OPINION | WE SAY P N F A F W E A S C A N D S D War In An ...
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Friday, 2.22.13 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] 4A PRESS DAKOTAN views The one who hears the word and understands it, he indeed bears fruit and yields ... a hundredfold. Matthew 13:23. Portals of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis T HE P RESS D AKOTAN THE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUNDED 1861 Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078 OPINION | WE SAY FROM THE BIBLE YOUR LETTERS By The Associated Press Today is Friday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2013. There are 312 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 22, 1732 (New Style date), the first presi- dent of the United States, George Wash- ington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony. On this date: In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the Far East to trade goods with China. In 1862, Jefferson Davis, already the provisional president of the Confederacy, was inaugurated for a six-year term follow- ing his election in November 1861. In 1865, Tennessee adopted a new constitution which included the abolition of slavery. In 1909, the Great White Fleet, a naval task force sent on a round-the-world voy- age by President Theodore Roosevelt, re- turned after more than a year at sea. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge de- livered the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addressed the country over 42 stations. In 1935, it became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House. In 1943, Pan Am Flight 9035, a Boeing 314 flying boat, crashed while attempting to land in Lisbon, Portugal. Twenty-five people were killed; 14 survived, including actress-singer Jane Froman. In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the win- ner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty. In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Oper- ation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border. (Although the communists were driven out, they later returned.) In 1973, the United States and China agreed to establish liaison offices. In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place in Lake Placid, N.Y., as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4- 3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.) In 1993, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved creation of an inter- national war crimes tribunal to punish those responsible for atrocities in the for- mer Yugoslavia. Ten years ago: Jesica Santillan, the teenager who’d survived a botched heart- lung transplant long enough to get a sec- ond set of donated organs, died two days after the second transplant at Duke Univer- sity Medical Center in North Carolina. Five years ago: Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in their first major ground incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in nearly a decade. Singer-ac- tress Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. Civil rights activist Johnnie Carr died in Montgomery, Ala., at age 97. One year ago: Primed for a fight, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum swapped ac- cusations about health care, spending ear- marks and federal bailouts in the 20th debate of the roller-coaster race for the Re- publican presidential nomination, held in Mesa, Ariz. Two Marine Corps helicopters collided over a remote section of the Cali- fornia desert during a nighttime exercise, killing seven Marines. A jury in Char- lottesville, Va., found University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend and lacrosse player Yeardley Love in May 2010. Today’s Birthdays: Announcer Don Pardo is 95. Actor Paul Dooley is 85. Hol- lywood “ghost singer” Marni Nixon is 83. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 69. Actor John Ashton is 65. Actress Miou- Miou is 63. Actress Julie Walters is 63. Bas- ketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 63. Actress Ellen Greene is 62. Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is 61. White House ad- viser David Axelrod is 58. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 54. World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 50. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 47. Actor Paul Lieberstein (TV: “The Office”) is 46. Actress Jeri Ryan is 45. Actor Thomas Jane is 44. Actress Tamara Mello is 43. Actress-singer Lea Sa- longa is 42. Actor Jose Solano is 42. Inter- national Tennis Hall-of-Famer Michael Chang is 41. Rock musician Scott Phillips is 40. Actress Drew Barrymore is 38. Ac- tress Liza Huber is 38. Singer James Blunt is 36. Rock singer Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s) is 34. Actor Zach Roerig (TV: “The Vampire Diaries”) is 28. Actor Daniel E. Smith is 23. Thought for Today: “It is infinitely bet- ter to have a few good men than many in- different ones.” — President George Washington (1732-1799). TODAY IN HISTORY MANAGERS Gary L. Wood Publisher Michele Schievelbein Advertising Director Tonya Schild