Random Thoughts

April 3, 2002

Quit Pickin‘ on Yob
If you‘ve ever heard Chuck Yob speak, you have to at least chuckle over the notion that the Republican Party asked for his resignation as GOP National Committeeman for putting his foot in his mouth.
Yob made a rather mild comment on a statewide public TV show on March 15, claiming that women are ideal for posts such as the Secretary of State because “they like that kind of work.“
So? Men like that kind of work too. Presumably, women are tough enough not to collapse into weeping heaps when an old-timer from East Jordan makes such a statement.
And what about our bruised male feelings? I‘m crying inside that Yob doesn‘t consider my sex up to the task of filling the Secretary of State‘s high heels.
Anyway, the Republican mucky-mucks were shocked, shocked! that a 65-year-old conservative white man from Jordantucky would say such a thing and jumped all over poor Yob for his politically-incorrect faux pas.
Hey, news flash to the GOP: That‘s how Yob *always* talks. His foot was in his mouth because it‘s been stuck there for some time now.
At a campaign debate between Yob and Rep. Bart Stupak during the last election at the Grand Traverse Band‘s meeting room in Peshawbestown, Yob didn‘t seem to know flapdoodle about issues such as South Fox Island, Great Lakes water diversion and Native American concerns (by contrast Stupak was a virtual Mr. Roboto of facts-at-his-fingertips). Yob‘s contribution was trying to paint Stupak as a Clintonite and the usual “tax-&-spend liberal“ shuck & jive from the GOP handbook.
So, let‘s probe the entrails of this critter to see what we can divine. Perhaps the Republican Party seized upon the comment in order to dispose of Yob before the election because they believe he‘s an embarassment waiting for someone who won‘t be too bored to notice.
Or, perhaps as Yob says, Engler just doesn‘t want folksy, unctuous grass roots Republicans in the way of his running the elephant parade.
I for one would like to hear more Yobisms. At least the guy is amusing.

Former Slave Wants Reparations
Over the past couple of years there‘s been a drumbeat (mostly in the halls of academia) for the United States to make reparations to the descendants of slaves. Authors such as Randall Robinson have made compelling arguments that white America should pay up for 400 years of slavery and the cruel treatment of blacks following the Civil War.
This would be a great idea if there were pots of gold sitting idle on street corners waiting to be passed out to 25 million or so African-Americans, but it overlooks a historical fact: white folks were slaves themselves back in the good old days.
The word slave is taken from Slav, meaning the tribes of eastern Europe. Back in 1,000 A.D., Slavs were freely traded all over Europe. So, if your ancestors are from places such as Yugoslavia, Romania, Russia or thereabouts, you might want to start applying for reparations (if you can figure out who enslaved them, that is).
Prior to that era, all the barbarian tribes of northern Europe were subject to capture and slavery in the Roman empire. And the Greeks were subject to slavery under Persia until they started their own empire and played turnaround.
Then too, Christians from Europe were often captured in the Mediterrannean by Islamic Moorish pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa as recently as the 1800s. Arabs and blacks owned white slaves for hundreds of years.
Also, Dublin served as a huge slave trading center throughout the Middle Ages, with the Irish serving as the negroes of their day. St. Patrick began his career of religious enlightenment after being captured in his native land by pirates at the age of 16 in the 4th or 5th century. After his escape, young Maewyn made his way to Gaul for his religious education and returned to the Emerald Isle with the clover leaf doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Speaking of Ireland, a new book, “Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl,“ by Kate McCafferty, tells of the 50,000 Irish who were shipped to America between 1558 and 1603 to work as indentured servants alongside African slaves. As an indentured servant, you had to work for seven years for your master without wages, and if you screwed up, they nailed on some extra time.
I‘m of Irish heritage, so clearly I deserve reparations for the enslavement of my ancestors. Please send the money care of this newspaper.
Theirs is a painful past with the hurtful memories still lingering, but as one black pundit has noted, most African-American descendants of slaves are a lot better off today than the relatives they left behind in Africa. And if you poke around in the history of the world long enough you‘ll find that virtually every race and culture has had its turn in the slave barrel at one time or another: Australians, Chinese, Germans, Jews, Britons, Greeks, Indians, you name it. Let‘s just promise not to do it again and move on.