Let the Patriot Act Expire

On December 31^st, most of the provisions signed into law under the Patriot Act were due to expire. Many Congressional Republicans wanted to extend the law for several years (so does our dear President), saying that the Patriot Act has saved the country from terrorists attacks in the days since it was signed, following 9/11. Then they run this “fear-trip” on everyone by saying that if we want to be safe, then the Patriot Act should be renewed. Unfortunately many Congressional Democrats have fallen underneath this spell and only want to modify the Patriot Act instead of letting it expire. Gladly though, the Patriot was held up in one of the Houses of Congress and only received a 1 month extension.

And can you believe that yours truly, Maelstrom, actually started listening to those fear-mongers on Capitol Hill too?!! I started thinking, yeah, don’t get rid of the thing, just modify it, I don’t want to be unprotected. Fortunately I got my mind right, and remembered that the Patriot Act is a huge farce. That’s right, the Patriot Act is a sham, and is only another way for the government (this Administration in particular) to intrude on the privacy of its citizens.

My evidence you ask?

Look, name one terrorists attack that was thwarted by the Patriot Act. Go ‘head, name it.

See, can’t name one can you? The reason why is because there hasn’t been one. If this administration wants to keep hiding behind the guise of “this Act has prevented terrorists attacks,” then prove it. If they’re going to make the case for the Act, then they have the burden of proof.

And the fact that there hasn’t been a major terrorists attack here in the States since 9/11 is invalid for several reasons.

First off, it takes several years for major terrorists attacks to occur. Especially the ones that al-Qaeda administers. The previous al-Qaeda attack (before 9/11) on American soil was at the World Trade Centers in 1993. That’s 8 years, and we’re only 4 years removed from the last one. Secondarily, if terrorists wanted to attack us, they certainly could through the many unprotected ports and broken borders that exist in the USA. Finally, where are the perpetrators? In Madrid after the Train Bombings, in London after the Bus Bombings, and in Jordan after the Hotel bombings, there were people arrested, body parts found, something.

And if you want to argue that nothing was found in the USA because the catastrophe was prevented, then what about when the second round of London bombings were thwarted? And don’t you think that if the Patriot Act was specifically responsible for halting a terrorists attack that the Bush Administration would be loudly singing its praises? No way would that be a silent victory!

My point is simply this, whenever a terror threat has been averted, there have been arrest, and this knowledge wasn’t “in-house” or even local, it’s been worldwide. So again, ask yourself, where is the proof that another terrorist attack has even been attempted on the mainland since 9/11.

NO TERRORIST ATTACK HAS BEEN ATTEMPTED HERE SINCE 9/11!

But here’s what has worked to this administration’s advantage, and has caused many people (who were initially against the Patriot Act) to sharply soften their opposition: Time and Fear. So I’m writing just to remind you of this simple fact: The Patriot Act is not necessary, and it certainly does infringe upon our Constitutional Civil Rights.

The Patriot Act was not necessary, and would not have been necessary to prevent the events of 9/11. All the information needed to stop 9/11 was present at the time, according the 9/11 Commission Report. The only thing that needed to happen was for the CIA to talk to the FBI and the other investigational services. The needle was in the haystack, and could’ve been found, but the information that would’ve caused it to be found wasn’t being put together.

This is what the Patriot Act has accomplished, in my opinion: The Patriot Act has added more hay to the stack, so now if we are ever to find the proverbial needle, we will have to dig longer and deeper. And while adding more superfluous hay to the stack, it has been surreptitiously taking away our Civil Rights. The government can monitor the people, but the ability of the citizens to counter-check the government has been diminished. For example, if you check out a book at your local Public Library, the government can pull up those records (for whatever the reason…maybe the book you checked out is a book “only terrorists” would check out). Now, if you want to know that the government has been checking your library records, you CANNOT find out as a direct result of the Patriot Act.

So now a government that was designed “by the people and for the people” is now a people existing at the mercy of the government. And maybe not completely at the mercy of the government as of yet, but we’re swiftly heading there (as apparent by our President’s assertion that he has the right to wiretap American citizens without a court order).

My plea to you, please don’t be blinded by the fear-driven rhetoric. We are no safer today than before 9/11, and fighting “them” over “there” so we don’t have to fight them here is silly too, and won’t work (didn’t work for Spain, or even our number 1 ally Britain, so why would it work for us?).

We don’t need the Patriot Act!

-Maelstrom

The Sidebar

If someone says the word “bomb” on an airplane, then they don’t have one!

The other week someone on a USA flight overheard a passenger say the word bomb more than once, and so the flight was halted.

Now look, anyone with a bomb knows they have one, and the absolute last word they’re gonna say is “bomb.”

I would be more worried about someone repeating the word “doughnut” over and over again.

And then I’d ask them how many they have and if they’re strawberry filled or chocolate glazed, and can i have one.

Just a lil word to the wise brought to you by Maelstrom.

The Hypocrisy

A couple months back the number of US casualties in Iraq reached 2000. Several Democrats on Capitol Hill marked the event and noted its significance. Meanwhile, I heard several Republicans criticizing the Democrats for marking the 2000^th death, saying that it was a “false milestone” and that the Democrats were using the 2000 deaths to further politicize the war.

Now, I do indeed hope that the Democrats were sincere in marking the number, and not attempting to use the ominous number as a political device. Though I do suspect that at least some of them were. And they were wrong for doing so.

However, I was completely and totally incensed at the very notion that 2000 deaths in this war could be called a “false milestone.” How dare the Republicans assert such a criminal statement. The nerve of those “life-loving,” “criticizing the war is not supporting the troops,” “either you’re with us or against us,” Republicans. If they truly love life, then every single death in the war is a significant milestone. If they truly want to call themselves supporters of the troops, then death number one-thousand five-hundred and sixty-three is a significant milestone. If the safety of our armed forces is truly the focus, then death number ninety-one was a significant milestone.

I was appalled and disgusted at each statement that even suggested that 2000 deaths was a “false” milestone. The nerve. And they want to say that criticizing the war is not supporting the troops. Well I guess the families of the 1,999 fallen soldiers (since death number 1000 was marked and apparently considered a legitimate milestone) are glad to know that their loved ones died in vain, and that their deaths aren’t considered significant to some of the most powerful leaders on the Right side of the political spectrum.

It’s bad enough that this administration refuses to honor their fallen sons and daughters by not showing their flag-draped coffins as they are deployed back here on the homefront. But now, just in case that disrespectful action isn’t enough, your loved one’s death is insignificant too.

I wonder what number will have to roll around for the death to be considered “not-false” by those treasonous politicians; 5000? 10,000? Maybe seven-thousand five-hundred!

Shame on all of them!

-Maelstrom

Exit Strategy Revisited

July 2^nd, 2005, I wrote a post here that stated the USA should set a specific date to leave Iraq. I’d like to take this opportunity to agree with myself 5 months later, especially since several Congressmen and Political pundits have since joined me in my opinion (thanks to Congressman Jack Murtha, who has certainly changed the game by being so outspoken about his disagreements concerning the War in recent weeks). Just remember, you heard it here first.

So please allow me to restate my case and my reasoning. June 2004, the USA turned over control of Iraq’s government to the Iraqi’s. January 2005, the first round of elections took place in Iraq. October 2005, a referendum was passed in Iraq.

The common link? Specific dates set for each.

The common outcome? Each process was successful and garnered no major violent uprising from the terrorists or insurgents.

The June 2004 turnover took place (a day early) with little drama. The expected bloodbath that even I predicted in January never materialized. And the October referendum didn’t even make much noise on the news when it occurred a couple of months back.

So why wouldn’t a specific pull-out date work in the same fashion (go ahead, tell me why, I’m open to criticism…but make sure you back it up with evidence).

You see, this false and silly doctrine of “staying the course” is fundamentally flawed to begin with simply because when we went into Iraq, we had no course to stay. Beyond toppling Saddam’s regime (which was absolutely NOT an imminent threat) we had no plans for keeping the country of Iraq together. We thought we’d be hailed as heroes and that there’d be dancing in the streets. We weren’t and there wasn’t. We thought that the war would pay for itself because of the huge repositories of oil in Iraq. It hasn’t and Congress will probably end up passing another major supplementary (or series of them) in the coming months. And need I remind you that ALL the reasons that the Bush Administration used to urge the country into war turned out to be false and unfounded. No connection to 9/11, no imminent threat, no Weapons of Mass Destruction; ALL FALSE!

So to “stay the course” would be to follow a path of fallacies.

I bring this topic up because today the citizens of Iraq will be once again going to the polls; this time for much higher stakes than the last 2 times. But as in January and October, I expect that this election procedure will also go on without major disruption or interference.

I guess the big question for the American public should be, how can we trust the Bush administration when they say we need to stay the course and that setting a date to leave Iraq would “send the wrong message to the terrorists.”

