Boris eez dead

Am I the only one who is a bit surprised to hear that until just the other day he was alive at all?

But seriously, folks, people will be debating Yeltsin for a long time. So, here are my two rubles: Boris was a disaster! First of all, the Soviet Union was a bad place in a lot of ways. The authoritarian government was horribly repressive. The lack of freedom left the nation with empty store shelves, overcrowded apartments and enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth five times.

However, Yeltsin used his fame as the man who stood against the anti-Gorbachev coup to attempt a revolution of his own.

But, revolutions don’t work. Lenin and company tried to completely upend Russian society, and it was a disaster. Gorbachev tried to ease the Soviet Union into becoming a free nation. His reforms were the sort of evolution that could have worked, but Yeltsin’s pre-emption killed it.

Russia was not ready for democracy and free markets because it did not have a history of citizenship. When Yeltsin tore down Soviet authority, there was nothing there to take its place. In the end, Russia fell to chaos and organized crime. Free markets ended up filling stores with products nobody could afford and the army couldn’t pay the electric bill.

The end game of the Yeltsin adventure was Putin, who is just as authoritarian as an old Soviet without all that “workers” claptrap.

It is not fair to blame Yeltsin for Putin’s betrayal of democracy. However, Yeltsin’s sudden resignation and pardon ushered the former KGB chief into power. One would have to be naïve not to think there was something nefarious going on.

If it was his own corruption that forced Boris out of power, then I believe he created his political revolution more for himself than for his nation. His lack of skill as a world leader tends to make this an easy conclusion to reach. It makes me doubt his sincerity and hero stature.

The old Soviet way had to end, I just don’t think Boris was the right answer to the problem.

And so it goes...

Kurt Vonnegut is dead. Of course, not knowing him personally, I have only the word of newspapers and television to confirm this.

I am a great fan of Mr. Vonnegut’s work, and actually saw him speak at Syracuse University when I was a senior in the winter of 1998-1999.

I waited outside the building he spoke in for 2 hours in the freezing cold with my friends Karin and Oscar. I had purchased a copy of “Player Piano” earlier that day in hopes of having Kurt sign it. So it goes…

We waited in the snow, and were the first three in the auditorium. Our seats were right in front of the podium in the first row. For more than an hour, Kurt spoke and drew pictures on a large blackboard that had been wheeled on stage for him. He spoke about his books, and about Upstate New York.

“They say you have four seasons here, but you don’t. There are actually six. The year starts with winter, and then before the spring there is the “unlocking”. Then summer, fall and the “locking” before winter. The locking and unlocking are seasons unto themselves when the mystery of life is laid bare before and after sleeping for the winter.”

I paraphrase, but the idea of the extra seasons has stuck with me. As has his insistence that we humans are “Dancing creatures”.

When the talk was over, I jumped up and walked to the stage, hoping to get him to sign my book. He politely declined, and exited the stage.

As the few thousand fans milled about the auditorium reflecting on what we had just heard, I sprung up onto the stage, and took the piece of chalk that Kurt had been writing with off of the blackboard (actually it was green, but why split hairs?).

As I landed back in the audience, a young woman sighed and said she was about to do the same thing. I broke the chalk in half, and gave her a piece. My piece is in a tiny mason jar on my book shelf as a memento of my brush with my favorite writer.

I take comfort in the fact that Kurt (like Billy Pilgrim) may be dead in this moment, but through his books, he is alive and well in many other moments.

Foot-in-mouth disease

A friend of mine sent me this email today in regard to Imus and his famous comments.

"Hi all! Imus may be cranky, but he's brought more injustices to the American radio table than anyone in the last century. Does anyone realize that after they let him go, they put on a commercial for a Tupac Shakur CD? A rapper who made his living calling black women "ho's and bitches?" Please. This is hypocracy at its finest. I say, clean up the hip/hop community first, let them look at their own back yard.
If you think IMUS got a raw deal send your comment to: viewerservices@msnbc.com "

I think this whole thing has gotten a little overblown. Imus did make a terrible joke, but that is kind of his schtick. He does that every day.

Where is the public outcry against the Ann Coulter's of the world? Sure they get bad publicity now and then, but they keep getting booked for talk shows and news programs. She still gets books full of vile lies published.

People say hateful things all the time that they mean to be taken seriously, unlike Don Imus.

MSNBC did what they had to do. They were losing advertising, so they pulled the plug. That's showbusiness. But lets keep things in perspective here. Imus didn't lynch anybody, and his words (offensive as they were) just aren't that important. He isn't an office holder, he isn't a political spokesperson, he is a comedian who said something rotten about a college basketball team.

His track record is that every decade or so he says something so over the top that it causes a firestorm. That's not bad considering how many hours he is on the air.

The Rutger's women's basketball team should be offended, but one jack-ass making a racist joke shouldn't outweigh the praise they have earned for their achievement.

Reverenend Al, I love you, but you have to pick your battles. Imus just ain't that important compared to the real injustices your people face every day.