Swarmed by mouthy Marines

It's said we Navy guys don't get on well with the Marines, but the USMC stands high with me. Look at the example of men like General Peter Pace, or our own Major Mike Coffman. All the more disappointing when I took friendly (or maybe not) fire this week from two tough-guy Marines displaying more bark than brains. First, Anthony Corpora (actually a Navy medic but serving with the 2nd Marine Division) called me a terrorist for saying we shouldn't reward illegal aliens with college scholarships.

Next, Bob Newman, the retired Marine gunnery sergeant who does weeknights on KOA, made me out a villain for saying the State Capitol shouldn't be a closed fortress, notwithstanding the madman shot there by a bodyguard after threatening Ritter.

My heated rebuttal to his criticism then proved me, according to Newman, a politically correct liberal and hater (yeah, right). It seems the Gunny isn't used to anyone pushing back at his bombast.

The Newman rant as given online the day after our on-air discussion is reprinted below. For proof that it was a discussion, not a tirade or a meltdown or any of the other descriptions he's given since, listen to the full segment here. Young Mr. Corpora's tongue-lashing of me via email on 7/16 is reprinted below the Gunny paragraph. Gotta love those Marines.

[Summary from Bob Newman's page on 850koa.com, as posted 7/17 in reference to his 7/16 show]

"DENVER POST'S ANDREWS CONDUCTS HYSTERICAL PERSONAL ATTACKS ON GUNNY BOB Former State Senator Had Voted For Lax Security At Capitol After 9-11 Went Wild When Gunny Challenged Him"

"In one of the most embarrassing displays of liberal immaturity, poor judgement and refusal to accept responsibility for one's callous and deadly actions ever heard on the "Gunny Bob Show," Denver's by far-and-away top-rated evening news-talk program, former Colorado State Senator John Andrews, a former president of that body, went beserk on the program Monday evening after the Gunny had the temerity to challenge him on his vote to drastically reduce security and safety at the state capitol after 9-11. That vote helped allow would-be killer Aaron Snyder to walk right into the governor's offices and announce he was there to take over the state government. Seconds later he pulled a gun, which is when an on-the-ball Colorado State Patrol officer beat him to the trigger. Launching into repeated tirades that included personal attacks on the Gunny for pointing out that this lack of security could have cost Governor Ritter and many other people their lives, the politically correct Andrews' hateful fit of rage is now available here."

[Email from active duty serviceman who objected to my comments in an AP story about scholarships for illegals, Rocky Mountain News, July 16, 2007]

"Dear JOHN, My name is Anthony Corpora, I am a Navy Hospital Corpsman actively serving with the 2nd Marine Division and I am completely intolerant of bigot ass agendas like yours. I apologize for not signing my name previously, but after reading such a disgusting article with your quotes on it, in my opinion, I figured you need to know that you are an a**hole. Not only am I a hispanic whom is serving for YOUR freedom, but there are many latinos serving that are not US Citizens. Up until recently, I was not a US Citizen, only recently that I decided to naturalize, however the point is there are others like me that are only "Permanent Resident" status. I am simpathetic to those that are here undocumented because they want a better quality of life and many of my fellow Marines and Corpsman have parents or relatives that are undocumented, but people like you with such an elitist ass atitudes (that desperately need someone to come along and kick the ever loving s*** out of you) keep harassing the latino community of the United States.

"You are not an American, YOU SIR ARE A TERRORIST AT BEST! You think you are serving your country, but really the only thing you are serving is a brand of domestic terrorism on the very workers that contribute and build this country with hard labor and lower wages that they are quite content with. If you want to serve your country sir why don't you answer the call of duty like all of us in the military instead of hiding behind that false conservative agenda you call reforming the country" you coward. Nobody along the border states; Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Florida wants the fence. Hell, there is a border town in Texas that has an ordinance against Immigration and Customs Officials from operating within the town and they speak both spanish and english. As a matter of fact, the very state by which you reside in (Colorado) has had a latino community long before you got there, so why don't YOU GET THE HELL OUT? Though this may be just passionate opinion on my part, you should note that there are a lot of us latinos here to stay and bilinguals like me that have college degrees that can communicate to both english and spanish speaking parties that can definitely send a clear message about people like you.