And can I just be myself for a minute and express to you how ABSOLUTELY STUPID I THINK THAT STATEMENT IS? How can you send a wrong message to terrorists? By definition, aren’t terrorists irrational? Don’t terrorists contort or twist any message they receive to fit the means of their tyranny? And who cares about messages sent to terrorists when the majority of Iraq’s citizens aren’t terrorists, but are certainly nationalists tired of seeing the vast American presence there. ISN’T STAYING THE COURSE SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGE TO THE IRAQI CITIZENS? You know, sending the wrong message to the individuals that we’re claiming we’re trying to benefit! In fact, not only is it sending the wrong message to the Iraqi citizens who’d like to govern themselves, it’s sending a horrendous message to the rest of the world, especially other Middle Eastern nations.

To the rest of the world it looks like the USA is there to occupy the land in order to benefit from Iraqi oil or to have a strategic location of military bases in the Middle East (presumably to protect Israel). To many Muslims it looks like the USA is trying to spread its idea of Democracy, and make Christian proselytes of the Iraqi people in an area of the world where Theocracy (in varying degrees) and Islam (in various forms) are the order of the day. And I’d suspect that many of the Iraqi’s feel as though they are strangers in their own land. Imagine how that would make you feel.

And finally, what have we gained by “STAYING THE COURSE?” I mean, it doesn’t appear to be working out that well for us. It’s certainly not going like Bush said it would. By this time we were supposed to be out of Iraq, leaving behind only a trace number of military servicemen. Instead we find ourselves increasing the number of troops in Iraq, having never squelched the insurgency or terrorism that exists there, with not even a tentative idea of when we’re going to leave.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! And my list of substantiated criticisms could go on. But back to the topic at hand…Exit Strategy!

So Bush has been saying that “as the Iraqi’s stand up, (we) will stand down.” But that doctrine hasn’t been working either. It requires us to train the Iraqi National Army, and to train enough of them that they can defend themselves. And over 2 years into that process, only a few thousand Iraqi soldiers are up to the task. We need to attack this problem another way. I say let them know we’re leaving and they’ll soon get their butts in gear.

Now, I am in no wise suggesting that we leave the country without training the Iraqi National Army. Neither am I suggesting that we don’t leave behind some troops and/or safeguards. I am emphatically saying, however, that we need to set a specific date for leaving Iraq because unless we do, none of these benchmarks for turning this war over to the Iraqi’s will ever be achieved.

Let me give you a (simplified) example of what I’m talking about. If you are reading this and you’ve ever had a term paper, research project, or book report to do for any class in your lifetime, I’d be willing to bet my next 3 paychecks that you’ve experienced the “last minute” phenomenon. Your teacher told you the due date, but you didn’t really begin working on your paper until you realized the deadline was fast approaching, and if you wanted to do well you had a lot of work to do as the deadline drew near. If you initially had a month to do the project, you probably covered more ground in completing it during the last 4 days before it was due than you did in the previous 26. And if it required you to pull an all-nighter the night before the paper was due, you’d somehow pull it off.

Why???

Because you had to.

Gee-whiz…even a mother bird eventually kicks her nestlings out of the nest when the time comes. And you know what, the baby birdies learn how to fly and fend for themselves real quick!

I submit to you, that the same thing would occur in Iraq. Maybe not so smoothly; and I certainly do believe the violence will continue with maybe even a temporary spike in violence. But the fact remains that the violence continues, with periodic spikes in violence, while the USA is there. At any rate, setting a date would force all the Iraqi’s to work towards the goal of governing and protecting themselves. Because there’s nothing like having a broken leg, but knowing that you’ll have to give up your crutches in a little while if you’re ever to walk on your own again.

Mr. President please set the date, and let’s get our troops out of there. They, the Iraqi’s, WILL stand up!

-Maelstrom

PS: I was pleased to see a Time Magazine Online article that echoed many of the sentiments I've posted in this post and my July 2nd post. They even addressed some angles that I didn't. You should read it!

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1136485,00.html?cnn=yes

The Promise

I am happy to report something so amazing that I am still sorting through all the many benefits. I am in a state of total amazement. The news has been reported on CNN, NPR, the internet, all over. It has set my hometown abuzz, and many institutions of higher learning in my home state have praised the proposition. I simply can’t believe it.

Ok, so here’s the deal…

…an anonymous donation was recently made to the Public Schools in my hometown (if you know me, then you know what city I speak of); a really big donation at that. For the next 13 years anyone that graduates from my city’s Public High School’s will get a Full ride scholarship to any Public College or University in my home state of Michigan.

That’s right, just graduate with a 2.0 (the graduation requirement) and you get a guaranteed Full ride Scholarship to a Public University, no questions asked.

Simply remarkable!

Here’s a lil Maelstrom Hometown history. My hometown was founded by Titus Bronson in 1830. It was initially called Bronson, Michigan, but was later changed to honor the Native Americans that previously settled the land there. Its name comes from a Potawatomi Indian term that means “boiling water”; so-named because of the river that runs through it.

Many major businesses found their home there, including the famous Checkered Cab company (that made Taxi’s for major cities such as New York), the James River paper company (which utilized the river and the vast number of trees in the area to form a major United States paper company), First of America Bank, Gilmore’s (a Department Store) and the UpJohn Company (a major Pharmaceutical Company). Also centered there or in the area were Eaton, Stryker, Perrigo (the #1 generic Pharmaceutical Company in America), and a Georgia Pacific plant, to name a few.

Unfortunately most of these companies suffered through hard times and by the 1990’s had either been bought out by companies that weren’t located in the area, or had to cut hundreds of area jobs.

The UpJohn Company was bought by a European Pharmaceutical company called Pharmacia, which was then subsequently bought by Ann Arbor, MI based Pfizer (the world’s largest Pharmaceutical Company). Many of its jobs were cut or shipped to New Jersey. First of America was taken over by Cleveland, OH based National City. And Gilmore’s, Georgia Pacific, and the James River paper company all ceased to exist. Several other local businesses closed or were forced to cut jobs as well.

After all the job losses and business buy-outs, my personal fear was that the place would end up like its northeastern Michigan neighbor Flint, or southwestern Michigan neighbor Benton Harbor. Both of these towns at one time had thriving economies and viable businesses which severely crippled the cities when they pulled out (as was documented by Michael Moore in the film “Roger and Me” for the city of Flint). And the only thing that truly kept any life in my hometown area for the last 10 years or so were the Colleges (one of which had to close) and the University.

The area needed something to revitalize it. In recent years many revitalization attempts have been made (and are ongoing), but I am 100% confident that this will do the trick. Improving the Public Schools will improve the economy for the whole region.

Why only Public School students and why only Public Colleges, one might ask! Well, Michigan once had a Governor (John Engler of the last GW Bush administration) who didn’t believe in Public education and literally destroyed it in so many ways from top to bottom. Furthermore, Public Schools are arguably the basis of a middle-class community. And undoubtedly, the Private Schools in my hometown were largely separatist and elitist at best. But now I bet that even some of those Private School students’ parents are having second thoughts about where they want to send their kids.

“But are the Public Colleges in the State even that reputable,” one might ask.

Well, Michigan isn’t just another State in the Union with respect to higher education. There are a handful of World-renown Universities including Wayne State, Western Michigan, Ferris State, Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley State (whose football team just won their 3^rd National Title in 4 years in Div. 2) and Central Michigan. And probably more significant is the presence of Michigan State University as well as the University of Michigan (which is often in the top 3 in the nation as far as student enrollment expenses are concerned).

In all there are some 15 public Colleges and Universities in the State of Michigan, and each of them is accredited and well respected. Indeed, the University of Michigan is often ranked in the top 25 overall and in the top 3 public schools in the nation for overall curriculum.

So a decree, like the one that has been handed down to my Hometown, is not just a blasé occurrence. It really means that you have an opportunity at not just a free higher education, but a free and credible education.

Now consider all the advantages. I envision a glorious snowball effect that can only mean good things for the community. Consider, now that parents realize their children will go to school for free by just graduating, they have a huge incentive to stay in the area. Some of the families that live in nearby communities (many of whom moved from my hometown to the suburbs) will now move back into town simply because of The Promise.

As a result, businesses that were once in town and ailing would benefit from the steady (and potentially increasing) adult population. Outside businesses will be more willing to invest in the area because they know that there will be a strong number of potential workers as well as a consistent consumer base. Plus, what a bargaining chip. Imagine that you were a parent of two pre-teen children and you were offered a job in a place where your kids would for sure go to college for free. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Plus, parents will want their children not to just get a free higher education, but would want them to be well prepared for schooling post-high school. Therefore the parents would demand an increasingly more competent group of Public School teachers, faculty and administrators. Also, parents would pay more attention to their children's attendance in school as well as their grades.

The dropout rate should decrease, the concept of community would re-ignite (ie people will be more apt to confront children who are not in school when they should be), and the list of potential benefits goes on. This commitment will not only benefit the local area, but it will indeed benefit (to some extent) the crucially ailing Michigan economy overall.

Amazing!

Knowing the number of students that graduated with me, and knowing that the High School across town has about the same amount of students, I’ve estimated that whoever is responsible for this donation must have set aside about $500 million. The question around town is “who has that kind of money?” It’s apparent that there was a joint or maybe even group effort. I suspect that maybe the Gilmore’s and the UpJohn’s teamed up with the donation. Maybe local Professional Athletes Derek Jeter and TJ Duckett were in on it. Maybe it’s some random “outsider” just trying to make a point. Who knows? One thing I do know is that whoever did this is clearly aware of the advantages, and they have a foresight that this entire nation needs to get. Education is the cornerstone of a successful nation. When you focus on education everything else falls into place.

