Archive for category crime
Its been a while. I apologize.
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, human rights, justice, tragedy on August 31st, 2009
In the meantime, I’ve achieved the dream aka employment aka data entry (hazzah!), Ted Kennedy died (RIP old Lion), 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt died (sad), John Hughes died (sad), Les Paul died (um, sad?), Dominic Dunne died (he was still alive?), DJ AM died (…) and Jaycee Dugard, a 29 year old woman who has been missing for 18 years, was found and “rescued” from her “alleged” abductor, who also happens to be the father of her two daughters, aged 15 and 11 (unbelievable). Now I know I should be writing about Kennedy, as this is a political blog, but I just can’t stop reading about this young woman’s unimaginable life.
There are a lot of bizarre details. For instance, the kidnapper and rapist, Phillip Garrido, had a record and was on parole for a previous abduction and rape charge from the late 1970s. Despite being convicted of heinous crimes, his 50 year sentence was reduced:
Katie Callaway Hall thought about him every day since November 22, 1976 when he asked her for a ride at a supermarket in California, before handcuffing her, binding her and taking her to a mini-warehouse in Reno, Nevada, where he raped her.
Garrido was convicted for kidnapping and raping Hall, but was released after serving just over 10 years of a 50-year sentence. He was labeled a sex offender and put on lifetime parole.
So, not only did they let this guy go, they also neglected to check up on him, despite his “lifetime” parole status. If they had been more attentive, perhaps they would have noticed the three young women, living in shacks in the Garrido’s back yard. In fact, in 2006 neighbors called to report that young girls appeared to be living in tents on the property, and an officer visited the house, but never made it into the back:
…a California sheriff admitted today that his officers booted a chance to rescue Jaycee nearly three years ago.
“We missed an opportunity to bring earlier closure to this situation,” Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren E. Rupf said in a news conference today, “I am first in line …. to offer my apologies to the victims and accept responsibility for missing an opportunity to rescue Jaycee.”
Rupf said that a woman called 911 on Nov. 30, 2006 complained that people, including children, appeared to be living in tents in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido’s house in the town of Antioch, Calif. “The caller also said Garrido was psychotic and had a sexual addiction,” he said.
How awful. Can you believe there was a wife the whole time?!
But you know what no one’s really talking about, which I think is maybe the worst part of this whole situation: this man is these two girls father, both genetically and, more importantly, paternally. While I can’t even try to imagine what this must be like for Jaycee Dugard, there is a whole other level of grief involved for the children because being discovered, which to the outside seems like a miracle, is in reality destroying the only family they’ve ever had. This is way beyond Stockholm Syndrome.
Its the kind of situation where there’s no right answer, the ultimate Kobayashi Maru.
Not to make light or anything. I just don’t know how to handle such heavy shit.
A Futile War: Part I
Posted by zoboxrox in War on Drugs, crime, human rights, justice, tragedy on July 28th, 2009
In honor of the late great Walter Cronkite, the Most Trusted Man in America, Part I of my look at the War on Drugs focuses on the following snippets from an article he wrote for The Huffington Post in March 2006 (my comments are in orange).
When I wanted to understand the truth about the war on drugs, I took the same approach I did to the war in Vietnam: I hit the streets and reported the story myself. I sought out the people whose lives this war has affected. Allow me to introduce you to some of them… [there is an entire website dedicated to the innocent victims of the drug war, their ages range from 8 months to 88 years].
…Jan Warren, a single mother who lived in New Jersey with her teenage daughter. Pregnant, poor and desperate, Jan agreed to transport eight ounces of cocaine to a cousin in upstate New York. Police officers were waiting at the drop-off point, and Jan - five months pregnant and feeling ill - was cuffed and taken in.
Did she commit a crime? Sure. But what awaited Jan Warren defies common sense and compassion alike. Under New York’s infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws [recently dismantled by Albany legislature and Governor David Patterson, who is quoted as saying “I can’t think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller drug laws”], Jan - who miscarried soon after the arrest - was sentenced to 15 years to life…
In Tulia, Texas, an investigator fabricated evidence that sent more than one out of every ten of the town’s African American residents to jail on trumped-up drug charges in one of the most despicable travesties of justice this reporter has ever seen [here is a link to this story, even more info here]….
…[The Drug War] surely hasn’t made our streets safer [see graph below*]. Instead, we have locked up literally millions of people…disproportionately people of color…who have caused little or no harm to others - wasting resources that could be used for counter-terrorism, reducing violent crime, or catching white-collar criminals.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on this effort - with no one held accountable for its failure.
