No Comment

Summer 2003

Shocking and Awful

Electronics giant Sony is set to launch a video game called "Shock and Awe" for Playstation 2, based on the phrase the U.S. military used to describe the bombing campaign on Iraq.

"Shock and Awe" is the latest in a stream of merchandise that seeks to profit from the current conflict. Others are a recent Playstation game called "Conflict: Desert Storm," a board game called "Axis of Evil," and T-shirts and mugs adorned with the slogan "Operation Enduring Freedom."

Art of War

The International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) in Washington, D.C., is joining together with the Pentagon and the State Department to sponsor a festival promoting peace and environmental art.

The International Child Art Festival will be held in Washington in early September and, according to the press release, hopes to "demonstrate the important role that children and the arts can play in promoting cross-cultural and international understanding and cooperation."

Anti-Bush Shirt Banned

A high school student in Dearborn, Michigan was sent home after he refused school administrators' requests that he take off or turn inside out his anti-Bush T-shirt.

The shirt framed the president's face underneath a sign that said "International Terrorist." Sixteen-year-old Bretton Barber said he wore the shirt to express his anti-war sentiment and feels that he should have that right. School officials said they were concerned about creating further tension in a district where 55 percent of the students are Arab-American.

"Bush has already killed over 1,000 people in Afghanistan . that's terrorism in itself," Barber told The Detroit News.

Public Schools A Commie Plot?

Texas State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston, came under fire in March for declaring that public education, free health care, and food stamps were a communist plot.

"Where did this idea come from, that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell," Riddle was quoted as saying in the El Paso Times. "And it's cleverly disguised as having a tender heart. It's not a tender heart. It's ripping the heart out of this country."

Her comments came on the heels of questioning at a Border and International Affairs Committee hearing about how much state money is being used to provide health care for undocumented immi-grants.

Aside from a letter sent by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Riddle has received no criticism from the Texas Republican Party, Gov. Rick Perry, or Republican Speaker Tom Craddick.

New York's Anti-War Database

In early April, New York police admitted that they had compiled and destroyed a database of people arrested during recent anti-war protests. Hundreds of people were arrested between February and April and "debriefing forms" were used by detectives to record personal information like prior demonstration history and, for younger protesters, what school they attend.

Civil rights groups have denounced the practice as unconstitutional. Under pressure from the New York Civil Liberties Union, the police department stopped the profiling.

"We've had numerous demonstrations in New York in the past 18 months, but is there any evidence or connection whatsoever that people exercising their First Amendment rights have anything to do with terrorism?" asked Jeffrey Fogel, legal director of New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

The NYPD said they will continue to tally the names of organizations, but not individuals, in order to decide how many police to send to future demonstrations.

The Bookie of Virtues

Former Secretary of Education William Bennett, whose books and speeches have criticized public schools for not teaching "traditional values," is a compulsive gambler. Author of The Book of Virtues, Bennett lost about $8 million in casinos in the last decade, according to the Washington Monthly. It is uncertain whether Bennett's most recent financial venture - the virtual school corporation "K-12" - will teach students computer-based gambling.

QUOTABLE QUOTE

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon."

- Chris Rock

Summer 2003