National Politics Are Inconsequential, David Allen is Kewl, and Why a Malaysian Went to College in Oklahoma
It amazes me how people get all worked up about national issues, but don't give a hoot about the local issues that influence them more directly. However, you'll find people with a passion for local stuff. Take Da Goddess:
Someone campaigning for Donna Frye, the latest and very tired mayoral race in San Diego, showed up on my doorstep earlier.
"Don't even bother," I said.
"But, don't you want to hear how Donna Frye is going to save San Diego?" he asked in earnest.
"She's a big part of the problem, dude! Don't you get that? She's cost us more money than she's worth."
He stammered and sputtered. He had no way to answer that.
I looked him straight in the eye and declared, "I'd rather have Michael Jackson watch my kid than ever........EVER vote for her...."
This is just a small portion of her post; be sure to read the rest.
And locally, the Daily Bulletin has David Allen. I'm partial to Allen, and not just because he mentioned "Ontario Emperor" in his column a few years back.
Recently, he examined the police reports called in to the city of Claremont:
* A 65-year-old man was suspiciously sitting at the curb in a parked El Dorado, smoking a cigarette. Responding to the tip, police determined the man was lighting up in his car to elude his wife, who had banned him from smoking.
* A brown Oldsmobile described as "dirty" and possibly stolen because "it doesn't belong in the neighborhood" was the subject of another call. Officers found the car was legal in every way, just not up to the caller's standards.
* A concerned woman called the cops about frolicking children tossing water balloons at each other in a city park. Police declined to send officers to the scene.
And, in that same article, Allen found more work for Rita Moreno of Arte, should he ever become a university president:
Pomona College moved to Claremont in 1889, one year after its founding, but never changed its name....
Maybe the college should take a cue from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim the windy name that inspired my list and become Pomona College of Claremont?
Meanwhile, Southern Californians can read weather from elsewhere:
Storms tore through parts of Oregon Sunday night, triggering severe thunderstorm warnings from the National Weather Service.
The systems produced rain, wind, lightning, hail and even a funnel cloud near Oregon City.
Leland Bauck of Gresham e-mailed KOIN News 6 a photo of lightning in his area. But another Gresham family didn't have to look outside to see the storm. They were sitting down to a Father's Day dinner when lightning struck a bedroom.
The fire department extinguished the blaze and no one was injured.
Bolton, Schmolton.
Perhaps this is a reaction to a week in Washington and New York, but people should really look at local issues more than they do.
One of my high school English teachers was fond of telling us about people who would go south for civil rights actions, rather than taking care of issues in the north. Surprise, surprise, things were not all peaceful in the north:
The Newark Riot of 1967 began with the arrest of a cab driver named John Smith, who allegedly drove around a double-parked police car at the corner of 7th St. and 15th Avenue. He was subsequently stopped, interrogated, arrested and transported to the 4th precinct headquarters, during which time he was severely beaten by the arresting officers. As news of the arrest spread, a crowd began to assemble in front of the precinct house, located directly across from a high-rise public housing project. When the police allowed a small group of civil rights leaders to visit the prisoner, they demanded that Mr. Smith be taken to a hospital. Emerging from the building, these civil rights leaders begged the crowd to stay calm, but they were shouted down. Rumor spread that John Smith had died in police custody, despite the fact he had been taken out the back entrance and transported to a local hospital. Soon a volley of bricks and bottles was launched at the precinct house and police stormed out to confront the assembly. As the crowd dispersed they began to break into stores on the nearby commercial thoroughfares. Eventually violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods of Newark's Central Ward to Downtown Newark, and the New Jersey State Police were mobilized. Within 48 hours, National Guard troops entered the city. With the arrival of these troops the level of violence intensified. At the conclusion of six days of rioting 23 people lay dead, 725 people were injured and close to 1500 people had been arrested.
Ah, but it's these ugly fascist Americans, you say. This stuff doesn't happen in other cities, which are much more enlightened. Uh, wrong:
On March 8, tens of thousands of high school students marched through central Paris to protest education reforms announced by the government. Repeatedly, peaceful demonstrators were attacked by bands of black and Arab youths--about 1,000 in all, according to police estimates. The eyewitness accounts of victims, teachers, and most interestingly the attackers themselves gathered by the left-wing daily Le Monde confirm the motivation: racism.
Some of the attackers openly expressed their hatred of "little French people." One 18-year-old named Heikel, a dual citizen of France and Tunisia, was proud of his actions. He explained that he had joined in just to "beat people up," especially "little Frenchmen who look like victims." He added with a satisfied smile that he had "a pleasant memory" of repeatedly kicking a student, already defenseless on the ground.
Another attacker explained the violence by saying that "little whites" don't know how to fight and "are afraid because they are cowards." Rachid, an Arab attacker, added that even an Arab can be considered a "little white" if he "has a French mindset." The general sentiment was a desire
to "take revenge on whites."
Sometimes petty theft appeared to be the initial motivation. One or two bullies would approach a student and ask for money or a cell phone. Even if the victim complied right away, they would start beating him or her. A striking account was provided by Luc Colpart, a history and geography teacher and member of the far-left union SUD. Colpart said the scenes of violence were so disturbing that he could not sleep for days. He saw students being beaten or pulled by the hair. He stressed that assailants who stole cell phones smashed them in front of their victims: "It was a game. Hatred and fun."
Colpart, who is active in anti-racist causes, confirmed that "these were racial assaults," and the attackers used "far-right slurs, violent and racist." One black student he saw come to the defense of a fellow student under attack by three blacks was called "a white sellout" by the assailants. Some scores of victims were taken to hospitals. Those who were interviewed confirmed that they had been caught up in an "anti-white" rampage and that the cops did nothing to protect them.
Oh, you say, that's the rich imperialist First World. Well, read on:
[I]t is hard to imagine that just over two decades ago the streets of Kuala Lumpur ran red with blood. Agonized cries of "Malai si!" (Death to the Malays!) and "Hutang darah dibayar darah!" (Blood debts will be repaid with blood!) shouted by Chinese paraders were only the prelude to the violence that erupted four days later following the release of the 1969 general election results....On the evening of May 13th, thousands of Malays who had purportedly assembled for a victory rally began attacking passing Chinese on motor scooters and in cars, and before long, patches of the city were engulfed in flames. Using any available weapons, the initial attacks escalated into widespread rioting, looting, and killing. In the ensuing confusion, rumors of heroic figures who were skilled in the Malay martial art of silat and were possessed of magic powers such as the ability to fly and invulnerability to bullets and knives spread wildly and encouraged continued violence. Mosque loudspeakers which normally would broadcast the call to prayer were exhorting the faithful to continue the struggle....It is miraculous that when the fires died out, only about 200 people were reported dead with another couple hundred serious injuries. Other unofficial estimates were as high as six or seven hundred dead, which could still be considered fortunate in light of the carnage which might have ensued had the violence continued unabated.
From my perspective, I can only say that I used to work with a Malaysian of Chinese descent. The reason that I worked with her is because she had to come to the U.S. to go to college; apparently Malaysia has (or had) a quota system that restricted the number of Chinese students in its universities.
What was I talking about?
Comments