Author: opinionstogo

Ironic Allegiance to One Nation, Under Attack

Even for the oft-reversed 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the notorious pledge-of-allegiance ruling was an abomination. “Under God” does not mean the same as “under Jesus” or “under Allah” or “under Madalyn Murray O’Hair.” It’s an acknowledgment of an Almighty, however referenced.

It means under a higher power. Imagine that being under fire? How’s that for a sectarian reach?

How, by all that passes for jurisprudence in the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, can “under God” be construed as a violation of the First Amendment prohibition against the establishment of a state religion?

This travesty of a ruling likely won’t stand, and even the reviled Judge Alfred Goodwin is backing off. But the fact that it happened at all is disturbing and disgraceful. That it happened with this nation under attack by those who decree us “infidels” is obscenely ironic. It’s never been more important for Americans to look inward to inventory and revisit our values and beliefs.

Regrettably, “One nation, under litigation” would be all too appropriate. Tragically, one nation, undermined, could result.

Parsed Principles a Peril

Ever notice the number of people who seemingly can’t concede that the real world can’t be lived in the abstract? Take (the case of) Abdullah al-Mujahir. Please.

Civil libertarians are up in metaphorical arms over the erstwhile Jose Padilla’s treatment: being held in a brig, formally uncharged, as an “unlawful combatant.” This ex street-gang punk from Chicago, however, is hardly the poster lad for victims of fashionable fascism.

The protest typically takes the form of: “If they (the grandstanding, goose-stepping, jack-booted John Ashcroft, et al) can do this to one fellow citizen, they can do it to you too.”

Well, yes. In fact, any other radically Islamic American who had moved to Pakistan via unknown patrons and met more than once with key al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah to allegedly pitch ideas about nuclear weapons should receive identical treatment. To do less would be more than inadvisable; it would be a dereliction of duty.

Is this treatment — suspension of habeas corpus and no ESPN — such a civil libertarian nightmare in a country under attack from those pursuing America’s demise? We are, lest we forget, in the throes of a non-traditional war where preemption of terrorist plans is the first line of defense.

Because al-Jose is an American citizen, say the chattering class of libertarians, he deserves off-the-shelf, constitutionally protected treatment. That he does, of course, if you discount whom he’s met up with and where — and that America is under siege by those who make up the rules as they go along. In legally uncharted waters, the Bush Administration is citing the case of the World War II German saboteurs, including an American citizen, who were tried as unlawful combatants before a military tribunal. That’s as problematic as it is prudent. As it is necessary. Keep in mind, the ultimate civil right is the right to continue to live.

One other point. When we parse principles — however hallowed — beyond reason, we do so at our own peril. Exhibit A: America’s defense against terrorism. Exhibit B: “one nation, under God.”

Fortnight Of Escape: A Team For The Times

Let me state this up front. I really don’t like soccer THAT much.

It has, I’m certain, everything to do with never having played the game. Nor wanting to. Not being eye-foot oriented. Not understanding the game well enough to transcend “1-nil” scores, autocratic referees, red-card expulsions, the science of shirt-grabbing, Second Coming goal celebrations, running clocks and stoppage-time approximations.

But thank you, U.S. World Cup team, for a fortnight of escape and healthy nationalism.

In the aftermath of 9/11, we’ve become a society obsessed with security. Understandably so. There’s this strong correlation with survival. There was also that mushrooming melodrama between India and Pakistan.

Our media “diversions” have been pedophile priests, stock analysts, auditors, western wild fires and a Utah kidnapping. Locally, there’s pubic access TV, FCAT reactions, USF subplots, fast food stickups and the win-friends-and-influence-waterfront-folks campaign of Don Connolly.

And then there’s soccer. Of all things. Imagine feeling (almost) guilty about not getting up — or staying up — for those 2 a.m. games with Portugal and South Korea.

But even on replay, what was not to like about the U.S. team and its feisty, underdog effort?

Never was it more important for such a high profile U.S. team to look so good and look so much like, well, America. It was black and white and brown. Players of African, European and Hispanic descent. Mohawks, dreds, ponytails and buzz cuts.