Amid the clichés of the drug war, our country has lost sight of the scientific facts. Amid the frantic rhetoric of our leaders, we’ve become blind to reality: The war on drugs, as it is currently fought, is too expensive, and too inhumane
Is that a gun in your pants, or are you just happy to see me…
Posted by zoboxrox in Uncategorized, crime, politics on July 24th, 2009
How many senators does it take to screw in a light bulb? Of course the answer is 60 — and thank god for that. The Senate narrowly rejected an ammendment (which has to be approved by 60 votes — not a majority of 50+) attached to the new defense bill which would have allowed people to travel between states with concealed weapons, no matter the laws in the states to which they are traveling. In other words, anyone who has a gun permit, which is about as easy to get these days as a driver’s license in some places, could legally carry their hidden firearm on the streets of your home town, no matter what your local laws dictate.
My home town happens to be New York City, and I am so grateful to the two dissenting Republican Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and George Voinovich of Ohio, because while its one thing to have a gun in your house, it is entirely different to bring it out with you at night. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A BAR?!?!? There are so many morons out there (see below)… adding weapons to idiocy is never smart.
400 big city mayors, who came together to form Mayors Against Illegal Guns, agreed with me, including my own, Dictator Bloomberg, and sent a letter to the Senate pleading with them to come to their goddamn senses not to pass the bill. While this is clearly a case of the Federal Government imposing itself on State’s Rights, which is like, the main platform for conservatives these days, it was of course a Republican sponsored and supported bill.
The debate forced senators to wrestle with issues of states rights, sometimes in ways that seemed to clash with the general philosophies of their parties. Many Republicans, who typically favor limiting the ability of the federal government to dictate to states on social issues, voted in this case to limit the ability of states to insist on their own rules for concealed weapons carried by people from other states.
That said, however, 20 democrats also voted for the bill (NOT including my new Senator, Kristen Gillibrand, who was previously considered gun friendly but voted with her brain this time around). Why do people think this is a good idea? I know the argument – 
– but it doesn’t sit well with me. Is the good of the one really more important than the good of the many? Do we really live in a state of such fear that we generally feel a need to arm ourselves at all times? Maybe if we fixed the broken things in this country — health care, the economy, the middle-class — crime wouldn’t consume our streets. Is adding weapons really the answer to the problem?
Guns Don’t Kill People - Bombs are much more effective
If anyone is wondering why liberals press for stronger gun control, I think the events of the past two weeks paint a pretty clear picture.
Perhaps it is related to the penchant for ultra-right wing conservatives to turn to violence as means of expression. At least lefty lunatics are mostly non-violent, even if they are smelly… or happy… or whatever it is that makes them so frightening to conservatives. While there are certainly some exceptions to this rule (The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, and World War II were all fought for progressive causes or against fascist ones. In addition, members of certain civil rights groups, such as the SDS or the Black Panter Party, occasionally resorted to violence in the 1960s) it is overwhelmingly evident that “there is a dangerous and virulent streak of violence and fascism in American conservatism, now and throughout our country’s history,” (Lux). For Christ’s sake, Dick Cheney shoots his own friends!
The murder of Dr. George Tiller reminded those of us who forgot to live in fear, that the fringe cannot be reasoned with. The more recent shooting at the Holocaust Museum, which killed security guard Steven Johns, reinstated the fact that the deadliest terror occurring on our soil today is home-grown and right-wing. Its all just so ironic and hypocritical, in the end, it fits perfectly into the disintegration of the Republican Party — most conservatives I know don’t want to be associated with violence and murder. It doesn’t look good in alumni magazines.
Here are some other examples:
- The Oklahoma City Bombing - April 19, 1995; Right-wing American terrorist Timothy McVeigh, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, claiming the lives of 168 victims and injuring more than 680. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings in a sixteen-block radius.
- The Centennial Olympic Park Bombing - July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia; 1996 Summer Olympics, committed by Eric Robert Rudolph, former explosives expert for the United States Army and active member of the Army of God. Two people died, and 111 were injured.
- The Ku Klux Klan, The Army of God, The National Alliance,
- The assassinations of President Abraham Lincoln, President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King
Weekend Update
Posted by zoboxrox in corporate america, crime, human rights, international, justice, religion, tragedy on June 8th, 2009
A lot of people responded to the article I wrote a few months ago, Authority to Kill a Minority. Well I noticed this article recently and I wanted to update you all on the situation of the murder of Oscar Grant, by BART officer, Johannes Mehserle.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge has ruled there is enough evidence to have former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle stand trial on a murder charge for fatally shooting Oscar Grant III.
