“Open-Carry” Rallies: Frightening Phenomenon

There’s disproportionate response — and then there’s, well, this.

Upset about health care? Angry over bank bailouts? Frustrated by encroaching “totalitarian socialism”? Well, petition. Vent. Throw your designated rascals out. Let your voice, however shrill and strident, be heard. It’s the American way. How quaint.

Now we have “open-carry” rallies.

Apparently bullhorned invective, intimidating signage and a regularly scheduled ballot are not enough for those who consider packing heat an extension of political speech. They actually do. Such gun-toting gatherings are now sprouting like ideological stink weeds among those angered by government actions they deem unconstitutional.

This isn’t political partisans behaving badly. This is flat-out, frightening stuff.  Open carry and closed minds. More than character assassination could loom.

Religious Oversight

Last week, Angelo Sodano, the dean of cardinals in Rome, defended Pope Benedict XVI from charges that he did not do enough — or anything — about pedophile priests when he was a bishop in Germany and later as a cardinal heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In addressing “petty gossip” criticizing the church, he told the official Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano that it was not Jesus’ fault that Judas betrayed him and not a bishop’s fault if a priest shamed himself.

Let’s dispense with the self-serving syllogism. As far as we know, no one went to Jesus to say: “We have documentation that Judas is a traitor. Do you want to do anything about it?”

Quoteworthy

* “That’s not a question we’re prepared to answer right now. We want to stay in the Tampa Bay area and find the best place to play.” — Rays’ official Michael Kalt in response to St. Petersburg City Council member Leslie Curran’s query: “Do you want to stay in St. Pete?”

* “It’s clear the Rays have regained that ’08 groove. Make mistakes and you will pay.” — Bob Ryan, sports columnist, Boston Globe.

* “This is your opportunity to win or lose for Florida, big time.” — Michael Grow, Salt Lake City civic leader and One Bay keynote speaker addressing the issues of urban sprawl and a prospective light-rail system for the Tampa Bay area.

* “There’s a distinction between Republican leadership and Republicans.” — Gov. Charlie Crist.

* “Faithfully applying our Constitution’s 18th- and 19th-century text to 21st-century problems requires not only careful attention to the text, fidelity to the framers’ goals and respect for precedent, but also an awareness of the practical realities of the present. Only with such awareness can judges, in a constantly changing society, hope to keep faith with our highest law.” — Geoffrey R. Stone, professor of law, University of Chicago and an editor of the Supreme Court Review.

* “The minute you attack overutilization (of expensive, health-care technology) you will be called a Nazi before the day is out.” — Uwe E. Reinhardt, health economist, Princeton University.

* “Obama set out to be a consequential president, on the order of Ronald Reagan. With VAT (value added tax), Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism.” — Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post Writers Group.

* “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.” — Senior Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader.

* “It’s a bit too early to come up with recommendations that people should eat more chocolate, but if people replace sugar or high-fat snacks with a little piece of dark chocolate, that might help.”– Brian Buijsse, nutritional epidemiologist, German Institute of Human Nutrition, the lead author of a study that found that people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day had a 39 percent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke.

* “We’re all infinite spiritual beings having a temporary human experience.” — Dr. Wayne Dyer, motivational guru, on his recently diagnosed lymphocytic leukemia.

Dobrynin: Right Man, Right Time

Last week Anatoly Dobrynin, 90, died. He was the Soviet Union’s ambassador to the United States through six presidencies — from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan. His death is worth serious American reflection. Even ironic nostalgia for the Cold War.

Dobrynin was much  more than a key Politburo operative and a geopolitical player back in the day. He was fluent in English and at ease amid the worldly trappings of free enterprise. He was a civil, urbane, empathetic communist and key intermediary when nuclear Armageddon was hovering over the world like a Doomsday Damoclean sword. He knew his face-saving back channels. He helped pull his country and our country back from the ultimate brink.

