Burning Bridges

Special thanks to Countdown with Keith Olbermann for covering this story tonight. (You can also read about it here.) In short, the picture above is of the 2007 United States Women's Champion Bridge Team, taken last month in Shanghai, China. The USBF (link here) has, on their website, detailed minutes of the board meetings where conditions and punishments were determined.

Olbermann had a lot of blood boiling stories tonight (probably not helped by my quad grande mocha, no whip) but this one really, REALLY pissed me off. Below is the e-mail that I fired off to the USBF president and Board of Directors. Basically, it's long distance Homo Thunder.


To: janmartel@comcast.net, board@usbf.org
From: Me
Re: The USBF Un-American Activities Committee


Sir or Madam,

I have recently learned of the Shanghai incident concerning the Women's Bridge Team and the USBF's response to said incident. The harshness and swiftness of the USBF is, in my opinion, wholly unnecessary and contrary to what an organization hoping to place U.S. players at an olympic table, in the future, should aspire to.

After having read thru the by-laws of your organization, (and other membership information pages), I was unable to find any such paragraph, sentence or notation that might grant the organization the ability to restrict the actions, speech or comportment of any level of membership. In fact, the assertion by Ms. Martel, that "...private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them...," is a heavy-handed sentiment intended to chill any future dissent.

The USBF (United States Bridge Federation), an organization which, in its own by-laws, details the ultimate goal of advocation for olympic recognition of the game of bridge, cannot then turn on its heels and insist that it wishes to promote top-level United States citizen players, so long as those citizen players don't act as citizens by exercising one of the most basic rights granted us some 219 years ago with the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America (March 4, 1789).

Unfortunately for Ms. Martel, this is, in fact, a free speech issue. Your organization should, as one representing not only the best American players, but also the beliefs, values and idealism of the United States, apologize to the players in question, and put this incident behind them, upon committing to be a harbinger of quintesentially American values.

I feel I should mention also that, until tonight, I had never heard of the United States Bridge Federation. I know I was in the majority of U.S. citizens, as far as this is concerned. If an appeal to your better judgement (as made above) is seemingly unsuccessful, let me then appeal to your federation on the basis of repairing your damaged public relations. You can opt to stick to your guns on this issue, allowing it to play out in the public forum (your organization is already negatively tainted, thus far). This tactic, as you are no doubt aware, did not work so well for another organization in another recently hyped incident between Ellen DeGeneres and the pet adoption agency she utilized. And there weren't even Constitutional implications in that situation.

Or you can make a statement about how the USBF, an organization with a diverse membership, may not always agree with every member but will never act against their membership, with regard to action, statement or comportment while representing the United States in competition.

Most Sincerely,

Me