More important was the deportment department. Was there ever a better time for a team on the ultimate world sports stage to properly act the part? Exuberant, articulate, polite and proud to be representing the U.S. No arrogant attitudes or boorish behavior. No trash talking in victory; no bad mouthing in defeat. No self-indulgent posturing.

They were sons and brothers and nephews and buddies and boyfriends and members of an extended American family that now includes more than 25 million soccer-playing kids. They acted like they wanted to make all of us proud, and they did. They acted like they were honored to be there — not like they were doing their country and their sponsors a favor between endorsements, court appearances and rehab stints.

Talk about a “dream team.”

Coping with the ultimate judgment

Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge Charles Cope pretty much skated from a hearing in front of the Judicial Qualifications Commission last week. The case stems from some boozy escapades while Cope attended a judicial conference in California this spring. The state hearing panel threw out most of the administrative charges — leaving only public intoxication and, uh, “inappropriate conduct of an intimate nature.” The determination on those isn’t expected to be made public for several months.

Cope’s attorney predicted the judge would be reprimanded but allowed to remain on the bench. No predictions, however, were proffered by Mrs. Cope, the ultimate judge.

A Condemnable Response to Suicide Bombers

To anyone who has even given a cursory look at contemporary Israeli-Palestinian history, it’s obvious there’s plenty of blame to go around. Before there were Hamas, Islamic Jihad and suicide bombers, there were the Stern Gang and the Irgun. Before there was Arafat, there was Begin. After a while, the point is moot and counterproductive as to who did what first and who is just retaliating, albeit an eye for a tooth.

However, the recent “Local Voice” piece in the Tampa Tribune penned by Saleh A. Mubarak underscores the most fundamental problem in coming to grips with this seemingly intractable conflict and resultant carnage.

When asked by a friend if he would condemn suicide bombing, Mubarak couldn’t do it. Instead, he answered the question — which should, by the norms of civilized society, have only one answer — with a question. He said, “The real question should be: ‘How can these bombings be stopped?'” No argument with that priority, to be sure, but an amoral rhetorical response is not the right answer to the question posed.

And neither is “You cannot make cessation of violence a precondition for negotiation.” Thanks for nothing.

If you can’t bring yourself to condemn murderers who target kids in pizzerias, your moral high ground is a bloody ditch. If you can’t condemn those who recruit, subsidize and eulogize those who target wedding reception celebrants, your views on valid subjects — such as Jewish settlements — are compromised beyond credibility.

So, was that your final non-answer, Mr. Mubarak?

USF: What War On Terrorism?

USF President Judy Genshaft has said she would announce her decision about what to do with Sami-Al-Arian by August. She obviously wants to fire the suspended (with pay) Palestinian professor suspected of having terrorist ties.

The university, however, is paying for its bungled approach. It’s still using the regrettable ruse of breach of contract (saying Al-Arian should only speak for himself and the guys at the mosque — not USF) and campus safety as the rationale. It should have had the candor and guts to say that sponsoring, hiring and helping to fundraise for terrorists is a fire-able offense, among other transgressions.

So USF is in a bind.

Al-Arrogant has become an academic-freedom cause celebre among the elbow-patch-and-pipe set for whom terrorism is just another real world abstraction. In fact, USF now faces academic terrorism in the form of censure by the American Association of University Professors. Fallout from the AAUP’s dirty bombast could be harmful. The Scarlet C is especially threatening to a relatively young university such as USF, which is in the midst of rapid growth and ratcheting reputation. It can severely impact faculty hiring and retention. It likely already has.

USF has been told, in effect, by the AAUP that if it fires Al-Arian, it will be censured. (West) Bank on it. But all it has to do to avoid such a consequence is reinstate him. It’s that simple. Extortion isn’t very complicated.

What war on terrorism? This is an attack on tenure.

Tampa’s New Museum: Re-Made In The Shade

For too long there’s been a lot not to like about the building that is Tampa’s art museum. Too small, too inaccessible, too unattractive.

By the end of 2004, however, that will change with the scheduled completion of the $52-million, Rafael Vinoly-designed Tampa Museum of Art.

