McCain to Kerry: Ooooh Snap!

John Kerry’s in trouble.  On a trip to the West Coast on Monday Kerry made some incredibly bad jokes.  I don’t mean they were in poor taste, I mean they just were not funny.  Here’s a sampling:

“President Bush is from the state of Texas, but now he lives in the state of denial.”

State of denial!  Oh John, how do you come up with this stuff?  What, there’s more?

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Uhm, John, really?  You want to go there?  Is this a moment of confusion or something, because that war where there was a draft and the easiest way to get out of it was to go to school… that was Vietnam.  This is pretty much a volunteer army*, so that is actually kind of insulting.

Don’t worry, the GOP has swooped in to defend the honor of the troops.  McCain, he of the valient Vietnam service, said:  “Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country’s call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education.”  Tony Snow jumped on the bandwagon as well, commenting, “This is an absolute insult… If I say something stupid, I apologize as quickly as possible.”** 

True, true, true.  But remember that old adage about words and deeds: “Sticks and stones will break my bones, especially if I don’t have sufficient body armor.” 

In other words:  Kerry shouldn’t have made the stupid joke.  Bush is an easy target – think of something funnier to say.  But if you want to talk about supporting the troops, then get them the flak jackets and equipment they need to survive in the mess you sent them into.  (The “you” I am addressing here is:  the GOP-dominated Dept of Defense and Congress.)  (Also, note that my link there was Fox News – and when they’re calling out the Bush Adminstration for military mismanagement, you know there’s a problem.)

But wait, not be out OOOOHH SNAPPED, Kerry fired back, calling the critics of his efforts at humor “assorted right-wing nut jobs and right-wing talk show hosts.”

Boys, boys.  Allow me to elevate the discourse and talk about some issues:

Besides Kerry’s joke, you know what else is insulting to our troops?  When you pass a law giving your country the authority to act outside the parameters of The Geneva Convention, thus stripping your nation of any moral authority and putting American soldiers at an increased risk of being tortured when they are on the other side of the “interrogation.”  What’s really insulting?  When you urge the passing of just such a bill.  (The “you” I am addressing here is Senator John McCain.)

I know there was this big “McCain vs. Bush” thing a while ago, where McCain was taking a strong position against US use of  torture tactics.  But he backed down.  He gave a speech from the Senate floor endorsing the military commissions act.  So you know what John McCain, leave John Kerry alone for making an ill-conceived joke.  And take your please-don’t-insult-our-boys angst up with your Commander in Chief.

Kerry shouldn’t have made the joke.  But I’d rather have someone mildly insult my education than send me off to the desert, ill-equipped and at a risk of being tortured and killed. 

So who is it that really owes an apology to the American Soldier?

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*  I say “pretty much volunteer army” because of the Back Door Draft, in which Marines who have been discharged for several years are being called back into active duty and in which the forces rely heavily on “weekend warriors,” National Guardsmen and reservists who are now in their third year of active duty overseas.

** Snow’s comment is straight up not true.  He says stupid things all the time without apologizing.  And here are just a few samples:

“We think it’s important that, in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible the so-called collateral damage, not only on civilians but also on human lives.” –-Tony Snow, on Israel’s conflict with Lebanon

“It’s a number.” — Tony Snow, on the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaching the 2,500 milestone

“I need to get a more precise definition.” — Tony Snow, asked to define civil rights after he said banning gay marriage was a civil rights issue

“Well, thank you for the Hezbollah view.” –-Tony Snow to Helen Thomas, after the longtime White House reporter asked why the U.S. had vetoed an Arab-backed U.N. resolution

Kazaks, Crocodile Hunters, and Austrians

Apparently I am out of touch with The American Movie-Goer. 

I don’t go to the movies all that often, and I don’t have a TV, but even I know about the upcoming Borat movie.  I assume that when pop culture information filters down to me, pretty much everyone else already knows about it.  (I just found out on Saturday night that the crocodile hunter had died.)

But apparently, in this case, I am not the last one to know. 

Fox is scaling back the release of Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.  It’s coming out on Friday, but instead of being released into 2,200 theaters, they’re releasing it to a measly 800!  Why!?  Because people don’t know about it.

(Ten points to the LA Times, by the way, for opening their article about the movie with, “Moviefilm “Borat” will not be in so much US and A theaters when it opening third of November.”)

