Clinging to the curtains

Peter Kirsanow, one of the long-suffering commissioners on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, was probably very much looking forward to the expiration of Chairman Mary Frances Berry's term at the stroke of midnight Sunday.

Unfortunately for Kirsanow, his fellow Republicans on the commission and our nation, Berry is pulling one of her famous stunts to try to cling desperately to power until January 21st, 2005. This is not the first time Berry has made a power play, either. In her 25 years on the commission, 12 as chairman, she has managed to take a promising entity and make it a laughing stock.

The dictatorial grip that Berry has on this commission has only served to kill it and any hope she might have had for even a smidgen of power -- and more importantly, respect.

It's a shame.

Let's hope that once she has been peeled from the curtains she currently clings to that there is something salvageable for, say, a Chairman Kirsanow to restore.