Monday, February 7, 2011

Elegant Chambers--Lowlife Occupants

A few years back there was a movie entitled Pacific Heights. The plot involved a couple of naive yuppies renting a room to a psycho, then not being able to get rid of him. Pacific Heights is the heart and soul of San Francisco limousine liberalism. For those of us who lived in less expensive parts of town, there was a large dollop of schadenfreude watching the yuppies trying to get the tenant out.

The accompanying photo shows the elegantly-restored beaux arts Board of Supervisors chambers in San Francisco city hall. The politicians who hold the eleven seats are divided about equally between the two parties--the bolsheviks and the mensheviks. But every once in awhile, a standout purveyor of political poison takes a seat on the Board. And so it is with new District Six Supervisor Jane Kim. She's the public version of the Pacific Heights tenant.

Kim didn't take long to demonstrate her bona fides as a typical San Francisco America-hating, tradition-killing, decency-defying member of the Board of Stupidvisors. At her very first public meeting, she refused to join in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It's not exactly Barack Obama grabbing his genitals during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, and it shouldn't be any surprise. The only thing that surprised me was that there was considerable negative reaction from the citizens of Sodom by the Bay.

Kim says that it's a personal decision of how to honor the flag and country. I hope you can follow that logic. You honor the flag and the country by refusing to honor them? But then, in a statement which absolutely refutes her own stand, Kim goes on to say: "I don't think our flag represents a nation where there's liberty and justice for all, and I reserve my right to disagree or to even protest when I think our government isn't representing the best of our ideals or principles." Whose principles, pray tell? And whose flag better represents your ideals and principles? The flag of Utopia, perhaps?

Kim is proud to remind people that she hasn't recited the Pledge since high school and stayed silent during her previous tenure as the (yes, you guessed it) President of the Board of Education. Gee, I wonder where those San Francisco kids get their ideas of patriotism--and their low test scores. The majority of students in the San Francisco schools are immigrants whose families fled from repressive nations such as China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mexico, and, yes Ms. Kim, North Korea. Their parents seem to have concluded that there is a great deal more liberty and justice for all in the United States than in their homelands. Didn't you get the memo?

Kim said she prefers to let her actions speak louder than "those 31 words." Well, she's made a good start. As the heat started to rise over her refusal to pledge allegiance to the nation that has allowed her the opportunity to succeed that no other nation would, the red herrings began to be thrown about. The old reliable excuse for being unpatriotic is that there is no law that requires her to recite the pledge. Good going, Ms. Kim. Raise a non-issue and a legal given in order to cover up the fact that you are a sneak and an America-hater. There's also no law that said the voters in your district had to vote for you, but they did. Let's hope they think twice next time.

A professor from my favorite law school, UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco commented that "Jane Kim is completely within her constitutional rights." BUT, the professor goes on: "The cultural perception is if you're an elected official, you're a part of American representative democracy, and you probably shouldn't have a problem pledging allegiance to the United States." The professor is obviously an expert in understatement.

So it's time for Ms. Kim to play the misunderstood martyr. Says Kim: "I think most San Franciscans care about my position on how we can make Muni more effective and how we can make our streets safer, and how we can help small businesses, than on my reasoning for not reciting the pledge. I hope people will understand my decision and focus more on my political service than my silence." Aw, horse manure! Your loyalty to the United States and the flag is always an issue when you're an elected representative. Do you prefer the education system in Korea, or the family planning in China, or law and order in Mexico, or perhaps the transportation system in Russia? Obviously, in an oppressive and unjust nation like America, you won't be able to follow their examples without a fight.

I guess there's a breaking point for the MSM, even in San Francisco. Instead of burying the story, all three networks covered the issue on the local TV news, as did both newspapers and an unfavorable editorial on KTVU.com.

19 comments:

T_Rav said...

LawHawk, the most surprising part of that story for me was that the local media actually covered the story, and even kind of criticized her. I'll bet they're getting a stern talking-to from the City Council right about now.

I bet this woman cut her teeth with the Bush-era protestors who believed that dissent from displays of patriotism is actually the highest form of patriotism. Reminds me of a classmate of mine who ran Dubya down every chance he got, and then when he got called on it by another student, claimed that he was being patriotic by "taking advantage of my constitutional rights." No, mocking the president means only that you're expressing those freedoms, and nothing more: the same rights being defended constantly by the people who actually are patriotic.

Joel Farnham said...

LawHawk,

The cynic in me doesn't want to believe the MSM is upset. It doesn't make sense. My cynic part tells me that the MSM is trying to get back into good graces of the public and burning one of their own makes sense.

Also, not burning one of their own would allow another scoop by bloggers as well as egg on their collective faces.

Or it could just be that they finally are trying a new thing. Reporting the news. See what happens.

About this Kim person, unless her personality is addictive, she will be shunned and eventually, figuratively speaking, be knifed in the back.

BevfromNYC said...

Let's send her to observe what other countries do like North Korea, Iran, and Egypt...

BTW, did everyone hear that AOL bought HuffPo? Everyone is in a tizzy...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I saw that and I can only imagine the level of anger going on over there. I've already seen (before this) several leftist bloggers calling Huffpo a tool for the establishment to control the left. This will probably only cement that view. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Unknown said...

T_Rav: I think she took that "speaking truth to power" crap that the lefties love so much a little too seriously. They've all forgotten the dictum of philosophy that says that just because you can do a thing, it doesn't necessarily follow that you ought to do that thing.

Unknown said...

