Pink Thunder

Anthony Bourdain on Being in Beirut

Great article that will enlighten and upset. After his initial bravado boasting about drinking mojitos by the pool as the bombs fell, here's a missive from Tony Bourdain in Salon on getting evacuated from Lebanon. Anyone who knows anything about what Beirut had been through and had recently become once again has to be dismayed at what's happened there even as many may argue about who's to blame... and when the bombing should stop.

World Cup -- The Head Butt Seen Round The World

In watching the World Cup 2006 final game, I was struck by how the Italians seemed to be playing. Dirty and desperate, a little it seemed. They may have felt they have something to prove in the wake of the Italian match-fixing scandal. Zinedine Zidane appeared to be a special target as the key to the French team's success. First they went after his body -- there was something about watching the replay of the shoulder injury that seemed a bit purposeful on the Italian player's part.

And don't tell me all football injuries are accidents. I know a man who used to wait almost an entire game if necessary for a calculated opportunity to "accidently" trip another boy in soccer after this opponent targeted him either verbally or physically. He was never caught nor reprimanded. Being often the only or one of a few black players on his team, he was a favorite for abuse from the other team. So don't be too naive, please, about what can happen out on the field.

So when Zizou played on through the injury, apparently the Italians felt the need to go farther. Attacking his body hadn't worked, so they'd have to go for his mind.

Almost immediately after it happened, I suspected that Materazzi's comment was racial in nature. Or perhaps involving his family in some way. It would have to be serious in order to provoke that kind of emotional, instantly violent, and let's face it, childish and self-destructive response.

I thought it might have less to do with Zidane himself and may have included his teammates -- the differing racial makeup of each team was hard to miss. Whatever Materazzi said, it's sure to come out, even though I think it's very big of the French team not to repeat it. That says a lot about them and about Zizou.

I'm not the only one who suspects the true nature of Materazzi's ugly words. Thuja has some reflection on Zidane's roots and how his tough upbringing may have come into play. I think David Trezeguet, one of Zidane's teammates, is right: there is more to life than football. And once the words come out, it will likely be the Italians and not the French hanging their heads in shame...

Other Threats to Our Civilization

Global warming, net neutrality, North Korea, Islamo-fascism, Progressive blogofascism. There are so many issues gripping the nation. So many urgent causes to espouse or counter-act. However, I posit to you that there is another grave development sweeping the world that threatens us all. Or almost all of us.

The very fabric of our civilization may be stretched to its limits. Unless you act today. Don't wait. If we don't act now, it could be too late. Many will suffer whether directly or through secondhand exposure. If we all stand together and fight this attack on our personal freedoms, on our right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we can stop this evil corporate plot dead in its tracks.

What is this dire crisis, you ask?

Well, I'll tell you. It's skinny jeans.

Can't we all just get along?

Does anyone remember Rodney King's heartfelt plea to LA and the nation in the aftermath of the 1992 riots protesting the LAPD's history of brutality? Anyone?

Let me tell you folks...it's hot here in DC. And I ain't talking about the weather.

A friend told me that the acrimony in DC is the worst he's ever seen and he can't see the bottom. "Is it open violence?"

I replied yes. You actually have to go back in time over 100 years ago to the Civil War and Reconstruction period in American history to find a similar poisonous atmosphere. Then, Members of Congress literally exchanged insults and blows and the nation experienced its first attempt at impeachment of a president who had turned out to be corrupt and destructive to the very fabric of our country.

Back then, the question was, as it is now, what kind of country are we going to live in? Then, specifically, the national question centered around: Is the USA going to be one nation in which we embrace all inhabitants as citizens and stakeholders? Or are we going to get serious as a nation about limiting the freedom and suffrage of the newly freed slaves, and killing as many Indians as is necessary to suppress them and take their lands?

Save Darfur Rally Last Sunday

There are some disadvantages to living inside D.C. -- the crime, the high taxes, the pathetic state of the libraries, the slightly less pathetic state of the public parks, the trash, the rats, etc. Yet one of the beautiful things about living here is that one is always close to the action. Thus, I could lie in bed til noon on Sunday reading the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, garden til 3pm planting "heavenly bamboo", etc, and then meander down to the Save Darfur Rally in front of the Capitol.

There were a lot of people there! More than I expected. Among friends, for many years, I was a lonely voice talking about the outrages there. In the run up to the war in Iraq, I suggested to many that we might better spend our efforts in Sudan only to encounter blank looks and propaganda-glazed eyes -- "but we don't think it's such a bad idea to invade Iraq!" Hmm.