To that end, I am grateful for the many news outlets that have reported this. I first became aware of it one evening while watching CNN. Later I heard about it on NPR. Indeed several of my friends have informed me that they heard about a great educational donation for the Public Schools in my Hometown; one friend was in Florida when he heard about it.

Everyone in the nation should know about this because many more communities than just mine can make such a commitment to education. It doesn’t have to be 2 or 3 people; it could be a whole city collectively donating their money to the cause of making Public Education better. It will, I guarantee, make the whole community a better place to live.

Now, for those of you that thought I was out of my mind for always singing the praises of my city and saying that my hometown is the center of the world (and also the greatest metropolis in history…a megalopolis…yada yada yada)…whatcha gon’ say now???

-Maelstrom

PS: I forgot to mention that November 29^th was Don Cheadle’s 42^nd Birthday. Happy Belated Birthday Don!

Boondocks

Look man, people gotta start stayin’ up late on Sunday nights!

The rebel mastermind behind the tell-it-like-it-is comic strip Boondocks has turned his comic strip into a full length cartoon that airs Sunday nights on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim set. Aaron McGruder has delivered an outrageous, but truly insightful, look at the society we live in.

I have admired McGruder for a handful of years now. Not only for his comic strip, but for his no-nonsense, straight-talking manner. I’ve watched him speak on several occasions, and on each one he held no punches.

Look, one time I saw him on a panel of esteemed men in the Black community speaking to middle-teens. Towards the end of his speech, he’d gotten really real with the young people. He finished by saying something along this line: “Look, I’m a critic…I’m not here to tell you that you can do it, ‘cause maybe you can’t!”

I was in awe. I could not believe that he would cast doubt on all the hopes and dreams of those aspiring youths. But he was just being real.

And as I understand things, he has an incredible disdain for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Well, can you believe that he actually had to sit next to her during a speaking engagement? So what does he say when he gets to the microphone to speak (while Condi is still there)? “Yall think yall funny sittin’ me next to Condoleeza Rice?!!!”

Again, no-holds-barred!

Well his cartoon is no different!

WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended
WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended
WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended
WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended
WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended
WARNING: You will be offended WARNING: You will be offended

He takes shots at everyone, no matter the race, religion, social class, sexual orientation, job description, shoe size, disability…no one is safe.

But here’s the great thing about it: McGruder is simply presenting an extreme satire on American Culture. And every satire he’s presented thus far, I’ve actually witnessed playing out in real life. No matter how extreme, I’ve seen each scenario. No matter how not-PC, I’ve been witness to every circumstance.

And I sit there laughing my head off while thinking the whole time, “I shouldn’t be laughing at this.” But I do, cuz it’s real, and in the foolishness of the vicissitudes of this life, we all play into many stereotypes and carry on in shameful fashion. And Boondocks cleverly (but excessively) exemplifies this.

In reading previews for the show, I learned that McGruder and comedian Dave Chappelle are decent friends. And among other things, one of the reason that Chappelle canceled his incredibly successful Comedy Central show was because people didn’t understand the complexity of his many skits. Underneath the hilarity of every parody, there were real-life (often racial) implications. And apparently it bothered Chappelle that people (primarily White-America) would just laugh at his jokes and not consider the message he was purveying.

So what! McGruder is poised to tell it like it is, and he doesn’t care if you get it. I think McGruder said of the cartoon that either it’s going to be a big hit, or it’s going to be a big failure, there’s no inbetween.

Well, in my book he’s already knocking ‘em out the ballpark!

So in the half-hour space after watching 2 hours of ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy Sunday nights, make sure to click over to the Cartoon Network and catch Boondocks at 11pm!

-Maelstrom

The Sidebar
Being the avid Michigan fan that I am, I have a deeply engrained disdain for Notre Dame (just a little bit less than I do for Ohio State). Despite being a not-top-ten team all season (I’d argue that maybe they deserve the 10 spot now, but shouldn’t have been ranked that high previously), they somehow find themselves in a guaranteed BCS spot. I don’t think they deserve the spot anymore than Fresno State (a team that also pushed USC to its brink, but doesn’t have the good graces of voter bias in their favor like ND), and certainly not Oregon (why do the pollsters hate on the Pac-10 so much). However, that’s not even what has made me to further dislike ND this season. The administrators at the school have somehow managed to frustrate me this year.

A few weeks back Notre Dame signed first year Coach Charlie Weis to a 10 year contract, apparently worth between $30 and $40 Million bones. This contract is virtually unheard of in college athletics and is incredibly unwarranted. At the time Weis was awarded this contract, ND had a record of 4 wins and 2 losses. Did I mention this was his first year coaching?

So right now you might think that this is just a minor point, and that it does seem a little silly for ND to sign Weis so early on at ND, with only a few games (including a couple losses) under his belt. But here’s what I’m really frustrated with:

3 seasons ago Notre Dame started the season with an 8 and 0 record under then-Coach Tyrone Willingham. It was also his first season, and he had a 5 year contract. By the end of the 3rd season, after suffering through two tough seasons, Willingham wasn’t even afforded the opportunity to finish out his 5 year contract (normally ND honors the contract, no matter how bad the coaching tenure). Willingham got the axe in a very cruel fashion from ND.

What’s the obvious difference between the 2 coaches? Weis is White and Willingham is Black.

Now certainly there are other factors at play. Willingham wasn’t the first choice for coach at the time he was hired by ND. He was hired by default when a scandal arose around the original choice for coach. So he was never endeared by the ND administration. Actually he was once he started out 8-0 and took ND to its first bowl game in years, but that immediately soured once they started to lose. The other thing to note is that Weis comes in with a resume that includes being a coordinator on the thrice Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots team. So he looks to have a bright future.

But all things being equal, if Weis is such a good coach, and his NFL background is so amazing, why in the world does his ND team have 2 losses when Willingham’s had none at the same point in the season. Plus Willingham cultivated many of the players that Weis now has. That means that Willingham was winning with a less experienced team, and Weis has losses with a more experienced team.

So why the big contract extension?

Though I think there are many political reasons for it, I can’t overlook race as a factor since this is occurring at ND. Notre Dame has a history of overt and subcutaneous racism. For many years ND wouldn’t allow Black athletes to participate in sports. And recently as 1999, a major Black hometown recruit that I’m acquainted with noted that ND basically tried to scare him away by threatening him with the Calculus requirement. Essentially saying that we don’t think you can pass the class, and if you can’t pass Freshmen Calculus, then you can’t play for us.

There’s no valid justification for Weis’s contract except his potential. Unfortunately for him I think his potential will crumble once Willingham’s product that Weis is currently benefiting from, QB Brady Quinn, enters the NFL draft.

The NBA Dress Code

So I guess Russell Simmons failed!

Flashback to the year 1992: Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons launches the first major hip-hop clothing line, Phat Farm. Recognizing the reality that the clothing does not make the man and that there was a large demand for so-called Urban Wear, Simmons boldly went where many have since followed. His stated goal was to prove that there is room in corporate America for the garb that is often represented in a culture called “hip-hop,” and that not everyone wearing such attire is a “thug.”

It’s now a couple weeks into the 2005-06 NBA season, and if you don’t know by now, a new NBA dress code has been implemented. In accordance with the dress code, players can no longer wear large necklaces/chains/medallions on the exterior of their clothes, doo-rags/head scarves, or headphones. On the flipside of the coin, players must wear collared shirts, dress pants, and cannot wear “work boots.” These rules apply when players enter any arena, and are in effect at all times (except while they’re in their playing uniforms).

In short, I think the new dress code is heavily flawed and has been brought about because of cultural, if not racial (and incredibly foolish), stereotypes. I think that the NBA Commissioner David Stern has turned into a dictator in his attempt to clean up the image of the NBA in the post-Pistons/Pacers brawl era. And ultimately, I think this policy and his statements are so amazingly hypocritical on several levels.

I’ll begin defending my thesis by noting that Stern is taking his job too seriously. He keeps asserting that the NBA is a business, pulling in $3 Billion Dollars a year, and that its members should carry themselves (i.e. look) like businessmen. Well I have a serious problem with Stern looking at the NBA from this perspective. It is true that the NBA is a business, of sorts. It is also true that it makes a lot of money. These things I would never dispute. However Pornography, Lawn Care, and Automobile Repair are also businesses…and you know what, they dress (or don’t dress, as the case may be) in the attire that is appropriate for their job. Stern’s argument about the NBA being a business likens the NBA to Wall Street.

That is the farthest thing from reality.

The NBA is about 1 thing and 1 thing only: Entertainment. That’s right, entertainment on a similar wavelength with Hollywood. And much like Hollywood, part of the biggest appeal (you know, the part that helps make the $3 Billion in revenue) is the individuality of the players that make up the NBA. It is for certain that people are curious to see what “A.I” is going to wear in the post-game press conference. It is for sure that people find it entertaining to see Rasheed Wallace bouncing his head to the music in his headphones during a pre-game interview. The individual aspect of the game (largely what makes the game so much fun to watch), what this business truly is all about, is now being abandoned.

