On June 02, 2010, Lisa Loving had Alan Graf (Portland's "Hippi Lawyer") on her KBOO talk show as a guest - describing his experience with the Portland Police Department's very own Nazi sympathizer, Capt. Kruger. It seems that the good Captain got married at Hitler's summer villa in Germany, and he put together a memorial park for fallen Nazi soldiers in S.E. Portland. Alan Graf had other pertinent information to share: Saprize! saprize! Would ya believe it?! There seems to be extensive video and other testimony which documents Capt. Kruger's intolerance for diversity, and/ or for the "left" (anyone to the left of Hitler or Genghis Khan?) and his frequent, "gleeful" use of excessive violence. Who woulda thought?! Nazis, as I recall, weren't especially known for a kindlier, gentler approach - rather they retain a reputation as bullies and thugs and as fanatic racists. I would fail to see how Capt. Kruger could make any Portland citizen feel any safer. I also wonder if at least some of Kruger's fellow officers don't feel ambivalent about Kruger's status, because they must be tempted to question whether or not Kruger enhances citizen respect for its police force and/or jeopardizes their safety on the job.
(Source - http://portland.indymedia.org/
Becky Chiao had ruffled a number of KBOO's members because of comments she made when she called into Lisa Loving's talk show to defend Kruger. Of some interest to many KBOO members is the fact that Becky Chiao, until this Monday's board meeting, was the President of the KBOO board of directors. Becky spoke only for a few moments, but Becky's statements - on air and in a letter she later posted on KBOO's website - reveal more about her than I think she meant to divulge. (The audio recording of that show and Becky's letter can be found here: http://kboo.fm/node/21803 )
Becky Chiao called in to the program and defended Kruger and stated
"it is just an innocent hobby of his"; she thought Alan shouldn't deny Kruger his right to his own "ideology", "lifestyle", or "hobby".
Sorry, some of us citizens think that it is our right - even our DUTY - to insist that politicians and public servants SERVE only at our pleasure, and their ideologies are very much our business, especially since Capt. Kruger has been known to take out his ire upon peace demonstrators - types whose contrasting ideology is often that of Gandhi.
In Portland, I suspect that many taxpayers - as taxpayers - would like to exercise their right to cancel any future paychecks made out in the Capt.'s name. Unfortunately, as Beckie reminded Portland in a letter posted to KBOO (thank you Beckie!), Portland's oblivious political leadership has not taken any action about Kruger; Vera Katz and Police Chief Rosie Sizer, in particular, put their stamp of approval upon Kruger, so that fine officer, sic, remains a stain on Portland's police force.
(I will not hesitate to say, "Shame on Vera and Rosie!" I fully expect that this Kruger decision, among other decisions by Portland's political leadership, will eventually cost the City of Portland ever more in the way of out of court settlements to victims of police violence.)*
Certainly, right now with a city budget strained by a recession, Portland should question whether it can afford Capt. Kruger.
It may be relevant that Becky works for the Police Department in Risk Management. It is also relevant, I think, that Becky admits that she is "pretty conservative", and that she personally admires Vera & Rosie as "strong" women.
Given the lap dog status of our corporate media, some of us think that our independent media is more important now than ever before, and that our "watch dog' should, therefore, be ever more vigilant.
IMO, Beckie's avowed "admiration" for Portland's political leadership betrayed a certain lack of objectivity - much less a spirit of persistent inquiry. Left, right, and center - there's many in Portland who think that the media's first loyalty should be to all of Portland's citizens, black, white, and gay - NOT its politicians.
In Becky's letter, she described her remarks on air as an attempt to be "fair and reasonable" about Capt. Kruger. Sorry, I think its far from reasonable to look upon Kruger's Nazi fascination/admiration as "an innocent hobby" - if I may say so, I think it's insane. If a private citizen belonged to a white supremest group - one would hope that our police or the FBI would be keeping a close eye on him. Some of us think Kruger and any other Nazi lover in the Portland police force should return to civilian life so the proper authorities can more easily keep track of them.
Beckie's exceptional respect for leading political figures - feminine or not - and her "conservatism" are traits which I think jeopardizes her ability to be an aggressive watchdog for the public interest. For instance, Beckie had praise in her letter that Portland's Police Force has won awards for their excellence; some of Portland citizens look askance at an award for a city:
(Source link to www.portlandcopwatch.org )
- - where in the last year, an autistic teen was tasered,
- - where, in the last 8 years, there has been 4 police killings of an unarmed black man,
- - where 3 people in 5 years have been shot in the back by a police sniper while they were talking to a police negotiator.
In this Orwellian era I think any reward for "excellence" should automatically make us suspicious; haven't Obama and Kissinger both received the Nobel Peace Prize?! Just as the corporate media's endorsement of any - usually well funded - candidate should cause the prescient voter to write that particular candidate off our list, so, too, we citizens of Portland should not become less vigilant because of any such "award".
That Becky's contribution to the media's watchdog role is questionable, is one thing, but to have nearly every sitting board member come to her defense - not only excusing her lapse of judgment - but praising her as "courageous" and "open minded" is quite another.*** I'm sure that Becky is probably a very pleasant person to work with, but I would insist that Becky's ability to make positive contributions to an independent media outlet is mediocre at best.
Again I'll quote the wise gnome: "...the respected intellectuals< http://www.chomsky.info/
In his own words Alan Graf says:
"Captain Kruger has a free speech right to his hobby !?! How about the right to abuse his authority and wreak violence on people exercising their right to free speech? Guess that's ok." Personally, I'd feel more comfortable if Alan Graf were on KBOO's Board.
Kathleen Bushman aka the Big Mouthed Frog
PS Becky - the Nazi Apologist resigned her office as KBOO Foundation President but still continues as KBOO's Nazi apologist Director. Is that what the members wanted when they elected her ?
*** This profuse praise for Becky littered KBOO's last board meeting of 7-26th, 2010.
