A plague upon your house
BY PHILLIPE & JORGE
Well, if it isn't bad enough that Dubya Bush keeps trying to ram racist
right-wing judges like Charles Pickering and Miguel Estrada down our throats,
how about this for gall: Boy George chose Jerry Thacker, who once characterized
AIDS as the "gay plague," to serve on his AIDS advisory panel. And if that
isn't enough, just note that Mr. Thacker is a proud alumnus of Bob Jones
University, the vile institute of lower learning that, until recently,
prohibited interracial dating. (Although one must think long and hard about
what sort of minority group member would even want to be on campus with the
racist scumbags who Dubya sucked up to during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Why not just put your head in a vise and ask one of Junior's "compassionate
conservative" pals to crank the handle?)
Fortunately, even Thacker noted the absurdity of his choice and he bailed out
on his own volition. But this kind of nomination shows the utter contempt that
Dubya the Dumb's administration has for the general public. The sooner we get
rid of this awful little vermin the better, or the next generation of Americans
will live with the horrors that his years in the White House are inflicting
upon us.
An old hand on the wheel of justice
Phillipe and Jorge send our best to Brad Gorham, named by Senator Linc Chafee
to be Vo Dilun's new US attorney, taking over from the lovely legal eagle Meg
Curran, who made the critical mistake of being a Democrat.
Brad, a former state rep from Foster, although a little long in the tooth at
67, has been a gentleman and a scholar throughout his political career. And his
glowing endorsement from fellow Dartmouth grad Gene Booth, former head of the
RI Human Rights Commission, seals the deal for your superior correspondents.
P&J also enjoy how we once worked with Brad's son, state Representative
Nicky Gorham, at the long-gone and unlamented Providence Eagle, where
the Cool, Cool World first blossomed on the La Prov scene. We always admired
Nicky for smoking cigar-sized joints in the Eagle's men's room and
drilling holes into the adjacent ladies' room to spy on the female employees.
(Just kidding, Nick. And we certainly won't bring up the LSD use and stealing
from co-workers' pocketbooks.)
Brad has some big high heels to fill with Ms. Curran, the queen of Plunder
Dome, ending her reign, but we are sure he's up to the task. A very good choice
by our pal Linc, and one that will certainly benefit the Biggest Little. Now
Brad, about these outstanding parking tickets we have . . .
Big talk, little mind
In another case of Americans not paying attention to what anyone in the White
House says, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert made a telling point in
his review of our chimp-like president's State of the Union address. As Herbert
noted, Dubya declared that he would bring "food and medicine and supplies and
freedom" to the people of Iraq. (Not to mention enough bombs to level half the
planet, but let's not get too deep into the details.)
As Herbert pointed out, Dubya is "eroding [America's] economic security" by
starving the poor here in the U.S. of A., denying health care to tens of
thousands of working Americans, forcing unemployed folks to chow down on Alpo,
stripping away our civil rights, and gutting our environmental laws so his Big
Bidness friends can get even more obscenely rich. Hey, maybe we should all move
to Iraq -- sounds like it's going to be a great place to live.
Censorship issues
Artists and those interested in the arts gathered last Thursday, January 30, at
the Monohasset Mill in Providence to discuss censorship, and, according to our
observant news editor, Ian Donnis, who was there, it was lively, provocative,
and ultimately a very positive experience. This came after Entang Wiharso's
show of paintings at the Rhode Island Foundation was canceled when the
foundation objected to one of the works and the artist decided to scrap the
entire exhibit (it was relocated and looked great at Monohasset, thanks to the
efforts of the always-resourceful Sara Agniel).
Big points to Ron Gallo, head ramrod of the RI Foundation, for appearing at
what he knew would likely be a largely critical gathering. According to our
roving correspondent, Gallo, after dancing around the reasoning behind the
foundation's refusal to show the "controversial" painting in question,
eventually acknowledged that the real cause was concerns about funders.
The discussion involving Gallo, Steve Brown of the ACLU, Bert Crenca from
AS220, artist Dread Scott, RISD's Judith Tannenbaum, among others, was
described as "polite and respectful." The funny thing is how if the RI
Foundation show went on as planned, Wiharso's paintings probably would not have
produced any controversy or upset. But after the foundation shot itself in the
foot, the dialogue at Monohasset produced something positive out of a negative.
Three cheers to the Providence arts community for being willing and able to
take on this issue in such a thoughtful and productive manner.
Facing the elephant
Quote of the week comes from ex-Army colonel David Hackworth, now a war
correspondent for various media outlets. He joined the merchant marine at 14,
the US Army at 15, was the youngest US captain in Korea, and the youngest
colonel in Vietnam. You might say he knows a bit about war.
