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May 29, 2007
Another foolish liberal gets burped up, cast away
Cindy Sheehan has quit the radical left. Red State has a pithy commentary on why. It’s not surprising Sheehan failed as a leader, naïve as she was to the dangers of the radical left and to the nature of leadership.
That the radical left would chew-up Cindy, use her to say all the crazy things even the most hefty lefty is scared to say on his own, and now doesn’t miss her discredited presence, was predictable from the beginning.
Sheehan fell for the naïve view of a leader, that a leader is the big figurehead who galvanizes public attention through firebrand oratory. Martin Luther King is often seen as this sort of leader, and his leadership certainly was helped by his inspirational oratory. But King was successful not because of his oratory but because of things Sheehan missed. Most importantly, Sheehan never understaood that leadership is about building followership, not saying inflammatory things because they inflame and create media attention. MLK had followership through his influence on a network of black churches (the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that he founded) and a cadre of other leaders from throughout black society including Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young Jr of the Urban League, the head of the Porters union, and the head of the Congress of Racial Equality. Ultimately the people who “supported” Cindy were really just supporting themselves and their own ambitions before the overall goal. Cindy never had followership and she never realized it.
Equally important as building followership is keeping one’s distance from dangerous radicals. King distanced himself from the more radical members of the civil rights movement, including Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X in particular was highly critical of King’s famous march on Washington. I never saw Cindy Sheehan distance herself from anyone on the far left. The left’s motto that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” came back to bite Cindy.
The biggest difference, though, is that MLK was a great American patriot and Sheehan apparently hates America. Leadership isn't about inspiring oratory, but their oratory shows their differences. Consider how MLK invokes American patriotism and history in “I Have A Dream.”
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
Cindy shows her appreciation for America:
I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people... since we first stepped on this continent; we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son, and my son enlisted. I'm going all over the country telling moms this country is not worth dying for
MLK on the American Dream:
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends - so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
Then there’s Cindy’s dream:
If we stick together as an American people we can bring down the war criminals that are running our country right now.
And
We really need to stop the imperialist tendencies of countries like the United States and Great Britain. … I've always admired President Chavez for standing up to imperialism and the meddling of the American government in South America.
And King respected America’s religious traditions:
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Cindy’s thoughts on religion? She's not exactly positive on it:
Our country has been overtaken by murderous thugs... gangsters who lust after fortunes and power, never caring that their addictions are at the expense of our loved ones, and the blood of innocent people near and far. We've watched these thugs parade themselves before the whole world as if they are courageous advocates for Christian moral values. … In their secret hiding places, while celebrating newly won fortunes with their fellow brass, these men must surely congratulate themselves with orgies of carnal pleasure as they mock the dwindling multitudes who are yet so blind as to mistake them for God's devoted servants.
King warned, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” Cindy would have done well to take note, else the last several years of her life might not have been in vain.
Posted by adrianjo at 09:33 PM
May 14, 2007
May 27 is auto racing engorgement day
May 27, please don't plan to see me unless you want to watch cars (a) going around many times on a circular track or (b) going really fast around the streets of a city that's a giant adult playground. In the morning, we have the 65th Grand Prix de Monaco. And in the afternoon, it's the Indianapolis 500. The two best events in racing are both on the same day!
Posted by adrianjo at 06:03 PM
May 12, 2007
Sex at Harvard
The "lovable snots" over at IvyGate have a great story about viriginity at Harvard. As a proud Harvard reject, I couldn't help but get some schadenfreude. The key message:
According to an online survey conducted by University Health Services (UHS) last spring that drew an undergraduate response rate of 40 percent, nearly half of all respondents (47 percent) reported that they had never engaged in vaginal intercourse. The national average for undergraduates at other colleges stood significantly lower at 31 to 32 percent.
Ivy Gate offers one reason why this might be. A recent Boston University study offers another explanation:
Lower-income men, Schoen said, have a variety of phrases at their disposal to clearly and concisely communicate their attraction to members of the opposite sex. Among them are, "Slow down so I can get a look at you," "Mmmm, you are lookin' fiiiine today," and "I wouldn't mind a piece-a dat.""Cultures in which the written word is not stressed generally tend to develop a greater oral tradition," Schoen said. "Never before, however, has the propensity been placed in a socioeconomic context, specifically with regard to how certain demographic subsets are better able to articulate their desire to get with that hot little mama over there in the red dress."
The study found that 95 percent of men who earn less than $18,000 a year were able to loudly and publicly voice their approval of specific body parts on women. By contrast, a paltry 3 percent of men who earn more than $75,000 a year could do the same.
Posted by adrianjo at 02:11 PM
May 07, 2007
RIP, Herbert Kornfeld, Accounts Receivable Supervisor
Herbert Kornfeld, Accounts Receivable Supervisor at MidState Office Supply, has sadly passed. Kornfeld was noted for his commentary on office life and his skills and quickness in completing mundane office tasks:
I gots skillz, mutha----as. Shit be COLLATED. Copier out of toner? I be all over that shit, 'cuz only I can replace tha Hewlett-Packard toner cartridge without gettin' all that inky powder shit all over tha insides.I so phat, sometimes I gets done with my whole day's worth of tasks by 2 or 3 o'clock. But after I do, do I go back to my crib and chill? Hell no. I just open up tha afternoon mail what I usually be going through tha next mornin', and I start enterin' tha account payments on my accounts ledga. Or I assists tha Posse in preparin' the monthly statements. You won't never catch tha H-Dog sleepin' on tha job, bruthas and sistas.
Mr. Kornfeld's dedication in getting the numbers right was particularly admirable. Consider this episode, as described by Mr. Kornfeld:
Yo, check it out, Gs: Last week, that freaky ho Judy from tha wack-ass Accountz Payabo krew steps to mah fly cubicle, all smilin' an' shit. I thought she wuz straight trippin'."Bitch, flag yo' ass back to tha A.P. before I go buckwild on yo' ass," I say. "I gots a variance here what needs reconcilin', an' I gots no time foe distractions from some A.P. ho."
No diggity, mah homeys. There wuz a negative $194.07 balance in tha subsidiary accountz-reecevable ledga, an' it needed to be balanced wit' a quickness, lest tha controlling account look all fucked up. Tha Code O' The H-Dog say, shit gots to be balanced before tha end o' tha bidness day. It a matter of HONOR.
For more writing from Kornfeld, visit here.
Posted by adrianjo at 06:09 PM