Obfuscation

Obfuscation can be defined as something deliberately unclear or unintelligible. While we are all subjected to daily (hourly?) attempts to obfuscate, particularly by politicians, the art of doing so has perhaps reached new heights lately. Consider:

TIGER WOODS--The P.R. damage from his 3 AM encounter with a fire hydrant and tree (and perhaps his wife's wrath)has escalated exponentially with each attempt to obfuscate by his agent, lawyers, spin doctors, spokespersons (even his mother-in-law in Sweden has one), friends, neighbors, gofers and generally anyone purporting to speak on his behalf, since he won't. The carefully crafted image, which helps to rake in millions in endorsements (along with his undeniable golf prowess)is rapidly eroding which means that when Tiger inevitably has to appear again in public in early 2010 (unless he's quitting the tour!)a new, improved round of obfuscation will no doubt emerge. WANTED: Master Obfuscator. Fee, no problem.

WHITE HOUSE CRASHERS-- While appearing (without compensation, they were quick to note) on the Today Show, Michaele and Tareq Salahi "answered" Matt Lauer's direct question of who invited them to last week's State dinner by replying that it was up to the Secret Service's timetable as to when they produced the evidence. For a high degree of obfuscation, not to mention gigantic chutzpah, the Salahis are hereby awarded the TNB 2009 Liars of the Year prize, consisting of 2 tickets to the next World Series game at Wrigley Field.

SAMMY SOSA-- Just when you thought Sammy reached the zenith in obfuscation several years ago when he stonewalled a Congressional committee investigating steroids use in baseball by pretending he didn't understand English (he brought along an interpreter)he now wants us to believe that his skin has turned accidentally white because of some special cream he needed to combat the effects of playing day baseball at the aforementioned Wrigley Field. Next bit of obfuscation will no doubt attempt to explain his corked bat.

It's getting difficult to believe anything (except of course what you read here).

20/20 Hindsight

The term "20/20 Hindsight" of course refers to the phenomenon whereby someone or some group gains perfect understanding of an event after it has happened. The gaining of such knowledge through retrospection, rather than being aware of circumstances as they unfold in real time, is constantly causing second (and third) guessers to become often justifiably upset.

If only the obvious dots had been connected concerning the 9/11 hijackers, which in 20/20 hindsight were glaringly apparent! Or the many warning signs/red flags which were overlooked or ignored, allowing Bernie Madoff to continue his epic swindle. Or the California kidnapping and imprisonment of a young girl by a known sexual predator (which went on for 18 years until discovered). And on and on.

Now we are experiencing 20/20 hindsight conerning the alleged perpetrator of the horrific Fort Hood massacre -- one Maj. Nidal Hasan, an apparent failure as an Army psychiatrist counseling (!) soldiers with emotional issues. Not to mention his anti U.S. rantings (from an Army officer) and many other obvious clues he planted--but no one noticed enough to say or do anything. How typical. Now, when it's too late (13 dead, 31 injured) as usual a lot of people have belatedly awakened (see the Virginia Tech massacre, etc.) that a very disturbed person was roaming around freely. It's too scary to get involved beforehand, but oh the (safe) benefits of 20/20 hindsight.

TNB believes that today's wondrous technology should permit the development of 20/20 foresight (not to be used for investments, gambling and other selfish pursuits). Let him know where some can be obtained.

Racism is Thriving

In a post less than five months ago, on June 2, 2009, entitled "Racism is Alive" TNB decried the then swelling racism in the United States, primarily as evidenced by the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination (BTW, did anyone notice her initial performance on the Court when she asked more questions than Clarence Thomas cumulatively has expressed in 18 years?). Sad to say things appear to have gotten much worse to the extent that racism is not only alive but thriving. Consider just a few examples recently reported:

• Louisiana Justice of Peace Keith Bardwell refused to marry an interracial couple, stating that he believed the children of such marriages suffer. Let's see--there's Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods and some fellow named Barack Obama, just for starters. Welcome to 1909, Keith--you're a century too late.
• Taos, New Mexico hotel owner Larry Whitten fired some of his Hispanic employees (Taos is 70% Hispanic) for speaking Spanish in front of him (he thinks, probably correctly, that they're talking badly about him) and for refusing to Anglicize their first names. Marcos would become Mark, Maria will be Mary, Jose will be Joe, etc. if this enlightened gentleman prevails. Welcome to the Southwestern U.S., Larry, you too are obviously living way in the past.
• ESPN college football analyst Bob Griese, who should know better having spent his adult life involved with the heavily integrated sport (including his many champion years as quarterback of the Miami Dolphins) carelessly remarked that race driver Juan Pablo Montoya would probably not finish in the top 5 of the Nascar standings because he was frequently occupied eating tacos. If Montoya worked for Larry Whitten, he of course would be John Paul.

Is it TNB's imagination working in overdrive or do the recent increases in racially insensitive incidents result largely from the incredible (and acceptable to many) antipathy to the President because of the color of his skin? We sure have a long way to go.

Does Anything Ever Change

After a month long hiatus, which included a European trip, TNB has returned to find that, although some of the names and circumstances have changed, essentially human behavior hasn't. You can always count on strange events or individual flaws or foibles to provide matters of interest. Witness the following:

• After a Herculean and very expensive effort (and a last minute trip to Copenhagen by President Obama), Chicago received a grand total of 18 votes out of 94 from the International Olympic Committee and was eliminated on the first ballot as the site for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This disappointment was met with raucous cheers from the far right because, although it might be an insult to the United States, it showed to them that Obama was weak!
• Exactly one week later several hundred miles north in Oslo, President Obama was amazingly (and very prematurely) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This surprise was met with raucous boos from the far right, because although it might be a compliment to the United States, it showed to them that Obama was weak!
• After not only the above events but the continuing viciousness over health care reform, Rush Limbaugh was asked if he could find one thing positive about the President and replied that he had a good voice. Rush of course had a bad week when he was removed from a list of potential investors seeking to purchase the NFL St. Louis Rams because of his well documented instances of spewing racial hatred (the NFL is 65% African-American). Rush blamed the whole debacle on that guy with the good voice. Really.
• On a somewhat different note, the media was transfixed by the balloon boy incident thus proving that "reality TV" (often scripted) and those who aspire to participate are taking over our culture. OMG!
• Finally, in a lightly reported incident at Madison Square Garden, the coach of an Israeli basketball team playing an exhibition against the New York Knicks was ejected but refused to leave until a rabbi, with yarmulke affixed, who was traveling with the team (which raises funds for an orphanage in Israel) had to come onto the court to intervene. Perhaps he could get invoved in mediating the Middle Eastern conflict. OY VEY!

It's obviously good to be home.

El Toro Crapo

For many years the comedy duo The Smothers Brothers have included in their largely clean routine the made up Spanglish sounding term El Toro Crapo which of course is a euphemism for the common vulgarity B.S. When one assesses the state of some of our institutions and celebrities the inescapable conclusion is El Toro Crapo. Consider:

• Joe Wilson, the idiot South Carolina congressman who was censured by the House of Representatives for shouting "you lie!" at President Obama turns out to bear the actual birth name Addison Graves Wilson. He's no more a Joe than Joe the Plumber (nee Samuel Wurzlbacher and also not a plumber) nor probably Sarah Palin's idol Joe Sixpack. TNB's take on what you hear from this entire group is El Toro Crapo.
• Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player ever but never mistaken for the greatest person (check out his relatively paltry charitable history) managed at his ungracious Hall of Fame acceptance speech to go out of his way to offend anyone who might have slighted him such as his high school coach who initially cut him from the team over 30 years ago, his college coach (the legendary Dean Smith) for some imagined oversight and several others who have unfortunately challenged him over the years. TNB's opinion on MJ's remarks and most of his other utterances is El Toro Crapo.
• Speaking of overpaid, spoiled athletes, tennis star Serena Williams, who had a profane meltdown at the US Open when she threatened violent harm to a lineswoman just doing her job, took 2 days to apologize after no doubt being warned by her many corporate sponsors (the $10,000 fine levied on her was chump change compared to her winnings). TNB's belief in the sincerity of said apology is that it is El Toro Crapo.
• As far as sincerity is concerned how about all the shocked right wing ideologues who constantly deny that much of their virulent opposition to Obama (especially the ludicrous reaction to his address to schoolchildren) is, as suggested by TNB last week, no more than disguised racism and their inability to accept a black man as President. Each person who persists in these denials (including people known personally to TNB) will henceforth be greeted with El Toro Crapo.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The old cynical maxim that no good deed goes unpunished has certainly been illustrated quite vividly recently. Take for example:

