Archive [December 1998]

Tourist Trap

The environmentalist wackos used to attack Western mining and logging. What replaced those industries? Tourism.

So now the environmentalist wackos are attacking, you guessed it, tourism. The Earth Liberation Front has admitted setting fires last month causing more than $12 million in damage at Vail, the ski resort. Why? They don’t like “industrial tourism.” They were worried about a lynx habitat. So, they torched a human habitat. Dan Kitchen, an Aspen environmentalist, calls ski areas “developmental terrorists.” (Kitchen, according to an AP report, was once convicted of “cutting down a fence a homeowner had built to keep wildlife out.°)

“The environmental movement is at least partly responsible for a massive shift away from our traditional industries,” points out Greg Walcher, president of Club 20, a western Colorado trade promotion group. “Tourism is all some of these towns have left. An attack on the ski industry is an attack on the economy of western Colorado.”

Which is, of course, the whole point.

DR. ZHIRINOVSKY

Agence France-Presse is reporting that a Russian film about Clinton’s fling with Monica Lewinsky could feature Lewinsky herself — and Russian ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. That according to Russian filmmaker Alexander Sorokin, maker of such blockbuster films as “The Little Bee” and “To Kill the Scorpion.” Sorokin said he planned to film the story of Clinton as a “victim” of his own “inability to express his human feelings.” The film, budgeted at $2 million, could cost up to $10 million … if Lewinsky agrees to star. (The director said Clinton’s role could be played by a Russian actor. I personally think he should reach out to other nationalities; my vote is for Rep. Tom Lantos.) Sorokin expects backing from financiers close to Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democrat party, which may explain the planned cameo by Zhirinovsky himself.

Artist’s Motif

The Indian artist Mohsin Shaikh was inspired by the American President to create an ll-painting New Delhi exhibit titled “Clinton and Monica.” The first painting depicts the White House, in blue (due to Clinton’s “pornographic activities”). In another, an erratic electrocardiogram depicts the Clinton’s “moral ill-health.” Shaikh is reacting to Clinton’s criticism of India anil the imposed economic sanctions: “I was particularly piqued that a pervert and a liar like Clinton should question the propriety of India conducting nuclear tests … to meet our legitimate security concerns.” Another painting depicts the Statue of Liberty and Venus, the goddess of love, with her head bowed in shame. Shaikh said Clinton’s conduct had embarrassed women the world over.

You guessed it: no soccer moms in those paintings.

Washington Slept Here

Well, the rewriting of American history continues, as the left seeks to rehabilitate this President’s legacy … by smearing all his predecessors. Now we learn that Oliver Stone is working on a movie for HBO to show that “they all did it” — not only Thomas Jefferson, but George Washington, too. “Word is the cable giant has engaged Hollywood’s favorite conspiracy nut to do a dramatic miniseries about the Founding Fathers,” reports The New York Post. “We hear a top HBO exec is bragging, ‘By the time we get through with it, everybody will know that all those guys had mistresses.’” By the time they get through with it, people will believe that the Founders’ frolicking fun was spoiled by the eeevil 18th-century villain … Ken Starr.

School Holiday

What do Portland, Oregon’s teachers do when they feel “stress”? Some of them get a year off — with pay. This year, 21 such teachers have applied for, and gotten, “R&R” sabbaticals while drawing two-thirds salary — no work required. Zip. Zero. Nada. Take English teacher Carolyn Young-Nicola. She says she wants to read novels, go to the gym, and hang out at the beach. “I just needed the break to be the great teacher I’ve always been,” she says. The work-free sabbaticals, in place for more than a decade, don’t sit well with some on the school board, which is trying to end the giveaways. “It’s gelling harder and harder to get taxpayers to understand why we should pay teachers for a year off,” said Joseph Tarn, a board member. No kidding! But Richard Garrett, president of the teachers’ union, says ending the paid leaves is an attempt to, as one press account puts it, “get public service on the cheap.” He warns: “In the long run, you get what you pay for.” Mr. Garrett — may I point out that Portland is getting precisely nothing for what it’s paying? I figured this out using the old math.