Business Manager David Jeffcoat Circulation Director Tera Schmidt Classified Manager Kelly Hertz Editor James D. Cimburek Sports Editor Beth Rye New Media Manager Kathy Larson Composing Manager Bernard Metivier District Manager Published Daily Monday-Saturday Periodicals postage paid at Yankton, South Dakota, under the act of March 3, 1979. Weekly Dakotian established June 6, 1861. Yankton Daily Press and Dakotian established April 26, 1875. Postmaster: Send address changes to Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, 319 Wal- nut, Yankton, SD 57078. *** *** *** *** MEMBERSHIPS The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan is a member of the Associ- ated Press, the Inland Daily Press Associa- tion and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. 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Tribune Media Services Dear David from Georgia: I want to thank you for the email you sent last week. It made me laugh out loud. It seems you were unhappy I took a shot at Rush Limbaugh a few days back (Press & Dakotan, Feb. 4). Limbaugh had argued that John Lewis might have avoided having his skull fractured by Alabama state troopers while protesting for voting rights in Selma, Ala., 48 years ago, if only he’d been armed. I suggested, tongue in cheek, that Limbaugh would have given the same advice to Rosa Parks, who fa- mously refused to surrender her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus. Which moved you to write: “If Rush Lim- baugh were on that bus that day, like so many of us, he would have insisted that Ms. Parks REMAIN seated. ... Rush doesn’t need me to defend him from your silly assumption, but I just like to bring it to your attention that just because Rush is WHITE doesn’t mean he is not a gentleman!” Ahem. David, Rush Limbaugh is the man who once said the NFL “all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips” and told a black caller to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” So the idea that, in Alabama, in 1955, as a black woman was committing an illegal act of civil disobedience, this particular white man would have done what 14 other white passengers did not is, well, rather fanciful. But then, it’s seductively easy to imagine yourself or your hero on the right side of history once that history has been vindicated. So of course “Rush” would have stood up for Rosa Parks. Of course “Rush” would have defended Jews who were turned away while fleeing the Holocaust. Of course “Rush” would have supported women agitating for the right to vote. Of course he would’ve defended human rights. Wouldn’t we all? Actually, no. Not then, and not now. As it happens, David, your email appeared the same week as news out of Flint, Mich., about Tonya Battle, an African-American nurse who is suing her employer, the Hurley Medical Center. Battle, an employee since 1988, was working in the neonatal intensive-care unit when, she says, a baby’s father approached her at the infant’s bedside, asked for her supervisor and then told said su- pervisor he didn’t want any black people involved in his child’s care. So, of course, the hospital stood up for its 25-year employee, right? No. According to her suit, a note was posted on the assignment clipboard saying, “No African American nurse to take care of baby.” The hospital, naturally, has declined comment. David, this is ultimately not about “Rush.” He is a rich blowhard and therefore, unexcep- tional. No, this is about the implicit, albeit un- stated, “of course” that comes too easily to you and frankly, to many of us, when we con- template how we would have responded to the moral crimes of the past. There is to it an unearned smugness that insults the very real courage of those like Medgar Evers, Viola Liuzzo and James Zwerg, who did take the morally correct stand at hazard of life and limb. It is easy to “stand up” for the right thing when doing so requires only paying lip service 50 years after the fact, something at which Limbaugh and his brethren have become scarily adept. But the need for real courage, for willingness to stand up for human dignity, did not end in 1955, something to which our gay, Muslim and immigrant friends — and Tonya Battle — would surely testify. So there is some- thing starkly fatuous in your vision of “Rush” defending Rosa Parks. No, sir. We know where he would have stood then because we know where he stands now. Perhaps you find comfort in your delusion. But some of us realize we live in an era where bigotry has its own talk show and cable network. Can we find comfort in delusions like yours? Of course not. Leonard Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at [email protected]. © 2013, The Miami Herald Rush To The Defense? Not So Fast Leonard PITTS ONLINE OPINION The results of the most recent Internet poll on the Press & Dakotanʼs Web site are as follows: LATEST RESULTS: Should South Dakota join in the federal Medicaid expansion? Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48% No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43% Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9% TOTAL VOTES CAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .482 The Press & Dakotan Internet poll is not a scientific survey and reflects the opinions only of those who choose to participate. The results should not be construed as an accu- rate representation or scientific measurement of public opinion. ——— CURRENT QUESTION: Do you support the discontinuation of Saturday first-class postal delivery? To vote in the Press & Dakotanʼs Internet poll, log on to our website at www.yankton.net. BY KELLY HERTZ [email protected] Americans were hypnotized last week by a news story they’re now already forgetting. It was the one about the ex-cop in California who vented his homicidal rage at police officers and their families. The man was finally hunted down in a park, where he and his storyline died in a blaze of tanta- lizing video that even threatened for a time to upstage the State of the Union address. In this age of non-stop headlines on cable television and social media, that’s how “news” works sometimes. Life occasionally seems to be about short-form plotlines at- tached to sensational headlines that are in- stantly transfixing and just as instantly disposable. Headlines are also a major component of a book I’ve been reading: “December 1941” by Don Shirley. As the title implies, the tome ex- amines that momentous month when Pearl Harbor was attacked and this country was dragged into World War II. Each chapter cov- ers one day as Shirley examines the head- lines and broadcasts of our lives as we lurched from what passed for peace to all-out war. There are myriad underlying subplots in this book, and one of them includes watching this stunned nation steel itself for the long, grim slog of war — especially given our terrible start. Beginning on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, we were instantly on the defensive as the Japanese scored a succession of victories across the Pa- cific in places we had no idea even existed (including Pearl Harbor) but were crucial to our defense. That Christmas, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, vis- iting Franklin Roosevelt at the White House, warned that the war news would remain bleak for many months to come until America’s industrial might could turn the tide. Churchill, as ever, was blunt and prescient. However, that kind of frank talk seems insanely im- practical by modern political standards. Due in part to those aforementioned unblinking news cycles, such long- haul thinking is a rare thing in our instantaneous, dis- tracted universe. Here, I recall the 1991 Gulf War, which was our first war fought in the cable-news age. I was glued to CNN when the U.S. began bombing Baghdad, and thereafter, I watched that war unfold day and night. I grew terribly anxious, even depressed, with the daily ups and downs. And I wasn’t alone: Psychologists across the country re- ported many cases of people similarly afflicted as they were enslaved to the drama playing out on their televi- sion screens. The ordeal sometimes seemed inter- minable; in fact, it was just six weeks of being torn from one incident to the next, wondering where it all would lead. Contrast that to December of 1941. America endured a sneak attack, after which we were immediately and lit- erally losing ground, although it was only the first round of a much longer bout. It forces me to wonder if Americans now would have that same stomach for a long fight. Would we have the will and the patience to see things through? Back in World War II, how would we have re- acted to the unblinking marathon television coverage (if, of course, television had been in every home) of the disaster at Pearl Harbor? How would instant polls have graded President Roosevelt’s declaration of war on Dec. 8 or his handling of the war crisis? How would we have reacted to the relentless drumbeat of dire news from across the Pacific (or from the Russian front, for that matter)? How would cable news television have amped up our already strained attitudes toward Japanese-Americans? Far more importantly, what would such media coverage have done to our resolve to wage a war in which our freedom and our des- tiny genuinely were at stake? Home-front morale is an important aspect of any war effort, which is why so much was done through propa- ganda efforts to cultivate it and mobilize it during the tough days of World War II. Now, this age of instant media and disposable break- ing news makes such long-term nursing of public opinion far more difficult. We are now more panicky, more impa- tient and quicker to judge, possibly making our collec- tive morale that much more fragile and public policy that much more sensitive to criticism and knee-jerk po- litical strategies. “December 1941” offers an intriguing look at this na- tion’s first bleak days at war — a breathtaking contrast to where we would be 3 1/2 long years later. Those years were a story of national dedication, perseverance, grim sacrifice and, ultimately, a new greatness. Could we muster the focus and steadfast determina- tion now to endure such a long march? That’s a compelling question — and perhaps an odd one