Posted on 09/04/2002 2:05:01 PM PDT by an amused spectator
Martha Burk, über-feminist leader of the National Council of Women's Organizations, sent an extortion letter to Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson on June 12 after Burk read reports about Augusta National not having women among its 300 members.
"We know that Augusta National and the sponsors of the Masters do not want to be viewed as entities that tolerate discrimination against any group, including women," was one threatening line in the letter by Ms. Burk.
Burk later released a purported letter by former Senator Sam Nunn that supposedly backed up her position. The letter was later found to be a hoax, but Burk continued to try to use the forgery to strengthen her indefensible shakedown attempt:
"Normally when we get a hoax, it's written with eighth-grade grammar," Burk said. "For instance, we received a forged letter, purportedly from Augusta National, that said women need to stay on their backs, [etc.]. But it was clear that a lot of thought went into [the Nunn forgery]. We thought it was going to be the first trickle of water we'd need to change the tide of Augusta National's membership opinion. I'm sorry he didn't write it."
Translation: "It almost doesn't matter" that Nunn didn't write the letter, to quote the famous line from John Leo's excellent book, Incorrect Thoughts. A lie that serves Burk nefarious shakedown attempt is a good lie.
Now, what does all this have to do with Bill Clinton, you ask?
Simple. Bill Clinton is a celebrity golfer. Almost every more-than-casual golfer would kill to become a member of the hallowed Augusta National Club.
Knowing Big Bill's ego, I have little doubt that he tried to get on the Augusta waiting list, and also knowing somewhat of the ways of Augusta National, I have equally little doubt that he was soundly rebuffed.
Martha Burk had 8 years in which Clinton ruled to pull a stunt like this, with guaranteed White House support, but she didn't. This is a very curious omission on the part of the Clintonites, who rarely overlook a chance to stick it to their cultural enemies.
It's my theory that if Burk broached the idea to the Clinton White House, she was warned off by her Clintonite masters.
A more likely theory is that a vengeance-minded Clinton sicced his toy poodle Burk on Hootie and Augusta after being rejected. This would be in keeping with standard Clintonite revenge tactics. Predictably, Begala, Clinton's attack chihuahua, savaged Hootie Johnson in a televised discussion of the subject.
Martha Burk's credentials as Clinton toy feminist poodle?
http:// www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/feb99/020499f.htm
National Women's Leaders Oppose Live Testimony At Senate Trial; Statement of Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority; Martha Burk, signatory
http://www.civicweb.com/nwpc.html
Martha Burk Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Policy told Ms. " The right wing has taken this opportunity to attack us . Its not because we elected Clinton. Rather, it’s that we stand for principles that his enemies are squarely against. " She also said "the reason we are in this mess is the deep-seated opposition to having women in the White House. Imagine Madeleine Albright in the White House and these questions being asked."
http://www.feminist.org/research/report/102_three.html
Women Leaders Take Action to Stop Impeachment, Warn What's at Stake for Women and Who's on Third to Succeed; Martha Burk, signatory
http://www.debatesdebates.org/archives/program130.html
Does Paula Jones Deserve Her Day in Court Now? Martha Burk position: "No"
http://www.debatesdebates.org/archives/program318.html
Was Clinton's Conduct Public, Not Private? Martha Burk position: "No"<
Martha Burk, editor of a women's newsletter, said, "She [Monica Lewinsky] will be enough of a celebrity to nail a good job with some entertainment company that wants glitz and notoriety. She won't lack for offers. I bet she'll go get a job as a talk show host."
It's standard Bill and Hillary operating procedure.
Martha Burk, head of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy recently wrote a thoughtful article explaining the white male flight to the radical right, religious supremacists politics of the Republican party in the last election. This is the heart of it:
"The mostly male face of the Republican landslide is no surprise. The male/Republican female/Democratic trend has been evident since 1980, paralleling increasing Republican efforts to deprive women of abortion rights and consign them to second-class economic citizenship.
"Beside women and men sometimes have opposite priorities, and there was a smidgen of testosterone in this election. Many guys who don't actually own a gun still want to be able to buy one easily - just in case they're called on to clean up Dodge. Women tend to worry about getting raped at gunpoint. Basic difference.
"Does this mean we are head for a new politics of gender - a 'men's party' and a 'woman's party?' Hardly.
"The white male roar was in response to something much more basic: fear of the future. For the first time since World War II men are facing long-term systemic job insecurity. When people are fearful, theylook for scapegoats and saviors. Republicans produced scapegoats - welfare (blacks), affirmative action (women), and immigrants (all the rest) - while pointing to themselves as saviors. Desperate white guys went for it. -- Martha Burk, president, Center for Advancement of Public Policy.
Whenever I read drivel like this, I think of that old George Carlin routine about "Why is it that woman who are feminists are always women you wouldn't want to boink anyway."
