Dangerous totalitarian regimes and more benign banana republics are easy to spot by their tell-tale sign of naming public spaces after political actors who are still alive and still in office (Cuba, Iraq, North Korea, Wayne County, etc...)
This past Friday, Michigan State's Board of Trustees voted to place the glorious name of Dear Leader George Perles and Mrs. Dear Leader atop a plaza in His honor, due to a $500,000 gift that the royal couple donated to the university. It will provide a "public gathering place" next to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building -- a spot where the grateful may pay homage to DLGP and Mrs. DLGP, with the added option of sometimes seeing His immense majestic self in person. Gathering at Dear Leader Plaza will seemingly be free of charge, but His Super Bowl rings and more remote anatomical locations may be kissed for a small fee -- take note Golden Domers.
Students of 1980's political history in either South America or the MSU Athletic Dept will easily sense a familiar storyline. DLGP isn't just your typical "most favored school celebrity," showering cash on the spot of his past glory and justifiably expecting some form of public recognition. No, he is a brand-new voting member of the very board that arranged for Him this honor. Michigan Democrats everywhere must still wet their pants in giddy bursts of laughter and vandalism at what happened in a pre-convention smoke-filled room when they decided to re-enact Caligula's appointing of his horse to the Roman senate and nominated Dear Leader to be their candidate to the MSU Board for the 2006 elections. On Election Day, as some guy said, history repeated itself a second time as farce.
This past Friday, Michigan State's Board of Trustees voted to place the glorious name of Dear Leader George Perles and Mrs. Dear Leader atop a plaza in His honor, due to a $500,000 gift that the royal couple donated to the university. It will provide a "public gathering place" next to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building -- a spot where the grateful may pay homage to DLGP and Mrs. DLGP, with the added option of sometimes seeing His immense majestic self in person. Gathering at Dear Leader Plaza will seemingly be free of charge, but His Super Bowl rings and more remote anatomical locations may be kissed for a small fee -- take note Golden Domers.
Students of 1980's political history in either South America or the MSU Athletic Dept will easily sense a familiar storyline. DLGP isn't just your typical "most favored school celebrity," showering cash on the spot of his past glory and justifiably expecting some form of public recognition. No, he is a brand-new voting member of the very board that arranged for Him this honor. Michigan Democrats everywhere must still wet their pants in giddy bursts of laughter and vandalism at what happened in a pre-convention smoke-filled room when they decided to re-enact Caligula's appointing of his horse to the Roman senate and nominated Dear Leader to be their candidate to the MSU Board for the 2006 elections. On Election Day, as some guy said, history repeated itself a second time as farce.
Dear Leader Plaza will likely mention His majestic and glorious Rose Bowl victory of 1988. Will it also mention His subsequent manipulating of the very elective body on which he now serves and how this led to the absurd exile of His then main rival, the (admittedly pathetic) MSU el-presidente John DiBiaggio? How about the cloud of NCAA sanctions that followed in the wake of His own ouster a few years later at the hands of el-presidente McPherson? Or His threats to file lawsuits against the place He is now entrusted with caring for?
An old Spartan Stadium cheering section needs its voice back: Fire George!
An old Spartan Stadium cheering section needs its voice back: Fire George!
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