They said it couldn\’t happen but it did. Look at the East Village. Look at Georgetown. Look at Waterside. Look at Old Town. Look at nearly any Chinatown; Little Italy; Polish, Mexican, Ethiopian, or Cuban neighborhood. It\’s all one giant interconnected mall now.
Big buisness carpetbaggers are having a field day with New Orleans. It\’s going to be a big, white-washed, faux-neighborhood oriented mall. And if (when?) they succeed and see how \’well\’ they succeeded, where will they set their sights next, for the next great Reconstruction? Two places come to mind: clear the hub of black southern culture (Atlanta) to make way for more sprawling highways and a larger oil pipeline system, or clear the mythic northern mecca of hope (Detroit) to make way for a restructured automobile industry and its employees.
Watching the speech last night, I couldn\’t help but wonder, the way I always do, what would happen if — or rather, what would it take for — people (\”the people\”) just decided we\’re not going to take it anymore, stood up, walked up to our so-called elected officials, and physically removed them from office? From a legal stand point, what are they going to do, shoot all of us? They might start, but if people keep coming forward there\’s got to be a point where they either retreat, give in, or decide it is a full out war on their own people…which reeks of the southern succession. But it\’s already been demonstrated that our civil liberties mean diddly, that the Constitution is good only for butt-wiping (they even took away legally owned guns in Nola; so much for the right to protect yourself and your property–sounds like emminent domain wins out over the second amendment), and that lives mean nothing until big business is at stake.
Australia deported (oh, sorry, REMOVED) some poor American anti-war organizer from Melbourne last week without giving a legal reason. He was just a high school history teacher taking a sabbatical and helping the anti-war movement in Oz while he was there. The Howard government shipped him back to the US and charged him upward of $10,000 for his enforced armed escort and his stay in solitary confinement. People are beasts. There is no escape. The influence is spreading like a virus, and virii don\’t have cures. The only way to stop them is to kill off the host and hope it doesn\’t spread any further, hope that everyone else grows immune. It kind of reminds me of Garland & Boyle\’s 28 Days Later, though not nearly as drastic. If rage was the disease in the film, what would we call it in today\’s reality? My bet would be on Greed vs Sloth.
This is amusing: According to DeadlySins.com, \”the Christian Church assembled a list of seven good works that was included in medieval catechisms.\” They are called \’The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy.\’ \”They are: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, minister to prisoners, and bury the dead.\” Granted, it\’s been more than 10 years since I stepped inside a church, but my Lutheran mother assures me that the above list are seven points that good Christians hold dear.
I propose a new game: every time the Bush administration fails to meet one of The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, call the White House (202-456-1111) to tell the operator that the Bushies are being bad Christians and that as a member of the Moral Minority and/or a keeper of The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, you\’re keeping track. Then tell a friend who isn\’t in the know about the game and have a drink (or two).
The Hitchens vs Galloway fight is on tv tomorrow night. That\’s my big Saturday night right there. A bottle of whisky, two self-important British intellectuals arguing on my television, and praying for some rain. But tonight, ah, tonight–tonight we dance while the city swelters.