To piggyback on that notion, the NBA already has a dress code. When they’re on the clock, every player is wearing a jersey with their number and name on it. I’ve never seen a player playing while wearing a medallion or sporting a headscarf. And that makes sense. You see, once upon a time I worked at McDonald’s (if the NBA is a business, certainly Mickey Dee’s is), and we also had a dress code. But you know what, unless I was on the clock, working in the capacity of that business, I didn’t have to adhere to the dress code. This meant that when I exited my vehicle and entered McDonald’s, I could be dressed in mismatched shoes, a polka-dot sweater and fluorescent orange jeans. However, once I punched in, I had to have the familiar McDonald’s shirt, pants and hat on. Stern’s policy regulates the players from the moment they get into their limo, or the team airplane, until the time they leave the arena.

Isn’t that a little excessive? I think so!

Especially since it may affect the player’s performance. Anyone who works any job will attest to wanting to relax prior to work. So why are NBA players now being denied (to some extent) the same opportunity. Some NBA players listen to music to take their mind off the ensuing game. Some players, being superstitious, wear special jewelry before each game. And if you buy the argument that sports is largely psychological (and trust me athletes often think so), then it is feasible to suggests that such change in routine (which dates back to childhood for many) could have an affect on their playing.

Undoubtedly the NBA has experienced significant bad press over the course of the last few seasons. Probably the most notable occurrences are the “basketbrawl” of last season, and the fall from grace of Kobe Bryant, one of the NBA’s biggest names. However, changing the outer appearance does not change people. If players want to fight during a game, they’ll still do so, it’s been happening as far back as I can remember (and I’ve been avidly watching the NBA for nearly 20 years). Indeed, I think Allen Iverson put it best when he said, “you can put a murderer in a suit, but he’s still a murderer.”

Now back to that $3 Billion Dollars a year. Where in the world, or how in the world does the NBA think it makes that money. Well, let me tell you. The NBA capitalizes on the Hip-Hop culture that Stern and many others (primarily Phil Jackson) criticize. The NBA now uses, on a regular basis, “Throwback” Jerseys which were made popular through hip-hop. NBA exposure through hip-hop music has been present for over a decade at least. Even a handful of NBA stars have had their own hip-hop albums. In fact, arguably the NBA’s biggest star, Shaquille O’Neal, has something like (I can’t remember for sure) 4 Gold Albums and 1 Platinum Album, featuring some of Hip-Hop’s biggest stars including the late Notorious B.I.G. Some of Hip-Hop’s most successful artists, like Jay-Z and Sean Combs, now have part ownership of NBA franchises or are pursuing it.

Without a speckle of doubt, the NBA is as big as it is today specifically because of its intermingling with the hip-hop culture.

That being said, I am absolutely tired of people wearing Timberland Boots and Platinum Chain medallions being equated with gangsters and thugs. When people say that (i.e. Phil Jackson and several news reporters…even acclaimed Black film director Spike Lee) it makes me so mad I want to spit nails. For starters, when people say such things it clearly indicates to me that they are out of touch with the younger, “hip-hop” generation. The gangster era in hip-hop died, in my opinion, when Tupac was murdered (about 10 years ago). Since then we’ve gone from Jiggy to Bling-Bling to Pimp. And if you want to say that Platinum Chains and Gold encrusted Chalices are negative depictions that shouldn’t be portrayed by NBA players because it is representative of the Pimp imagery, then fine. That logic would indicate to me that the critic has a full awareness of where the music and the culture are today, and would get little rise out of me at all. However, to place all “hip-hoppers” in one basket because of their dress, and call that basket “thug” let’s me know that there are stereotypes and prejudices at play that have been engrained in the minds of hip-hop haters.

Furthermore, if hip-hop is such a bad thing, explain to me why even the gangsta era hip-hop artists have found cross-over success. Snoop Dogg is a spokesman for Chrysler and recently did a commercial with Chrysler Corporation Chairman Lee Iacocca. Ice Cube and Ice Tea have both become prominent and respectable forces in Hollywood. And that’s just to name a few. And each of those artists has dedicated time, their voices, and their skills to the NBA in some way form or fashion. And the NBA stands to gain the most from it simply because when hip-hop artists speak, the generation listens and follows.

When Snoop wears a Kobe jersey, the sales for Kobe’s jerseys goes up. When Jay-Z wears a Jason Kidd jersey, everybody rushes to the stores to see if the Kidd jersey is still in stock. And who benefits? Not Snoop, Kobe, “Hova” or Kidd…the NBA does.

And how hypocritical is it (or at least fundamentally flawed) for the NBA to solicit high school and young college talent but not allow these people to dress like their peers. Many of the leagues 30 and under players grew up in neighborhoods and areas where hip-hop was all they knew. Despite their hip-hop backgrounds, their talent is what makes them good enough to play in the NBA. But now the NBA is too good for their background???

So basically the NBA wants the talent, but not the “baggage” that goes along with it.

For arguments’ sake, I’ll buy the case that wearing Roc-a-wear sweats with a Jakob the Jeweler watch and a G-unit platinum (spinning) medallion is representative of gangsters and thugs. What does the dress code change then?

Answer: Absolutely nothing.

So now they’ve gone from dressing like Gangstas on the street to dressing like Gangstas in corporate America. Because last I checked, the biggest thugs and gangsters in this country wore suits, collared shirts, neck-ties, and worked on Wall Street. I mean, what exactly is a thug? An Enron executive? A WorldCom CEO? A Tyco Board Member? A United States President? All these people wear suits and ties and don’t dress in the attire of hip-hoppers, but they are no less criminals, thieves or crooks (i.e. thugs and gangsters) because they look the part of the stereotypical law-abiding citizen.

NBA players and those that identify with the hip-hop culture should be so offended that they boycott anything hip-hop based that benefits the NBA. The handful of hip-hop artists that still wear jerseys should cease. Players shouldn’t do anymore shoe commercials that feature hip-hop music. Players shouldn’t be in anymore commercials promoting NBA teams if the commercial features a hip-hop beat. Hip-hoppers shouldn’t buy NBA player-endorsed shoes or their clothing and then wear them in music videos. NBA players should refuse to wear throwback jerseys during home games they’re supposed to wear them in. There should be absolutely no intersection between hip-hop and the NBA, and I guarantee that the 3 Billion dollars that Stern is touting would sharply diminish. Then what would his business do?

For Stern to implement such a prejudiced policy (I haven’t even gotten into the implications for players from overseas, or those that don’t dress in hip-hop clothing, but rather in other attire that’s no-longer acceptable) means that he’s missing the point, and I don’t want to miss the point.

The point is simply this, running a business is all about making money and providing a service. By Stern squelching the individuality of the players through this superfluous dress code he is doing a strong disservice to the culture that makes this business as lucrative and commercially successful as it is. There is a direct correlation between the $3 Billion Dollars the NBA makes each year and its intermingling with the Hip-Hop Culture. Unfortunately, there is a direct correlation between what Stern thinks is wrong with the NBA and Hip-Hop as well.

I’d just like to say that he’s wrong, and that the NBA is fine. Also, the problems that do exist have more to do with certain individuals, and not the apparent “Universal Dumping Ground” culture of Hip-Hop. When he learns how to deal with people on a more personable level, the pockets of trouble around the NBA will also subside. Because all he’s doing with his dictator-like stance these days is alienating not only the players, but the fans as well.

Sounds like to me that Stern needs to brush up on Business 101!
-Maelstrom

Be Grateful

I know I don’t need to say much to drive this point home, but I think it’s totally appropriate to amplify it.

Today is among my favorite days on the calendar. It is my favorite Holiday and (as I sometimes quip to those who know me) the 2nd most important day in November. Thanksgiving Day is the one Holiday that we have in this country that everyone can participate in. There’s no religious affiliation, no political under-current, no person-specific glorification. Thanksgiving Day is a day when everyone actually pauses and considers the things they have to be thankful for (or at least the notion of “thankfulness” is brought to the forefront). And no matter who you are, or what condition you find yourself in, there’s something to be thankful for. Especially if you’re reading this blog, because that means that you have computer access and access to the internet (not to mention access to the greatest site on the web).

In my “old” age, I have my doubts about all the stories I’ve been taught about the origin of Thanksgiving; the Pilgrims and the “Indians” getting together happily and sharing the edible elements of their culture. No matter the origins though, I’m glad that it has turned into this very positive Holiday with a reputable purpose. Unfortunately I think it is too easily and too often glossed over by the Holidays that precede and follow it. Money-grubbing businesses and corporations, along with gift-hungry children, consumed by the decadence of Halloween and the selfishly commercialized nature of Christmas promote their madness without making mention of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving should not be glossed over. Thanksgiving should not be about eating Turkey (though I certainly enjoy it). Thanksgiving should not be that minor thing that happens in-between Halloween and Christmas. Thanksgiving should be a day that gives you pause and causes you to consider all the many things that you have to be thankful about.

That being said, take a moment and rewind your mind to this time last year. Recall where you were at. Consider the prospects that lay before you. Now, fast forward to today and remind yourself of all the things that transpired in the last 365 days (think big picture here). Since Thanksgiving 2004 there have been several natural disasters. Many of which were unprecedented and none of us could’ve anticipated at this time last year.

