A Little of the Old In and Out



Rosa Parks begins to conclude the American legacy that began at Fort Sumter. (image via americaslibrary)

In: Rosa Parks. The end of the Civil War and, immediately following, the sudden death of Abraham Lincoln left the American racial question tragically unresolved. On December 1, 1955, when a tired Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white patron in the Jim Crow south, she started what would later become known as the American Civil Rights movement, the concluding chapter of a legacy that begun at the firing on Fort Sumter. From GrandTimes:

"'Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it,' writes Parks in her recent book, Quiet Strength, (ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1994). 'I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.'"

And thus the wheels of history were set in motion. Lincoln struggled to preserve the Union; Rosa Parks began the indigenous African-American movement to achieve full-equality under law. She lived, unlike Moses, to see that Promised Land. What followed after her refusal was the 381-day Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, which concluded in the Supreme Court's nullification on Nov. 13, 1956, of the laws of Alabama that required bus segregation. This set the grounds for those glorious freedom fighters -- many of them idealistic college students, many of them Jewish, conscious of the race policies of the historoically adjacent WWII -- who challenged all segregation based on interstate travel, which led, ultimately, to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, breaking Jim Crowe's back forever.

Your struggle is over, Mrs. Parks; we are all the better for the principled part you played. Now, finally, and well-deserved, Rest in Peace.



D'oh! (image via forbes)

Out: Arthur O "Pinch" Sulzberger, Jr. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) The Old Gray Mare, she aint what she used to be (The Corsair shakes his dead despondently, then takes a hearty swig of his mulled wine and cardamom). And old "Pinch" isn't helping things much either. First Kurt Andersen, The Elder Brother to the NY Media Elite, excecutes a heart "Pinch;" now, in perfect symmetry, the most formidable political pugilist and rhetorical infighter since Cicero -- our Arianna Huffington. First up, Kurt with a jab to the chops showing "Bad intentions" (via gawker):

"Bush is also steadfastly loyal; if he won�t fire Donald Rumsfeld or (until they�re indicted) Rove or Libby, it�s a very good bet he�ll stick by his sorry pal Harriet Miers. Sulzberger seems slipperier, yuppier. Until the moment he told Raines to put on his Panama hat and get out, he supported him 100 percent ...

"... This time, however, if he were determined once again to get rid of the most responsible senior executive, it would have to be the guy who hired Raines and encouraged his booyah, hoo-ha, no-brakes style. Whose tacit personal imprimatur Miller has always exploited. Who went way beyond the call of duty in casting a problematic reporter as the embodiment of press freedom. Who let Miller�s highly subjective readings of Libby�s legal scheming drive the legal strategy of the world�s greatest newspaper.

"But Sulzberger is not going to fire himself. Indeed, he affects a kind of la-di-dah disregard for the whole horrible bungle. If Miller and the Times were going to cut a deal with the prosecutor in the end anyway, why didn�t they do it a year ago and spare their colleagues and the company and government all the agita and expense? 'Maybe a deal was possible earlier. If so,' he says, with one excuuuuuse-me shrug trashing his argument that it had been all about defending a crystal-clear principle, 'shame on us.'"

Ouch; get that mouthpiece back in for the second round. *Ding* Next, Arianna in HuffyPo, with a bonecrushing uppercut to the shortribs; The Pinch's legs go woozy:

"While sending Judy Miller off on a slow boat to Sag Harbor (where she intends to 'chill out' and see what Pat Fitzgerald has in store for her and her neocon pals), Bill Keller has suddenly developed an 'I' infection. His most recent Miller mess memo to his staff was jam-packed with the pronoun, making it seem to all the world like he was the one calling the shots.

"And when he mentioned others involved in the decision-making process, it was fellow editors Jill Abramson and John Geddes.

"Notably absent was any mention of the real shot-caller during the Miller debacle, Arthur Sulzberger. Is Keller trying to save his ass by helping his boss cover his?

"For most of the Judy Miller saga, Sulzberger has been front and center -- guiding the paper's legal and editorial strategy, visiting Miller in jail, whisking her off to the Ritz-Carlton for a post-release massage, manicure, steak dinner, and "one-third of a martini in a gorgeous glass," and receiving Judy's dewy-eyed thanks after her first grand jury appearance.

"But now that the Scooter has hit the fan, Pinch is suddenly MIA."

TKO, second round -- Kurt and Arianna.



Valentine and Olga Rei, hosting Paper Magazine's Halloween bash. (image via NYSocialDiary)
In: Halloween Parties. Who can forget last year's Halloween party where Mariah Carey appeared to be dressed in a "bottomless" Vera Wang wedding gown (Or was that P Diddy's 35th? It's all a blur)? (Averted Gaze) This year, here's hoping Mariah covers her hindquarters adequately from the October chill; according to Fashionweekdaily:

"... take a disco nap this Friday afternoon, you�ll need it for the slew of Halloween parties this weekend, including: Valentine and Olga Rei�s big bash with Paper magazine and IMG Models at Home, Heidi Klum at Happy Valley, Justin Timberlake at Marquee, and Patricia Field's annual Halloween horror� "

We'll go with the IMG Models and our old Paper pals at Home.