Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/476563
MARCH 11-17, 2015 UCW 9 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Julius Caesar once noted to the misery of legions of Latin students that "All Gaul is divided into three parts." In our modern age of flying cars, pundits enjoy reporting that the world has shrunk. Our world is now divided into only two parts, the Kingdoms of Jackasses and of Carpenters. President Lyndon Johnson once observed that "Any jackass can kick down a barn, it takes a real carpenter to build one." If LBJ said it, that settles it, and I believe it. Unfortunately we have many more Jackasses than Carpenters, but such is life. The Jackasses and Carpenters occupy the same geographic areas but they are of different species and habits. Let us ponder the colorful world of Jackasses. A Jackass doesn't like much of anything. They would much rather complain and criticize things than do something positive. Despite being highly predictable in what they will say and do about any given situation, they are entertaining as they enjoy name calling and exaggeration. Unfortunately Jackasses are much more noticeable than Carpenters. I have personally been called a Jackass. Let us admire political Jackasses. Being unfair, I will only examine Republican Jackasses. That is not to say there are not many Democratic Jackasses. If you want a recitation of that breed of Jackass, kindly watch Fox News. I confess that I love John Boehner. He is my ideal Republican. He can't get anything done which amuses me. John has discovered that governing is not nearly as much fun as complaining about the government. Spoiler alert: In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a Republican. However, I admire exquisite misery when I see it. John is misery's patron saint. John has brought the concept of Jackassery to impressive heights. His right flank is occupied by the Freedom Caucus composed of a rowdy band of Tea Partiers. They loathe John. They would like him removed as Speaker of the House and then drawn and quartered on the Mall. To his left, ride the Chamber of Commerce Republicans who want cheap labor and more goods manufactured in China. The Chamberites and the Tea Party have about as much in common as Al Sharpton and Sean Hannity, who incidentally are both high Jackasses in their own right. The Republican flirting with shutting down the Homeland Security Department in the time of ISIS raises Jackassery to a level of Everest proportions. Damn the common sense, full political theology ahead. Like Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Five Republican members of the U.S. Supreme Court may well become the Judicial Jackasses of the decade. The Supreme Jackasses may overturn Obamacare in the King vs. Burwell case thereby throwing millions of people back into the ranks of the uninsured. The Republican opponents of Obamacare may suddenly find themselves like the proverbial dog chasing the car who finally catches it. The Jackasses don't have a replacement for Obamacare. Some newly uninsured voters in 2016, if they live, may be unhappy about not being able to obtain their insulin and cancer treatments. John enjoyed pretending to be President by extending a double secret invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress. Instead of having one boring foreign policy, America now has two competing foreign policies. Congressional Republicans have signed on with the Likud party in Israel. Obama's Administration's foreign policy is with the nation of Israel. Bipartisan foreign policy is so old hat. Surely nothing could go wrong with having a Congressional foreign policy and an Executive branch foreign policy. Tribal politics have worked really well in Iraq and Afghanistan. Putin is the Cossack King of the International Jackasses. He is taking personal charge of the investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the leader of hi opposition. That ought to be a very thorough investigation. Nothing to see here. Move along. Lumber Liquidators with their special Chinese formaldehyde flooring is a good example of a Business Jackass. Celebrities have their own unlimited supply of Jackasses, Justin Bieber and Kanye West come to mind almost immediately. It is more difficult to come up with the names of Carpenters as they tend to labor in the background building things and holding things together. If you see any Carpenters, thank them for their service. They don't get much publicity or gratitude. Kicking Down the Barns by PITT DICKEY John Boehner, Speaker of the House PITT DICKEY, Attorney, Contrib- uting Writer. COMMENTS? Edi- tor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200 OPINION North Carolina became international news last month when three people were killed in an apartment complex near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Within hours, the news outlets were reporting the victims were Muslim. The three victims were shot to death by a neighbor. The police arrested and charged Craig Stephen, 46, for their murders. Craig is a paralegal student at Durham Technical Community College. At first, news of the incident reported that the three students were shot to death over a parking space dispute. By the afternoon, their religion took center stage. According to CNN, Hicks' self-described himself on his Facebook page as a self- professed atheist and anti-theist. The afternoon conservative talk shows describe Hicks as a "big liberal". By the end of the day, it was reported that the murders were "hate crimes." The President went on TV and called the murders, "brutal and outrageous." Reuters reported that the Palestinians want a role in the probing of the "terrorist" killings of Chapel Hill Muslims. At this rate, it won't be long before the UN parachutes in peacekeeping forces. I would like to break this down. In the case of murder, there is no such thing as a hate crime. I assume that if you kill someone, you hate them. If you kill someone who happens to be of different skin tones, then you probably still hate that person. If you kill someone who has a different religion, then the assumption is that you hate them, too. In 2009, Congress passed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This law was created to add additional charges if a crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin of any person. We already have various degrees of murder and manslaughter as law. Do adding additional charges of hate crimes really make the victim feel vindicated? The Biblical story of Cain and Able is the first recorded murder on earth. Not only were they the same race, color, religion, national origin, they were brothers. Then one day out in the field, bang! Cain kills Able over Able's sacrifice to God. This is the first recorded murder on Earth. It is obvious that at that moment in time, Cain hated Able. In the case of murder, hate crimes only complicate the facts. Even in today's complex world of terms. Today, we lack the basic skills of conflict resolution. It is not taught in schools, society or the work place. It seems that violence is quickly escalated over the simplest of things and brute force is the end of arguments. America has become obsessed with labeling a person for their crimes. The Newtown Massacre was blamed on guns, the Fort Hood shooting were racked up to work-place violence and so on and on. Labels are now a part of our national language. It is fed by big money and used to advance the agendas of people waiting for any tragedy to advance their cause. Right now, these people are waiting for the next tragedy to jump on that bandwagon. If the government really wanted equality, then no application or government form should ever ask what your race or beliefs are. The only question on those forms should ask is if you are an American or not. The only time that the question of race should be allowed is in the describing and identifying of a suspect pursuant to a criminal act. Until that time, all of these add-on labels only tear us apart and allow us to never address the real causes for our human behavior. From there on, our actions should build our own story. Murder is murder. We have a justice system that, if administered without prejudice, should be able to administer a fair judgment based on the actions of an individual. Calling a crime a hate crime only tears at the very fabric of American society. A murderer is a thug and if we had true justice, then the murderer would not be worth more than his or her crime and justice would be equal for all. It is a tragedy that these three individuals died. Only a fool would think that we could wish away prejudice, opinions and biases from this land. I am glad that this tragedy has been noticed on the international scene, and I feel better knowing the Palestinians will be able to help North Caroline with our hate issues. Murder Equals Hate Anyway You Look At It by JIM JONES JIM JONES, Contributor, UP & COM- ING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upand- comingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.