The Daily Sandwich

"We have to learn the lesson that intellectual honesty is fundamental for everything we cherish." -Sir Karl Popper

Name:
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

...........................

Friday, September 23, 2005

You just met Chang!

This is beyond strange, but it was reported on Sunday, spoken of on Morning Sedition yesterday, and I just read about it. It fits in nicely with the whole GOP connection to the Moonies and their willingness to step up to the plate on behalf of dictators of all ethnic backgrounds. It's really quite a multi-cultural group, in its own special way.

But as a guy who has more than a passing acquaintance with classical Asian history, I'm more than a little suspicious of Jebbie's proclamations on "a legendary warrior named Chang who was called upon to settle political disputes in Chinese dynasties of yore." If I'm not too lazy about it, I'll look over my own books and check it out with a former professor.

As it stands, I'd say that Jeb's familiarity with Chinese history is on a par with that of coffee shop workers who get Chinese ideograms tattooed on themselves. Moving on:

After more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.

Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians:
''Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society.

''I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down.''

Bush then unsheathed a golden sword and gave it to Rubio as a gift.

''I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great conservative warrior,'' he said, as the crowd roared.


Seriously. Is this whole family suffering from mental retardation? Maybe some lead in the Texas aquifers? And how does the Christian right feel about the president's brother's forays into half-baked Chinese mysticism? Something tells me that if Howard Dean mentioned his membership in an Orphic Society, we'd be hearing a lot more about it....