September 17, 2004 by s.z.

Some Quick Items 1.  The Sleaziest Rise to Fame EVER! In a piece called BOOK EXCERPT: HOW MY STORY ABOUT AIR-SECURITY LIMITS REALLY TOOK OFF, Michael Smerconish explains how his article (the one that claimed that airlines are fined by the FAA for giving more than two Arab males extra screening at one time) crawled out of the slime and grew legs. Meanwhile, while I was at the ballpark, Lucianne Goldberg, who runs a fabulous Web site (www.Lucianne.com), posted a link to my piece, and suddenly it was in play nationally. When I saw this, I sent the link to two journalists for whom I have great respect: Laurie Mylroie, a Harvard-educated Ph.D. and internationally recognized expert on Iraq and terrorism who was also an associate professor in the Strategy Department at the U.S. Naval War College, and Michelle Malkin, who, in my opinion, is the best syndicated columnist in the nation Both suggested I forward my piece to Kathryn Lopez at National Review Online. Ms. Lopez immediately responded that she would run it the following Thursday. And, after agreeing to run the Lehman piece, Lopez told me she had forwarded it to a friend at the New York Post, and that they wanted to run it that Friday. Just like that, this thing had legs!  IMHO, if you owe your rise to "fame" to people like Lucianne Goldberg, Laurie Mylroie, Michelle Malkin, and Kathryn Jean Lopez, you'd be better off claiming that you sexually serviced the entire Regnery editorial staff in order to get a book deal. 2.  Racial Profiling Our Way to Victory And speaking of Michelle, here's part a report on her appearance at Johns Hopkins: Malkin then mentioned in her opinion that there are discontinuous beliefs between those against racial profiling and those who support similar classifications such as affirmative actions for college. She considered the latter a "human rights abuse" But putting people in internment camps based on their race is simple common sense! She added, "People would've supported racial profiling if they knew it would've prevented death." Maybe -- but the thing is, it didn't.  There's no evidence it saved any lives in W.W.II.  While it might have saved on lives on September 11, 2001, it would only have worked if we had gone back in time with what we know now, and used it on that day.  Because if, on the day Bush took office, we had started strip-searching all Arab passengers before letting them board planes, I would posit that the terrorists would have just used people from a different racial group to get their weapons on board.  And thousands of innocent people would have been harassed for no good reason.  That's why racial profiling doesn't work. Concluding her speech, she noted that wartime profiling, in her opinion, has nothing to do with prejudice, but simply life or death, saying, "We need to fight this war in unprecedented ways." Then why does she use the precedent of Japanese interment camps to make her case? 3. The Airhead News  From the WZYZ TV News web report of their story, "Bush Twins Campaign in Michigan": President Bush's twin daughters were in Michigan Thursday campaigning for their dad. Barbara and Jenna Bush were in Brighton, speaking to a group of Bush/Cheney supporters. The Bush daughters were speaking at the Brighton Victory Center, which is a phone bank for the Bush/Cheney campaign of '04. So, to recap: the Bush twins were in Michigan campaigning for their Dad; they were in Brighton, speaking to Bush/Cheney supporters, and spoke in Brighton, to people supporting Bush/Cheney. This visit from the twins was an informal visit. They were wearing jeans, and kept their speeches quick and humorous. If you watch the video of the blonde newscaster giving her report, you also learn that the girls wore "cute little tops." The Bush twins were gracious and lighthearted on this occasion, which is only their second public campaigned appearance. Second public campaign[ed] appearance?  Well, after the disastrous convention speech, I guess the rest weren't open to the public.  Jenna Bush addressed the gathered volunteers and press, "One thing that my father has always taught my sister and me is that every person has worth and dignity. That's why he believes so passionately that every child in America should receive and excellent education. " No reporter left behind! "And that's why I'm so proud that he helped to liberate Afghanistan, where women are going back to work and girls are going back to school." Since Jenna wasn't able to benefit from the excellent education her father advocates and so had to go to school in Texas, I guess we can't expect her to be aware of things like this Voice of America report (emphasis added): Leading women's activists from Afghanistan and Iraq say U.S. intervention has had only limited success in liberating women in their nations. Too often, they say, women continue to be targets of abuse, kidnapping and oppression, even after military operations have ousted tyrannical leaders. Several women's advocates visited New York this week, to share their concerns and ask for help during a conference on women and power.   [...] Women's activists from Afghanistan acknowledge that some progress has been made since the removal of the Taleban regime. Young girls are going to classes in the capital, Kabul, and in some areas, women are allowed to work outside the home. But Zoya, a member of a group called the Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan who does not use her last name for security reasons, says the recent improvements are limited, and that the situation for women is worsening in the rest of the country. "They cannot go without a male relative outside their houses, and they have no access to education and there are health problems for them. So we think that the bombs in Afghanistan - the bombing by the U.S. administration - has not changed the situation because they replaced one fundamentalist [group] with another one," she says Of course, Voice of America is on the radio, so one doesn't have to be literate to get their information, but I'm sure Jenna has other reasons for her ignorance -- such as the fact that Karen Hughes writes her speeches. Now, for the conclusion of the WXYZ story: The assembly Thursday with the Bush daughters was not open to the public. So, it was the twins' "second public campaigned appearance," in that members of the public weren't allowed to attend the event.  Got it. 4.  Good Reading at a Good Price! The new issue of Virtual Occoquan, featuring the best of the Salon blogs, is up.  Enjoy such features as: Actual Transcript: John McCain at RNC - Susan McNerney Bush: The Drinkin' Years - Steve Raker Medals - David Fox Actual Transcript: 'Talk to Bush' in Sedalia - Mark Hoback And many more!  So, enjoy them, won't you?  I know I did! 6:54:59 AM

Buy More Tide and Crest! From WorldNetDaily: Dobson: Boycott Procter & Gamble 'Tacit support' of same-sex marriage 'affront to its customers' Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble should be boycotted for its efforts to overturn a local law barring special rights to homosexuals, says Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson. Dobson will urge listeners of his daily radio program today to stop buying two of the company's best-known products, Tide laundry detergent and Crest toothpaste. His half-hour program reaches about 9 million listeners a week in North America. The American Family Association already has launched a boycott against those products for the company's financial support of a campaign to repeal a Cincinnati city-charter amendment approved in 1993 with 62 percent of the vote. The group has set up an online petition. Dobson argues that in addition to giving $10,000 to the campaign to overturn the amendment in November, Procter & Gamble has said it "will not tolerate discrimination in any form, against anyone, for any reason." They say they won't tolerate discrimination?  Those bastards! Anyway, some background: the "special rights" in that "law" is the right not to be discriminated against because of sexual orientation. From a recent A.P. story: The city charter amendment approved by 62 percent of voters forbids Cincinnati to enact or enforce laws based on sexual orientation. Cincinnati is the only city in the nation with such a provision in its charter, which, like a constitution, is the legal framework that the city works from to enact laws. [...] Repeal advocates say the amendment gives the city a reputation of intolerance. Church leaders say it is unjust, while business leaders say it complicates employee recruitment and has cost the city about $46.5 million in convention business. The amendment was drafted after the City Council approved a human rights ordinance forbidding discrimination against gays - among other groups - in housing, workplaces, hotels and restaurants. The amendment's backers said in 1993 that they were fighting the "homosexual agenda" and what they viewed as the granting of special rights to gays. That argument hasn't changed, said Phil Burress, chairman of the Equal Rights, Not Special Rights coalition, a group pushing to keep the amendment. [...] Procter & Gamble Co. and Federated Department Stores Inc. have donated a combined $30,000 to support the repeal effort. Other backers include the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, Catholic Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and Mayor Charlie Luken. Is Focus on the Family and the AFA going to ban the Chamber of Commerce and Archbisop Pilarczyk?  