considering we have been at war in Afghanistan for more than 11 years. But this has been a far different kind of war, with different standards for victory. Unfortu- nately, we may also be a much different kind of people now than those who understood so long ago what had to be done in our darkest hour. And Lord help us if that’s the case. You can follow Kelly Hertz on Twitter at twitter.com/kelly_hertz War In An Impatient Age Kelly HERTZ ‘Price Gouging’? Paulette Gross, Yankton I am totally disappointed in the high gas prices around here! We were just in Rapid City and paid $3.08.9 a gallon for regular gas. We come home and go to refill our tank at have to pay $3.72.9 a gallon for regular gas. There is definitely SOMETHING WRONG with this! Why should we in Yankton be paying $3.729 a gallon for regular gas when in Rapid City they are charging $3.089 a gallon? Can we say “price gouging”? I think this is ridiculous! We are encouraged to “shop Yankton.” Well, maybe the people who own businesses in Yankton should honor those people from Yankton who live here! Filling In THUMBS UP to Yankton County Register of Deeds Brian Hunhoff, who is working to catch the county up on its legal notices. It was learned recently that legal notices for Yankton County Commission proceedings had not been sent to official county newspapers (of which the Press & Dakotan is one) since last fall, which is technically in viola- tion of the law. With County Auditor Paula Jones out on medical leave, Hunhoff (who is a former county commis- sioner) began the process of going through the tapes and videos to record the information and get them issued. The public has a right to know these details, and Hunhoff championed such openness as a commissioner. We salute his commitment in this situation. Highway Hazards THUMBS DOWN to the news that traffic fatalities rose 5 percent across the nation in 2012. The same upward trend was found in South Dakota, which saw 23 more people die on state roads compared to the previous year. The na- tional hike in fatalities during 2012 followed a seven-year period of decline. During that stretch, the number of an- nual traffic deaths reached its lowest level in more than six decades. The statistics bringing into question whether 2012 was a one-year aberration at the state and national level, or is it the start of an upward trend that needs to be addressed? If the latter, with stricter laws or with better driving habits? Glass Class THUMBS UP to a South Dakota Public Television docu- mentary, “Light Of The Prairie: Stained Glass in South Dakota.” The documentary features stained glass from the Christ Episcopal Church in Yankton and from St. Agnes Catholic Church in Vermillion. The one-hour production travels throughout the state, touching on the history and culture of stained glass windows with expert and humani- ties scholar Dr. Barbara Johnson of Aberdeen. Stained glass windows can be found in homes, churches, courthouse, schools, and even barns as a way to tell of a connection to God, the homestead experi- ence or life on the Great Plains. The documentary brings attention to an art form that often goes unappreciated. Off And Running THUMBS DOWN to the inevitable realization that the 2014 (and in some cases 2016) state and congressional races are already under way. The fact has been driven home by the speculation of who is — and isn’t — running for office. In South Dakota, the focus is on former Republican gover- nor Mike Rounds, former Democratic congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and current Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson and his son, U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson. In Nebraska, the talk has ratcheted up with U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns’ announcement that the Republican won’t run for a second term in 2014. One of the major questions has become: What is the political future of Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman? Is a Senate race in the GOP governor’s future? Will for- mer GOP lieutenant governor Rick Sheehy, who recently resigned, try to make a political comeback? Stay tuned as these and other names emerge amidst the political jockeying.
Transcript of OPINION | WE SAY P N F A F W E A S C A N D S D War In An ...
Friday, 2.22.13ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net
VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] PRESS DAKOTANviews
The one who hears the word and understands it, he indeed bears fruitand yields ... a hundredfold. Matthew 13:23. Portals of Prayer, ConcordiaPublishing House, St. Louis
THE PRESS DAKOTANTHE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUNDED 1861
Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078
OPINION | WE SAY
F RO M T H E B I B L E
YO U R L E T T E R S
By The Associated PressToday is Friday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day
of 2013. There are 312 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb.
22, 1732 (New Style date), the first presi-dent of the United States, George Wash-ington, was born in Westmoreland Countyin the Virginia Colony.
