HispanicVista Columnists
Miranda’s Year in Review - 2006
- Miranda’s Year in Review - 2006
By Robert Miranda
Here we are! Another year gone by and still Mark Belling stinks up Milwaukee’s airwaves with his racist rants. But that’s alright, because in 2006, we had a lot more things to worry about than Mark Belling and his crew of bigots.
Indeed, in January 2006 the Pentagon released a study stating that our Marines killed in combat fighting the people of Iraq could have been prevented had they been given adequate body armor. The report published in the New York Times revealed that about 80% of the U.S. Marines who died of torso wounds in Iraq could have been saved had they received better body protection. Hmmm? I wonder how much profit those corporations making body armor made by simply cutting corners in its design?
Bush gave his fifth address to the Nation. The president denounced Iran, picked a fight with Little Kim of North Korea, attacked Democrats for questioning the war in Iraq and urged Americans to end their “addiction” on foreign oil. The rest of the speech went something like this: blah, blah, blah.
While Bush was blasting the evils of radical Islam in 2006, the people of Islam got all fired up when a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed appeared in a Danish newspaper. The cartoon depicted the prophet with a bomb under his turban. Throughout the Muslim world, angry demonstrators smashed windows, set fires, and burned flags, protesting cartoons that depicted Muhammad in a negative light. Wow! Why aren’t these guys that rabid about U.S. forces invading a Muslim nation?
Speaking about violence, Vice President Dick Cheney got a chance to do what many of us would like to do but can’t get away with it. He shot a lawyer in the face with a shotgun. Yes he did! Dick accidentally showered his longtime Texas lawyer friend Harry Whittington with about 200 pellets while hunting for quail. Whittington was hit in the face, neck, and torso. No! He did not have one of those Marine body armors on - lucky for the attorney. Bush and his crew waited nearly 24 hours to publicize the incident, giving the lawyer enough time to get himself cleaned up and giving the White House press enough time to make jokes and present a good side to the story. What was the good side? Well, Cheney’s heart did not give up when he got stressed!
Remember the good ol’ days when Republicans were seen as the good guys? Not! Rep. Tom DeLay, Republican from Texas, reminds all of us that just being a clean-cut white guy means nothing anymore. Delay announced he will leave Congress because he was involved with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was sentenced to six years in jail for various payola deals with corrupt politicians. Delay was indicted by a Texas grand jury for allegedly violating the state's election laws. So much for clean GOP controlled government. Maybe Delay and former pedophile Congressman Chris Foley can share a jail cell together. Yikes. That’s a nasty thought.
Man! Where did all those Latinos come from? 2006 saw huge Latino demonstrations in dozens of U.S. cities. More than 1 million protesting stupid asinine laws like the one Wisconsin Congressman Sensenbrenner tried to pass, held peaceful protests in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and other cities.
Here’s some more reflection about Mexicans. Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party almost got his butt kicked by leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador who lost the election presidential by about 1 percentage point. Had López Obrador won, Mexico would have been the sixth nation to elect a socialist leaning president. López Obrador alleges irregularities; Felipe Calderón was inaugurated into office. Something tells me that next time around Mexico and Venezuela are going to be celebrating big time. My money is on López Obrador wining the next election.
Milwaukee cops making news! This year was a banner year for Milwaukee’s finest. Yes sir! Milwaukee cops helped to increase crime in our city by engaging in drug dealing, extortion, perjury and sexual assault and beatings. If you think this is bad, hell, even the Milwaukee County’s District Attorney got fed up with the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ when he was trying to investigate the cop mob beating of Frank Jude Jr. Hey, but these guys are our heroes. A few bad apples don’t make the bunch. Yeah, but why isn’t the bunch cleaning out the few bad apples?
Enron executives were convicted this year. Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, former chief executives of Enron, were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy by a Houston jury. Lay was convicted of six counts of fraud and conspiracy and four counts of bank fraud, but happened to avoid prison because he fell dead from a heart attack. Must have been that rich life he enjoyed.
Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli Soldier and all hell broke loose. Palestinian militants tunneled out of Gaza and into Israel, killed two Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped a third. Palestinian president Abbas condemns the attack. The militants demanded that all jailed Palestinian women and children be released in return for the solider. Israel rejects the demand and launches a massive attack with tanks and 3,000 troops into Gaza. Israeli troops disabled a power plant and destroyed bridges and towns. Israeli troops also seized Hamas political leaders in the West Bank, including a third of the Palestinian cabinet and 23 legislators. The rocks and crap Russian-made rockets the Palestinians threw and fired upon the Israelis showed how advanced the Palestinians have gotten with their weapons. Maybe next time the Palestinians will launch a few spit balls. That’ll teach those Jews.
The Milwaukee city Election Commission will hold a hearing in January to determine whether a recall election will be set for Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee.
Smashing! 2007 is going to be an interesting year.
_________________________________________________________________ - Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Publisher of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com