A Day Without Immigrants -- Life Imitates Art

A Day Without A Mexican is an award-winning film that humorously points out how integrated immigrants have become in our big cities and how much of a contribution they make to our economy. Today is a day of protest -- A Day Without Immigrants. There are recent immigrants from many, many different countries right now in the U.S., so this movie is not quite comprehensive, you might say. You could have a whole other movie such as A Day Without A Korean, A Day Without An Ethiopian, A Day Without A Pakistani, A Day Without A Canadian and so forth. Still I thought you might find it interesting as life imitates art for once! Immigrants are now flexing their economic power along with taking to the streets and it is fascinating to see the impact in action.

April 10 - Join the Movement for Immigrant Justice

Hey y'all -- did you know that on Monday April 10 2006 there will be protests all across the country in support of treating American immigrants fairly and in keeping with traditional American values? Did you know that Congress until the immigration protests started was seriously considering a bill so heinous that is, for me, is reminiscent of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

In the course of PinkThunder's daily work, she has helped to conceive and launch April10.org, a central web waystation for the protests. PT is proud of all her little web babies, non-profit and otherwise. But this one has a very special place in her heart. If you have time, please do join a protest or sign a petition or help to fund the organizing groups putting this all together. Protests are fun! (And educational, too...)

Taylor Captured and Brought To Justice

My father was a professor of history with African history as one of his specialties. I can't tell you the exaltation in my heart when I saw Charles Taylor of Liberia in shackles looking scared, dragged from his hiding place in Nigeria to face justice in his native land.

Some of you may be unfamiliar with what happened in Liberia during the 1990s and into this century. To sum up, Charles Taylor presided over one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Africa and under his leadership Liberians suffered mass rape, murder, terror and dismemberment. He was not above forcing children into military service. He managed to destabilize the entire region with warmongering and brutality. Taylor turned what had been one of Africa's more successful, stable economies into a ruin of despair.

They say he may be moved to the Hague for trial there. I can imagine it wounds African pride a bit, but I think it is the right thing to do. It sets another precedent (like Slobodan Milosevic) and gives African politics the serious attention before the world that it deserves. Taylor should have to face justice before the world for his crimes against humanity, for aren't we all injured when men like him are allowed impunity. It is a warning to other leaders in Africa and beyond. I hope that it sends a chill through the war rooms of Sudan for example.

I hope very much that George Bush, Jr shivers a little when he sees those pictures. My own hope is that within my lifetime, 30 or 40 years from now, if it takes that long -- that Bush will be hauled before the Hague for his crimes against humanity.

Strong language you say? Can't happen you say? What do you say about a man who plotted a unilateral, pre-emptive war even while pretending to seek diplomatic solutions? What do you say about a leader who does nothing, says nothing while his own people experience the worst humanitarian disaster of living memory, Katrina? What can you say about a man who lied to Congress, who encouraged torture and illegal detention of captives, who permitted illegal spying on U.S. citizens, who drove his nation into debt the likes of which we've never seen with war spending, who dismantled or scuttled environmental protections whenever possible in the U.S and abroad, who encouraged laws impinging on long-cherished civil liberties, whose actions have led directly to the deaths of over 30,000 Iraqi citizens and over 2000 American men and women etc, etc all in the name of what -- Freedom?

I think history and eventually the world will judge Bush harshly enough. There are still people who don't see, who want to believe that Bush is a mis-understood genius and that this will all work out somehow. I pray that they're right. I almost hope that Bush really is able to turn this around. Cuz I really don't like the alternative of more failures. And I really would like to see him held to account for the disastrous consequences of his actions. Folks, they are still, today, finding bodies from Katrina...

Conversation with a Soldier

Where: Adams-Morgan on a warm autumn evening in front of the hardware store on Columbia Road
When: Sat night before Halloween
How: Walking on the way to a Halloween costume party, two members of our Armed Forces -- a boyfriend of a friend's friend and his friend -- and I have fallen behind the rest of the gang...

PT: So, you're lucky to have such a complete costume. Your marine uniforms came in handy!
Soldier 1: Yeah, didn't have to work too hard I guess.
Soldier 2: (Laughs)
PT: You just came back from Afghanistan, I heard?
Soldier 2: (Silence)
Soldier 1: Um, yeah....(trails off)
PT: So, what was it like over there?
Soldier 1: Just the stuff you see on tv, mainly.
Soldier 2: (Silence)
PT: (?)

Remembering Rosa Parks

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about Rosa Parks and her legacy, IMHO. Some people have portrayed her as a woman acting alone, who was "tired" and just couldn't take it anymore. The fact is that Mother Parks was a leader in the local Montgomery NAACP. While 2 other black women had been arrested for sitting in the whites only section of the bus before her (their case later went to the Supreme Court), Rosa was selected as an unassailable local citizen to do this purposefully in order to create a campaign.

This campaign as we know today was highly successful both locally and nationally. But it wasn't really about Rosa Parks then and it isn't still today. I would compare Rosa Parks as akin to remembering the Unknown Soldier. While she is a name and a symbol, the credit for the Montgomery Bus Boycott really goes to the thousands of citizens who gave up riding the bus for over a year to make a powerful statement.