Of course, Carlin didn't use boink -- and, of course, Martha hasn't had an original thought in her life.
At the British Open, in July 2002. Burk wrote her extortion letter in June 2002, and the campaign was planned well before that.
No, it looks like the hand of her puppetmasters was in on this one.
Somehow I don't think AN "cottons" to cheaters, do you?
For purposes of discussion and education only:
Clearly, these two Clintons are never going to go away. They are the political version of the John Belushi character on the old "Saturday Night Live" show, the guest who would not leave. However, the Clintons have an excuse: They simply don't know how to disappear. To them, the concept of seclusion is as alien as the notion of shame.
I mean, check out their vacation. They can't even act normal when they're away from work for a couple weeks. If the two of them aren't out sucking up to rich people or empty-headed celebrities, they're constantly begging for money so Hillary Rodham Clinton can run for the U.S. Senate from New York, instead of spending the time with her only child as well as maybe figuring out what her husband is all about and whether or not their deal will continue once he loses the chance to grope girls in the office.
But they are so self-involved that they cannot help themselves. They continually invade our privacy — even in these smooth, slow days, when summer dwindles as a fresh school year approaches. She starts it by announcing that of course the President needed oral sex from some immature child because — don't you all understand? — his grandmother snapped at his mother back in that Arkansas trailer park. Why, anyone with half a brain knows that!
Then he continued the charade by announcing to a group of people assembled on Nantucket for an unarmed robbery they call a fund-raiser that he was afraid to speak to his future wife when the pair was in law school, because he knew he'd fall instantly in love. And he was fearful a marriage would deprive the nation of a great public servant.
Imagine that! Here is Bill Clinton, who can't control his sexual impulses at the age of 51, indicating that his primary thought at 21 was his deep concern that Hillary Rodham might not get to run the Bureau of Weights and Measures if they tied the knot.
Would you give me a break. He's talking about a time in American social history — the late 1960s and early 1970s — when sex was easier to get than the flu, but instead of thinking about the obvious, he was fantasizing about his girlfriend as a potential secretary of transportation or something? Please.
Now, he managed to blurt out this ludicrous nonsense in the first 24 hours of their vacation. By the time they get to the Finger Lakes, he'll probably be saying they used the Federalist Papers as foreplay and honeymooned at Hyde Park.
Clinton took a break from treating us like saps to golf at an exclusive club on Nantucket, where he indicated that the long, narrow, windy course was a true test of character. It was reported that the President shot a 90.
Naturally, Clinton lied. It appeared to others who observed his effort that his actual score was about 110. But, true to form, the man cheated to such an extent that in his own mind he did indeed have the lower score because he is Bill Clinton and he never, not ever, drops a ball after losing one in the woods, uses a size-11-foot wedge or fails to take a two-stroke penalty after his wild tee shots disappear in brambles so thick he'd need a chainsaw rather than a 4 iron to continue play.
Obviously, golf is perfect for Clinton. It comes complete with good lies, bad lies and preferred lies. It also gives him the chance to accept the same thing from his partners that he requested and received from the whole country: a mulligan.
Actually, the game is a metaphor for the man's life. Whenever he arrives at the first tee, he shows up as America's guest. More often than not, he is accompanied either by sycophants or tycoons eager to bask in the historical glow of an office tarnished by arrogance, selfishness, self-absorption and willful deceit.
Off past form, Clinton is a hooker with enormous gifts of charm, political skill and undeniable luck. Yet he cannot get through a single round or almost any self-induced crisis without demanding a series of "gimmes" from everyone around him — the electorate, his foursome, his friends or his family.
His game, like his presidency, is proof that he has perfected the art of the excuse. He is the Picasso of alibis. If he hits one in the woods, he can claim the Secret Service won't allow him to find it, so he drops a second ball in a nice spot and keeps on swinging.
In 1992, when Clinton first ran for the White House, he was asked what his handicap was and he replied: "Well, it's about a 14, but I haven't played in a while, so it's probably closer to an 18 today, and because I haven't had the time to play as much as I'd like, I'm having trouble getting off the tee, so my handicap probably doesn't mean a whole lot right now."
How great is that?
Golf happens to be a humbling hobby, a mind game of skill, muscle-memory and constant concentration that does not actually require great athleticism. Take a peek at more than a few pros, and it is fairly obvious that many of them couldn't buy groceries by catching a pass, hitting to the opposite field or making a layup.
Like a lot of people, Clinton is basically a weekend hacker. Unlike the majority though, he is unwilling or unable to admit he isn't very good. So, instead, he falls back on a familiar routine and lies the ball right into the hole. That happens to be his biggest handicap and it's something he carries with him everywhere, even on vacation.Golf is perfect for Clinton.
It comes complete with good lies, bad lies and preferred lies.
I'd wager Burk doesn't have a female member either.
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