The Tsunami in the Indian Ocean claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The recent earthquake in Pakistan has claimed tens of thousands. The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane season is still taking lives well into the thousands. Tornadoes aplenty have sadly claimed their number of lives too. Several religious pilgrimages ended tragically as people were murdered at some, and stampeded at others. All-in-all, this year has been monumental with respect to natural disasters and the number of lives claimed and/or altered. And do I even need to mention the many people that have met their demise at the hands of war and fighting.


All those lives taken, all those people forever changed. And that could’ve been any one of us (as my mother often says, “but for the grace of God, there go I”). So indeed, in that very broad manner, we are blessed. But don’t forget the many things we often take for granted. Shoes on your feet, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, food on your table, money in your pocket, good health; these are all things to be thankful for. And trust me, where you live today (in your village, city or town…in your neighborhood…somewhere near you specifically…you don’t have to even think of the poor people in Africa to realize this), there are people that don’t have those things. And that is indeed something to be thankful for.

If there’s one fallacy of this wondrous holiday, it is that it lends itself to the lazy mentality. You know, it causes people to focus all their grateful energy on just this one day, then people go on living a life of selfishness and inconsiderateness. Every day you live, you have something to be thankful for. If you eat every day, you have something to be thankful for. If you have all your limbs, and all 5 senses, then you’re truly blessed.

So I suppose my “after-school-special” point of this blog is don’t just be thankful on Thanksgiving Day. Be grateful every day of your life, because no matter how impecunious your situation, you’re doing better than many, and things could certainly be worse off for you.

Happy Thanksgiving,
-Maelstrom

PS: In the last several weeks, I have learned that many more people than I thought actually read “The Vortex.” So, I am thankful that despite the (sometimes) weeks between posts, I’m able to garner a few minutes of your time. I’m certainly grateful for each and every reader and do hope that you continue to read this site.

And to Sara, who left a comment here at the end of my last post and noted that I hadn’t written her back (presumably on thefacebook), this is Maelstrom saying hello. It has indeed been a looooong time. I hope that you’re finding success in whatever it is that you’re doing, because I’m expecting great things out of you. And thank you for your many kind comments and for reading this site. I truly appreciate it. We will be in contact in the future, but for now, I hope this suffices.

You’re Too Old For Halloween!

New rule: Halloween is for homo sapiens 12 years old and younger ONLY!

Over the weekend I once again witnessed the pure decadence of men and women in my surroundings and decided that some things should be for kids and kids only. Halloween, a “holiday” that has interesting roots, is an occasion that eventually morphed into an opportunity for children to dress up in “spooky” costumes while makeshift panhandling for candy. But now it has taken on a new face that has me seriously questioning my generation.

You see, there should be requirements concerning “trick or treating.” You should be under 12 years old and/or shorter than 4 feet 6 inches. At the age of 4, 7, or 9, Halloween is an innocent event that affords children the opportunity to catch up on all the candy that mommy and daddy wouldn’t let them eat throughout the year.

But after 12 years old, children should be cut off. And here’s why…

…as you enter your teen years, and your hormones begin raging, and adolescence sets in, so does deviant behavior. As we get older, we pervert innocent things like Halloween. And I’ve watched the progression. Halloween goes from dressing up in “cute” little outfits to pulling pranks on people (like egging cars and “tee-peeing” houses). I’ve even heard tell of middle teens “bag-snatching” from small children during Halloween.

But the decadence doesn’t stop there.

These illicit behaviors reach full fruition in the late teens and early twenties. All weekend long I witnessed hundreds and hundreds of young adult women dressed in, well, I’ll call it “revealing” clothing (in lieu of using a couple of other terms I can think of to describe it). It’s as if the goal is to be as trashy as possible.

Now check this out, I saw droves and droves of guys dressed up as women for their costume. And I was lookin’ like, “when did this become the standard male costume?” Dresses, pumps, wigs, jewelry, make-up carefully done, complete with boobs and bras. I mean, the guys really had the stereotypical female look down to a tee. They looked more like ladies than the women did.

I find it funny that the women are dressed in attire that is presumably supposed to be attractive to guys, while the guys are busy trying to become what women used to be.

Anyhow, all I’m trying to say is that the bawdry nature of Halloween today could be easily rectified if 13-year-olds (and above) were banned from participating.

If I should ever participate in handing out candy from my doorstep one day, I will be certain to take “roll call” before anyone gets a Snickers from me. And I don’t care if they’re dressed up like Jesus, if they’re 13 or older I’m going to slap them, and tell them to go home, and never participate again. Hopefully this will serve as a future deterrent, and spare Halloween from the debauchery that it has now become.

-Maelstrom

The Sidebar
So, like I figured, Bush nominated a new candidate for the Supreme Court before much of the country was even awake Monday. And I just have to hand it to the guys he’s got working for him; they push their corruption to the side and manage to frame everything in such a way that it’s a win-win for Bush.

I just wish that everyone would pay attention and see how often the administration champions an idea, and then jumps to the other side of the coin when the initial idea doesn’t work for them.

When Harriet Miers was first nominated, Bush glorified the fact that she didn’t have a tainted judicial past, and that she came from the second best law school in Texas as opposed to the typical Ivy League elite. Those notions were shot down by the Right, so then Bush nominates this guy Alito. Now he’s praising Alito’s 15 years on the bench (saying he has more judicial experience than any nominee in 70 years), and of course Alito comes from Stanford.

Not only does Bush do this back and forth dance, so does his party.

When John Roberts was going through the confirmation process, he essentially said “hi, I’m John Roberts, and I won’t answer any questions.” He certainly wouldn’t give his thoughts or opinions on Roe v. Wade. That decision, to essentially plead the 5th, by Roberts was praised by the Right. They said his nomination isn’t about one single issue and he shouldn’t have to answer such questions. However, when Miers was on the block, they wanted to hear her say that she would vote against Roe v. Wade. She didn’t, but to prove that she would, her minister spoke to members of the administration that tried to assure the Right that she’s “one of us,” touting her Evangelical Christian conversion (a distinction that has come to mean if you are in favor of abortion, you’re going to go to Hell 6 times and maybe a 7th for good measure).

So on this 1st Tuesday in November, I’m reminded of an election that took place 365 days ago; a time when the term “flip-flop” meant the certain loss of any chance at Presidency for Mr. John Kerry. With that in mind, I have to ask, if flip-flopping was bad for the country in the case of John Kerry (1 of 100 Senators), isn’t it even worse for the country if the person (and the party) running it is also doing the same thing?

The Game of Politics

I must admit that politics is a crafty beast. I mean so much goes on in politics that unless you’re paying attention, you’ll never even notice the subtle nuances. Case in point, the tail end of last week.

For over 2 years, a special prosecutor has been investigating the case pertaining to the leaking of a covert CIA operative’s name. For anyone that’s been paying attention to the story, there are at least a few things that seem obvious (though I can’t be 100% sure of my conclusions until I hear them from the prosecutor). Clearly Robert Novak, the columnist that published the operative’s name (Valerie Plame-Wilson), must be working with the investigators; otherwise he would’ve had to spill the beans before the Grand Jury like “Time” magazine reporter Michael Cooper, or go to jail for not giving up his source, like "NY Times" columnist Judith Miller. Furthermore, I suspect that the prosecutor has known for a long time who originally leaked the name since all three of these parties have now cooperated, and since Novak has been cooperating since the beginning.

But all that is beside my point, and will play itself out in the weeks ahead (and will probably end up with VP Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, Lewis “scooter” Libby, making a plea bargain to save his former boss and the White House some political grief…just my opinion, but we’ll see).

But in the game of politics, the rules work like this:
If your political party is in power, bad press for your party is released on a Friday. The reason why is because by Friday, the weekend has come and people tend not to pay as much attention to the news (there’s partying to be done, sleep to be caught up on, family to spend time with, etc.). What’s more is that over the weekend, people tend to forget the bad news that came out on Friday, and sometimes things happen over the weekend that will trump any Friday afternoon bad news.

So it came as no surprise to me that the special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation, Patrick Fitzgerald, handed down his indictment of Libby on Friday and not earlier in the week. I wholeheartedly believe that Libby could’ve been indicted by Fitzgerald at least by Wednesday, if not weeks ago. But in politics, timing is a large part of the equation, and sometimes it is everything.

Make no mistake about it…

…it is no coincidence that President Bush’s Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination on Thursday, the day before Fitzgerald’s indictment announcement. It was a pre-emptive strike, if you will. That news was so big (even though we all knew that she wasn’t going to make it through the nomination process weeks ago) that it severely diminished the heavily anticipated CIA leak indictments.

I had been telling people for weeks that I thought Miers was going to withdraw her nomination. But when I saw the timing of her announcement, I was like, those guys are so crafty.

And you know what else, I am certain that the White House spent the weekend heavily engulfed in determining who the next Supreme Court Nominee is going to be.

Why???

Because the news of a nomination (ASAP) will close the sandwich of diversion around the corruption that has taken place in the White House. So, I am fully expecting an announcement Monday afternoon, by the President, declaring his latest Supreme Court nominee. By Wednesday for sure, and if it takes longer than that, I’ll be shocked.

