There are lots of ways to write about the high-school murderer, Charles “Andy” Williams, but did Time.com have to make him their “Person Of The Week?”
TAKING THE PITH: Laughed out loud over my pancakes this morning over the following new anecdote to be included in the updated Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes. The New York Times got permission to reprint a few choice ones. Check them out if you’re dealing with Monday issues. Here’s my fave: “Andrew Lloyd Weber was searching for someone to write the lyrics for his latest production, and paid a visit to Alan Jay Lerner, who had written the lyrics for “My Fair Lady.” Lloyd Weber expressed disappointment that he had not been able to find a steady collaborator. “I don’t know why,” he said, “but some people dislike me as soon as they meet me.” Lerner replied, “Perhaps it saves time.”” Now I think I understand Michael Wolff.
JACKSON WATCH I: Fascinating piece in today’s Chicago Sun-Times by Mary Mitchell in response to her expose of Jackson’s shakedown operation, aka Operation-PUSH. Of 150 emails Mitchell received, only six backed Jackson. Many, many African-Americans seems to have had enough. “He has become the very thing he despises: taking and not giving. Operation PUSH should have been investigated a long time ago. I am an Afro-American, and I am ashamed at what I see,” wrote one emailer. “Yes, some of us (black folks) don’t like it when the cover is taken off,” wrote another. “Well, I say if you cannot run with the big dogs, stay on the porch. Rev. Jackson brought this on himself.” Or this one: “I have been called a house nigger and sellout because I am an achiever who cares less about my skin color and more about my ability to succeed. I have been aware of Jackson’s double dealing and race baiting for years, and I’m glad the Teflon is starting to wear off.” I’ve had a few emails accusing me of being a racist for going after Jackson, as if I haven’t criticized white pols as well. In fact, I think it’s a form of insidious racism not to criticize this kind of betrayal of the civil rights movement. Too many white liberals look the other way out of misplaced, if well-meaning, condescension. Good for the Chicago media for keeping the heat on. But don’t hold your breath for the New York Times.
JACKSON WATCH II: Weird moment, my sources tell me, on This Week with Cokie and Sam this morning. For some reason, Cokie Roberts asked attorney-general John Ashcroft if the Justice Department is mounting some kind of criminal investigation into Jesse Jackson’s race racket. Ashcroft didn’t confirm or deny. Hmmmm. I wish I could give you a link to the transcript, but none is posted yet on the next-to-useless “This Week” website. Watch this space.
POT, KETTLE DEPT: Interviewed on the religious webite, Beliefnet, Jerry Falwell opined that Muslim groups should be barred from President Bush’s faith-based charity initiative. Why? “I think the Moslem faith teaches hate,” Falwell said. “I think there’s clear evidence that the Islam religion, wherever it has majority control – and I can name a dozen countries – doesn’t even allow people of other faiths to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence…. I think that when persons are clearly bigoted towards other persons in the human family, they should be disqualified from funds. For that reason, Islam should be out the door before they knock.” That’s quite a statement, but not nearly as fascinating as Falwell’s subsequent spin. “I am not anti-Moslem,” he sputtered. “I know and work with many American and foreign Moslems who love all peoples. In my interview with Beliefnet.org, I was simply saying that the Bush administration should bar all bigots and racists from participating in their faith-based program.” Put those two quotes together and Falwell is lying somewhere. He’s also completely incoherent on the general principle. In general, he’s in favor of the program, but he wants the government to pick and choose which religions are permitted on the question of whether they are “bigoted” or not. This is probably, ahem, not a path Falwell should go down. One man’s bigotry is another man’s Book of Revelation. Are homosexuals part of the “human family”? If so, why does Falwell support public funds for the Boy Scouts? The paradox of the faith-based programs is that, in today’s multicultural America, the Feds will have to be completely neutral about the actual religion they are funding. Sorry, Jerry, but that means your favorite president is actually set on accelerating government’s role in undermining any talk of a Christian nation. And all to appease the Christian right. Go figure.
The Dish 