Archive [January 2000]

FREE SPEECH

If you are a pro-lifer in Florida, the National Organization of Women wants to prevent you from expressing your views on your license plate. Early last month, according to the Associated Press, the NOW gang sought a legal injunction against Florida to block the manufacture of pro-life license plates. But after a day’s delay, Gov. Jeb Bush ordered the printing to resume while they await resolution of the court fight.

The tags, which have been the subject of two years of debate, feature a drawing of two children and the words, “Choose Life.” Those who opt for the plate understand that the money goes to organizations that help pregnant women choose adoption instead of abortion. Abortion advocates say the license plate is a political statement against abortion — and we can’t have that, can we?

Here’s my question. Isn’t this the essence of political speech? Where are the First Amendment defenders? Hmmm?

Panda-monium

I have some sad news. One of the best-known Chinese-American immigrants was executed by lethal injection last month at the age of 28. Ellen Besner, who live near this renowned immigrant’s home cried as she spoke of how she had made weekly trips there, and sent him e-mails when he was ill. This celebrity’s home was covered with cards sent by children from around the country.

You didn’t hear about anyone getting the death penalty by lethal injection recently. You’re probably wondering if it could have been some spy who gave nuclear weapons designs to the Chi-Coms. No, the deceased is Hsing-Hsing, the giant panda, who along with his mate Ling-Ling, arrived at the National Zoo in April of 1972, as a gift from the Chi-Coms following President Nixon’s visit to Beijing. The zoo put Hsing-Hsing to sleep because he had an incurable kidney disease.

The nation wept. Lisa Stevens, an associate curator at the zoo, said she felt an immense emptiness after the execution. In a lead editorial, The Washington Post ran a long, emotional eulogy (with an intensity the newspaper hasn’t demonstrated for any of the countless victims of China’s human rights violations): “Hsing-Hsing … brought personality to our zoo on a scale none had ever seen before … Washington’s pandas were envoys of an older and deeper kind that ministries of foreign affairs can comprehend.” Woe is us!

But all is not lost. Post editorialists will still be able to visit Hsing-Hsing. The remains of the giant panda, stuffed, will be on display in the rotunda at the National Museum of Natural History.

BILL & AL’S EXCELLENT HUG

The Republican National Committee has put up a billboard about 500 feet from Algore’s Nashville headquarters. It shows Bill Clinton and Algore in a bear hug with a quote from Gore on the day the House voted to impeach: “One of Our Greatest Presidents.”

RNC chair Jim Nicholson announced: “When Al Gore saw that his campaign was going south, he moved his headquarters south to join it. How convenient that he chose a location right underneath this fine example of American outdoor advertising. I’ve leased this billboard from now until Election Day – but I can get out of the contract in March if I need to —if you catch my drift.”

Gore spokesman Chris Lehane complained that “the billboard is telling in what it does not show, and that is the Republican agenda, because there is none.” Huh? Don’t be late for your Alpha Male lessons, Chris.

UNQUOTABLE QUOTE

The NAALCP (the National Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People) has accused Virginia’s Gov. Jim Gilmore of sacrilege. They charge he dared use the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his own evil Republican purposes.

Last Election Night, after Republicans won a majority in the state’s General Assembly for the first time in history, Gilmore exclaimed: “Free at last! Free at last!” He was expressing his delight that the entrenched Democrat Party machine had been overcome by … democracy.

But state NAALCP executive director King Salim Khaliani complained: “That [phrase] is quite sacred to a lot of black people. He did such an injustice to copy it.”

A few facts. First, Dr. King did not coin the phrase. In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King talked about “that day when all of God’s children will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ You see, Dr. King was quoting those words.

Furthermore, the NAALCP should read the rest of that speech. Dr. King told the crowd: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” As long as the NAALCP judges everyone by the color of their skin … they are the ones who should avoid quoting Dr. King.