Cell phone video shows Mehserle, 27, shot 22-year-old Grant once in the back as he lay face down on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station early on New Year’s Day. Police had been called to the station to respond to reports of a fight on a train.
The judge said in his ruling, “Grant and the others may have been loud, uncooperative and argumentative, but these young men did nothing to warrant the use of deadly force.”
Another update comes to us from Laos, where Samantha Orobator was awaiting trial for smuggling drugs into the country. After pleading guilty, Samantha was spared the death penalty, and instead convicted to life in prison. The United Kingdom and Laos, aided by Sweden, are in talks for a prisoner exchange, so that Samantha may be permitted to carry out her sentence in her home.
Samantha Orobator, 20, from South London, admitted attempting to carry 680g (24oz) of heroin on to a flight from Laos to Thailand last August. Campaigners are pressing for her to be returned to serve her sentence in a British jail before the birth of her child, expected in September. But the one-day trial, in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, has not clarified the most puzzling question about the case: how did the Nigerian-born Orobator become pregnant in the notorious Phanthong prison?
The conception may have saved her life. Like other South-East Asian countries, Laos takes an unforgiving attitude to the drug trade and in most cases heroin smugglers face death by firing squad for amounts of more than 500g. Under Laotian law, however, a pregnant woman cannot be executed.
What Makes This War Different From All Others?
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, health, human rights, international, malfunction, military, tragedy on May 12th, 2009
Recent news reports of the murder of five US troops by a fellow soldier on an army base in Baghdad, Iraq went more or less unnoticed, despite the fact that it is the deadliest attack of its kind (US soldiers killing their own), although by far not the first.
Monday’s attack marks the sixth incident in which a service member was killed by a fellow service member since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In March 2003, Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division were killed in a grenade attack at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, that wounded 14 other officers. Sgt. Hasan Akbar was convicted by a court-martial in 2005 and sentenced to death.. Sgt. Joseph Tackett was fatally shot in June 2005 by a fellow soldier in Baghdad. Lt. Willie Davis later pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent homicide and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, the independent Army Times reported. The same month, Capt. Phillip Esposito and Lt. Louis Allen were killed in an explosion at a base in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. The military charged a sergeant in their company, Alberto Martinez, with murder in their deaths, but a military jury acquitted him in 2008. Two U.S. sailors based in Bahrain, Seaman Anamarie Camacho and Seaman Genesia Gresham, were shot and killed by a third sailor who then shot himself in October 2007, the Navy said. A 39-year-old soldier was charged with killing Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley Durbin in Tunnis, Iraq, in September.
While five or six years ago, such an event would 
have made headlines at multiple media outlets, CNN most likely would have named the incident and created a graphic, it wasn’t even covered by a majority of news sources and its appears the reason is a lack of interest among the public. To go one step further, it seems the civilian population has given up on outrage and instead adopted their own, “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy concerning the deteriorating mental state of our armed forces.
And perhaps for the first time, the Military are asking for help. Reports of long term and widespread Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, reaching all the way up the rankings, and an alarming suicide rate, by far the highest ever for the Army, which prompted a $50 million study from within to try to help the young people serving abroad and those who have come home.
A U.S. soldier is now more likely than a civilian to take his own life. The Army crossed that threshold at the end of 2008 — a year in which 140 soldiers killed themselves — a record high. And the situation is getting worse, not better.
So why is this happening? There are those who credit the current state of the military on lack of new recruits, perhaps due to a general unenthusiasm with the war. This thins out the soldiers they already have, sending them back for second and third tours, far sooner than they had expected to have to go. And the general outlook on the conflict can’t help. Instead of fighting for a defined purpose, this military finds itself trapped in what feels like an endless war that nobody believes in, seeing things they were never trained to see. The answer to this question is actually fairly obvious to me: “the first casualty of war is innocence.” Imagine yourself in this situation, imagine having killed dozens of people, mostly civilians at that (which make up a huge percent of the casualties in Iraq) for reasons you’re not quite sure about, to serve the most unpopular Commander in Chief we’ve ever had. I would be traumatized, depressed, and probably suicidal as well.
The real question is, why don’t we care anymore?