On this date: In 1784, a U.S. merchantship, the Empress of China, left New Yorkfor the Far East to trade goods with China.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis, already theprovisional president of the Confederacy,was inaugurated for a six-year term follow-ing his election in November 1861.
In 1865, Tennessee adopted a newconstitution which included the abolition ofslavery.
In 1909, the Great White Fleet, a navaltask force sent on a round-the-world voy-age by President Theodore Roosevelt, re-turned after more than a year at sea.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge de-livered the first radio broadcast from theWhite House as he addressed the countryover 42 stations.
In 1935, it became illegal for airplanesto fly over the White House.
In 1943, Pan Am Flight 9035, a Boeing314 flying boat, crashed while attemptingto land in Lisbon, Portugal. Twenty-fivepeople were killed; 14 survived, includingactress-singer Jane Froman.
In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500race was held; although JohnnyBeauchamp was initially declared the win-ner, the victory was later awarded to LeePetty.
In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. andSouth Vietnamese troops launched Oper-ation Junction City, aimed at smashing aVietcong stronghold near the Cambodianborder. (Although the communists weredriven out, they later returned.)
In 1973, the United States and Chinaagreed to establish liaison offices.
In 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took placein Lake Placid, N.Y., as the United StatesOlympic hockey team upset the Soviets, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the goldmedal.)
In 1993, the U.N. Security Councilunanimously approved creation of an inter-national war crimes tribunal to punishthose responsible for atrocities in the for-mer Yugoslavia.
Ten years ago: Jesica Santillan, the
teenager who’d survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get a sec-ond set of donated organs, died two daysafter the second transplant at Duke Univer-sity Medical Center in North Carolina.
Five years ago: Turkish troopscrossed into northern Iraq in their firstmajor ground incursion against Kurdishrebel bases in nearly a decade. Singer-ac-tress Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins, agirl and a boy. Civil rights activist JohnnieCarr died in Montgomery, Ala., at age 97.
One year ago: Primed for a fight, MittRomney and Rick Santorum swapped ac-cusations about health care, spending ear-marks and federal bailouts in the 20thdebate of the roller-coaster race for the Re-publican presidential nomination, held inMesa, Ariz. Two Marine Corps helicopterscollided over a remote section of the Cali-fornia desert during a nighttime exercise,killing seven Marines. A jury in Char-lottesville, Va., found University of Virginialacrosse player George Huguely V guilty ofsecond-degree murder in the death of hisex-girlfriend and lacrosse player YeardleyLove in May 2010.
Today’s Birthdays: Announcer DonPardo is 95. Actor Paul Dooley is 85. Hol-lywood “ghost singer” Marni Nixon is 83.Movie director Jonathan Demme is 69.Actor John Ashton is 65. Actress Miou-Miou is 63. Actress Julie Walters is 63. Bas-ketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 63.Actress Ellen Greene is 62. Former Sen.Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is 61. White House ad-viser David Axelrod is 58. Actor KyleMacLachlan is 54. World Golf Hall of FamerVijay Singh is 50. Actress-comedianRachel Dratch is 47. Actor Paul Lieberstein(TV: “The Office”) is 46. Actress Jeri Ryanis 45. Actor Thomas Jane is 44. ActressTamara Mello is 43. Actress-singer Lea Sa-longa is 42. Actor Jose Solano is 42. Inter-national Tennis Hall-of-Famer MichaelChang is 41. Rock musician Scott Phillipsis 40. Actress Drew Barrymore is 38. Ac-tress Liza Huber is 38. Singer James Bluntis 36. Rock singer Tom Higgenson (PlainWhite T’s) is 34. Actor Zach Roerig (TV:“The Vampire Diaries”) is 28. Actor DanielE. Smith is 23.
Thought for Today: “It is infinitely bet-ter to have a few good men than many in-different ones.” — President GeorgeWashington (1732-1799).