"Do you know how dumb you are? Instead of worrying about hispanics why don't you worry about China instead, thats the real threat for the future not the people that are building this country. I never thought that I would have to re-educate degenerates like you, but I guess life is tough like that. My homework assignment to you is for you to read the Art of War and maybe you can finally get a clue. I hope you enjoyed this letter ass clown. Sincerely, HM2 Corpora

Mesmeric power of 'white racism'

A black American reflects on the Imus affair By Joseph C. Phillips (joseph@josephcphillips.com)

When I was a boy, my father charged me with cleaning up a mess in the bathroom. Thoroughly disgusted, I tried every way I knew how to avoid touching anything. The delay angered my father until finally in exasperation, he hollered, “You are going to touch much worse than that in your life!” He was correct. I have in my life touched much worse. The lesson learned was in all things we must keep our perspective.

Following an off-color joke about the Rutgers women’s basketball team that fell terribly flat, radio host Don Imus was fired from his program at MSNBC and a short time later was also released from his contract with CBS radio. One need not like Don Imus or approve of what he said in order to wonder if perhaps the punishment and the accompanying hysteria didn’t exceed the crime. On the other hand, we are living in a nation whose moral equilibrium has been turned topsy-turvy. And the culprit is not hip hop music or the hypocrisy of the post civil rights establishment. The moral offense that supersedes all other considerations is white racism and the guilt and victimhood that accompany it.

A woman in Seattle is caught on video tape in a drunken, profanity laced tirade in which she calls an Arab convenience store clerk “un-American” and “Gandhi.” She then grabs him by the throat committing a battery. Once sober and facing charges, she releases a statement assuring the witnessing public that she is not a racist. No matter that she is a sloppy drunk, with a mouth like a sailor and a batterer, she must make it clear that she is not a racist.

A sitting United States senator must defend himself against charges that 20 years ago he used the N word. Imus hasn’t changed his act in 15 years. For Leslie Moonves, CBS CEO, to feign surprise at the content of the Imus in the Morning program strains credulity. What did change is the now very public possibility of being tagged with the label of racist.

The exploitation of that fear is what is known as the race hustle and few are as adept at it as the reverends Sharpton and Jackson. But hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game! Both men are free to pass judgment on issues of race in spite of their own transgressions because their blackness makes them immune to charges of white racism. This immunity along with the amazing ability to be in front of every microphone in sight is the only source of their power.

A nation blind to race and focused on character and virtue is frightening to men like Sharpton and Jackson. The only virtue they possess is their rather deft wielding of the sword of white racism. Disaster for Sharpton and Jackson would have been if the Rutgers team had issued a statement along the lines of, “We don’t know who this clown is, but we are not going to allow his ugliness to distract from the beautiful women we are and the positive things we are doing.” But the power of white racism was too strong and they were lulled into victim hood replete with emotional hand wringing, claims of lives scarred and seasons ruined and appearances on Oprah.

They will in their lives experience much worse.

This sword, of course, cuts both ways. The Teflon that shields the race hustler offers similar protection to the rap artist. The real irony is the very thing that accuses whites is the same thing that makes the identical language in much of the popular culture intractable. As deplorable as we may find the language, our protestations gain little traction because they do not carry with them the weight of white racism. The black community cannot bring to bear the same deadly weapon on members of its own community. That is the real sad and unfortunate realization of this entire affair.

For our own sake, the conversation that will happen following the fall of Don Imus must at some point include the end of white racism. At some point, we must find a way to assuage our guilt over America’s original sin without destroying the foundations of our culture and falling further into the multi-cultural abyss. That is not an argument in favor of incivility or ugliness. It is, however, a plea for some perspective. ----------------------------- Denver native Joseph C. Phillips is a Hollywood actor, a syndicated columnist, a regular on Backbone radio, and the author of He Talk Like a White Boy, available wherever books are sold.

Saturated with video violence

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net) (April 20, Hitler’s Birthday, and the Columbine anniversary) I am appalled by commentators who ask silly rhetorical questions such as “Why do such things happen?” or “How can we understand these events?” or “What’s wrong with our society?” It’s not rocket science. All they have to do is look around! We have wall to wall violence on TV, in movies -- and in video games.

In many of these games, your avatar is walking down a hallway, shooting to the right and left. Is it much of a stretch to see the connection to the killer walking down a hallway in a school, shooting students to the right and left, exploring the rooms and shooting those he finds therein? Just like a video game! What age and gender group are the largest purchasers of violent video games? The same age and gender group that were the killers at Columbine and Virginia Tech.