Joel: On anything remotely affecting the question of patriotism in San Franciscograd, a healthy dose of cynicism is a good thing. My best guess is that by the time the next elections come up, the SF MSM will have buried the whole story and will have lots of stories about the wonderful things this Stupidvisor has done in her first term. Like requiring new color-coded striped recycling barrels, or street stalls for the homeless. She will be praised for placing the stalls next to the sex tents.

Unknown said...

Bev: The Board spends about half its time passing resolutions on federal and state issues over which it has zero control. Yet this former "educator" complains that her Pledge critics aren't concentrating on the important things she and the Board have to do.

I'm sure her plans that are more important than showing respect to the nation and the flag will be typical. She'll solve the problems of the Muni by hiring more drivers, eliminating half the bus routes and raising the fares (except for the homeless and gang members who will ride free). She'll make the streets safer by hiring street thugs to supplement the police force. And she will definitely help small business. She'll help them out the door. But since the biggest problem in San Francisco is figuring out how the City can survive its immense and growing budget deficit, she was probably thinking about that and it distracted her from saying the Pledge.

Doing irony about San Francisco is very difficult, since it writes better material accidentally than I can write on purpose.

StanH said...

Well color me surprised. The good news these people seem to be getting on peoples last nerve even in SF. And just like Barry sticking out like a sore thumb, in a sea of sore thumbs in the city by the bay. But as you’ve said all will be forgotten, for the greater good, and all.

Apologies for yesterday, did Owlgore shoot the Panda? …and is so, you haven’t lived until you’ve had Panda on a stick.

Huffpo selling for $315Million, I believe Arianna should give 95% to her blessed state, aka Barry, for the children.

Unknown said...

Andrew: I wonder how much money the run-down former showgirl, Arianna Huffington, who "hates capitalism" will make out of this takeover. The richer she gets by screwing others, the more radical she gets. Maybe MicroSoft could take over the Daily Kos, then AOL and MS could ban the "f-bomb," and the HuffPo and Daily Kos would disappear overnight. After all, look what a wonderful job AOL did of making Time Magazine irrelevant.

As we Berzekely radicals used to say, "damn the revolution, we've been co-opted."

Unknown said...

Stan: Frankly, I think she ought to give a few million back to her former husband for therapy so he can find out if he's really gay, or just a stress reaction to having been married to that witch.

When I didn't see a comment from you yesterday, I was afraid I had gone an endangered species too far and offended a closet panda lover. Glad to hear I was wrong. LOL

Notawonk said...

this got coverage?! have mercies! up is down! black is white (racist!)! left is still stoopid. ahhh, there it is. the truth. but lawsy, that the msm offered it to the public is astonishing.

what's the catch?

Tennessee Jed said...

really enjoyed "Pacific Heights" enjoyed the picture of the restored beaux arts B.S. chambers, and always enjoy reading your posts. That said, the occupants do indeed leave most everything to be desired.

Unknown said...

Patti: Oh ye of little faith. I'm sure the MSM are ready at any moment to announce their change of heart and admit that they've been wrong about nearly everything. I also believe in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I just found out that my son and daughter-in-law are considering selling their beautiful arts and crafts architect-built home in the Berkeley Hills and moving to a loft in San Francisco. They're looking at a couple of places in the old warehouse district south of Market where I used to hang out at the sleazy bars in my student rebellion days. I'll never understand paying that kind of money for what used to be the storage room for the Bonjour Tristesse Brassiere Company.

They'll probably pay more for the loft (location, location, location) than he paid for the house. I tried to tell them that just because I moved out that didn't mean they have to move in. Continuity of the Hawk name in San Francisco is not exactly a news item for the Social Register. Anyone know a good lawyer who can add a disinheritance clause for "any beneficiary who chooses to live in San Francisco?"

T_Rav said...

LawHawk: Oh, the old "Jurassic Park" rule. Gets you every time.

The HuffPo buy was the first thing I saw on my computer this morning--probably because I'm an AOL member. We'll see how this goes, but with Arianna reportedly in charge of the news stories, it may get so bad I'll have to change servers. Or what the heck, maybe I'll just stay and start documenting all the madness.

Unknown said...

T_Rav: I strongly suspect there will be a monumental test of wills as this plays out. AOL has made a lot of bad moves after their original phenomenal success. I'm guessing this is going to be another. And it may turn out to be the same thing the Prussian generals said about Hitler--we can control him.

rlaWTX said...

I am yet again glad that I live in West TX (not to be confused with West, TX - which is in central TX).

We have a local looney who incites commentary (which is very different than Commentarama)through letters to the editor and by flying his US flag upside down above his house - in protest of something or another... technically I think he's a rightie, but too bizarre - but at least he's not an elected anything.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: I'm enjoying living in a different part of California after all those years in San Francisco. In many ways, I might as well be living in an entirely different state (California is really three states). I get a kick out of the local news. Bakersfield has a large welfare and entitlement community and since the news comes from there, it is cautiously liberal since the rest of the county is comprised of patriotic Americans and very, very angry farmers who have been denied the water they need for agriculture because of a green-weenie state and federal government protecting a useless fish. Occasionally, we even get facts and true stories without the leftist spin.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: I neglected to mention that we have our geographical name anomalies as well. I live in "Central California" now, even though I actually live about one-third of the way north of the Mexican border. There is much more of California north of me than there is to the south. The area is actually more correctly identified as "the Central Valley" since it truly is almost smack in the middle of California if you're looking east to west rather than north to south. The Valley essentially runs from Bakersfield in the south to Stockton in the north, a distance of nearly 220 miles.

Post a Comment