TO DAY I N H I S TO RY
MANAGERS Gary L. Wood
Publisher
Michele SchievelbeinAdvertising Director
Tonya SchildBusiness Manager
David JeffcoatCirculation Director
Tera SchmidtClassified Manager
Kelly HertzEditor
James D. CimburekSports Editor
Beth RyeNew Media Manager
Kathy LarsonComposing Manager
Bernard MetivierDistrict Manager
Published Daily Monday-Saturday
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BY LEONARD PITTS JR.Tribune Media Services
Dear David from Georgia: I want to thank you for the email you sent last week.
It made me laugh out loud. It seems you were unhappy I took a shot at
Rush Limbaugh a few days back (Press &Dakotan, Feb. 4). Limbaugh had argued thatJohn Lewis might have avoided having his skullfractured by Alabama state troopers whileprotesting for voting rights in Selma, Ala., 48years ago, if only he’d been armed. I suggested,tongue in cheek, that Limbaugh would havegiven the same advice to Rosa Parks, who fa-mously refused to surrender her seat to awhite man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.
Which moved you to write: “If Rush Lim-baugh were on that bus that day, like so manyof us, he would have insisted that Ms. ParksREMAIN seated. ... Rush doesn’t need me todefend him from your silly assumption, but Ijust like to bring it to your attention that justbecause Rush is WHITE doesn’t mean he isnot a gentleman!”
Ahem. David, Rush Limbaugh is the man who once said the
NFL “all too often looks like a game between the Bloodsand the Crips” and told a black caller to “take that boneout of your nose and call me back.” So the idea that, inAlabama, in 1955, as a black woman was committing anillegal act of civil disobedience, this particular whiteman would have done what 14 other white passengersdid not is, well, rather fanciful.
But then, it’s seductively easy to imagine yourself oryour hero on the right side of history once that historyhas been vindicated. So of course “Rush” would havestood up for Rosa Parks. Of course “Rush” would havedefended Jews who were turned away while fleeing theHolocaust. Of course “Rush” would have supportedwomen agitating for the right to vote. Of course hewould’ve defended human rights. Wouldn’t we all?
Actually, no. Not then, and not now. As it happens, David, your email appeared the same
week as news out of Flint, Mich., about Tonya Battle, an
African-American nurse who is suing her employer, theHurley Medical Center. Battle, an employee since 1988,was working in the neonatal intensive-care unit when,she says, a baby’s father approached her at the infant’sbedside, asked for her supervisor and then told said su-pervisor he didn’t want any black people involved in his
child’s care. So, of course, the hospital stood up for its
25-year employee, right? No. According to her suit, a note was
posted on the assignment clipboard saying,“No African American nurse to take care ofbaby.” The hospital, naturally, has declinedcomment.
David, this is ultimately not about “Rush.”He is a rich blowhard and therefore, unexcep-tional. No, this is about the implicit, albeit un-stated, “of course” that comes too easily toyou and frankly, to many of us, when we con-template how we would have responded tothe moral crimes of the past.
There is to it an unearned smugness thatinsults the very real courage of those likeMedgar Evers, Viola Liuzzo and James Zwerg,
who did take the morally correct stand at hazard of lifeand limb. It is easy to “stand up” for the right thing whendoing so requires only paying lip service 50 years afterthe fact, something at which Limbaugh and his brethrenhave become scarily adept.
But the need for real courage, for willingness to standup for human dignity, did not end in 1955, something towhich our gay, Muslim and immigrant friends — andTonya Battle — would surely testify. So there is some-thing starkly fatuous in your vision of “Rush” defendingRosa Parks. No, sir. We know where he would have stoodthen because we know where he stands now.
Perhaps you find comfort in your delusion. But someof us realize we live in an era where bigotry has its owntalk show and cable network. Can we find comfort indelusions like yours?
Of course not.
Leonard Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contacthim via e-mail at [email protected].
