Dear Dem,
This endorsement demonstrates why its so hard to write satire: reality is just too twisted!
Lee and Hobbs are moderates with pro-choice voting records. Kinnaird is a principled progressive, pro-choice and feminist. Yet, in NARAL's eyes as seen through the blinders of single issue politics, the three are equal - all pro-choice - and the endorsement was merely payback for past favors.
NARAL's endorsement sends two needed warnings to us all: single issue politics is not the way to progressive government; and don't spend too much time around politicians or you'll start to think like them!
Dear Kropotkin,
What's up with that guy who called the housekeepers and their supporters "niggers and wormy kids"?
Not-a-racist, Chapel Hill
Dear Not-a,
Don Follmer, formerly spokesman for NC House Speaker Harold Brubaker, is truly a great public servant. Previously, clever conservatives could argue that just because the lowest paid state job classifications employ mostly African Americans didn't necessarily mean that the state is racist. Follmer, stepped forward and, in effect said "are you kidding? of course, we're racists!"
But for progressives, this event highlights the need to broaden the coalition in support of UNC's housekeepers and thus challenge Brubaker's next spokesman to come up with more inclusive derogatory epithets.
Dear Kropotkin,
Two former Duke basketball players are planning a major downtown revitalization project in Durham. Aren't they great?
Don't call til after the playoffs, Durham
Dear Don't call,
Brian Davis and Christian Laettner do indeed plan an urban village in two sets of downtown Durham tobacco warehouses - a much needed infusion of energy into Durham's downtown. If successful, this project could wipe out the memory of Laettner's stomping on a fallen Kentucky player's chest in the NCAAs and his petulance in the NBA.
Nonetheless, one is drawn to speculate on potential projects for other basketball celebrities. Perhaps Michael Jordan would give a major donation to UNC's Black Cultural Center - in return for a statue of himself placed prominently outside. Perhaps Rasheed Wallace will contribute to Orange County's new home for battered women. Perhaps former NC State player Chris Washburn will open a Drug Emporium franchise in downtown Raleigh. And, perhaps Dean Smith will fatten UNC's (and his own) coffers with a fat contract with Nike. Oops, I guess he already did that.
(Send your questions to Ask Kropotkin, PO Box 16025, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516)
("Kropotkin" refuses to reveal whether he is inspired by Peter Kropotkin, the Russian anarchist prince, or by Kropotkin the Village Idiot, a character in the Woody Allen film "Love & Death," or if it makes any difference.)
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