Written on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 7:40am by Alan Bedenko | 42 Comments
Borat at the Rally
This right here is an absolute and utter disgrace. Click the image for the full sized picture:
UPDATE: (To the top for WBEN listeners)
42 Comments
-
Advertisement
-
Latest
-
Bill O'Loughlin
Latest: Bill O'Loughlin Show: Tue 2/9/10 -
BfloBlog
Latest: The Lost Weekend -
Chris Smith
Latest: The Cost of Bad Government -
Scott Leffler
Latest: Spitzer: What we need -
Alan Bedenko
Latest: Flame Bait: Statler -
The Answer Lady
Latest: Making Widgets at the Corporate University -
Christina Abt
Latest: Feb. Family Diet Challenge Day 7 -
Olympics 2010
Latest: Norway: Norwegians desperate to erase Torino 'fiasco' -
The Goose's Roost
Latest: On Unbased Rumors -
Broadway Fillmore Alive
Latest: Two with B-F connections are part of AM-POL Eagle’s Citizens of the Year
-
Advertisement
Simply appalling. If they had any goodwill built up for their cause [and I don't know if they had] this type of approach simply eradicates it. It’s also evident by the age of the protesters, the liklihood they know anything about Hitler or the Holocaust is remote.
I didn’t know Code Pink and ANSWER were protesting in Buffalo.
Interesting dichotomy in the picture. On one side a sign held up high stating “Save Our Jobs.” On the other, a shaved head freak “professional activist” type whose either a silver-spoon trust fund case with parents living in Eeeyamherst, or a die-hard marxist street thug. Either way, he/she/it probably hasn’t had a job in his/her/it’s life. TALKIN’ PROUD!
If I didn’t hope for more I would think the obvious about this idiot post so far:
First, I want to know why the pudnit doesn’t explain his outrage. Although it’s obvious what this sign means because it’s not a secret that Spitzer is a Jew. So, if Spitzer is committing genocide and since Jews, like Native Americans, were the victims of genocide, this is being ironic. Not in the best taste but nothing to hyperventilate about. The point is knowing better about committing genocide, not being Jewish. If somebody had a sign that said “This Native American is committing genocide” I’m certain that pud would not even notice.
Second, Iggy falls for pud’s sky-is-falling bombast and wants to lynch the whole lot on the opinion of one youngster.
Third, LC SCotty’s analytical mind is typically up his arse and only sees something he doesn’t agree with so he defaults to calling everyone a liberal/communist.
Lastly, the BS defececator is just making this shit up but he apparetly has a taste for it. I mean really, “shaved-head”, “silver-spoon”, “marxist”? You’re an asshole dude.
I hope this blog is not becoming as pathetic as it may seem from this shit.
Fearless Leader:
It’s the comparison to Hitler…Not everyone you disagree with has to be Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler killed 8 Million innocent people, half the population of the entire state of NY. ON the other hand, Elliot Spitzer is behind a tax that may cost the Senecas a few percentage points out of million of dollars of revenue.
So let’s recap:
Hitler : 8,000,000 Dead
Spitzer: 0 Dead
It’s nonsense, and comparing taxes to MILLIONS of dead with a straight faces is a slap in the face to the memory of all victims and survivors who had to endure real genocide.
you’re not clever, you’re a troll
ike….or you could say, german government: 8,000,000 dead, american government: 12 million dead. while i find the poster revolting, the ap reported it was being carried by a 15-year-old and was obviously home made. many 15-year-olds are given to hyperbole. as for archie bunker, uh, buffalo hater, he’s an ignorant loudmouth who’s apparently never seen an indian wearing a mohawk before. see, sh*t-for-brains, they call them “mohawks” because they are a traditional iroquoian hair style.
and besides, i thought “progress” here, at least as recently touted on this site, had to do with reducing taxes for western new yorkers. for anyone who hasn’t been, gasolene and tobacco aren’t the only things you can buy at some of the native stores. tailored suits, gold jewelry etc. are also offered and are, of course, tax free.
those opposing the seneca stance seem to want to send even more money to albany, so they can then complain proportionately about how it is being wasted by the state government.
