Essay 365

The Sunday MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The New York tabloids are having a field day with the controversies swirling around New York Knicks GM Isiah Thomas (see Essay 363). News stories include revealing a past paternity suit against Thomas, plus reports that his current accuser is allegedly receiving threats. The only crime not being blown out of proportion is the shitty job Thomas has done rebuilding the Knicks.

• A couple of FEMA employees were busted for taking bribes from a contractor providing food to Hurricane Katrina victims. The two were temporary employees running a FEMA camp in New Orleans. They received $20,000 from the supplier in exchange for messing with a catering contract; plus, they allegedly sought to collect $2500 per week from the supplier. A FEMA spokeswoman said, “We have no tolerance for fraud — not against FEMA, not against the American taxpayer, our partners, and certainly not against the victims of these hurricanes.” Wonder what former FEMA director Mike Brown would add to that proclamation.

• Two movies with immigrant themes won praise and prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. “Quinceanera,” a film depicting a Mexican-American family in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, won the top jury and audience prizes in its category. The documentary “God Grew Tired Of Us” — a story of two Sudanese “lost boys” who left their Kenyan refugee camp for the U.S. — won the same awards in its category. The Minuteman Project was obviously not involved with the voting process.

• Conservative carnival freak Ann Coulter spoke of the need for more conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Referring to liberal Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Coulter said, “We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee.” She quickly added, “That’s just a joke, for you in the media.” Actually, Coulter is just a joke in the media. And nearly everywhere else, for that matter.