President Obama's attempt to use the prestige of the presidency to urge schoolchildren to stay in school and get a quality education, listen to teachers and parents, avoid predators by being cautious on social networking sites like Facebook, etc. sounds like a no-brainer good deed. Oh, but of course he was pilloried everywhere by the usual cadre of right-wing yahoos (sorely in need of more education but obviously beyond hope) complaining that he was going to inject politics in his talk (perhaps some Fundamentalist religion would have been OK). Thus, many timid school districts din't carry the speech. Good deed gets punished equaling at least a PR victory for the ignorant.

Even worse, the President's noble attempt to reform health care and (horrors!) provide all Americans with an opportunity to avail themselves of at least minimum coverage has been met with an apparently successful roadblock by the uninformed, self-centered and just downright nasty. Many (including acquaintances of TNB) have taken to calling Obama a Communist (!) for his efforts. Memo to my fellow seniors--do you consider Medicare a Communist program? Oh, but that's different because if we're all eligible it must be OK. We now have the spectacle of yet another Republican moron, one Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) shouting from the floor of Congress to Obama "you lie" (of course, the President didn't). Lost in the vitriol is another potential good deed.

Although not as altruistic a good deed, because of the commercial promotion involved, Oprah Winfrey's "street fair" taping of her season opening which required closing down a few blocks of Chicago's Michigan Avenue for one business day was received with yet another round of catcalls. One would have thought that the city was brought to its knees. Rather, Mayor Daley and surrounding businesses heartily endorsed Oprah's efforts (she footed the entire bill, including police costs) as casting a very positive light on Chicago.

Is it just TNB's deep cynicism or is there another subtext at work here, besides the "O" heading their names and the fact that both Obama and Oprah are Chicagoans? Couldn't be a tinge of racism, could it?

BLOGGER'S NOTE: If you haven't seen the comment added to last week's post Fear for Your Safety, check it out. A sitting family court judge, who faces sexual predators on a daily basis, includes her chilling perspective.

Fear for Your Safety

Although we have known for some time that the United States, with its entrenched guns culture, is not among the safest nations most Americans believe that dangerous criminals would be kept incarcerated. Yet time and again the headlines remind us that due to incompetence, shortsightedness and just plain stupidity on the part of authorities a violently dangerous criminal might be released in our midst often without anyone's knowledge.

Take the mind boggling case of Phillip Garrido, convicted and registered sex offender, who shortly after release from prison allegedly (with the help of his wife!) abducted an 11 year old girl in California and kept her in captivity for 18 years, fathering two daughters by her. Where were the authorities? Despite repeated visits by sheriff's deputies and parole officers over all this time, no one noticed the backyard compound of tents and makeshift structures where all 3 females lived. Although there were many warning signs no one "connected the dots" just like exactly 8 years ago when the FBI and others failed to "connect the dots" which might have prevented 9/11. Gives you a lot of confidence in law enforcement, doesn't it?

Just this week in Chicago, we have the horrifying case of one Julius Anderson, a violent sexual criminal who over the strong objections of the Illinois Attorney General and Cook County States Attorney was released after 30 years in prison (Illinois has a special law permitting continued imprisonment of such individuals). Almost immediately he allegedly committed two violent sexual assaults. Apparently his release was approved (!) by a contract psychologist who believed he was fit for society. Tell that to the 2 women involved.

TNB wonders which gives a greater false sense of security--making someone register as a sex offender or, in another commonly exploited situation, taking out an order of protection which has routinely been ignored or poorly enforced (check out a number of murders of those who have obtained such an order).

Suggestion to U.S. Attorney General Holder--stop worrying about punishing a few misguided CIA agents in the torture case and start, along with your counterparts in all the States, to make our country safer.