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Valley Courier
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Opinion Olympics celebrate humanity
The hype early on in the Olympic has surrounded Michael Phelps. The three-time Olympian came into the games with the opportunity to become the most decorated Olympian of all time. Phelps’ performance at the 2008 Beijing games was astonishing – eight gold medals. Easily one of the best individual Olympic showings of all time, Phelps became a US legend in just a few short weeks. Now that Phelps has collected more gold medals and more medals overall than any other person in history, the only thing left to question is whether or not he is the best Olympian to ever participate in the games. But, these types of questions should Lance never be asked. The Hostetter Olympics are games of sportsmanship, unity, and the celebration of humanity. The spirit of the Olympics is not to celebrate one person, but to celebrate the common effort that brings all Olympians and the world together. The 2012 Olympics have already seen performances and stories that should be celebrated with equal enthusiasm as Phelps’ career accomplishments. Gabrielle Douglas came from a background of sporadic gymnastics to become the world’s top gymnast. Her dominating performance in the overall competition followed the US’s nearly perfect team performance. The US walked away with the women’s team gold medal for the first time since 1996. But, the headlines were on Phelps. Other headlines have focused on Colorado’s Missy Franklin. The warm-hearted 17-year old swam into Olympic lore this week as she collected several medals and showing she will be a dominant force in swimming for years to come. She promised to deliver some happiness to her home state and to the city in which she trained – Aurora, Colo. Her performance is not just about swimming or just about winning gold medals. Franklin’s performance is about bringing a good storyline to Colorado newspapers and television stations after a devastating summer of crime and wildfires. Franklin’s Olympic experience may be the most heartfelt of the US’s participants, but other countries have equal stories. One of the most groundbreaking stories of these Olympic games comes from Saudi Arabia. The London Olympics will be the stage in which Saudi Arabian women will compete for the first time. The participation of the Saudi Arabian women show that some oppression around the world is slowly lifting. So, these Olympics are not only about sport and competition, but these Olympics are about a cultural shift in ideals about women from certain areas of the world. Phelps’ historic run in the previous two Olympic games and the current Olympics will be remembered forever. He will go down as one of the best Olympians of all time. But, these Olympics are not his in the same way the Beijing games were his. Instead, these Olympics are the world’s Olympics. From the Saudi Arabian women to Franklin to Douglas and more, these games are proving that the spirit of the Olympic games are larger than any single person. The Olympics are about the various countries of the world coming together to celebrate hard work, dedication, and the drive to become a part of the fabric of the world. SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012 THE WORLD ALMANAC DATABANK TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1944, the Gestapo arrested diarist Anne Frank and the other inhabitants of the “Secret Annex” in Amsterdam. TODAY’S QUOTE: “I’ve found that there is always some beauty left -- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself.” -- Anne Frank TODAY’S NUMBER: 67 -- minimum number of languages into which “The Diary of Anne Frank” has been translated since its Dutch publication in 1947.
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Pass the chicken please I have never eaten at a Chick-fil-A, since when I’m out of town, I go for fresh seafood, but I will if I choose. That choice is mine. There’s a franchise in Colorado Springs. The furor over what the fast food chain’s president said about opposing gay marriage has sadly missed the point. It’s not about hatred, it’s about the First Amendment. Dan Cathy didn’t say he hated gays, he said, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’” He had a right to say that. I’m just not so sure that he’s an authority on what God will or will Sylvia not do. Lobato Sadly, like so many other statements and actions in our modern society, Cathy’s comments have become a springboard for hatred on both sides of the issue. I don’t believe God condones hate, either. Whatever Cathy’s motivation, the backwash of his comments tuned into an economic bonanza for the chain. Today, people are writing “gay money” on dollar bills and still buying the famous chicken sandwiches. On Friday, gay, lesbian and transgendered people kissed, hugged and held hands at Chick-fil-A franchises. Both protests were outwardly peaceful, but supporters on both sides posted hateful, horrible and definitely not-Christian comments online. Many of these people claim to be honest, law-abiding folks who will help minorities and the downtrodden. They drop money in collection plates to prove it. Ayn Rand once wrote, “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who
Native Writes
Our country is approaching a watershed moment in the fight for marriage equality. I couldn’t have been more pleased to hear this week that the Democratic Party platform drafting committee has recommended supporting full civil marriage for LGBT Americans. If all proceeds as anticipated, the language will be presented to the full Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., for a vote in early September. It is my sincere hope that the full convention of delegates will approve this plank, and I have no doubt that the votes will be there when the Democratic Party gathers in just a few short weeks. Once the party of Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton takes this historic step forward, it will have finally caught up with the opinion of a consistent majority of the American public: that sexual orientation should not determine a citizen’s status, and that discrimination has no place in our statute books. By seeking to add this language to its platform, the Democrats link marriage equality to the great civil rights issues the party has championed throughout its history. In 1948, President Truman led the party to formally adopt civil rights language at its convention. In 1964, when Mississippi tried to seat a slate of all-white delegates who had been elected by a process that systematically excluded black voters, it lead to a standoff.