© 2013, The Miami Herald
Rush To The Defense? Not So Fast
Leonard
PITTS
O N L I N E O P I N I O NThe results of the most recent Internet poll on the Press & Dakotanʼs Web site are
as follows:LATEST RESULTS:
Should South Dakota join in the federal Medicaid expansion?Yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48%No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43%Not sure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9%TOTAL VOTES CAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .482
The Press & Dakotan Internet poll is not a scientific survey and reflects the opinionsonly of those who choose to participate. The results should not be construed as an accu-rate representation or scientific measurement of public opinion.
———CURRENT QUESTION:
Do you support the discontinuation of Saturday first-class postal delivery?
To vote in the Press & Dakotanʼs Internet poll, log on to our website at www.yankton.net.
BY KELLY [email protected]
Americans were hypnotized last week by a newsstory they’re now already forgetting. It was the oneabout the ex-cop in California who vented his homicidalrage at police officers and their families. Theman was finally hunted down in a park, wherehe and his storyline died in a blaze of tanta-lizing video that even threatened for a time toupstage the State of the Union address.
In this age of non-stop headlines on cabletelevision and social media, that’s how“news” works sometimes. Life occasionallyseems to be about short-form plotlines at-tached to sensational headlines that are in-stantly transfixing and just as instantlydisposable.
Headlines are also a major component of abook I’ve been reading: “December 1941” byDon Shirley. As the title implies, the tome ex-amines that momentous month when PearlHarbor was attacked and this country wasdragged into World War II. Each chapter cov-ers one day as Shirley examines the head-lines and broadcasts of our lives as we lurched fromwhat passed for peace to all-out war.
There are myriad underlying subplots in this book,and one of them includes watching this stunned nationsteel itself for the long, grim slog of war — especiallygiven our terrible start. Beginning on the morning ofDec. 7, 1941, we were instantly on the defensive as theJapanese scored a succession of victories across the Pa-cific in places we had no idea even existed (includingPearl Harbor) but were crucial to our defense. ThatChristmas, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, vis-iting Franklin Roosevelt at the White House, warned thatthe war news would remain bleak for many months tocome until America’s industrial might could turn thetide. Churchill, as ever, was blunt and prescient.
However, that kind of frank talk seems insanely im-practical by modern political standards. Due in part tothose aforementioned unblinking news cycles, such long-haul thinking is a rare thing in our instantaneous, dis-tracted universe.
Here, I recall the 1991 Gulf War, which was our firstwar fought in the cable-news age. I was glued to CNNwhen the U.S. began bombing Baghdad, and thereafter, Iwatched that war unfold day and night. I grew terriblyanxious, even depressed, with the daily ups and downs.And I wasn’t alone: Psychologists across the country re-ported many cases of people similarly afflicted as theywere enslaved to the drama playing out on their televi-sion screens. The ordeal sometimes seemed inter-minable; in fact, it was just six weeks of being torn from
one incident to the next, wondering where it all wouldlead.
Contrast that to December of 1941. America endureda sneak attack, after which we were immediately and lit-erally losing ground, although it was only the first roundof a much longer bout.
It forces me to wonder if Americans now would havethat same stomach for a long fight. Would wehave the will and the patience to see thingsthrough?
Back in World War II, how would we have re-acted to the unblinking marathon televisioncoverage (if, of course, television had been inevery home) of the disaster at Pearl Harbor?How would instant polls have graded PresidentRoosevelt’s declaration of war on Dec. 8 or hishandling of the war crisis? How would we havereacted to the relentless drumbeat of dire newsfrom across the Pacific (or from the Russianfront, for that matter)? How would cable newstelevision have amped up our already strainedattitudes toward Japanese-Americans?
Far more importantly, what would suchmedia coverage have done to our resolve towage a war in which our freedom and our des-
tiny genuinely were at stake?Home-front morale is an important aspect of any war
effort, which is why so much was done through propa-ganda efforts to cultivate it and mobilize it during thetough days of World War II.
Now, this age of instant media and disposable break-ing news makes such long-term nursing of public opinionfar more difficult. We are now more panicky, more impa-tient and quicker to judge, possibly making our collec-tive morale that much more fragile and public policythat much more sensitive to criticism and knee-jerk po-litical strategies.
