Rim Shots

1. "FRAT"-ricide

Didn't I just say that the heat was on when it comes to fraternities? Today's story is that members of a fraternity at Tulane (in New Orleans -- bet you didn't know they had re-opened) have been charged with "felony battery" for having subjected new recruits to a hazing ritual that involved burning them with hot water and pepper spray. (I guess they misplaced the Tasers.) And apparently the hot water was augmented by crab boil -- well, that's probably the only tasteful thing they've ever done. But here's my question. This all sounds like pretty standard stuff in the hazing line. There's no mention of any alcohol, or any water poisoning. No sexual humiliation of the Abu Ghraib variety. So what's going on? Don't tell me the authorities are starting to wimp out, and not give the frats a free pass on anything they might choose to do to prospective members (or their members). This may turn into another of those "watch this space" topics.

2. Why a Duckbill?

Once in a while the truth creeps into a news item where one least expects it. Today's example is a piece about the duckbilled platypus and its DNA. For one thing, it has ten sex-determining chromosomes rather than the usual two. I guess that makes it the unofficial mascot of Greenwich Village and "art colonies" all over the East Coast. But listen to the language. "...evolution made its first stabs at producing mammals"; "... they struggled to build a system of fertilization and gestation..."; "...the platypus represents a shift in strategy..." Now, all of these expressions seem to hint at some purpose -- at plans and goals. This, of course, is very anti-Darwinian. Evolution, strictly interpreted -- as everyone from the Supreme Court to public school tots is required to do -- has no purpose, no plans, and no goals. It's strictly a matter of what works in a competitive environment, and what doesn't. What works is what survives. If evolution were future-referenced, we would not have evidence of massive die-offs of many species over the eons. Something would have "known better" than have dinosaurs as big as they were before that nasty old meteor showed up, or before global cooling (sic) set in. And yet there is something in the human psyche -- yea, even that of journalists -- that can't quite help thinking in those terms.

3. A Dog's Life

On the local front, a young man who shot and killed a police dog was, in turn, shot and killed by the police. At least that was the original story. An updated version is that the guy shot at the police and hit the dog by mistake, so he was actually shot for having shot at the cops, not for having killed the dog. But an instant "meme" set in, and he is now known, and will ever be known, as the young man who was killed by the police for having shot a dog. And as usual, the family comes forth with testimonials that make one wonder why the guy wasn't already over in England on a Rhodes Scholarship. Problem is, he already had a rap sheet longer than Jimmy Carter's jowls. He pulled a .357 Magnum on the police, and/or the dog, but his family says he didn't have a gun and was not known to carry one, so I guess it must be true. So the gun they found and the bullets from that gun in the dog -- that's just someone's fantasy. On the other hand, let's allow as how the cops tend to overdo it a bit on this K-9 issue. The dog is called "a partner". They are flying the flag at half-staff. Yes, for a dog. (Is that even legal?) They are wearing black bands over their badges "to signify they are mourning a fallen officer." (Hell, even Otto, the dog in "Beetle Bailey", is only an NCO.) And planning a memorial service and burial. (Please tell me they aren't hiring a bagpiper. Please. I'm begging.) Now... isn't this the sort of thing that is likely to further inflame the sentiments of the local community? One of their own is killed, but the dog gets the flag, the black bands, and the memorial service. Couldn't the police just maybe consider cooling it a bit with the "Lassie Come Home" sentimentality? Guess not...

4. Mazel Tough

Reading between the lines in accounts of Israel's 60th birthday celebrations, we find that at least a few myths surrounding Israel's founding have been quietly laid aside. First and foremost is the myth that Israel was "a land without a people for a people without a land". You have to understand that this has been absolute gospel for many years now. The British, with the consent of other European powers and the U.S., supposedly turned an absolutely unpopulated piece of Palestine over to the Zionists. And yet somehow, mysteriously, that act generated hundreds of thousands of refugees. This has never been satisfactorily explained -- but at least now the reality of the refugee problem, and how it got started, can be referenced in the public press. My question is, since Europe and the U.S. gave the Zionists the green light to invade -- oops, I mean "settle"-- Palestine, why didn't they also provide new homes for the people who were displaced as a result? Ah, but that's what that whole "land without a people" myth was all about -- to relieve Europe and the U.S. of any responsiblity for what happened to the former residents. Pure word magic -- but it worked, for decades.

5. The Sharpton Image

Well, Al Sharpton has finally been forced to make his long-overdue frog march to jail. The occasion was the previously-discussed (http://zarathustrasoldman.blogspot.com/2008/04/for-whom-sean-bell-didnt-toll.html) shooting, Bonnie and Clyde style, of Sean Bell, and the inevitable aftermath, which included "civil disobedience" as led by Rev. Al. At least he had the insight to realize that New York City traffic _could_ get worse. Of course, they're making life in NYC an even more hell on earth in order to pressure federal authorities. Don't they realize that the feds hate NYC and all it stands for? Mess with NYC, and the feds just sit down in DC in their seersucker suits and laugh.

6. Show Me Dem Money

Oh yeah, and BTW, Democrats in the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, are uniting in support of a bill providing funding for the war in Iraq through next spring. Of course, they will change their minds instantly in the event either Obama or Hillary takes office in January. "Not!"