Of course the media moguls and their lawyers will huff, “There are no studies connecting media and societal violence,” and they will hire expert witness pimps who will confirm it. But common sense tells us that if society wishes to decrease the violence, it might start with major self-restraint in the media.

To the groups that howl for more gun control, that in itself is too small a piece of the puzzle to be effective. It’s like calling for a ban of table knives and forks to combat obesity. Think what the difference might be if movies and video games were more oriented toward non-lethal sports or constructive problem solving?

Irresponsible VT news coverage

April 18, 2007

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net)

It’s unseemly to be holding candle light vigils and to be squabbling over memorials even before the bodies are cold, to say nothing of the tedious 24 hour TV news coverage. But the most outrageous is the national airing of the demented killer’s diatribe!

It is a fact that in sports TV, cameras will NOT cover a streaker should one jump out and dash across a basketball court or baseball field. Why? To discourage others from following suit! Should not this common sense precept be applied to VA Tech style situations as well? The message the media is sending: “if you want your views broadcast nationwide, all you have to do is make a video tape last will and testament and create mayhem!” The killer did follow the publicized Hamas example to a tee.

If the Columbine count was around 15 and the VA Tech count was around 30, does this mean that the next number in the series needs to be 60 in order to get on TV news?

Freedom of speech does have a dimension of responsibility, something the media has apparently cast aside for expediency.

Unfazed by the gloom-mongers

By Krista Kafer (krista555@msn.com) A big home improvement project monopolized my time for weeks. As I tiled, painted, sawed and plumbed, emails and phone messages piled up. Newspapers and magazines went unread. Today I’m catching up and regretting it.

Thanks to the Denver Post I’ve learned that teens have been charged in the brutal slaying of one teen’s mother, conflict has erupted over the use of water, Democrats in the state’s General Assembly are pushing for gay adoption and voter rights for convicts on parole, and Iraqi terrorists have killed more civilians.

Not to be outdone, the Rocky Mountain News, features on-line pictures of tornado-wrought destruction, an article about another school shooting, and a tale about a counterfeiter who bought Girl Scout cookies with bogus bills (not a bad use in my estimation).

Captain America is dead according to CNN and a bunch of disgruntled Vermonters want to impeach the president says Time Magazine. Now that’s newsworthy.

In U.S. News and World Report I can read articles about the high cost of college, hard feelings in Chechnya, a new faux-documentary disproving Christianity, and an article lauding Hillary Clinton (usually it’s Barack Obama). Last week’s edition, as of yet unread, features “America’s Worst Presidents.” Maybe I’ll skip straight to the articles about nuclear war.

On Newsweek online I can be preached at by John Edwards chastising America who thinks Jesus would be disappointed with the US for not helping the world’s poor. When exploiting religion, don’t let the facts get in the way, John. Americans give away more money per person than any other country.

I’m four editions behind in the Economist. Which one should I start with, the edition with the stealth bomber “Next Stop Iran” or the one about global warming “The Greening of America”? The unread World Magazine is about modern slavery. That looks more promising.

It’s a good thing I started off today with National Geographic, my favorite magazine. I’m only two behind there. According to short article (sadly not available online) called “By the Numbers” Americans are substantially better off today than in 1915 and 1967, the two comparison years.

We live longer. The life expectancy in 1915 was 54.5 years. It was 70.5 in 1967. Today it is 77.8. We earn more. In 1915, Americans earned on average $687 ($13,284 adjusted for inflation) compared to today – $34,926. On top of that, we have more earning power. An American in 1915 paid an equivalent of $5.01 in today’s dollars for a gallon of gasoline and the equivalent of $7.22 for a gallon of milk.

Reading this was like discovering a tiny rose in a sea of thorns.

Are Americans so addicted to bad news that news outlets can’t afford to headline good news? It’s depressing. Moreover, bad news fuels duplicitous political dialogue as politicians capitalize on fears.

Al Gore preaches catastrophic global warming from his mansion, an energy black hole, to listeners apparently eager to hear it. Edwards evokes religion to pan American selfishness. Even though the economy is booming, politicians paint a dire picture to support more income redistribution, pork projects, tax and spend proposals, and regulatory command and control policies.

I’m done. The magazines are going back in the rack. I’m going to make a latte from my $3.25 gallon of milk.