Saturday, July 26, 2008

100 years of investigations


July 26th 2008 - Despite what some of you might think, the US Federal Bureau of Investigations actually exists. It was not created in Holloywood and subsequently featured in about 9 million movies. Exactly 100 years ago today, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the creation of the FBI as a gouvernmental organism in charge of National security. That mission has changed drastically during everyone of the past decade yet a constant remains that coloured people are suspicious (seriously, check 24).

Directly from my upcoming book (hint, hint publishers), here is my list of the 7 most noteworthy events in the FBIs tumultuous history.

1. Bordellos in Chicago (1908-1910) – The first responsibility of the Bureau at the turn of the century was to investigate the trafficking of European females in Urban America. Centering in Chicago and Boston, the FBI discovered and surveyed these illegal prostitution/slavery rings led by organised crime. This led to the passing of the “White Slave Traffic Act” of 1910, banning prostitution.

2. The hunt for Al Capone (1931) – The Italian-American “entrepreneur” famously imported and provided bootleg alcohol for Chicago citizens during the 1920s prohibition. Despite his illegal activities including extortion, racketeering and the organised murder of other gang members, the FBI were never able to gather sufficient proof of his wrongdoings. Stubbornly hell-bent on imprisoning him, the “untouchable” and incorruptible FBI agents of Elliott Ness gathered an elusive paper trail, leading to the arrest and conviction of Capone on charges of tax evasion in 1931.

3. The Lindbergh baby (1932) – Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927. The universal attention this brought him led to the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr. from his crib in 1932; a ransom note was left. President Hoover immediately pledged the help of the FBI who met little luck in their original search. It is only through a cunning plan of paying the kidnapper with marked bills that they tracked down a man called Bruno Hauptmann 2 years later. His trial was covered by worldwide media and rapidly ended with his execution. To this day, suspicions persist as to the validity of Hauptmann’s involvement as he denied it to his death; yet the FBI maintains that they had extensive evidence (such as the ransom money under his bed).4. McCarthyism (1950s) – Pioneered by senator Joseph McCarthy and greatly supported by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. This movement fostered an era of American paranoia and rampant anti-communism. All those suspected of soviet affiliations or communist tendencies were hastily rounded up and aggressively interrogated by the FBI. Needless to say, few of those investigated were spies yet their personal and professional lives were destroyed. It was a dark period for the FBI as the Freedom of Information act of 1975 exposed. Illegal phonetaps, opening private mail and organised theft were among the FBI actions condoned and used at the time that led to the arrest of important people such as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller and Orson Welles. Freedom of opinion and ideology eventually overtook the discriminatory policies of the FBI and McCarthyism.

5. Siege of Waco, Texas (1993) – Cult leader David Koresh and his Davidian followers locked themselves in a ranch near Waco, Texas. Alleging the Davidians had illegal firearms, gouvernment officials raided the ranch; this prelude to the siege killed 4 officers and 6 cult members. The following 51-day siege was a media frenzy analysing the duel between Koresh inside and the FBI outside. Despite agile negotiations, the siege only ended when the FBI inadvertently set fire to the compound. 76 people burned alive in that ranch on live television.

6. The Unabomber (1978-1995) – Theodore Kaczynski, for a long time, was the model definition of a terrorist. Carefully sending 16 mail bombs over the course of 18 years, he terrified the American people. The FBI spent millions finding Kaczynski, going through the thousands of leads that were being phoned in daily due to the lack of a clear picture of him or of any real evidence. The culprit promised more deaths if his anarchist manifesto wasn’t published in 1995. Newspapers and officials agreed and the diffusion of this piece of evidence directly led to his identification and arrest.

7. Sept. 11th (2001) – With 3000 dead and another 7000 injured, the terrorist hijackings of 4 American chartered planes and their subsequent crash in the Pentagon and World Trade Center is the deadliest terrorist attack ever perpetrated on American soil. Although no agency was able to prevent such an occurrence, the FBI provided the names and pictures of the hijackers mere hours after the fact. The following investigation involved over 7000 agents who identified Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist group Al-Qaida as the culprits of the human tragedy. Theirs was a morose and difficult task as they identified who did it from overseas yet had to leave the rest to the CIA.

