Enablers: a Venezuelan tycoon, a District Attorney (Mike Nifong) and journalists (protecting Tank Johnson)
Enablers of the Month:
Venezuelan Shipping tycoon Wilmer Ruperti who, along with other well-connected businessmen known as “Boliburgueses—Bolivarian bourgeoisie, helped Hugo Chavez steal the latest Venezuelan election. Like so many supporters of Josef Stalin, we might predict that Ruperti and others of his ilk will later suffer horribly. Eighteen-year-old whiskeys are reportedly the rage in Caracas, clogged with Hummers and top-of-the-line SUVs, while four out of 10 Venezuelans scrape by on less than $2 a day. According to Gustavo Coronel in a report published by the Cato Institute, in just one small sign of massive corruption 95% of all public contracts are now awarded without competitive bidding. Chavez “won”over 60% of the vote in a country of 26 million people, 60% of whom are too young to register, in which 17 million voted. We might add “uses convoluted math to achieve and maintain positions of power”to the list of signs and symptoms of alcoholism detailed in How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics.
District Attorney Mike Nifong, who did not return reporters’ phone calls asking for his comment on the fact that DNA testing in the Duke lacrosse rape case found genetic material from several males in the accuser’s body and underwear, but none from even one team member. Defense attorneys complained in court papers that the exculpatory evidence conducted for the prosecution by a private lab was not disclosed in reports provided by prosecutors to the defense. The defense understatedly commented, “This is strong evidence of innocence in a case in which the accuser denied engaging in any sexual activity in the days before the alleged assault…and claimed that her attackers did not use condoms and ejaculated.”The woman accused three lacrosse team members of gang-rape, offering at least a dozen different versions of her story including dramatically differing accounts of the numbers of attackers and the ways in which she was supposedly attacked. If you detect my unmitigated disgust with the prosecution in this case, I plead “guilty.â€
Journalists reporting on the arrest of Chicago Bears’ defensive tackle Tank Johnson, 25, arrested for weapons violations after his home was raided by police, his third arrest in 18 months and eighth visit by law enforcers in the past 30 months. Out on bail, two days later Johnson was at a nightclub with long-time friend, ex-con and body-guard Willie B. Posey, 26, who was fatally shot in a scuffle. Posey, who was also arrested at Johnson’s home on felony drug charges and out on bail, told the mother of his new baby that he was going to work and was going to get drunk, suggesting that he would be drinking while working as Johnson’s bodyguard at the nightclub. In a classic case of addicts entangling with each other, Michael Selvie, 34, a “reputed gang member”whose criminal record contains 30 arrests and seven felony convictions, most of which were drug-related, was arrested for the shooting. Journalists have euphemized Johnson’s “problems”with words and phrases such as a “history of questionable decisions,””poor decisions,””his latest display of questionable decision-making,””latest indiscretion,””a pattern of off-the-field mistakes,”the Bears’ reputations “could be sullied by Johnson’s actions,”and the Bears request that Johnson “provide them with a list of lifestyle alterations he needs to make.”How about focusing on the fact that a Cook County judge ordered Johnson in 2005 to participate in a drug and alcohol evaluation”and admit that his serial poor judgment is most likely rooted in alcoholism? Or, addressing the inexcusable fact that a year and a half later, Johnson has not completed the evaluation? Only by addressing the root of problems can they be truly solved. Everything else”including the death of his best friend”is but a symptom.
A couple of those symptoms rarely mentioned by anyone, including journalists, are animal and neighbor abuse. Six of the visits by police related to his dogs, three pit bulls. Neighbors reported incessant barking, filthy conditions and a fowl stench, all coming from Johnson’s backyard, where he kept the pit bulls in cages. A neighbor kept a video journal and said the dogs were outside all the time whether hot or cold and frequently not given food or water for days. The neighbor said he hadn’t been able to use his backyard for the last 2 ½ years, describing his situation as a “living hell.”Animal control confirmed much of the neighbors’ complaints. In addition, garbage piled up around Johnson’s house because he refused to pay the bill from Waste Management. The raid on his house occurred because Posey fired a shot at one of the barking dogs on November 4, prompting a call to 911. Further confirmation of the enabling of journalists is that this information was very difficult to find.
By the way, authorities were trying to determine a motive for the killing. Message to law enforcers: if there is alcohol and other-drug addiction, no other motive is required.