One thing I have to say about this White House we’re currently under is that they really know how to play the game of politics. And no matter how one frames the arguments for or against them, they always win.

-Maelstrom

The Sidebar
October is Breast Cancer awareness month, and I’d be heavily remiss if I didn’t address it at all.

Breast Cancer is the most diagnosed Cancer for women each year by far (nearly 80,000 will be diagnosed this year). And indeed, about 1500 men are diagnosed with the disease each year. A sad but true statistic is that 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime with the risks increasing with age. Also, it is highly likely that you will know, firsthand, someone with Breast Cancer in your lifetime. A reality that I suspect is true since I see so many people wearing pink ribbons during the month. Because for the most part people don’t become aware until they’re personally affected, and that’s often when people begin to do things like wear ribbons.

I have had the pleasure of meeting one of the rare men who is a Breast Cancer survivor. He is a writer whose story is very inspirational.

Sadly, I also knew a very close family friend that suffered from the disease and eventually succumbed. She was my babysitter for many years, and her sons are my friends. It was through her that I first learned what a mastectomy is. Unfortunately, by the time she got hers, the Cancer had already spread to her lungs.

There’s so much that one can’t understand about the psychology of the disease. And certainly, men can’t identify with what it means to have a mastectomy as a woman. And unless you’ve witnessed the incredible declining health status of someone suffering with the disease, the devastation may not compute. I remember that my babysitter would take 30 minutes to walk up one stair (just one) once the disease had taken full hold of her. It’s overwhelming to say the least.

Gladly, the numbers of Breast Cancer deaths have been on the decline since 1990. Some attribute this to mammograms; others think it’s because of the drugs used. No matter the reason, it’s a great reality. Indeed a couple weeks back, a drug (Herceptin) designed to specifically fight Breast Cancer was announced, and it has shown great promise in fighting the disease.

Hopefully everyone has heeded the advice of doctors and performs self-examinations on their breasts (and yes fellas, believe it or not, that includes you too…yeah, you’ve got breasts). Hopefully if something looks or feels wrong no one hesitates to see their doctor about it. An action that simple can save your life; all it takes is your astuteness.

Certainly we have a long way to go in the fight against Breast Cancer (and all Cancers for that matter), but I’m glad to see that progress is being made. Most importantly I’m glad to see something that we see very little of in this nation these days…

…Awareness!

Long live the Pink Ribbons!

Illegitimate Defenders, Over-represented Victims

In a couple sidebar rants, I’m still pretty frustrated with racial inequality. By now, if you have any interest in the vicissitudes of America’s social status, you’ve seen the tape of a New Orleans man being “restrained” by several police officers and FBI agents about two weeks ago. In a tale as old as this nation, again we have one black man having to be “restrained” by several white law enforcement figures.

The great thing about video cameras is that they don’t lie.

Apparently the police officers' form of restraining is topped off with a few tactics employed by boxers and kick-boxers alike.

And so I listened to the White officers’ Attorney on the news the other day (of course another white man), and I was astounded to hear how he defended the actions of the police. Just to play devil’s advocate, let’s say that the Attorney’s clients are telling the truth: the man was in a drunken stupor, a threat to others in the area, and was resisting arrest.

Now even if all of that is true, does it really take 4 or 5 men to restrain 1 man? And if he is truly that drunken, how much of a fight can he really put up that it requires so many people to arrest him? I mean, the last time I checked, superhuman strength, crisp agility, and amazing dexterity aren’t exactly the hallmarks of drunken individuals. And where in the law enforcement training manual does punching several times to the head (as well as kicking for those that have seen the extended version of the tape) constitute arresting or restraining? Aren’t law enforcement agents trained on the swiftest, most effective ways to subdue someone, apart from bar-room brawling methods?

What I truly find funny is that every time an incident like this occurs, it’s always several white men beating the crap out of one “severe threat" black man (gosh...are black men really that scary). And then the people that defend them (both legally and in the news) are more white men who can clearly decipher between racial injustice and reality.

Doesn’t there seem to be something at least slightly wrong with that picture?

In my other rant, I am so frickin’ tired of missing persons’ stories on the news. Not that my heart doesn’t go out to the victims and their families, but because the stories are lopsided and incongruent racially and gender wise. If you just watch the news, you’d think that no racial minorities are ever missing anywhere in the United States. And you’d certainly never imagine that a man could possibly be missing. And no minority children are ever the victims of kidnappings, molestation and murder either.

If I see another missing white woman story, I think my head is going to explode.

Ok, so after making a statement like that, I know I’ve got to qualify it. Here’s the problem, in the year 2003, there were two thousand more missing men reported in the USA than women. In that same year less than 30% of all missing people reported in the USA were white women. Yet, on the news, white women are far and away all we hear about. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE there’s a story involving a man or non-white female, but that is very rare.

So my issue is that most missing people stories should be carried by local or state news, not national news. And if we are going to report missing people on the national news, then we should report all kinds of missing people (black, yellow, white, purple, green, polka dot, male, female and other), not just white women.

And I know this may strike a sour chord with people to name names, but seriously, I don’t see how in October, in the midst/aftermath of a Pakistani Earthquake, Hurricanes Stan, Rita, and Katrina (with Wilma pending), the Iraqi elections (and about a dozen other serious major stories) Natallee Holloway still makes major news. She went missing in May.

I specifically remember watching one 24-hour cable news station during the 4 days after Hurricane Katrina (September mind you), and the only other story they deemed worthy of coverage was this missing blonde-haired white lady in Aruba. Of all the other stories to report on outside of the Hurricane (not to mention the sad Hurricane response), they took opportunity to report that one.

Again, my heart goes out to the victims.

But what about the missing Black lady down the street? What about the Asian man that went missing yesterday in Los Angeles? What about the Latino children that were kidnapped last week by a suspected registered sex offender? Aren’t their lives valuable too? Aren’t they victims as well? Shouldn’t we also start a nationwide search for them if we truly care about their safety?

Decades after Billie Jean King (a lady) beat a man in a tennis match, 50 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education, over 35 years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., millennia after travel by ships allowed men of different shades and languages to see each other…and we still have all this overt, explicit and implicit gender and racial inequality.

What sad beings we truly are!

-Maelstrom

Pristine, Magnanimous, Impeccable

When I first began “The Vortex” over a year ago, I always made a point of referencing all of the information that I had accumulated so that any readers would know that I wasn’t just pulling my facts from a fantasy that I’d built in my head (see some of my earlier posts from the archives). I quit doing this after a while because I knew that I was writing on a factual basis, and if anyone was truly interested in knowing if what I was saying was true, that they’d go look things up for themselves upon reading my posts.

Just because I don’t reference all of my facts anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t do my research before posting something.

The other day, after my post about Christopher Columbus, someone had the audacity to post a comment saying that I was weak on the facts concerning him. Whoever left the comment has a lot of guts saying such things, and clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about or who they’re indicting. You serve just to annoy me, and maybe in the future I won’t respond to such silliness and just delete your ignorant comments. But for today, I’ll point out where you’re wrong, and where I was right.

First, you said that I asserted Vespucci was the first person to discover America. I never said that, I simply said that the distinction had been “ascribed to” Amerigo Vespucci. I made that statement with tongue-in-cheek (you know, a little literary humor) because I think that the very notion of Columbus, Vespucci or even the Vikings “discovering” a land that was already inhabited is a misnomer and laughable at best. Europeans wanted to believe that they discovered everything, and American text books seem to want to maintain these incorrect declarations, which is the subtle point that I was trying to make with that statement. They also wanted to make the inhabitants of the “New World” out to be savages and primitive peoples when in reality they had very complex societies and trade from South America to Africa is documented and had been going on for centuries before Columbus’ arrival.

Your second point that Columbus never traded for slaves is so incredibly false that I can’t believe you even made the statement. In fact, you’re so lazy that you didn’t even “google” the concept. If you go to http://www.google.com, and type in “Columbus Slave Trade” you return 809,000 hits, with 97 of the first 100 hits specifically referring to Columbus' role in opening up the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Looks like you’ve bought into the USA elementary school educational stories concerning Columbus. You know, the ones that leave out his involvement in implementing slavery.

So, brief slave trade history lesson. Portugal is regarded as the first European nation to enslave people from Africa. The methods that they used were known to Columbus, and he used this knowledge to enslave the indigenous people (namely the Taino or Arawak people) of the Caribbean. In fact, I’ve read several accounts that all agree Columbus took between 300 and 1200 Taino slaves from the Caribbean and brought them to Spain to be sold as slaves in the same fashion that African slaves were being sold on the Iberian Peninsula in 1495. By 1502, for several reasons (including the drastic diminishing of natives in the Caribbean, as well as the natives’ prowess in hiding in the hills and mountains of their familiar lands) African slaves were then being used to work the fields and mines in the “New World.” And there’s much more to be said about it that I won’t get into, but anthropologists and historians agree Columbus both had slaves and was the catalyst in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in more ways than one.

