THE FIRST OF A TWENTY PLUS QUESTIONS QUIZ

NAME THAT TIGER:

Anyone out there remember the name of the celebrity bengal tiger from Marine World Africa USA that used to be trotted about town as a promotional stunt for the theme park when it was in the South Bay?

I remember going to a cocktail party for Liberace, the rhinestoned leather Hot Pants suit wearing Las Vegas pianist. The party was given by publicity man Peter Marino. The tiger was there strutting through a crowded room of drinking party goers. We left quickly…no one was hurt.

Drop me a line if you think you know the name of that tiger?.

THE DANGER IN SHARING YOUR VIEWS

For those of us who live in the Bay Area and spend time on the Internet, there are numerous reminders of the truth of the saying that we live in a bubble.It is almost impossible to imagine the following events happening here. This account is about a City Councilwoman in Tennessee and was posted on the Huffington Post July 30.

“Janis Fullilove, a Councilwoman in Memphis, Tenn.,received death threats on Tuesday over her support for a non-discrimination ordinance requiring equal protection for gays working in city government.”

In addition to the calls, she also found a dead cat on her front lawn. Police have said the calls, which Fullilove stated had threatened to kill her, were serious enough in nature for them to place officers on patrol by her house for protection.

As alarming as the story is, Councilwoman Fullilove’s response is heart warming. She said that she will continue her advocacy for equality in spite of the threats.

Bubble or not, just post a piece on SFGate’s City Brights blog, and if it has one of the keywords that the rightwing swat team is alerted to respond to, you will discover how quickly your inbox fills with hate mail.

Councilwoman Fullilove is not only expressing her views. She is taking action to implement them. How many of us are willing to do that? Our country is filled with good people who care about each other, the environment, the disadvantaged and our government. Yet, it appears that only those who want to harm another person, smash an idea or institution with whose purpose they might not agree, are ruling the day. Just look at the domination of the cable news channels by Fox News where personal opinions are often sold as factual news. The July Neilsen ratings for Fox viewers were more than all the other cable channels combined. The number of viewers of CNN, where they try to play it straight, are on a rapid decline.

It is vital that we hold national news organiations accountable and support those making efforts to be fair in their reporting. If we don’t, those with power in our government assume either that we don’t care or that we agree with them. Thank goodness, polls show that the majority of Americans still support our right to free expression. Hopfully we can continue that practice without death threats.

So what can you do if you are weary of the demagogues?
Remind those with whom you have contact that the Janis Fulliloves of this world deserve support and salute them for their courage, and tap into your own courage.