Time will tell. But back to WorldNetDaily, where Mr. Dobson will explain how being against discrimination means that Procter & Gamble is supporting the gay agenda. The family advocate says while the company does not explicitly endorse same-sex marriage, its statements and policies communicate the notion that restricting marriage to one man and one woman is discriminatory. "For Procter & Gamble to align itself with radical groups committed to redefining marriage in our country is an affront to its customers," Dobson said. "An overwhelming majority of Americans -- the men and women who buy this company's products -- oppose same-sex marriage. To give no thought to their views while selling out to a very small special-interest group is not only bad business, it's bad for the country." Procter & Gamble said that they haven't taken a position on same-sex marriage, and merely "opposed a Cincinnati statute that precludes protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination" --but since the company has aligned itself with radical groups such as Special Olympics, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the United Negro College Fund, and UNICEF, it is clearly bad for our country. "It's tough to make a dent, financially, in a corporate giant like Procter & Gamble," Dobson said. "But we can send a very strong message to the men and women in the corporate offices: 'Not only have you lost your moral compass, but you have lost our business. And you're not going to get it back until you stop insulting us and disregarding our values.'" Yeah!  The people who value discrimination have had their values disregarded, and they're not going to wash their clothes or brush their teeth until P&G denounces their stand and comes out in favor of bigotry.   I hope those corporate monsters with the lost compasses get the message. If you go to the American Family Association's online petition, it explains why anyone who doesn't believe in discrimination must believe that same sex marriage should be legalized.  (Emphasis in the original)    While not explicitly saying so, in their public announcement supporting the repeal P&G clearly showed their support for homosexual marriage. P&G said they “will not tolerate discrimination [against homosexuals]in any form, against anyone, for any reason.” To keep homosexuals from being legally married is discrimination for good reason, which P&G says they will not tolerate. Taking them at their word, P&G supports homosexual marriage. And taking AFA at their word, they support intolerance and nuttiness.  But of course, you already knew tha, for the head of this group is Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, whose resume includes: Denouncing CBS for being an accessory to murder for airing Exorcist II. ("CBS must accept partial blame for her death," Wildmon insisted. "They were an accessory to the murder." A picket outside CBS headquarters in New York carried a sign that stated: "CBS Controlled by Satan." ) Testifying before the Meese Commission that 7-11, CBS, Time, Ramada Inns, RCA, and Coca-Cola were major pornography distributors. Being forced to apologize to Phil Donohue for a statement issued by one of Wildmon's chapters which claimed that many of Donahue’s "sex shows" promoted abnormal sex.  In an appearance on "Donahue," Wildmon admitted that a program on breast-feeding should not have been characterized as a "sex program." Claiming that a Mighty Mouse cartoon which showed the hero sniffing a flower was really about him "snorting cocaine." Attacking scores of television shows, including "The A Team," "The Wonder Years," "Cheers," "Quantum Leap," "Highway to Heaven," "Murder She Wrote," and "Matlock." And many more!  But not much recently -- which could be why Wildmon decided to lead this stupid boycott.  For he does have a history with P&G afterall. Some history from The Media Coalition: In February 1981, Wildmon announced the organization of the Coalition for Better Television (CBTV), the group that would bring him national recognition. His alliance with Falwell enabled Wildmon to claim that CBTV represented 200 organizations with a combined membership of over three million. These three million people were prepared to back a boycott of the three advertisers who sponsored the worst programming on television, he announced. [...] The first important convert to the cause of CBTV-approved television was Owen B. Butler, the chairman of Procter and Gamble, the company that spent more on television annually than any other--nearly $500 million. In a speech to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on June 16, Butler announced that his company had withdrawn advertising from 50 television shows over the past year. Butler denied the company had been responding to pressure from Wildmon, but he left little doubt that Procter and Gamble would take his advice in the future: "We think the coalition is expressing very important and broadly held views about gratuitous sex, violence and profanity. I can assure you that we are listening very carefully to what they say, and I urge you to do the same." Television and advertising industry officials were shocked by Butler’s admission. Charren had been expecting it. "Based on what TV advertisers did during the red scares of the 50’s, this is exactly what I expected," she said. So, since intimidating P&G helped Wildmon gain power, fame, and a six-figure salary once before, I gues he's decided to do it again.  But I doubt it will work this time.  As for Dobson, he's just pinned his wagon to the "ban gay marriage" star, and I guess he'll do anything to publicize his cause.  In any case, while it won't really make any difference, I plan to buy Tide and Crest, just to strike a symbolic blow against the forces of discrimination. 5:49:22 AM