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child say something bad or vulgar and ask, “Y comer con la voca?” or “And you eat with that mouth?” A swat would sometimes follow if what was said was really bad. Still, the right to free speech lingered on and, later, talking about it, the neighborhood kids, by then young adults, almost whispered the bad words that got us into trouble in the first place. The current Cathy comments flap isn’t a liberal or conservative question; it isn’t a debate between gay or straight; it’s a matter of free speech. If we defend the Constitution, we must hold firm to the First Amendment. Anyway, in this lagging economy, we have learned that a good debate can still become a business bonanza.
Democrats pioneer civil rights for all
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deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” What galls me isn’t so much the audacity of the people making the statements pro and con regarding the Chick-fil-A flap as it is their obvious desire to deny the right of free speech to anyone with whom they do not agree. In this, a free nation and arguably the greatest nation on Earth, we have seen books burned because some people didn’t agree with what was in them. Matthew Shepard was tortured to death in 1998 for being homosexual. He had a right to be who he was, and the people who ended his life had no right to murder him. I think God is quite clear on that. When I was a kid growing up, an old woman in the neighborhood would hear a
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Civil rights heroes like Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis spoke out, a compromise was struck, and the Democratic Party swore never again to allow a segregated delegation to be seated. The Democratic Party platform led the way on women’s rights and youth rights, endorsing the Equal Rights Amendment well before Lilly Ledbetter became a household name, and a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 18 well before the 26th Amendment made it official. Without these pioneers speaking out on the convention floor, who Donna knows how differently Brazile the great civil rights struggles of our time might have gone. It was on the floor of the Democratic National Convention where civil rights lawyer Joseph L. Rauh Jr. said that “we tied civil rights to the masthead of the Democratic Party forever.” Democrats should be proud to continue that tradition this year. Democrats stand for the principle of equality because it’s the right thing to do. But it’s also never been more important to give the American people a clear choice on this question. When voters pick their president, congressional representatives, and state and local leaders this November, those in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington state will also vote on marriage equality ballot questions. Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who once promised to be to the left of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy on LGBT issues, has announced that he opposes both marriage equality and civil unions for gay couples. Romney’s positions are increasingly out of the mainstream -- even within the Republican Party. Major Republican donors like Paul Singer and Dan Loeb have made significant
donations to marriage equality efforts in the past few years. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whom I had the pleasure of debating on CNN during his tenure, now serves on the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a pro-marriage equality organization. Ted Olson, the firebrand conservative lawyer who represented George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore in 2000, now stands poised to argue against California’s Proposition 8 before the Supreme Court. If the court takes up the case, Olson will stand alongside David Boies, who represented Al Gore, in arguing for a basic right to access the status and benefits of civil marriage. It’s time to get on the bus. There’s no place in our Constitution for discrimination of any kind. We are a country that aspires toward a more perfect union. If you wish to reflect on our social fabric, reflect on the fact that we have never stood idly by as our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our neighbors, and our servicemen and women faced discrimination. It is precisely our social fabric that makes “separate but equal” repulse us and stir us to action. The cause of marriage equality, like all civil rights causes, is at its core about people. When President Obama credited conversations with LGBT members of his staff and meditations on openly gay American servicemembers around the globe as his inspiration for announcing his personal support for marriage equality, he made plain a personal journey that so many in this country have experienced. Now it’s time to take the next step. This delegate and proud champion of diversity, civil rights and equal justice under the law for all Americans looks forward to casting her vote for marriage equality at the Convention in September because equality can’t wait. (Donna Brazile is a senior Democratic strategist, a political commentator and contributor to CNN and ABC News, and a contributing columnist to Ms. Magazine and O, the Oprah Magazine.)
Editor's Note: The views expressed in individual columns on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Valley Courier.