FearlessLeader:
1. “This Jew” is, or is dangerously close to being pejorative itself. Perhaps the poster designer, like Borat, thinks that Spitzer shape shifted into a cockroach and infiltrated the meeting, and he could just throw dollar bills at him to make him go away.
2. Spitzer has not committed genocide, and is not committing genocide, nor does he plan on committing genocide against anyone.
3. The threatened imposition of state taxes on items such as gas and cigarettes does not meet the definition of genocide under even the most creative means.
4. To equate Spitzer’s efforts to collect cigarette taxes with the slaughter of millions of Jews is a lot more than hyperbole. It’s disrespectful to the memories of those millions of Jews and other religions, ethnicities, and persuasions who died at the hands of the Nazis.
No one is saying the Senecas hadn’t suffered in the past, and they have every right to protest and to state that they have been wronged, etc. But to call Eliot Spitzer “this Jew” is teetering on anti-Semitism, and to call what Spitzer is doing “genocide” is just plain stupid and ignorant.
Mike: I think it would be just fine if Albany left the Senecas alone on this taxation front. I’m not even commenting on it, except to point out how silly of a little dispute this is when compared with the fricking HOLOCAUST.
I thought the sign showed some creativity and it obviously got people going…which is the point of a sign……I read this blog and the comments and I am drawn to Napoleon Dynamite wherein the school principal lectures Pedro about how it is wrong to use the head of a political opponent as a piñata, ha ha…who needs to go to the movies???????
“I may disagree with what you are saying, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it” Ha ha……
Yes, Terry. It’s good to diminish the suffering of the Holocaust to “get people going, which is the point of a sign”.
Maybe I’ll show up to the next Seneca rally or maybe to a synagogue with a Nazi flag. Because that’ll sure get ‘em going! It doesn’t matter if it makes a valid point or not.
I’m also failing to draw the parallel between, say, Josef Goebbels or Heinrich Himmler on the one hand and Napoleon Dynamite or Pedro on the other.
But that’s just me.
Troll says :”a shaved head freak “professional activist†type whose either a silver-spoon trust fund case with parents living in Eeeyamherst, or a die-hard marxist street thug.”
or maybe an Indian with a traditional hair-do ? Kind of like the mullet you sport ?
Eeeeyasshole.
And they call us racists………
It was up to the Senecas to police the signs that were displayed at its rally. One sign can shoot the credibility of the rally right down the drain. It’s sad that only a small number of Senecas benefit from the gas and cigarette sales. Poverty abounds on the reservation. Spitzer should collect the taxes and put these Seneca gangsters out of business. It’s the non Indians that are whoring themselves with cheap cigarettes and gas. Tax evasion is tax evasion. They should be held accountable. If a few of the purchasers are prosecuted for having contraband cigarettes and hit with huge fines, the word would get out quickly and the smoke shops would be out of business. Can you say Napster.
What…no more cheap smokes?
On Shredd & Ragan yesterday a caller said Spitzer should let the Indians alone and that he [the caller] doesn’t mind getting cheap smokes. He then said Spitzer had other things to worry about like health care. Wow! There’s an intelligent caller.
I found the sign of Spitzer outrageous. Genocide? Not even close.
Besides, isn’t Spitzer only trying to collect the taxes that non-Indians should be paying due to illegal purchases? Correcting a wrong and executing the law. I liked him as Attorney General and I like him as Governor – with or without the mustache.
The Seneca Nation is responsible for policing these signs, especially when the person holding the sign was standing behind the speakers, clearly visible to all who were present, including news cameras. Whether this kid is 15 or 50, he is not the only one who should be blamed, as many people were standing beside him, including what looked like from my vantage point as a member of the Seneca Nation police department.
