Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Tish, That's French

Wednesday, May 9, 2001

An article in the International Herald Tribune by NY Times foreign correspondent Roger Cohen, suggests there is a considerable amount of US-bashing going on around the world right now. Two examples from the article:

"[P]articularly the French � seem inclined to overlook the fact that discomfort or irritation with the extent of post-Cold-War American power - military, political, economic and cultural - has been running high for some time."
"In their glee at U.S. discomfort over the vote [refusing the US a seat on the International Human Rights Commission], the Chinese used language similar to that of the French.

There you have it. The statements of our two staunchest allies in the world: France and China.

It turns out, according to an LA Times piece by Robin Wright, that the US also lost its seat on the International Narcotics Control Board.

Well, here's the answer: Let's ship all of those "political prisoners" serving time on drug offenses to Europe. This will serve everyone's interests: We will unload our jails, and the Europeans can show us just how well they handle these things.

Let's tie prisoners' privileges to how well they do in, oh, I don't know, their French lessons, let's say.

Huge, HUGE disappointment from an article in yesterday's Washington Post. Your Nation's Capital has sunk to third - THIRD - in the rankings of the worst rush hours. Numbers one and two? Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Well, sure. The subways in California are identified as the Blue Line, the Green Line, and the Fault Line, so who would get on one. And the term "rolling blackout" really means sitting in traffic waiting for Governor Davis to turn the stop lights back on.

In Washington, DC, they should take the measurements on one of those snow days when the Federal government declares that only essential employees need to show up at work. You can ski down Pennsylvania Avenue and not be endangered by automobile traffic, while the country seems to function just fine, thank you.

More Americans should follow the excellent example of the President of these United States and the Mullmeister: We both walk to work.

Almost every paper in the country seemed to take some pride in how bad their traffic problems are. It reminded me of basic training when everyone bragged that their drill sergeant was the toughest in the battalion. "We do so many pushups the Earth has moved out of its orbit." I think that was my favorite at the Fort Bragg PX.

Back overseas, Iran has announced it will not honor any documents which refer to the region as the Arabian Gulf as opposed to the Persian Gulf.

France immediately chimed in supporting the Iranians and blaming the dust-up on the US. They mistakenly believed that Iran wanted the region named the Parisian Gulf.

In a Chicago Tribune piece, reporters Don Terry and Monica Davey write about an interview they had with Jesse Jackson's girlfriend, Karin Stanford in which she said she is not a blackmailer and asked "Please don't call me a mistress. That implies a kept woman. I am not that.."

And besides. It sounds so � French.

I know "girlfriend" is not the right term. And she doesn't want to be known as a "mistress." Significant Other doesn't seem to fit. How should Ms. Stanford be identified?

The Trib writes around the problem in its lead, thus: "The mother of Rev. Jesse Jackson's out-of-wedlock child �"

There is a very good analysis on how the US Senate is working its way toward a vote on the Budget. According to the Associated Press piece by Alan Fram, the GOP leadership "believe they finally have the votes to push a 2002 budget through Congress this week by splitting a coalition of moderate Senate Democrats."

By negotiating separately with the subgroups of moderates, the GOP is keeping them from holding all the cards.

Read the full stories on the mother of Jesse Jackson's daughter and the budget maneuvering on the Secret Decoder Ring.

More bad news from the award front. I was not nominated for a Tony award, and I was not recognized by the President as the "Small Business Person of the Year."

Although I'm not one, I sometimes act like a journalist and I'm only about 5'6". What, I ask you, does one have to do?

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