“December 1941” offers an intriguing look at this na-tion’s first bleak days at war — a breathtaking contrastto where we would be 3 1/2 long years later. Those yearswere a story of national dedication, perseverance, grimsacrifice and, ultimately, a new greatness.
Could we muster the focus and steadfast determina-tion now to endure such a long march?
That’s a compelling question — and perhaps an oddone considering we have been at war in Afghanistan formore than 11 years. But this has been a far different kindof war, with different standards for victory. Unfortu-nately, we may also be a much different kind of peoplenow than those who understood so long ago what had tobe done in our darkest hour. And Lord help us if that’sthe case.
You can follow Kelly Hertz on Twitter attwitter.com/kelly_hertz
War In An Impatient Age
Kelly
HERTZ
‘Price Gouging’? Paulette Gross, Yankton
I am totally disappointed in the high gas pricesaround here! We were just in Rapid City and paid$3.08.9 a gallon for regular gas. We come home and goto refill our tank at have to pay $3.72.9 a gallon forregular gas.
There is definitely SOMETHING WRONG with this!Why should we in Yankton be paying $3.729 a gallonfor regular gas when in Rapid City they are charging$3.089 a gallon? Can we say “price gouging”?
I think this is ridiculous! We are encouraged to“shop Yankton.” Well, maybe the people who ownbusinesses in Yankton should honor those peoplefrom Yankton who live here!
Filling InTHUMBS UP to Yankton County Register of Deeds BrianHunhoff, who is working to catch the county up on itslegal notices. It was learned recently that legal notices forYankton County Commission proceedings had not beensent to official county newspapers (of which the Press &Dakotan is one) since last fall, which is technically in viola-tion of the law. With County Auditor Paula Jones out onmedical leave, Hunhoff (who is a former county commis-
sioner) began the process of going through the tapes and videos to recordthe information and get them issued. The public has a right to know thesedetails, and Hunhoff championed such openness as a commissioner. Wesalute his commitment in this situation.
Highway HazardsTHUMBS DOWN to the news that traffic fatalities rose 5percent across the nation in 2012. The same upward trendwas found in South Dakota, which saw 23 more people dieon state roads compared to the previous year. The na-tional hike in fatalities during 2012 followed a seven-yearperiod of decline. During that stretch, the number of an-nual traffic deaths reached its lowest level in more thansix decades. The statistics bringing into question whether
2012 was a one-year aberration at the state and national level, or is it thestart of an upward trend that needs to be addressed? If the latter, withstricter laws or with better driving habits?
Glass ClassTHUMBS UP to a South Dakota Public Television docu-mentary, “Light Of The Prairie: Stained Glass in SouthDakota.” The documentary features stained glass from theChrist Episcopal Church in Yankton and from St. AgnesCatholic Church in Vermillion. The one-hour productiontravels throughout the state, touching on the history andculture of stained glass windows with expert and humani-ties scholar Dr. Barbara Johnson of Aberdeen. Stained
glass windows can be found in homes, churches, courthouse, schools, andeven barns as a way to tell of a connection to God, the homestead experi-ence or life on the Great Plains. The documentary brings attention to an artform that often goes unappreciated.
Off And RunningTHUMBS DOWN to the inevitable realization that the 2014(and in some cases 2016) state and congressional racesare already under way. The fact has been driven home bythe speculation of who is — and isn’t — running for office.In South Dakota, the focus is on former Republican gover-nor Mike Rounds, former Democratic congresswomanStephanie Herseth Sandlin and current Democratic U.S.Sen. Tim Johnson and his son, U.S. Attorney Brendan
Johnson. In Nebraska, the talk has ratcheted up with U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns’announcement that the Republican won’t run for a second term in 2014. Oneof the major questions has become: What is the political future of NebraskaGov. Dave Heineman? Is a Senate race in the GOP governor’s future? Will for-mer GOP lieutenant governor Rick Sheehy, who recently resigned, try tomake a political comeback? Stay tuned as these and other names emergeamidst the political jockeying.