You’ve already heard about the makeover it means for downtown. I don’t doubt its impact and synergistic potential. Nor its egalitarian appeal as an urban-space retreat for visitors, art patrons and lunch-hour amblers and local passers-by.

I’m just wondering about the most recognized feature, the one that would share skyline billing with the University of Tampa minarets. That would be the “urban canopy” or elevated loggia of interlocking girding 100 feet above the museum — and extending north and south as well as out over half of Ashley Drive.

At night it will reflect light and should be spectacular as the gateway to downtown. It will probably merit the “wow” label mandated by Mayor Dick Greco.

By the light of day, however, I’m still envisioning the mother of all municipal carports.

By the shadows of day, however, temperatures should be lowered by 10-15 degrees. The one-word, daylight label may not be “wow.” But it may be even better. It will be “thanks.”

Tough Time for the Times

It’s not been a good fortnight for the St. Petersburg Times.

First, the Times was sued by the St. Petersburg chapter of the NAACP. Among others, the chapter had noticed that the Times’ board of directors was lily white. Oops.

For such a self-righteous, self-congratulating citadel of diversity and proponent of affirmative action, it was an embarrassing revelation. The Times will talk the talk with the best, but then walk away from follow-up where it matters most in-house. Publisher Andy Barnes seemed properly chastened and vowed to do better with the two years left on his black-and-white watch.

Worse yet, on the editorial side — where it really counts — the Times found itself reporting on the Tampa Tribune’s reporting on the Sami Al-Arian case.

The Trib , which sent reporter Michael Fechter to Israel for research, cited anonymous Israeli intelligence sources who said USF’s most notorious professor helped establish, among other involvements, the governing council of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian’s role with the council, called Majlis Shura, was in fundraising and political ideology, said the Israeli sources.

Although the Times was unsuccessful in reaching USF President Judy Genshaft, it was able to reach Paul Tash, its own executive editor. While acknowledging wariness over using anonymous sources, Tash said the Times did so on the merits and impact of the Al-Arian saga. Said Tash, according to the Times: “It could have some bearing on a controversy that is playing out in the Tampa Bay area.”

Indeed.

For All Eyes Only: The Washington Post recently reported on secret U.S. plans for dealing with Iraq. The Post reported that President Bush had signed an intelligence order directing the CIA to undertake a comprehensive, covert program to topple Saddam Hussein. Such a program, informed the Post , included the go-ahead to use lethal force.

Thanks for sharing.

Anyone else see a certain incongruity in the public reporting of covert plans? Was this part of the Post’s celebration of its Watergate anniversary?

Chung News Network: In its haste to keep up — actually, catch up — with the media Joneses, as well as the O’Reillys, Van Susterens and Banfields, CNN has brought in Connie Chung. She’s now its marquee player. The days of Bernard Shaw are as remote as the days of Howard K. Smith at ABC.

Yawn. Ten years ago this sort of high-profile defection from ABC would have been, well, news. Now it’s just another show biz salvo in the ever-ratcheting network-and-cable-news ratings wars.

Besides, a decade ago most of us didn’t know Connie Povich.

Suspicions Surfacing At Dive Shops?

In the post-9/11 world, America’s flight schools will never be the same. They’re obviously much more mindful of who’s taking lessons — and why. As is the F.B.I., which swears it’s no longer memo-challenged.

Now the Bureau is looking at dive shops, including several in the Tampa Bay area. Presumably memos noting Middle Eastern students showing no interest in surfacing will not go unaddressed.

Pubic Access Television

This much seems certain by now. There’s nothing worth watching on public access TV. If it’s not vacuous, it’s vulgar. But no one, of course, has to watch. What you can’t escape, however, is the public controversy over the “White Chocolate” pubic access show. Besides cultural flotsam, it also promotes political opportunism and constitutional con artists.

But amid the dissonant dialogue there emerged a voice of reason and candor. It belonged to Louise Thompson, president of the board of directors of Speak Up Tampa Bay, the non-profit group that manages the Tampa Bay Community Network.

“Public access is only a reflection of this community,” she opined. Ouch.