If Seneca President Maurice A. John truly wanted “to appeal to the governor for reason” someone standing so close to him as he made his remarks should have been escorted out.
Is Ike a Jewish name? Because Ike, this poster seems like what supporters of Israel say when anyone criticizes the Israeli treatment (genocide?) of the Palestinians, i.e. you can’t say that, we’re the victims of genocide…wah, wah, wah. A crappy tactic indeed.
Outrageous speech is the only kind that needs to be protected.
Pudnit, you no like the Nazi imagery because it damages your delicate senses and makes people feel bad about something that happened 60 years ago? (Will somebody please tell me when we are going to stop being beaten over the head with Holocaust guilt?) What if instead of “this jew” the kid wrote, “Governor Spitzer, being of the Jewish faith, should be cognizant of the fact that people that were once the victims of racist attacks and genocide are sensitive to attacks that they perceive as being borne of the same racism that led to the prior attacks and genocide.”
Geoncide?
please
I’m no fan of schumer, but that sign is ridiculous
What’s funny is indians making nazi comparisons when there’s that indian statue doing he heil hitler pose right before silvercreek on the 90
No. I don’t like Nazi imagery unless the thing for which it’s being used is somehow comparable to what the Nazis actually did. If you’re going to call someone a Hitler, call a very, very evil and bad genocidal lunatic a Hitler. Not Eliot Spitzer. Because Eliot Spitzer is someone with whom one may disagree, but he is not a very, very evil and bad genocidal lunatic.
It has little to do with my “delicate senses” and everything to do with the cheapening of the words “Hitler”, “genocide”, and “Nazi” until they have no meaning whatsoever and are interchangable with “sales tax dispute”.
Why are you calling this Holocaust “guilt”? I don’t think this kid shouldn’t have done this out of any sense of guilt – but out of a sense of protecting the power of words like “genocide”.
At least that would make sense although it wouldn’t fit on a placard.
There are thousands of things that kid could have put on that sign, and I’m pretty confident that the Senecas are capable of stating a political point without resorting to anti-Semitism.
Hey Greg, that’s Spitzer, not Schumer!!! LMAO!!!!!!!
БезбоÑзненный руководитель
ИоÌÑиф ВиÑÑариоÌнович Джугашвили, убил его долю еврейÑтв также, вмеÑте Ñ Ð¼Ð¸Ð»Ð»Ð¸Ð¾Ð½Ð°Ð¼Ð¸ других в его продувках. Имейте руÑÑких Ð½Ð¸ÐºÐ°ÐºÐ°Ñ Ð²Ð¸Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð½Ð¾ÑÑ‚ÑŒ Ð´Ð»Ñ Ñ‚Ð¾Ð³Ð¾?
Perhaps we should enact legislation prohibiting the use of the term genocide except in extreme situations as well as outlaw the caricature of Hitler…….?
There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have.
– Harry S. Truman
No one’s suggesting punishing the kid. But my right to criticize him and his ill-considered sign is as sacred as his right to hoist it.
And, Fearless Leader, Hank’s Cyrillic note is addressed to you.
the buffalo pundit blog is now officially guilty of showing that sign to more people than ever saw it at yesterday’s rally. how come there’s only three pictures of it? let’s see more. we didn’t get the point when it was shown the first time or the second time. maybe if it was blown up yet again… it’s clear that many bigoted whites looking for a reason, however illigitimate, to say bad things about native americans have finally found a local website that caters to them! great job!
It’s actually only two pictures. The second one is blown up.
And to accuse this site of anti-Indian bigotry, or the promotion thereof, is almost as stupid and offensive as that kid’s sign.
Hank, I didn’t know they had those fancy computers at Auto Zone!
With the help of my pet babelfish, I have translated Hank’s Cyrillic note:
Dear Buffalo Pundit posters:
I am a brain-dead pseudo-redneck wingnut hack, who doesn’t even know
that The Onion is satire. Please ignore everything I post from now on.