What a time to have had an adversary we could reason with. We all wanted to live and would find a way out together. Would that we had that in common today with our most implacable enemies.     

 I still have Dobrynin’s 1995 memoir, “In Confidence,” on my bookshelf. I re-read some of the chapter on Jimmy Carter and was reminded that Carter — not, say, Richard Nixon — was Dobrynin’s least favorite president. He was frequently put-off by Carter’s “moralizing” tone.

His take on Ronald Reagan has a hauntingly contemporary feel:

            “Reagan was endowed with natural instinct, flair and optimism…He presented his own image skillfully, and it appealed to millions…He skillfully manipulated public opinion by means of strong illustrative catchwords which oversimplified complex questions and therefore flew straight over the heads of the professionals into the hearts and minds of the millions, for good or ill. Not infrequently he was accused of trying to apply a primitive approach which made him reluctant to examine questions properly and conscientiously. These accusations were largely justified.”

He summed up by emphasizing how much Russians and Americans have in common. And that one  size doesn’t fit all, whether in the structure of the marketplace or in the implementation of power-to-the-people government. It still resonates.

“But just like the market, there are many different understandings of what it (democracy) really is,” wrote Dobrynin. “Even in America this has always been the case, as Abraham Lincoln said in Baltimore in 1864: ‘We all speak in favor of democracy, but when we use the word we do not always mean the same thing.'”

Some things never change.

GOPsters Good For Tampa

Death. Taxes. Controversies over the economic impact of high-profile events. Count on their inevitability.

Whether it’s a Super Bowl or a GOP national convention, it matters more to second-tier markets — such as Tampa, Charlotte and San Antonio. The New Yorks and Chicagos and OrlandoWorlds will always get their year-round influx of visitors. A big game or a big gathering is not that big a deal; in fact, it does skew regular business. And name recognition will not be enhanced.

But, come on. If Tampa wins the 2012 Republican Convention (over Phoenix and Salt Lake City), it means approximately 50,000 delegates, politicians and media coming in for the better part of a week. In late August. Plus all the attendant national and international coverage — and gratis publicity.

The point is not whether it means $150 million or $50 million to the area or some other figure that is a function of somebody’s self-serving, multiplier formula. What’s relevant is this: We’re talking a whole lot of visitors — most of whom, expense-account reporters excepted, are big spenders. And to repeat: this is in the summer — when it’s visitor challenged around here. Plus, the city is contractually free from out-of-pocket expenses such as municipal services and overtime.

A national political convention is a big deal. Even if the visitor infusion includes Tea-Partiers, Palin addicts, Fox News, W., Jeb! and the Cheney and Rumsfeld families. It’s worth it, however you calculate it.

Smokeless Subs

The Navy recently announced that by year’s end it will ban smoking inside its submarines. According to Vice Adm. John J. Donnelly, Commander of the Navy’s Submarine Forces, studies had shown unacceptable levels of second-hand smoke when the subs were submerged.

Good idea. Obviously. But one big begged question: the Navy is just now getting around to banning smoking on, of all things, submarines?

Sports Shorts

* It’s official. Next month the ABC Coalition, the business group formed by former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker to assess the Tampa Bay Rays’ options, will make a presentation to the Hillsborough County Commission. They will, among other things, make a pitch for the need for a Trop replacement, one that includes a couple of possible venues in Hillsborough County. And the Commission will, of course, just listen politely and avoid any accusation of tortious interference by St. Pete lawyers.

That the Commission invited ABC makes eminent sense. Everyone from Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg to everyone not connected to St. Pete City Hall knows the Rays will be long gone from the Trop before their lease is officially up in 2027.

The goal is to make sure the Rays are not long gone from Tampa Bay. The franchise is a regional asset, and this region can’t afford to be held hostage to counterproductive, inter-county subplots. What really doesn’t make sense is that the St. Petersburg City Council still hasn’t invited ABC, which has made numerous presentations around this market, to personally deliver its post-Trop pitch. In fact, SPCC isn’t even in the on-deck circle — out of fear, presumably, that they would appear to be countenancing a relocation scenario.