(Pictured: Al Capone - The emblem of the FBI - the Waco massacre)

End.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Hard day's celebration

July 17th 2008 – Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles will be presenting his only show of 2008 in North America this Sunday. Performing in Quebec City, Canada, it will be the first and probably the last time any Beatle ever plays in the old city. Despite the overwhelming honour of having Mr. McCartney play for them during the celebration of their 400th anniversary, residents and elected officials of the French-Canadian sub-nation are boisterously complaining.

That’s right, although it is probably only representative of a few zealous nationalists, many Quebec citizens, mostly artists, have written a passionate (which means very, VERY long) public letter saying that the British performer will represent all that was wrong with the English conquest of New France in the 1760s. Furthermore, they say that having Paul on Quebec City’s historic Plains of Abraham will be a boot to the face of the historic battle that occurred there in 1759 (which the French lost in less than an hour due to drinking and sleeping in). Freedom of opinion is a grand tradition; it permits the sensible and critical-minded ones of us to express concern while providing the others a means to embarrass themselves and entertain us. This freedom does not apply to our elected officials.

Three members of the Quebec parliament (Pierre Curzi, Daniel Turp and Martin Lemay) have endorsed the open letter demanding Sir McCartney not to show up due to the pervasive nature of his Mother tongue. These men are deprived of any private life or personal opinion for the duration of their mandate. This is not only my opinion as a citizen and elected representative of my student community and city but also it is a political reality in the post-WW2 era. The Members of Parliament are elected to speak and embody the preoccupations of their electors, not to influence them. In this case, their electors are saying “HOLY S*** PAUL F****** MCCARTNEY IS COMING HERE!?!?” and not “it’s tragic how this artist is from The United Kingdom, the very same country who conquered us many centuries ago and has passively tried to assimilate our culture ever since. I protest this event and will now listen to some light French elevator music”. I am usually very polite but these politicians must take their head out of their behinds and poke it outside to see and hear the people once in a while. I seriously hope these buffoons will not be reelected when everyone sees their arrogance and disinterest in the people they supposedly represent.

I would usually try to expose and somewhat justify the argument of the nationalists but this time, it is so ridiculous that I can do nothing but berate it with ridicule. Firstly, the 400th anniversary celebrations of Quebec City seem to reflect a general current in Canadian History. It is what the Germans would call Schultzkultur (Identity of guilt) or what Canadian author Granatstein described as a telling of our faults, mistakes and wrongdoings as a national history (in his book “Who Killed Canadian History?”). Not only must they relive events of failure, war, death and destruction from centuries ago, but the nationalists insists that no fun may be had today because of this. In an interview, the former Beatle seemed as confused as I was about the argument, stating that if it was a valid concern: “ I would never go to Germany and Germans would never come to Britain”. This comment may help the Quebec politicians reassess their self-importance and their willingness to say anything to be in a newspaper.

As a result, I am sure that the 12 or so ultranationalists that believe going to McCartney’s concert (a free outdoor concert I might add) is equal to giving XVIIIth century French King Louis XIV a slap in the face will remain home, sit down in front of a Canadian flag and scold it with cringed faces. The other 700,000 people of the city will happily flock to this once in a lifetime event, promptly forgetting it has ANYTHING to do with history. Good for them; happy concert and happy 400th birthday of progress, happiness and successes to Quebec City.

(Pictured: Battle on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 where the evil British conquered the ill-prepared French - The invader)

End.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Wedding Edition

July 5th 2008 - Optimism is often reckless and in an effort of general laziness, a lack of news and the fact that I got married this weekend, this week’s blog will instead be a link to the site www.mentalfloss.com, as taken by cnn.com. Here is an interesting historical background of all things wedding. My favourite is the bouquet toss.

(Here is the link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/06/27/
wedding.traditions/index.html?iref=newssearch
)

Have a nice week and sleep tight until the world ends next week.

(Pictured: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's 1840 wedding - a bouquet)

End.