Fox studios recently did a survey and found that only 27% of moviegoers were aware of Borat.  Compare this with the numbers for the competition – two other big movies are coming out this weekend – The Santa Clause 3 (81% awareness) and Flushed Away (50% awareness).  I am proud to say that I have no idea what they’re talking about.

Fox plans to open the movie in 2,200 theaters the following weekend, after the word has spread.

Meanwhile, I find it kind of hard to believe that 73% of the people surveyed had never heard of this movie!  It’s everywhere!  Some politicos at Forbes wrote a piece advising Kazakhstan as to how they can use the Borat craze to their advantage.  Apparently, the Kazakh press secretary read the article, because they have taken Forbes’ advice and invited Cohen (the real Borat) to visit The Real Kazakhstan.  Meanwhile, in preparation for the Borat movie, Kazakhstan is going on the offensive – running ads on CNN and some DC television stations promoting their lovely nation.  (Want to see the ad?)

Borat opens in London tonight, and I can’t wait to see how Sacha Baron-Cohen shows up to the premier…  he showed up to the Toronto Film Festival last month in a cart pulled by a team of six peasant women.  I think we will be in for a serious treat.

Well, Kazakhstan might be off the hook pretty soon…. Watch out Austria, because one of Cohen’s other big characters, Bruno, the fake spokesperson of Austria Gay TV, also has a movie deal.

Is Oaxaca the new Chiapas?

Or, is Raleigh NC the new Oaxaca? 

For the last 4 months, the Mexican state of Oaxaca has been turned into an “autonomous zone,” outside the control of the Mexican police and government.  This all started with a teacher’s strike, which went on for weeks and ended with the police and government kicked out, and replaced by the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) an umbrella organization made up of over 350 groups such as the teachers’ union and various indigenous and women’s groups.

 During the last few weeks I have heard several references along the lines of “Oaxaca is the new Chiapas,” which I wrote off, figuring people were only drawing that comparison because Chiapas is the only Mexican state the average American can name, and the Zapatista uprising there is the only Mexican political event the average American knows anything about.  (Am I giving us too little credit for our knowledge of Latin American geography and affairs?  Too much?) 

Anyhow, it turns out, I was wrong to write off the comparisons – the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) launched a new campaign this year.  Somehow I missed the memo.

In January 2006 the EZLN launched the “Other Campaign” – an attempt at broad political changes in Mexico by creating lots of grassroot organizations, uniting them into one movement and eventually ousting the ruling political class.

What do the Zapatistas have to do with Oaxaca?

It’s not as though the EZLN is running the show in Oaxaca, but the two seem to stem from the same broad sentiment of dissatisfaction and unrest with Mexico’s current political situation.  The post-election protests in Mexico City this year seem to have been born of the same thing.  Subcomandante Marcos (leader of the EZLN) has backed the Oaxacan protest movement.

OK, OK.  What is actually going on in Oaxaca?

Last May the teacher’s union went on strike and set up a tent city in the middle of the central plaza of Oaxaca City.  They have done this many times over the last 20 years, but this time, the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, sent in 1000 police officers to break the strike by force.  Some reports had 4 people dead during the June 14 violence – Oaxacan authorities denied it.

Since June 14, the APPO have taken over several public buildings and radio stations.  Governor Ruiz has continued to try – unsuccessfully – to squash the rebellion.

So?

This Saturday, President Vincente Fox sent federal troops into Oaxaca City, where they have taken back control of the city square. 

But they were a little too late – on Friday Brad Will, a young US reporter and activist from IndyMedia was killed when he was shot in the chest by a group of paramilitaries.  Brad Will had been covering the trouble in Oaxaca for 4 weeks.

Brad was carrying a camera when he was shot, and IndyMedia has made his final footage avaiable on their website. 

Friends and activists have been protesting in front of the Mexican Consulate in New York City since learning of Brad’s death.  So far 11 of them have been arrested. 

But that’s nothing – Raleigh, North Carolina has outdone NYC big time in terms of bold solidarity actions.  Protestors in Raleigh occupied the local Mexican Consulate for several hours yesterday, with participants going into the building chanting and beating drums – one of the participants locked his neck to a TV in the lobby and refused to leave.  The stand-in lasted several hours before the police broke it up and everyone went home (or to jail).

Meanwhile, back in Oaxaca: President Fox called for Governor Ruiz to resign, in the interest of restoring law and order.  Ruiz refused.