Feds haul passenger off cruise ship in cuffs for marshmallow incident

BY CATHERINE WILSON

A teacher’s aide who forgot to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate at Yellowstone National Park last

year was taken from her cruise ship cabin in handcuffs and hauled before a judge Friday, wrongfully accused of

failing to pay the fine.

Hope Clarke, 32, crying and in leg shackles, told the judge she was rousted at 6:30 a.m. by federal

agents after the ship returned to Miami from Mexico. [She spent nearly nine hours in detention.] She insisted that she had been required

to pay the $50 fine before she could leave Yellowstone, which has strict rules about food storage to prevent wildlife from eating human

food.

Customs agents meet all cruise ships arriving from foreign ports and run random checks of passenger lists, and a warrant

claiming Clarke had not paid the fine was found in the federal database.

This seems like an overreaction, to

terrorize someone over such an offense. I hope she sues John AssKraft. mjh

My favorite of THE WOOD’s environmental photos from Metaquerque. It’s a bit more whimsical than this Alibi cover. mjh

Reagan, Race and Remembrance on

the Great Divide
by Tim Wise

This is the twisted psychosis of growing up privileged, as a member of the dominant group: a group

that must view their nation as fair and just, as a place struck off by the literal hand of God, as a place where ”average” guys

like Ronald Reagan can become ”great leaders.” As a place where an ”aw shucks” smile, and a profound lack of knowledge about

the details of public policy — or even the names of foreign leaders — is not only not cause for embarrassment, but yet another good

reason to vote for someone; where refusing to read up on important policy details prior to a key international meeting so one can watch

The Sound of Music on TV, is seen as endearing rather than cause for a recall.

This is why we get people like George W. Bush, for

those who haven’t figured it out yet. Oh sure, vote fraud and a pliant Supreme Court help, but were it not for the love affair white

Americans have with mediocrity posing as leadership, things never could have gotten this far.

It’s why a bona fide moron like

Tom Delay can brag about not having a passport (because, after all,

why would anyone want to travel abroad and leave ”Amur’ca,” even for a day) and not be seen as the epitome of a blithering

idiot, and why he could probably be elected again and again in thousands of white dominated congressional districts in this country,

and not merely in Texas.

The

Village Voice: Nation: Press Clips: Das Rongold by Richard Goldstein
Reagan’s funeral as a Wagnerian opera.

And every other

piece of news was pulled into the funeral’s magnetic orb. Ray Charles’s death was dealt with by working his rendition of ”God Bless

America” into the soundtrack. That was a deeply ironic flourish in an almost lily-white — and for that matter, masculine —

have understood.)

Former President Reagan” href=”http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/000302.htm”>mjh’s Blog: The Beatification

of Former President Reagan

New Mexico Progressive News – Progressive news, alerts, and resources for New Mexico

And STOP THE WAR MACHINE

NewMexiKen
Half Wisdom · Half Whimsy · Half Wit
From the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, issues of

the day, sports, books, films, music, history, the environment and grandchildren.

[Thanks, PikaB! www.burqueblog.com]

Merri Rudd

”Merri Rudd is

one of the most fun and competent contra callers around. She has a bright and cheerful style, and is articulate, intelligent,

and witty.”

Mer is one of a kind and my long-time companion of 22 years. xox mjh

I’ll swipe this quotation from Arthur Alpert because it is so stunning as to deserve

echoing. mjh

Alpert’s

Truth: Driving in the Rain

That’s when my mind flew to the book that was waiting for me at my iMac, “Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea

(Why the Greeks Matter)” by Thomas Cahill, and to the page I had book-marked.

It was Pericles’ famous funeral oration over the

Athenians who died in the Pelopponesian War. Specifically, this passage:

“Our constitution is called a democracy, because power

rests in the hands not of the few but of the many. Our laws guarantee equal justice for all in their private disputes; and as for the

election of public officials, we welcome talent to every arena of achievement, nor do we make our choices on the grounds of class but on

the grounds of excellence alone.

“Open and tolerant in our private lives, in our public affairs we keep within the law. We

acknowledge the restraint of reverence; we are obedient to those in authority and to the laws, especially to those that give protection

to the oppressed and to those unwritten laws of the heart whose transgression brings admitted shame.”

I have no doubt Pericles was

gilding the lily, but even if his speech represents only what he and other Athenians aspired to, it speaks of a decent society.

Contrast it with ours. What a fall-off. (Yes, they had slaves, but so did we until what, 140 years ago?)

The measure of our

society’s weakness is that we ridicule idealism, sometimes with whole heart and sometimes for fear we will be ridiculed.

This

need not be forever, though. One day, maybe soon, we will muster the courage to be idealistic.