And to point out a very critical flaw in your failed argument concerning Columbus and the slave trade: You said that “Columbus never traded for any slaves, never set up any slave trading systems, first of all he didn’t know where he was so how could he.” You also said that Columbus had come and gone from the New World 3 times (1492, 1493, and 1498). The inherent flaw in your argument is that if Columbus had come and gone those 3 times, then he certainly knew where he was going even if he didn’t know where on the globe he was. Therefore could have easily set up a slave trade.

Finally, I never said that people liked Columbus in his day, or that Columbus got rich off of the slaves or the goods he stole from the “New World.” However, that reality is exactly why he was involved in trading for slaves in the first place. The spices and things that he was supposed to bring back to Spain from India were clearly thousands of miles from his location on the map. However he did find that there was sugar cane and gold in the Caribbean. So in lieu of returning valuable spices to the Queen of Spain, he brought Taino slaves to the nation. Upon realizing that the Queen didn’t want anything to do with the slaves, Columbus began pillaging (with the aid of slaves) the Caribbean Islands for anything valuable (gold, sugar, etc.) to bring back to the Queen.

So, looks like the only thing you’ve got going for you is that you agree with me that Columbus shouldn’t have a national holiday in his honor. Outside of that, you simply suck and you really annoy me.

I guess this was a good exercise for me though. It gave me the opportunity to prove my pre-eminence as a thinker and a historian, so now when people read what I write they’ll have further confidence that what I’ve written here is based on facts.

So Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous commenter, maybe you should do your research or come up with valid peripheral arguments the next time you wanna do battle with me. Better yet, just save yourself the time, and go pester someone else because I will NEVER just post something here that isn’t based in fact if there’s factual evidence regarding a topic to be had.

On the facts, I stand pristine, magnanimous, and impeccable!

Now who’s weak on the facts?

-Maelstrom

PS: here are a few websites you might wanna read concerning your false comments. And if you don’t believe them, maybe you should go to your local Public Library and look it up.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Taino/docs/columbus.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/con_columbus.cfm
http://www.ustrek.org/odyssey/semester1/093000/093000madcolumbus.html
http://www.illinimedia.com/di/archives/1995/October/9/edit1.html
http://www.link-mail.com/44200.html
http://www.dangerouscitizen.com/Opinions/921.aspx
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_slav.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/columnists/purcell/s_381984.html
http://www.workers.org/ww/2000/africa0302.php

Columbus Day

For years and years and years, this nation has committed a day on the calendar to honor our nation’s “discoverer,” Christopher Columbus. Federal buildings, offices and operations take the day off as they do on only 8 other specific Holidays throughout the year. Since the day has recently passed, I would just like to briefly spout about how sad it is that we celebrate the memory of such a treacherous individual.

“In Fourteen-Hundred and Ninety-Two, Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.” Certainly anyone that grew up when I did, in the USA, has heard that rhyme recited time and time again. It refers to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus…let’s just call him “CC”), and how he led a mission from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to discover the New World. Among the “facts” I was taught for several years concerning CC were that CC proved that the world wasn’t flat, CC discovered America, CC wanted to trade spices with the Indians, and a handful of other accolades.

Since I was a 4th grader, “new” facts concerning CC have come to light. Apparently he wasn’t the one to prove that the world wasn’t flat, neither was he the first to navigate from Europe to the new world (he was preceded by at least 400 years by the Vikings). Furthermore, he didn’t even discover the America’s, that distinction has been ascribed to Amerigo Vespucci. And what’s more, despite our national holiday in his honor, Columbus never even set foot on United States’ mainland soil. He drifted from island to island in the Caribbean. Oh yeah, and spice trading…looks more like spice stealing to me.

So at best we can say that Columbus succeeded in traveling from Europe westward to what is now known as the America’s. He made this voyage a reproducible anomaly. And that’s about it.

Now here’s what we should really remember Columbus for. Columbus and his men made immediate enemies of the indigenous peoples living in the Caribbean. Maybe most notable was his leading the enslavement, massacre, pilfering, and rape of the Taino people in what we now know as Puerto Rico. Oh, and I should briefly mention that he and his men brought along with them a host of diseases that the indigenous peoples had no immune system to fight off.

CC is heavily responsible for much of the slave trading that marred the America’s for centuries, and whose explicit effects ended only a few decades ago in the USA. He learned from many European nations, like Portugal, how to trade for African slaves. He then arranged for these slaves shipment to the West Indies and forced them to work the land (full of cash crops like Sugar Cane) for his own personal gain.

Can someone please remind me again why we celebrate Columbus Day, complete with parades around the nation, and a Federal day off?

It would seem to me that a person who led the extermination and enslavement of one group of people, coupled with the displacement and enslavement of another group of people, would be a point of disdain and not accolade.

For real now, did he even accomplish anything reputable? He didn’t discover the America’s, he never made it to India to trade spices, he led a 16th century genocide, he didn’t even touch the USA mainland, and this is a guy that we’re going to halt the nation for and honor?

Funny how twisted this nation is.

It took marches on Washington, rallies, and even a Stevie Wonder tune to honor the memory of a truly remarkable man, Martin Luther King Jr. Indeed, there are members of Congress and in our Nation’s Judicial system to this day that voted against the MLK Holiday, and were in total opposition to it. So I gather that leading genocide is far more praise-worthy than leading non-violent campaigns of racial, social and economic equality.

I guess that I’m just frustrated with these “elephant in the room” issues. We talk about, debate, and discuss how women are paid 30 cents less than a man doing the same job, how teachers (who help develop multi-millionaire entertainers into who they are) are paid such pitiful wages, how the purchase of large gas-guzzling vehicles is financially wasteful/foolish, and about a bazillion other things; yet we never take steps to rectify these obvious “sillinesses.”

And one of the silliest notions that I can think of, with respect to national holidays, is to shut down the government in honor of a pillaging loser like Christopher Columbus; putting his name and reputation on par with Martin Luther King Jr. in January, and this nation’s Veterans in November. There seems to be some serious inequality in that very thought.

Since I know the task of erasing a National Holiday, no matter how unmerited it is, is a virtual impossibility, I at least hope that we tell the truth about Columbus and turn the day into an educational opportunity. In no way should he be praised, and certainly the people that became victims of his greed for prominence should be remembered and their history taught and honored.

It would be nice, sometime in the near future, to receive mail (no matter how full of bills it is) on the 2nd Monday in October. That would tell me that the nation has finally awakened.

-Maelstrom

It All Starts In The Mind

It all starts in the mind

As an avid fan of awareness, and the vicissitudes of this daily existence, I am increasingly amazed at what the average human being can do; both negative and positive. From the horrendous depths of criminal acts to the grand triumphs of those that have made something out of an impoverished life. This wretched, scarred, wrinkled, imperfect flesh can do virtually anything. The question is however, for what cause or purpose will we use this vessel?

In the trenches of my own mind, there exist hurtful notions as well as magnanimous ideals. There are failures that seem inevitable, and victories that seem unattainable. Yet I exist, and the struggle is to strive for the victories that seem impossible, while fighting against failures that seem certain. From there, we must decide what defines “victory” for us. What can we point at and say, “that is what I want to achieve?”

Watching the news is often a depressing and awe-injecting pastime. I watched this week as a little girl in New York City explained to police officers how she came to be alone, wandering the streets of New York in the middle of the night. Hours later it became apparent that her father had murdered her mother, and then took the girl (his own daughter) and left her on the streets in the middle of the night. After hearing the tale, all I could ask was, “who would do such a hideous thing?”

In my short few years walking this planet, I have become aware of a number of my close friends that have been raped and sexually assaulted, molested and manipulated. And I just question “who and why would someone do that?” I question “what made that sinister individual think that they could do that…who gave them the right to steal my friend’s dignity and innocence?”

And ultimately I ask the question, “What was going on in that person’s mind that told them they could commit such a heinous act? Do they have respect for another’s hopes, dreams, endeavors, future…humanity?”

The obvious, quick answer is no. However, the question is still a valid one. Nobody just wakes up and robs a bank. Even a child doesn’t just steal cookies out of the cookie jar. Certainly one doesn’t just rape another haphazardly. The rapist has an agenda, knows that they can accomplish their “mission,” and believe they can get away with it. And without knowing the numbers, I’d imagine that the vast majority of murders are premeditated to some extent too.

Before 9/11/01, we had never imagined that a group of individuals would take planes hostage, and crash the planes into buildings while taking their own lives. It was unthinkable and certainly didn’t follow the typical hostage-taking mold. There were no negotiations, no freed prisoners, no ransoms, and just utter malevolence.

The common link to all of these acts, great and small, is that it had to first be conceived of in the mind. And that alone is a scary thought. To know the treacheries that this physical existence has wrought. To think that someone could be plotting much more devastating calamities. To think that things could get worse.

But there are solutions, and one of them is you…me. Too often, I find, that we don’t take responsibility for the “messes” we make of our lives. It’s always the other guy’s fault, or, (she) made me hit her, or, I get my temper from my mama. Rarely do we look in the mirror and own up to the mistakes we made that helped to land us in the situations that we now find ourselves in.

A powerful statement that I read from Jennifer Aniston in Vanity Fair Magazine, concerning her divorce with Brad Pitt, was that even if the marriage failed 98% due to him, that 2% of the blame rested on her shoulders, and that’s the portion she has to focus on and improve.