Samantha
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, health, human rights, international, politics, tragedy on May 7th, 2009
This is Samantha Orobator. She is 20 and she is five months pregnant. She is also sitting in a Laotian prison, and has been for nine months (which means she became pregnant in prison), facing death by firing squad for allegedly bringing around 1.5 lbs of heroin into the country. But most of all, Samantha’s biggest claim to fame, she is a British Citizen.
While her story was overlooked nine months ago, word of her pregnancy, which is assumed to be the result of a non-consensual act, either with a fellow prisoner or a guard, has resulted is a media frenzy, and luckily for Samantha, the world has taken notice. Both British and Australian legal and charitable groups have flown to Laos to begin negotiating for the young Orobator. Government officials from the UK have both reached out to the Laotian Prime Minister and the media. From CNN:
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell met Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on Thursday in London to discuss the case and sign a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries…. “I pressed our concerns on behalf of Samantha with the deputy prime minister,” Rammell said. “He said the Laotian authorities understood the need for Samantha to receive good medical and nutritional care. I was encouraged that Samantha has now been provided with a local lawyer who is working with the UK barrister from Reprieve.”
Now Samantha’s story is all over the news, and while I truly do feel terrible for this young person who obviously does not deserve the treatment she has received, I have to wonder, isn’t it likely that Samantha is not the only pregnant woman sitting in this prison, or any third world prison for that matter? If the circumstance is such that she was impregnated during her incarceration, isn’t it more than likely many other women are in similar, if not the same situations? What is the difference between them and Samantha? I would guess it has something to do with citizenship.
So next time someone complains about paying taxes… remind them why its so nice to have a first world passport.
Pirates of the Arabian
Posted by zoboxrox in crime, environment, human rights, international, malfunction, military, politics on April 15th, 2009
Sorry I’ve been MIA the past week, I was captured by pirates. Bad joke, too soon? Not really, unless you are one of those pirates. In what could be considered Obama’s first…what were the exact words?…”International Crisis” (thank you Biden) he has proven himself a respectable Commander in Chief, and seems to have pleased both ends of the spectrum with his recent action in regards to the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia. And while everyone is pretty content with the result of the simple yet resounding military action (Navy SEALS are pretty badasss) and Obama himself has promised to “halt the rise of piracy“, there seems to be a general lack of interest in WHY this occurred in the first place. So cheers to the State Department, welcome home Captain Phillips, and good shooting Navy Snipers, but there is an ugly truth about piracy in the Indian Ocean, and though we love our Action Adventures here in the US, this story is not as simple as good guys versus bad ones, and no one looks like Johnny Depp.
Here is Africa. On the easternmost coast, The Horn of Africa, jutting up into the Arabian Sea, is Somalia, one of the poorest countries in the world. Notice its proximity to the Middle East, and most especially its access to the trade routes to and from Saudi Arabia. What, might you ask, is all the fighting about? Did you guess oil? If so, you’re actually wrong.
To understand the current climate in Somalia, a little history is required, and while it dates back over 2000 years, for our purposes we can begin in 1990, when the ongoing civil war first broke out in the East African nation. After the complete collapse of central government and a disruption in agriculture and food distribution, Somalia saw a prolonged period of widespread famine. First, and perhaps most memorably in 1992, when UNISOM I was established by the UN and UNITAF by the US, but then again in 1996, and 1999, and 2001, and 2006, and 2008.
The proximity of Somalia to the ocean is a major factor in its economic development, and a modern fishing industry helped fuel the country’s economy through previous periods of drought. With the dissolution of the central government, however, the waters off Somalia became ungoverned, quite obviously. This allowed for two very serious problems to occur simultaneously in the waters off the coast.
Following the massive tsunami of December 2004, there have emerged allegations that after the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in the late 1980s, Somalia’s long, remote shoreline was used as a dump site for the disposal of toxic waste. The huge waves which battered northern Somalia after the tsunami brought with them tons of nuclear and toxic waste that was dumped in Somali waters, by several European firms. The European Green Party followed up these allegations by presenting before the press and the European Parliament in Strasbourg copies of contracts signed by two European companies — the Italian Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian waste broker, Progresso — and representatives of the warlords then in power, to accept 10 million tons of toxic waste in exchange for $80 million (then about £60 million)….there are far higher than normal cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and bleeding, abdominal hemorrhages and unusual skin infections among many inhabitants of the areas around the northeastern towns– diseases consistent with radiation sickness….
