It's terrible when you have to defend people whom you neither like or care for; people who you might not give one iota for or against until they come under scrutiny for something that just can't stand. Enter Lindsey Lohan and Michael Steele, the strangest of bedfellows.
First, there's Lohan. Not since Britney went crazy or Paris got arrested has the Los Angeles media been on such high alert. TMZ is on 24/7 lockdown to get the pertinent data out, from her nail polish with the "F U" written on it, to every sobbing minute of this life deconstructing in the courthouse. Her crime? Pissing off a judge. Truly, all things considered, she's being punished far more than most for crimes where no one except herself was hurt. She missed court ordered alcohol classes for Cannes Film Festival; classes she would later make up. Judge Marsha Revell said "the court does not buy it..." when Lohan made her emotional pleas for freedom and sent her off to 90 days in jail and 90 days in rehab. Remember, her first offense was a DUI, drunk driving, where she crashed in to a curb. The second DUI ended in a small chase and cocaine allegedly was found. But everyone agrees the decision is because she is Lindsey Lohan. If the judge was lenient, then the myth of celebrities getting great treatment gets perpetuated. In this case, she actually is having a book thrown at her for being a celebrity.
Then there's Steele. I'm not a fan and I might as well go on record in print with the "Uncle Tom" comment I made about him when he got the job on air. Yes, I said it, like I've said so many things. But I'll never change my mind about why or how he got the position. Democrats elected a Black man and Republicans wanted to show they are inclusive, thus, the ultimate affirmative action. But the party never reflected diversity, racial equality, equal rights for all so he was a sham, a fake. However, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And recently, when he said Afghanistan was Obama's war, that the American people don't want it and that it is unwinnable, the attacks from both sides were quick. In fact, the Democrats took a press release written about war dissenters under Bush and revised it for Steele, calling his comments unsupportive of our troops, unpatriotic, on and on; the letter read like a Bush administration attack on an anti-war protester.
The problem is Steele was right about 2/3rds of his statement. Since Democrats have been in control of Congress, which controls war and war funding, since 2006, and since Barack Obama has been President since 2008 and over that time Afghanistan has only escalated to rival Iraq in costs and lives, it would appear both wars are in full swing . And Democrats need to own that. Right, wrong, make arguments here it doesn't matter. Remember Vietnam was Nixon's war, but Johnson started it. So it no longer matters that these two illegal occupations were George Bush's dirty little payouts to his war mongering profiteer friends, but Congress and this President have kept them funded, kept them up, escalated them in some cases. No, Afghanistan and Iraq are now the part and parcel of the Democratic majority; time to stop blaming the evil dictator and own up. If any Democrat doesn't like the fact that we must now own the war, end them, not around esoteric deadlines in the future. Stop the funding. In 2009 one of the only real Democrats in principal, Barbara Lee (D-Calif) introduced a bill to stop funding the war in Afghanistan, making money available only to bring troops home. H.R. 3699 died, of course, no support, no publicity, no will to make it happen.
So the party of peace is the party of war, like it or not, and you can't kill the messenger, in this case, Michael Steele.
So two people coming under attacks; one for behavior neither outrageous nor egregious for someone that grew up famous and the other neither untrue nor far off the pale.
Before all the members of MAD comment on this about the seriousness of drunk driving, NO ONE believes what Lohan did was all right. She's rich, get a driver (or was, rumors are she's broke now). But the entire nanny philosophy the court has taken, you can't drink, you must go here and there, do this do that or else...really? This is what the City of Los Angeles and the People of the State of California want to spend what little money the city and state has on prosecuting? As the state begins to pay its workers minimum wage because it can't come up with a budget and is broke, as education is cut, police cut, fire cut, services needed, as real criminals go untried, or worse, released early due to overcrowding, Lohan is the fish we need to fry? Of course not, but she's the brunt of the outrage that should be targeted elsewhere.
Think about this. A person stood on the deck of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf and told someone to shove salt water down the pipe instead of mud, because it's cheaper. Another person knew the concrete Halliburton was using wasn't the proper grade or strength. And CEO Tony Hayward knew and knows he runs a company guilty of felonies outside of Deep Water Horizon, and knows that this disaster did not have to happen. Tony Hayward, and the staff that ordered the salt water and others have caused a tragedy that has killed 11 people, and has killed an entire region and maybe it's way of life and people.
Not one of them has served as much time as Lohan has or will. Not one has been in court as much, or is as monitored as Lohan.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove and the other neocons are war criminals by their own admissions. Bush authorized torture, illegal occupations; hell, they were all part of a coup d'etat in 2000 where the neocons used the U.S. Supreme Court (duplicitous in it) to make a ruling on Equal Protection, something not at issue and not under the purview of that court. Dick Cheney released the name of spy and let Scooter Libby take the wrap.
None of the above have served as much time as Lohan has or will. Not one has been as monitored as Lohan.
On and on I could go, listing Bush era criminals that will never, ever serve one day in jail, but Lohan must. Not one of them reduced to tears for their crimes, but Lohan was. Not one of their careers ruined or disrupted, but Lohan's will be. In fact, the neocons have gone on to prosper, from starting PAC's and collecting millions, to doing book tours, speaking engagements or taking high profile private sector jobs.
As for Steele, it's true he's just a placeholder, a face put up to show the party is something it's not. And he's usually full of ridiculous rhetoric from a dying party, a party of racists (the rhetoric over immigration and Arizona is proof enough for me), of criminals, a party whose members would leave poor America without the lifeline of unemployment checks because the poor or unemployed are just lazy and should get out there and take whatever job there is (of course, there aren't any, but don't confuse them with facts).
But as ridiculous as he is, he's right about Afghanistan. We, the People need to own those
wars. They are still being fought in our names, and if we don't like it, then end them. It really is that easy. It was that easy to go in to both of those countries. We occupied them in days. We can leave in months.
His statement, this one statement, was very near the truth. And it's an ugly truth, a terrible truth, a truth we can't escape any longer; these are no longer George W. Bush's wars or failures, there everyone's now, ours, mine, yours, Republican and Democrats have supported the wars if nothing else through approving the funding. Democrat's fears of being called anti-war, un-American, unpatriotic have kept them silenced and impotent; so much so that the only one brave enough to say what needs to be said about the war is now the head of the party that started it. Now that's irony.
There's plenty of reasons to get rid of Michael Steele, this isn't one of them.
And for god's sake (any god named or unnamed) leave Lindsey alone. So she likes to drink, so does a whole lot of America. So she's a young girl who had money and fame and enjoyed it just a bit too much. Leave her alone. If she wants to self destruct, let her. Take away her license, period. Don't let her drive at all. If she does, arrest her. But all this drug rehab (what if she likes them?), alcohol rehab (again, what if she enjoys drinking, is this not America?), and SCRAM Bracelets (secure continuous alcohol monitor).
And speaking of SCRAM bracelets, it's rich a court weighs in on Lohan's addictions while our addiction, Oil, is killing an entire region. Leave Lohan alone, or else we should all start wearing SCRAM bracelets, secure continuous OIL monitors. Because of lust for oil is killing more, costing us more, and hurting us more than Lohan's lust for Mojitos.
America, worry about your own addictions, and leave Lindsey alone. And Democrats, worry about the two wars you are funding and conducting, and stop worrying about those that are pointing out that it is, in fact, you that are now funding and conducting them.
To hear segments about these and other topics (both issues covered on the 7-6-10 shows) go to the podcast at www.radiokrl.com
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