As personal responsibility relates to the wickedness we witness on a daily basis, I whole-heartedly believe that if people counted the costs, and understood the gravitas of the actions that they have taken (or are contemplating taking), that we wouldn’t see so much heinousness. Certainly we can’t stop our mind from thinking some of the thoughts it encounters. When someone cuts you off on the highway, yes you want to go flick them off and ride them off the road (at least I know I do). But when you consider that something as minute as flipping someone the bird can (and HAS) lead to murder, then you know to handle the situation with grace and patience.

As a boy I was taught that “you can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from making a nest in your hair.” In other words, in this context, there are times when we have been wronged and want retribution, but we can often save ourselves a lot of heartache by not allowing that frustration fester.

And yet this mind is amazing. It is truly a beautiful device. Look at what the human mind can accomplish.

Anyone that has watched ESPN over the last two weeks has been reminded of Roger Bannister, the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes. It was believed to be humanly impossible, but in his mind, it could be done. Now, the feat has even been accomplished by high-schoolers.

It was once thought that the earth was flat, and that if you went over the horizon, you would fall off of it until someday, someone believed in their mind that the Earth was indeed not flat and that you could travel a circumference from one side to the other. To imagine human beings flying was laughable until the Wright Brothers created the airplane. Breaking the sound barrier was a virtual impossibility, until someone came along and said “it can be done.”

Now it is conceivable that one day man will Long Jump over 30 feet. Now it is imaginable that the fastest human being on Earth will one day be a woman. Now it is plausible that there will be a manned mission to Mars. Now it is possible that a cure for AIDS will be discovered. It just takes for someone in their mind to say, “It can be done!”

So how does this apply to the “average” man?

I think the first step that many of us need to take in the morphology of our future is to look in the mirror. Stand before the mirror and say, “this is me.” “I’ve made this mistake, I made that error, I really messed these situations up, but they are what they are. I cannot change the past; I can only look toward the future.”

Then we need to define for ourselves positive goals that we would like to accomplish.

And here’s the big one: It is a hard thing to remove ourselves from comfortable situations, even if that situation is an unhealthy one for us. We are indeed creatures of comfort and habit.

I don’t know if this is an original quote, but I’ll attribute it to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. He said, “People don’t change when they’re told they need to, people change when they realize they must.”

Unfortunately I know that change is easier said than done. Plus, you have to do more than want to change, or have more than just a reason to adjust your life. It takes a lot of strength and courage. Sadly, we often don’t have the strength to change our position on our own. It often takes extreme measures or occurrences to make us adjust our lifestyles.

Many people are obese and know that they need a more active lifestyle, and that a consistently healthier diet would greatly benefit them. They try and they try to do better, shuffling through diet after diet, but many can’t seem to make that transition until it is clearly apparent to them that their life is truly threatened.

Drug habits, even cigarettes, stand as an obvious roadblock to a smoother daily existence for millions of individuals. But it’s often not until it is crystal clear to that individual that their habit will harm their relationship, cost them jail time, or maybe even cause amputation of a limb, that the person decides to put that drug away.

And do I even need to mention what many people put up with in relationships (often women) even though they know they aren’t happy in it. From physical abuse, to emotional neglect, the victim often can’t let go and is many times being pulled by emotional strings like a puppet, often leaving the decisions about their relationship’s future up to their insensitive Agent of hurt. Then, and only then, do they move on; because they have to.

See, I’m a believer that it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to see change around you, then you’ve got to envisage it for yourself. If you want the ground to shake where ever you walk, then you’ve got to believe that it’s possible in the first place. If you want to be in shape, you’ve got to tell yourself that you will eat healthier and that you will be more active. If you know your relationship is not what you want it to be, you’ve got to have the moxy to say I deserve better, I can live without this person, I will move on.

And trust me, all these things are realistic and possible…but here’s the key…

It all starts in the mind!

-Maelstrom

PS: This marks my 100th post. Yay me!

Katrina

Needless to say, my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of Hurricane Katrina; from the coasts of Florida to the coasts of Louisiana. The suffering that these victims are enduring and will continue to endure for months (maybe years) to come is just unthinkable. And I shudder to think what will become of that great “Crescent City,” New Orleans. I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to partake in its great culture on more than one occasion. It was truly one of the most unique cities in this nation, bar none.

This time last week, we had not conceived the realities that many are now being faced with today as a result of this mighty storm. By Thursday evening though, I was actually at a boiling point of anger and frustration at the United States government for its slothful response to the affected areas. Normally a little anger (through an argument, good discussion, or watching the news) is fuel for me to write and post another blog. This time was different though. I was actually so mad that I couldn’t write. My mind kept cycling through all that I’d witnessed on the news all night long. I couldn’t sleep well, but was at the same time physically exhausted due to the emotional duress my mind was encountering due to the things I’d seen. And as I sat in class Friday, very little knowledge seeped in because my brain couldn’t stop thinking about all this.

I’ve cooled down a little and can now communicate coherently, so I will leave you with a few of my thoughts on the whole ordeal.

For the first time in a long time, the media did its job. I think the media really stepped up to the plate and I whole-heartedly believe that they saved many lives. Throughout the week as I watched the news,I was hearing two different messages. Government officials (Michael Chertoff, Michael Brown and the like) were thanking each other on the great job that they were doing in the aftermath of the Hurricane on one side. Then I’d hear news reporters from EVERY news station expressing how they hadn’t seen any government officials, any National Guardsmen or any sign that conditions were getting better for the victims of the storm.

It was not until Thursday evening that I got the full picture, and that was because of reporters like CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and MSNBC’s David Shuster. They were livid and irate about the fact that they hadn’t even seen any help until Thursday evening, 4 days after the storm hit. I think that it was solely because of their coverage that the government finally woke up, and sent the kind of support that should’ve been there by Tuesday, on Friday.

So here’s what I think they did right:
-Evacuated the region projected to be directly in the storm path (including New Orleans)
-Mobilized the Red Cross and FEMA prior to the onset of the storm
-Set up shelters for people to stay at during the storm if they could not leave the city of New Orleans
-Called up the National Guard in the aftermath of the storm to help out in the recovery operations
-Passing the $10 Billion aid package
-Accepting UN aid

Here’s what I think they did wrong:
-Not having an effective way to evacuate poor, sick and ill people from the “bowl” that is New Orleans prior to the storm
-Not calling up enough National Guards sooner (there should’ve been 20,000 National Guards there on Tuesday, not the few hundred that they had; certainly Tuesday was the day to get them there, not Friday). This includes all locations along the coast (Mississippi and Alabama too, not just Louisiana)
-Not having a Zero Tolerance policy for “true” looting and violence (a reality that sadly led to rapes, murders and beatings)
-Not having high-ranking Government Officials on the ground by Tuesday to give an accurate account of the situation to the Government
-Not accepting aid from numerous countries that offered it (in the form of both money as well as physically on the ground) early on
-Not having sufficient supplies for people who followed directions and actually went to designated shelter areas (namely the New Orleans Convention Center)
-Not getting food and water to the victims once it was clear than many people were trapped in New Orleans

This is what I think the real deal is, which may in large part explain how this calamity could happen. This government is stretched far beyond its capabilities both monetarily and militarily. Consider that when we first went into Iraq, General Shinseki said that we needed at least 300,000 troops on the ground to accomplish the mission. He was fired for his comments, we didn’t get the troops we needed, and now everyone knows he was right. SO, if we actually had the troop capacity to do the job there at this moment in time, don’t you think that we would have the 300,000 there now so that we could finish the job (since we know that’s what we need to accomplish the mission)?

Consider the Tsunami. As I recall, when the Tsunami first hit the USA only offered a pittance of money for the relief effort ($15 Million if I’m not mistaken). It wasn’t until we were trumped by much smaller and poorer countries than us that we finally pledged a reputable amount of money. In times past we were leading the way in contributions. Maybe it is that we don’t have the money and only embarrassment served as the catalyst for us to actually sign a check that would spell more financial hardships for this country.

And now consider Katrina. Why in the world wouldn’t we respond to this disaster with the necessary aid that it warranted in a timely fashion? Chertoff was talking about sending 1,400 National Guards a day and I was thinking, “Don’t you mean 14,000 a day?” 1,400 troops a day to aid an area where Millions of people live Mr. Chertoff? Does that even make sense?

So in my opinion, either there is a horrible mathematician in the White House that needs to be fired, or we actually DO NOT have the resources to handle these problems. And I think that’s the dirty little secret that this White House doesn’t want us to know.

Do not be fooled. THIS NATION IS IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS. Make no mistake about it. This reality will become more and more clear in the coming days and months (watch not only gas prices, but also retail prices, the stock market and of course Iraq). There’s no easier way to have a nation crumble than for it to go bankrupt.

Finally, I implore everyone who reads this blog, please do what you can to help out the victims of this storm. If that’s housing victims for a space of time, or raising money to send to the Red Cross (1-800-HELP-NOW), then don’t hesitate. Even if all you can do is send $20, then do that much.

Do not just complain about the pathetic governmental response, or shed a few tears as you watch the news. Get up off your derriere, and this time actually Do Something!

-Maelstrom