- It was a total no-brainer for the Bulls to choose Derrick Rose with the first pick of last week’s NBA Draft. He is a total stud and is a lock to achieve All-Star status someday. Michael Beasley’s Derrick Coleman comparisons were enough to make anyone squirm; OJ Mayo has entitlement issues; and Kevin Love is a poor man’s Christian Laettner minus the mid-range jumper (seriously, an outelt pass was drafted fifth this year!).
- With nine commitments so far for next year’s freshman class, Notre Dame already has more 4- and 5-star players than Willingham had in his last two years at ND – combined! In the commitment count for this year ND leads Washington, 9-0. Enough with the Weis-Willingham comparisons. They are leagues apart in virtually every aspect of coaching, not least of which includes stocking the cupboard with the talent needed to compete at the highest level of college football. h/t Rock Report.
- Speaking of Weis, don’t look now but he received some positive press recently.
- Here’s to the Root for backing up my take on Imus’ latest gaffe.
- It’s kind of fun watching that little Lieberman fella try to grow fangs and masquerade as McCain’s attack dog. The fear-mongering has clearly begun, so it must be another presidential election season in the post-Rovian age.
- I cannot stand Glenn Beck. He is so incredibly lame and full of dorkness that I get squeamish at the very sound of his voice. However, he sometimes brings up good points and I surprisingly find myself in agreement with him in many areas of political discourse. Thusly, I actually convinced myself to purchase the audiobook of his horribly-titled “An Inconvenient Book” (I purchase the audio versions of books I would be ashamed to include on my bookshelf). I managed to enjoy parts of the book, which unfortunately were sandwiched between incredibly awkward sections that prompted me to laugh aloud at how childish and immature they were. These sections included advice on watching movies with your wife and dating tips apparently designed for the kid in high school who never got the girl. Still, he does have moments of inspiration, including this CNN piece that pretty much sums up my political leanings (with a few obvious exceptions for those who really know me).
- In the “here we go again” department, the incomparable Seymour Hersch has some news for us. This just strengthens the argument that our next president will have the luxury of easy comps but the indignity of picking up after the proverbial bull in the china shop. With those lemons, my guess is Barack would make some super sweet lemonade while McCain’s watered down version would quickly be replaced by a vodka-spiked one once he heard that W likes it that way.
Quick Hits
June 30, 2008 By
The Height of Hypocrisy
June 30, 2008 By
Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times wrote a great OpEd piece yesterday entitled “If Only Mugabe Were White” in which he pointed out how shameful it is that Zimbabwe’s neighbors stand largely quiet while the country inches ever closer to complete and utter failure.
When the white supremacist regime of Ian Smith oppressed Zimbabweans in the 1970s, African countries rallied against it. Eventually, even the white racist government in South Africa demanded change and threatened to cut off electricity supplies if it didn’t happen.
Yet South African President Thabo Mbeki continues to make excuses for Mr. Mugabe — who is more brutal than Ian Smith ever was — out of misplaced deference for a common history in the liberation struggle. Zimbabweans suffered so much for so many decades from white racism that the last thing they need is excuses for Mr. Mugabe’s brutality because of his skin color.
In the piece, I also learned that Mugabe wrote an article for Foreign Affairs back in 1987 in which he (amazingly) called on the international community to flex its muscle by imposing harsh sanctions to bring about the end of the oppressive apartheid government in South Africa. In the article, entitled “Struggle for Southern Africa“, this atrocious fly of a man penned what could easily turn out to be his own requiem. Irony aside, simply replace all instances of “South Africa” in the article with “Zimbabwe” and you’ll begin to appreciate how sadly prescient Mugabe turned out to be.
Time has run out. Serious choices must be made now. Just as the leaders of the United States over a century ago chose to try to overcome their house divided and use the strength of freedom, equality and human dignity to build a powerful nation, we must make the choices necessary to assist South Africa in shortening this difficult period in its history and getting on the road to prosperity and peace. We must do this, not only in the interest of regional peace and security, but in the interest of global peace and stability, giving due and careful consideration to the future of our small planet.