So here is what Hackworth has to say about how his fellow veterans regard the
chicken hawks in the Bush administration chicken hawks, as told to
Newsday: "They've [the vets] been there . . . They know war is not a
blood sport, as cable news makes it out to be. Cheney, and Bush, and Wolfowitz,
and Rumsfeld -- they've never faced the elephant. These are the people who gush
for war."
The only problem is that it will be someone else whose blood will be gushing.
As P&J continue to request of Dubya, our National Guard service-dodging
armchair general -- send your twin daughters over to Iraq to fight if it is
such a noble cause. Provided you sober them up, that is, and team them with
every military age relative of Big Time Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Rummy. Not
bloody -- and we mean bloody -- likely, is it Dubya?
Heroes
Just when you think you're too jaded, something like the Columbia tragedy comes
along to remind us that there are true heroes who walk among us. The research
done onboard the spacecraft may not have been equivalent of finding the cure
for cancer, but the crew's courage and concern for future generations in going
into space is beyond measure. And the irony of an Israeli astronaut being
onboard and debris from the space shuttle falling in Palestine, Texas, should
alert us to how meaningless and petty our hatreds are in the big picture. As
human beings, we deserve to treat one another much better.
Uncommon sense
When it comes to elected officials dealing with issues of crime and/or
violence, your superior correspondents have become accustomed to hearing only
the shrillest voices. Courting popularity almost always takes precedence over
coming up with logical solutions.
Way back in the '60s and early '70s, New York's Rockefeller administration set
the tone by enacting harsher and harsher penalties for drug offenses, and the
mindset has never really changed. So now we have a nation with more of its
people incarcerated than almost anywhere on Earth, the drugs keep flowing, and
nobody seems to have a clue.
With this in mind, P&J were duly impressed to see Superior (in many ways)
Providence Mayor David Cicilline resist reactionary calls to place metal
detectors in city schools after an incident involving a gun at Mount Pleasant
High School. As the mayor said, it was an isolated incident and metal detectors
would send the wrong message. He's absolutely right! We all want safe schools,
but the usual knee-jerk reaction would only make matters worse. It's certainly
gratifying to see this level of thoughtfulness and wisdom in our new leader.
A real poetry slam
The White House last week postponed a poetry symposium scheduled for February
12, because a number of the poets let it be known that they would use the
occasion to tell the Bush Administration how they fee; about the threat of
military action in Iraq. The symposium was to be on the poetry of Emily
Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman. No future date has been
announced.
The idea of poetry seminars are the brainchild of First Lady Laura Bush, the
former librarian, who has decided that teaching and early childhood education
will be her special issues. Laura's already had a couple of these symposiums
(wonderful ideas, of course), and we suspect this one was axed by the powers
that be. According to the first lady's spokeswoman, Noelia Rodriguez, "While
Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she,
too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary
event into a political forum." We suspect, though, that Ms. Laura has a pretty
good idea about how Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman would react if they were
around. (Emily Dickinson would have been too cool to show up, of course.)
But you can't keep good artists down, and the postponed poetry symposium has
inspired a nationwide protest. Sam Hamill, a poet and founder of the highly
regarded Copper Canyon Press, declined the invitation and e-mailed friends
asking for anti-war poems or statements. He encouraged those who planned to
attend to bring along anti-war poems. So far, he's received more than 1500
contributions, including ones from big-time famous poets W.S. Merwin, Adrienne
Rich, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
"I'm putting in 18-hour days. I'm 60 and I'm tired, but it's pretty
wonderful," says Hamill, based in Port Townsend, Washington, and the author of
such works as Destination Zero and Gratitude. P&J say, "Go
you poets, go."
Kudos and congrats . . .
. . . to those caring folks up at Halitosis Hall, who decided it would be a
great idea to provide health coverage to people who aren't currently working
for the state. Cell phone and state vehicle abuses by the same crowd appear
pretty pedestrian in comparison. And we're sure, like P&J, that you were
absolutely shocked to learn that at least one of the folks whose health
insurance we're paying for was a relative of the old Puckster, former Speaker
Hardwood. Who would have ever thunk it? We're going to make a wild guess here
and say, since this operation appears to be totally illegal, that they'll never
discover who called the shots on this.
. . . to the national media, for realizing that nobody much gives a shit about
Punxsutawney Phil and his furry shadow as we stand on the cusp of war and in
the wake of the Columbia tragedy. Hence, very little coverage of Groundhog Day.
Send croquet sets and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j[a]phx.com.
Issue Date: February 7 - 13, 2003
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