At the same time, illegal trawlers began fishing Somalia’s seas with an estimated $300 million of tuna, shrimp, and lobster being taken each year depleting stocks previously available to local fishermen. Through interception with speedboats, Somali fishermen tried to either dissuade the dumpers and trawlers or levy a “tax” on them as compensation. In an interview, Sugule Ali, one of the pirate leaders explained “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits (to be) those who illegally fish and dump in our seas.” Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert at the University of St. Andrews says “It’s almost like a resource swap, Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts and the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters.“
So while the people of Somalia were literally starving to death, a multitude of European and Asian countries saw the opportunity to fish illegally and dump toxic waste off the Horn of Africa. NOT VERY NICE! Democracy Now has a really good interview about this very subject that I suggest to anyone who is interested in the whole truth, and not just the sliver we’re fed.
Bending Steele [Over]
Posted by zoboxrox in church and state, crime, malfunction, politics, religion on March 14th, 2009
RNC leader Michael Steele has been taking a lot of heat recently from his own party (what else is new) for some comments he made in an interview with GQ magazine, regarding women’s rights to choose and where he stood on the matter. [Interviewers questions in orange]
How much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?
Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.Explain that.
The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.You do?
Yeah. Absolutely.Are you saying you don’t want to overturn Roe v. Wade?
I think Roe v. Wade—as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter.Okay, but if you overturn Roe v. Wade, how do women have the choice you just said they should have?
The states should make that choice. That’s what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide.Do pro-choicers have a place in the Republican Party?
Absolutely!
Upon hearing of Steele’s GQ disaster, a number of high ranking Pubes took it upon themselves to release statements. Here is Mike Huckabee’s attempt at leadership:
Comments attributed to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are very troubling, and despite his clarification today the party stands to lose many of its members and a great deal of its support in the trenches of grass-roots politics [I dont know what most of this means, but it sounds serial!]. For Chairman Steele to even infer that taking a life is totally left up to the individual is not only a reversal of Republican policy and principle, but it’s a violation of the most basic of human rights — the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Actually Huck, you is wrong. While Michael Steele obviously loves to listen to himself talk, and is most likely at least borderline retarded, in this particular instance, he’s actually right. As it turns out, State over Federal Government is a very Republican stance. In fact, a nationwide ban on abortion would be in complete opposition to the idea of individual liberty and state’s rights, which, once again I will remind you, is the idea the GOP was more or less founded upon. If you look back in history many very traditional Republicans have been very pro-choice for this reason.
Lets take Senator Barry Goldwater, or “Mr Conservative”, as an example.
Goldwater was credited with championing a conservative-libertarian theme of freedom. He is said to have ushered in a new wave of thinking in the Republican Party - replacing the Rockefeller pro-business Republicans with advocates of smaller government like Ronald Reagan and the current Republican congressional leadership. Yet his advocacy of rights and liberties left out one important cause which so many Republicans today hold dear: the right to life…. Perhaps the most striking blow to the right to life came in 1992 when Goldwater took an active stand in opposition to the pro-life platform of the Republican Party. Goldwater opined that the GOP “will go down in a shambles” if the expected “anti-abortion” plank is adopted in the GOP platform.
LISTEN TO BARRY! Steele is doing the Right (pun intended, thrice!) thing by opening this topic up for discussion. Republican Conservatives are simply not the same thing as Religious Conservatives freaks, and the partnership of the two is tearing the GOP apart. And Goldwater is neither the first nor the last Republican to take this stance. In fact, I remember another prominent Repulican Arizona Senator who ran for President having more or less the same views as Steele when it came to abortion…
The most ironic part about the entire “gaffe”, is that this is by far the most intelligent part of Steele’s entire interview. Here are some snipits just for you:
Who do you listen to?
I actually listen to a cross section, because I like to hear what the medium is saying, what the voice isBut do you have a favorite?
P. Diddy I enjoy quite a bit. [I mean really?]****
Who else?
I like Sinatra. I like old-school. You know, Bing Crosby, Sinatra, Dean Martin. Love Dean Martin. He was one of these guys who just didn’t give an F. He just didn’t. Life was a party, and you either want to party or you don’t. But yeah, I like those. I’m a big Pack Rat. I love the Pack Rats from the 1950s—Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, those guys.You mean the Rat Pack.
The Rat Pack, yeah.****
How do you deal with the criticism?
I just pray on it.You do?
Oh yeah. And I ask God, “Hey, let me show just a little bit of love, so I absolutely don’t go out and kick this person’s ass.”Spoken like a true seminarian…
****
Was it emotional for you when Barack was sworn in?