Thanks,
Hanski
FearlessLeader: I’m Polish Catholic, and you’re allegedly a lawyer so you know what ad homminem means. Just because I disagree with the comparisons to hitler doesn’t mean I agree with the position of the Israeli government…less than impressive logical reasoning.
you’re a clown, and I’m not wasting anymore time with you
alan….i never accused this site of anything, as you well know. clearly, however, some posters with an obvious antipathy for indians previously unrelated to this stupid kid’s stupid sign have seized on your outrage and all out photo spread of — i’ll say it again — ONE STUPID KID HOLDING ONE STUPID SIGN to vent in this space. the kid never killed anybody, he didn’t even rob anybody, yet you’ve chosen to play this as a two-day top of the page story. i can’t imagine that you would infer anything about, say, black people based on one 15-year-old black kid, even if he did kill somebody. not for nothing — hardly a day goes by that some jerk doesn’t call me stupid or offensive or worse — but the lack of news judgement you’ve shown in this matter provides an excellent illustration of the difference between blogs and professional news organizations. you should go back to writing about expensive cars. the piece you had about your friends’ “winter beaters,” all of which were nicer than any car driven by any actual reporter i’m acquainted with, was especially funny. in an unintentional way, of course.
Pundit, you have to love the Nazi uniforms, no? A man of your tastes, so vogue, so urbane, you have to at least admit that.
FYI The Beast was born in Russia, the bastard child of The Exile, http://www.exile.ru. What Hanky Pooh said was basically, “What about Stalin, huh? He killed Jews.” Maybe Hank should thank Stalin once in a while, if Russia didn’t slog it out with Germany we’d probably all be Heiling Hitler to this day.
I love when bright lights like Ike hide behind anonymity when they thrash away with their blunt tools. He calls me a troll in response to my comment and then responds like his feelings were hurt and I didn’t even call him a name. I merely inquired about his standing in the argument. He should also look up big Latin words before he uses them. My comment wasn’t ad hominem. The punk with the sign was simply putting forward a flawed argument akin to one others have made in defense of their positions in the past. Then to impugn clowns in such a thoughtless manner. Sheesh, what is the world coming to?
Mike – this isn’t a news site. It’s an opinion site, and it’s my personal opinion. I don’t purport to break, make, or report news. I comment on news, and on things that interest me and me alone. That’s how this site has always been. I am my own audience.
Fearless Leader – If the Nazis knew one thing it was how to use symbolism and visuals to convey a point, and that includes uniforms. Although, I thought the S.A.’s earlier brown shirts were fugly.
spitzer, schumer. they’re both gun grabbers that I hate so it’s easy to get them confused
The callousness in which many of you refer to the plight of Native American’s clearly demonstrates not only your ethnocentrism, but also your utter hypocrisy. We type away about how “insensitive†this sign is, comparing two seemingly unparalleled events, and as we denounce the “despicable†language, we think nothing of our own bigotry towards them. Many of you, as evidence by your postings, respect not Native culture, not their customs or traditions, and not those treaties entered into by the US government and agreements from the State of New York, with tribes like the Seneca Nation. Ignorance too is a form of bigotry, but that you all seem to be comfortable with.