Meanwhile, potential suitors are hoping this exercise in bush league provincialism and mindless myopia continues long enough to convince the Rays that their future is in Charlotte, San Antonio or Portland. And not, of course, in St. Petersburg — or where they really regionally belong to make logistical and financial sense: Tampa.

* When the starting players were introduced before the women’s NCAA basketball championship game, their majors were also included. For national champ Connecticut, psychology was the most popular. Interestingly enough, star player Maya Moore, a junior All-American, is (still) majoring in “Individual Studies,” whatever that means.

* Speaking of hoops, despite its tradition of success and superiority, the national champion Duke University men’s basketball team still seemed a forced typecast as Goliath against Butler’s David. Mid-major, 4,200-student Butler against almost anybody else — not just a “one-and-done,” John Calipari-coached Kentucky — would have more than warranted its half of the David and Goliath scenario. But Duke, unlike its peers at the pinnacle of the college game, still recruits student athletes and coach Mike Krzyzewski still runs a classy program with kids who still graduate with degrees in meaningful majors. They also have fewer tattoos.

* If you’re from out of town and go to a Rays game to root for your hometown team, you’re most welcome and enjoy your stay. The Rays can use your business, the region appreciates your visit and your allegiance in an opponent’s home field is understandable.  And, OK, wear those Jeter and Papelbon jerseys, if you must, although they still seem more appropriate for those 10 and under.

But if you live here? Sorry, that’s really annoying. There’s a home team where your home now is. Support it.

And doesn’t it seem like the transplants — notably New York and Boston much more so than Chicago — are the loudest and most obnoxious?  

It’s not like following your alma mater wherever you go. We get that. But you have to be born somewhere. Leave it there.

*I’ve covered it; it has its intriguing elements; but I’m really no fan of open-wheeled, street racing. I prefer, well, athletics.  Anyhow, I noticed that three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves won last Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama. I’ve really lost touch.

I get the Monaco Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix , the San Marino Grand Prix as well as the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.  But the Grand Prix of Alabama?

Quoteworthy

* “It was never our intention to do away with the step plans.” — Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio on her plans to restore step-plan pay increases for eligible city workers next fiscal year.

* “We anticipate no changes to our current tenure policy.” — David Steele, chief of technology, Hillsborough County School District,  noting that the county is uniquely protected by a separate tenure act, one passed decades ago.

* “I want an organization in place where everybody has the same values, everybody has the same vision, all oars going in the same direction.” — Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik on his firing of general manager Brian Lawton and head coach Rick Tocchet.

* If Good Friday can be recognized as a holiday — that can be great for the Christians. We would rather keep a calendar that recognizes significant religious holidays. We didn’t want to see anyone have to sacrifice their beliefs.” — Ramzy Kilic, civil rights director, Tampa chapter, Council on American-Islamic Relations

* “The Founding Fathers strongly supported postal subsidies and printing subsidies. If Rush Limbaugh wants to say this is a typical liberal running to government…I’m like those liberals who founded the American system and thought the government was so powerful it had to have journalism to keep it in check.”  — John Nichols, Nation correspondent and co-author, The Death and Life of American Journalism, making the case for situational government subsidy of news.

* “A press beholden to the ruling class — a press that cannot stand on its own two feet and the strength of its product — is a press better off dead.” — Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin.

*”A few McNuggets shy of a Happy Meal.” — Ronald Reagan Jr. assessing Republican Rep. Michelle Bachman of Minnesota, who had just criticized President Obama’s “Nuclear Posture Review.”

* “Today, nearly half of Social Security recipients choose to begin getting benefits at 62. This is a grotesque perversion of a program that was never intended to subsidize retirees for a third to a half of their adult lives.” — George Will, Washington Post Writers Group.