First Round
Blame The Media
Editor's note: Harry Kirsbaum can't hide out any longer. His "Last Call" column
has been moved right up to the front of the Jewish News. Although Harry's still the
same, his column required a change in title to reflect its upfront status.
Welcome to "First Round," the new name chosen in an informal office poll that
narrowly edged out Harry's own suggestion, "I'm Over Here Now."
W
...with our
2005 Summer Memberships
(Memorial Day - Labor Day)
Now accepting Bar/Bat Mitzvah reservations.
Contact the Sales Office at 248.352.8000 to take
advantage of all the Club has to offer this summer!
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Student Memberships at Franklin Athletic Club!
so Initiation Fee
•$71 Monthly Dues
OMNI Membership (full privileges including pool
use and a wide variety of programming).
•$22 Monthly Dues
Tennis Membership only.
MORE FIT. MORE REFINED.
5/26
2005
6
29350 Northwestern Hwy
Southfield, MI
248.352.8000
www.franklinclub.com
hat parents
won't do
for their
against an individual with the constant
propaganda that went on officially
against an entire people," Rabbi
Rosenzveig, HMC founder and execu-
tive director, told me the day after the
infamous remark. He said the same
thing to news reporter Rod Meloni
after viewing the speech from the
WDIV-TV news van.
Rabbi Rosenzveig also invited the
mayor and his father to visit the HMC
on Orchard Lake Road. By the time
the WDIV segment aired on the 6 p.m.
news, the mayor's father had already
changed his tune.
"I would never intentionally do or
say anything to trivialize one of the
most grievous atrocities in the history
of the world," he said through a con-
trite written statement. "I apologize
profusely to anyone who was hurt by
my comments."
kids.
Bernard
Kilpatrick, father of
Detroit's Mayor
Kwame Kilpatrick,
defended his son dur-
ing a re-election
HARRY
announcement rally
KIRSBAUM
on May 17 by using
Columnist
an inaccurate and
way-out-of-line
Holocaust reference.
"They had a big lie in Europe," he
said. "A guy by the name of Goering
said that the Jews was responsible for all
the misery that the Germans was hav-
ing.
'And that lie caught on," he said.
"And before it was
all over, 6 million
of them died. Off E
:= : .
of one big lie."
The mayor's
father was refer-
ring to the
unfounded rumor i
about a parry held li.
at the Manoogian 3
mansion in 2002,
involving a fight
between a stripper
and the mayor's
wife.
A 3-year-old
rumor is one thing, Rabbi Rosenzveig watches the taped remarks of the mayor's father.
but let's not forget the
Rabbi Rosennieig said this week that
Lincoln Navigator the mayor leased
he has received apologetic calls from
with city money for double the normal
amount, or the city's credit card expens- the African American community,
which called Bernard Kilpatrick's
es the mayor didn't bother to pay back
statements awkward. But no one from
until the evil news media found out
the mayor's office has requested a visit
about it a couple of weeks ago.
to
the HMC.
Funny how the mayor's father
Besides
the obvious ignorance of the
dredges up rumors people have long
statement, the larger theme is present:
since forgotten and added an analogy
The news media are at fault.
that sent local news reporters to the
At the May 17 ralt, the mayor's
Holocaust Memorial Center in
father
also warned the crowd about the
Farmington Hills for comment, just to
news
media's
influence. "I'm not young,
deflect the blame on the pesky media.
but
if
I
was
a
young black man in this
And the mayor cited the wrong Nazi
city
right
here,
I'd be real afraid right
to boot.
"People should know more about the ,about now," he said.
According to the Detroit Free Press,
Holocaust than they do," said the
the
mayor's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn
HMC's Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, cit-
Cheeks
Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, added at
ing Joseph Goebbels as the Nazi minis-
the
rally,
"Don't let too many people
ter of propaganda, not Hermann
talk
about
yiall's boy."
Goering, Hitler's second-in-command.
What a great way to circle the wag-
"I felt that it was quite insensitive to
ons: Bash the media, refer to Hizzoner
compare an alleged lie about a mayor
as every Detroiter's son, and do it in
such an "Us against Them" way that it
Harry Kirsbaum's e-mail address is
makes you wonder who the "Them"
hkirsbaum@thejewishnews.com.
is. CI