Genocide is defined as mass murder or extermination, and you’re right, this is not out right genocide, not as defined by Webster, and not as define by the United Nations. But undermining the very core of the Native American economy (if that’s what we can call 10 shops and 2 casinos) IS a form of ethnocide. It suppresses the community and continues them in the downward spiral we’ve seen Indians in for some time. Do any of you know the high school drop out rate of Native Americans? The unemployment rate? Those college educated? The median income? Their life expectancy? Look it up, the numbers will shock you. So what does our government do? The great State of New York, with it’s infinitely wise Democratic governor, whom I love and voted for, breaks agreements, and breaks decency by crushing what little the Seneca have, by telling them they must pay the US government. Are they not a sovereign nation? Have we the right to demand Canada be a tax collection agency for the US? Worse yet, have we the right to tell the Seneca Nation, which has an agreement with the State of New York that the state shall not tax the excise of good and services on Seneca Nation territory, that they must anne-up because our budget his hit hard times? The law, as we agreed to it, and in many instances rigged it, can be found in the Canandaigua Treaty that state the US government shall never “disturb the Senecas in the free use and enjoyment” of their land; the Buffalo Creek Treaty states that the Seneca are free “from all taxes, and assessments for roads, highways, or any other purpose;†and finally the Route 17 agreement between NY and the Seneca states that New York must “encourage and support legislation which, for the purpose of promoting and facilitating industrial development on the Nation’s reservations, provides relief from state taxes, including corporation and excise taxes, for corporations and enterprises which commence commercial activities on the Nation’s reservations.”
What we should be shouting about is not a sign at a rally (does our government monitor signage at our rallies like you suggest the Seneca should?). We ought to be focusing on the infringement of sovereignty, the decimation of a people through economic suppression, and the hate many of you used in referring to a race of people that has nearly been exterminated by the United States government.
Let’s face it, this is an attempt for the Governor to bring in some much needed revenue to fund policies that we simply cannot afford, and since the Seneca are not his constituency he doesn’t care about side stepping the law. And none of you do either, you pay your fair share, why shouldn’t Native Americans? The obliteration of a race clearly isn’t payment enough, the robbery of their land clearly isn’t payment, and their forced removal to reservations clearly isn’t enough. When will those damn Native’s pay their fair share?
Gee, who would have thought that this one picture would have caused such a stir.
One picture is worth, I guess, a thousand words….
Fearless Leader- I graduated cum laude from Cornell Law School, not only do i know what those big latin words mean, I also know how to use them.
have a nice life
And you’re 29 and they’re just words so cut the drama Ike.
I graduated in the bottom third of scrap booking class…
Mike — as soon as the Seneca nation chose this guy and put him (and his sign) behind the speakers and the podium, his sign because theirs.
You are right that if this kid was in the crowd you can’t expect the seneca’s to police the crowd and confiscated any sign they deem inappropriate. However, they brought this guy up to the front of the crown and singled him out and it is far for us to attribute his thoughts as the “official” Seneca stance.
For example — If one sailor had held a sign in the crowd that read “Mission Accomplished” we would have never heard a word, but put it up in the background and — well you know what happened.
nice try, apollo….no just tell me who “picked” this child and positioned him and i’ll run a story about it on the front page of my paper. i mean, if you have that kind of inside knowledge of the seating chart used by the senecas at the rally, you really ought to share it with us.
If I were a betting man I’d say Rocket Jay is an agent for the State Dept. of Taxation and Extortion. Go tell your boyfriend Spitzer he should spend his energy LOWERING taxes (and reduce spending) not just on cigarettes and gasoline but on everything across the board. Also, depriving revenue to the tax dollar “junkies” in Albany….in Buffalo….in Erie County…anywhere in NYS…is everybodys right and should be pursued to the fullest. Anything short of that makes you un-Ameri…..no, French. Or worse, a democrat.
The sign was in poor taste. It’s unfortunate that a logistics blunder like that…some bad decision… can detract from the point of the rally.
Spitzer has a critical decision to make. If the Seneca begin to burn tires on the Thruway and the State Police bring out the riot squads – and national media – Sptizer could demolish his good guy image in one afternoon. Such video footage would haunt him.
Instead of the Sherrif of Wall Street, Spitzer would be become Sherrif Boss Hog sigging the dogs and firehoses on the civil rights protestors.
This nation will not tolerate any more mistreatment of Indians, real or perceived, by Spitzer or anyone.
A seperate point -
The Seneca-Cattaraugus gas and cigarette stations and the Lake Shore-Gowanda Hospital complex – combined- are the biggest economic engine in southern Erie County. Spitzer’s plans will cripple both.
Appalachia, here we come.