No.Why not?
I don’t get caught up that way.****
Did you watch the Oscars?
I did! I love the Oscars. Despite what Mr. Shales said in his review in The Washington Post, I liked it. I thought it was: [claps]. And the host! Who knew?Did you watch the red-carpet stuff, too?
I did. I’m looking for who’s got what dress on, you know? I’m looking at the dresses. I’m lookin’ at what they’re doing with the hair. I’m lookin at the fellas. Now, you know, guys are wearing black and white, and I get that, but there’s some style points I could share with some of these brothers out there who just ain’t gettin’ it together.
Good Locke, Bad Locke, Who Knows?
Posted by zoboxrox in corporate america, crime, international, politics on February 27th, 2009
There is an old Chinese story, sometimes attributed to Lao Tzu that came to mind this morning as I read about Obama’s third pick for Commerce Secretary, former two-term Governor of Washington, Gary Locke.
There once lived an old farmer who had a weak, ailing horse for plowing his field. One day, the sickly horse ran away to the hills. The farmer’s neighbors offered their sympathy to him: “Such rotten luck!” they exclaimed.
“Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” mused the farmer.
A week later, the old horse returned, bringing with it a herd of wild horses from the hills. This time, the neighbors swarmed around the farmer and congratulated him on his good luck. His reply however was the same: “Good luck? Bad luck? Who can tell?”
Sometime later, while trying to tame one of the wild horses, the farmer’s only son fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this was bad luck. “Bad luck? Good luck? I don’t know,” said the farmer.
A few weeks later, the king’s army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied young man living there. The farmer’ s son, who was laid up with a broken leg was let off, for he was thought to be of no use to them.
Now what was this? Good luck or bad luck? Who can tell?
Obama has gotten a lot of flack over his two failed previous Commerce Secretary picks, and in some circles at least, it has brought his once elevated persona down a few notches. While he’s still pretty popular, his immaculate image has certainly been tainted by the repeated failure in picking the appropriate person for the position. But Locke just may be the perfect man (oxymoron, I know) for the job, the kind worth waiting for if you know what I mean. So in my preferred Top Five format, let me tell you why:
1. One word: China. Seeing as we now owe China a couple trillion dollars (literally), its nice to have someone in the Presidential Cabinet who has a “cache” of experience dealing with the mega nation. Seeing as one of the Commerce Secretary’s main functions is to advocate US business and promote trade with foreign nations, Locke seems like a good choice, considering China is the second largest economy in the world and Gary is a 2nd generation Chinese American who has executive experience trading with the country, as the former governor of a Pacific coast state. I doubt Bill Richardson or Judd Gregg have these qualifications.
2. He’s moderate; a free-trade Democrat, he has experienced criticism from his own party for his conservative fiscal approach to Washington’s budget problems in 2001: “Democrats criticized Locke for embracing the Republican Party’s no-new-taxes approach to dealing with Washington’s budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil.” And while he’s not a deep-red republican, he is an addition to what has been called Obama’s Team of Rivals, as he was an early and prominent supporter of Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
3. He’s literally an Eagle Scout. Locke is about as squeaky clean as they come and will most likely face little to no problems being confirmed as Commerce Secretary. While the previous two choices brought strong political capital to Obama’s Cabinet (Bill Richardson with the large and growing Hispanic population of the South West; Judd Gregg as an additional Republican member to Obama’s ‘bipartisan’ cabinet), Locke instead represents, what Obama himself describes as, “a tireless advocate for our economic competitiveness and an influential ambassador for American industry who will help us do everything we can, especially now, to promote our industry around the world.”
4. He’s got a great personal story; a bio that fits in perfectly with Obama’s image of change and hope. Here is his story in his own words:
“100 years ago my grandfather came from China as a teenager and worked for a family as a houseboy in exchange for English lessons, just one mile away from the Governor’s Mansion. It took our family 100 years to move that one mile; a journey possible only in America.”
Like Obama, he worked hard and helped put himself through school:
He graduated with honors from Seattle’s Franklin High School in 1968. Locke achieved Eagle Scout and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972. He then earned a law degree from the Boston University School of Law in 1975.
5. He’s young, fresh, and most importantly, different from what we’ve had in the past. He fits in well with the current administration (hot wife, cute kids), and did I mention, he speaks Cantonese? Of the three choices we’ve had, he is by far the best for the position. Good luck, bad luck… Who knows?
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