting him to lay out the case to bomb Iran. Everytime he speaks these days, he's making the case to attack Iran. This speech was no exception. People say that Bush/Cheney have no plan B. I think they're wrong. I think Plan B is to allow Iraq to freefall into anarchy and then blame Iran for it.
Most people wanted to hear what Bush was going to say about escalating the war in Iraq. I'm not going to analyze that. The U.S. Congress is acting (finally) to try to limit the Bush/Cheney madness. We should see something formal in the upcoming weeks.
Virginia Senator Jim Webb gave the State of the Union response for the Democratic party. A highly decorated Vietnam Veteran, Webb's son is a Marine currently serving in Iraq. You can read that here or watch it here. Stephen Zunes, from Foreign Policy in Focus, ripped apart the Iraq section of Bush's speech, line by line, here.
Karl Kemp is a wealthy antique and art dealer in New York City. He owns Karl Kemp & Associates Antiques which operate out of two very upscale stores that specialize in some of the most expensive furniture available to purchase on the planet. Shown on the left, Kemp poses with his Boxer dog in one of his many warm and cozy showrooms displaying furniture for the perusal of his ultra-wealthy clients.
The average American would likely have to spend more than an annual salary to purchase a single piece of furniture shown in this friendly, promotional image. However, Kemp is apparently having some troubles at his one store, located near other obscene boutique shops like Prada on Madison Avenue, in Manhattan. Several homeless people are trying to stay warm this winter by sheltering themselves over a heated exhaust vent in the sidewalk in front of his precious storefront.
As reported first by Mathew Chayez in the New York Sun, Karl Kemp decided to sue these homeless people for one million dollars, after two years of attempting to remove them from in front of his upscale Manhattan shop through social services and police complaints. In addition, Kemp is asking the New York court to enforce a de-facto restraining order on these people to make them stay at least 100 feet away from his storefront. The lawsuit names these nameless poor, trust-fundless, souls as John Smith, John Doe, Jane Doe and Jane Smith.
It's quite interesting to read the reactions of people commenting about this story as it spread to other media -- like the New York Post and the New York Daily News -- then later on CBS news and the Washington Post. It was discussed on NYC blogs like the Gothamist before it went to the international media, but the comments by New Yorkers are most diverse and telling.
The Real Fisher King
The Gothamist speculated that Kemp may have simply filed the lawsuit to draw attention to his concerns about the problem. Ironically, John Doe's reaction to his recent status as a New York media celebrity has been, "Leave me the fuck alone. I don't want to be fucking involved," or scurrying away from the cameramen and reporters now showing up at his warm spot in front of Karl Kemp's to photograph or interview him.
All the media attention has done much more than simply annoy John Doe, though. It has also apparently identified him over the last week as Robert Greenlee, 54, from Pennsylvania. His brother recognized him from NY Daily news photos thirty years after of his disappearance. In contrast to Karl Kemp, Greenlee has also been the beneficiary of the charitable spirit from another New York multi-millionaire, Edward Baron Cohen, who happens to live down the street from the antique shop.
John Doe, aka Roger Greenlee, might be mentally ill -- and he also might be the real-life Fisher King, too. He's already flipped the mirror of self-assured morality around in the capital of the haves and have-nots. At the same time, I recall that wisdom comes from understanding.
[added 01-21] The city officials in St. Pete, Florida ordered police to swarm a homeless tent-city and destroy it Friday. It wasn't the first time. The homeless people said they prefer to live in a group for security reasons after two homeless men were murdered recently. Video and related stories from the local TV news can be found here.
Several months ago, I blogged a GooTube Tuesday entry about Iranian executions by hanging. Specifically, I wanted to draw your attention to Nazanin Fatehi, who unlike the other teenager I featured that day, had some hope of being spared the hangman's noose for her alleged crimes. She had been granted a chance to appeal her death sentence in January.
The Iranian courts recently have had that trial and young Nazanin Fatehi was spared the death sentence. However, under the Iranian interpretation of Sharia law, she must pay approximately $40,000 US in diehl, or blood money, for the death of her would-be rapist in order to be released from prison to rejoin her family. You can go to the HelpNazanin website to read updates, and donate toward her legal fund, if you can.
At the time that I blogged about Nazanin in October, I wasn't aware of the mini-documentary that had been filmed, "The Tale of Two Nazanins." This 30-minute film hosted by Bodog.tv documents the intense struggle of international organizations, like Amnesty International -- and others, like Nazanin Afshim-Jam, the Canadian beauty queen and activist -- all trying to help this condemned child.
Having just watched "The Tale of Two Nazanins" for the first time, and with the knowledge that everyone's efforts may have assisted in convincing the Iranian officials to spare this teenage girl's life this past week, I couldn't stop tears welling up in my eyes. I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Martin Luther King was an American hero. He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner. His devotion to non-violent change and true reconciliation inspired the likes of Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela of South Africa, and they changed that country long after MLK's death at the hands of an assassin. In this country, his sincere devotion to peace and social change still resonates with sincere people working for the betterment of the minority, the poor, and the voiceless.
I spent today trying to learn more about this courageous man, understand his message in the context of times in which he lived and draw parallels to the times in which we all live today.
Many people will casually categorize Martin Luther King as a freedom fighter and civil rights icon for the minority population of black people in the United States, but whose importance was temporal. I think his message of equality has a timeless quality.
And being a white guy from Detroit, myself, I understand that some people label themselves as black, some label themselves as African-American, and still the national organization in front of social issues for almost 100 years is still called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Some Hip-hop and Rap artists still use the word Niggah, and I don't think that's helpful for anyone.
However, no matter how you define yourself, it's important not to allow the society to define you. Call yourself whatever you want to call yourself. When angry young black men screamed at me and called me Cracker, when I was just trying to commute to work and make a living, I had to shake off those incidences. That is just an obvious symptom of self-segregated neighbors.
Self-segregated neighbors are all over the United States, but they are in the news most often now in the city of Baghdad. Sunni and Shia.
Martin Luther King gave an amazing speech almost 40 years ago concerning Viet Nam. While his words are certainly historic, listening to his voice halts one in their thoughts. The sincerity, passion, and comprehension of that conflict brings a parallel to our time concerning the current war for the soldiers fighting it, the largely ignorant arm-chair generals conducting it, and the propagandized public who support it.
