Month: January 2009

January 30, 2009

A guest editorial from Steve Downs, an appeal to our new President Obama to right the wrongs of the previous administration and defend the Bill of Rights

Note: The original petition is complete and has been sent.
Sign similar petitions here.

It’s funny how life works out sometimes. Attorney Steve Downs has done many positive things during his adult life, things that have helped make our world and our community a better place to live. And now that he’s retired from the State he is busier than ever.

For the latter part of his State career Steve headed a panel that reprimanded and removed bad judges from the bench. Like the removal of Albany City Court judge Cheryl Coleman, much to everyone’s relief. Or the two serious reprimands delivered to the startlingly corrupt Supreme Court justice Joseph Teresi, who is too politically protected to be removed. But Teresi could not ignore the message.

You know what? If I ever purposely commit a heinous crime, I’ll hire Coleman to defend me in court. She’s a vigorous defense lawyer who gets depraved killers sprung on vague technicalities. But if I’m ever falsely or unjustly arrested, Steve Downs will be the first name that will come to my mind.

Protesters At The FBI Fortress On McCarty Avenue, March 2004

Among Steve’s current retirement projects are several Save the Pine Bush (SPB) court cases, which he has pursued enthusiastically. Most people are not aware of how desperate are these SPB cases, fought to protect our local environment, but directly applicable to the entire State and beyond. Steve has brought new insight to SPB’s lawsuits, and helped open up new possibilities for protection of the Pine Bush ecosystem.

Most people don’t know any of that. Steve can save 30 kindergartners from a burning school bus, find a cheap and simple cure for cancer, put on a spandex super hero suit and bring the Bush administration to justice. No matter what he does, it will pale in comparison to his greatest accomplishment.

Now and forever, Steve Downs will always be known as THE GUY WHO REFUSED TO TAKE OFF HIS T-SHIRT AT PYRAMID CROSSGATES MALL.

For the ten people or so on the other side of the world who don’t recall, in January of 2003 Steve and his son were strolling among the shoplifters and gangbangers who roam the corridors of Pyramid Crossgates Mall. Without any warning, two security guards, following explicit orders from the Pyramid executives, confronted and essentially assaulted Steve in a public area of the mall.

The Pyramid guards told Steve to take off his “offensive” t-shirt or leave the mall. The shirt read “Give Peace A Chance.” In a split second decision, he did the right thing and refused. The silly-ass Guilderland Police were called in and Steve was promptly arrested and put in handcuffs.

Steve Downs And His Famous T-Shirt

It’s hard to remember today, but back in 2003 the bland phrase “Give Peace A Chance” was massively politically incorrect. We were in the flaccid grip of America’s elite Neocon enemies, who were at that time attempting to quickly overthrow the United States Constitution. Big corporations and their media, local, state and federal cops, Republicans and their Democrats, all were working together to impose corporate fascism on our nation.

All Steve did was say no, sort of like Rosa Parks did. But like Rosa Parks Steve was not alone, there were well-organized people who were waiting for someone like him to come along. Understand that these things almost never happen by accident. Rosa Parks had the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Steve had the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) to publicize the famous political assaults against them.

For the past six years I’ve mentioned Steve’s name to hundreds of people in conversation. Most look blank until I say “He’s the guy who refused to take off his shirt at Crossgates.” Every single person without exception easily remembers the incident. "Oh yeah, that was bad. You know that guy?" The fiasco is etched in the American mind, as well it should be.

Steve is a modest guy, not someone who looks for attention. I can easily imagine him wincing at being compared to Rosa Parks. Well, too bad Steve. What you did was very, very important, a story that needs to be told and retold.

Pyramid executives, facing approbation from the entire world (thanks to the then new internet) shamefacedly dropped their charges against Steve. Several local politicians, most notably assemblyman Jack McEneny, announced that they would introduce legislation to deal with abuse of public space inside malls, but of course they did nothing. And the only person to suffer was the security guard who obediently had Steve arrested. He was fired from his job.

Oh, and the politically incorrect t-shirt is now being carefully preserved by the New York State Museum.

Kathy Manley Reading A Banned Book

Okay, Steve Downs is not supposed to be the main subject of this post. One of Steve’s retirement projects is the false arrest and imprisonment of former Albany Imam Yassin Aref and of pizza shop owner Mohammed Hossain. Along with fellow attorney Kathy Manley, Steve has worked hard on their trial and appeal. And both are leading members of the support group for the two Muslim men in prison and for their families who are still here in Albany.

Time out for a clarification. Yassin Aref did NOT see or even hear about the FBI’s famous half-dismantled rocket launcher before his false arrest. Nor did he ever hear a single word about plots against the Pakistani ambassador or anything else like that. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant or a liar.

Mr. Hossain briefly saw the device across a room among a jumble of crap presented by a criminal con artist named Malik who had spent the last four months setting him up for the FBI. Not that seeing someone else hold up a rocket launcher is a crime. Hell, in some states you can legally purchase and possess rocket launchers. Unless of course you are not morally fit to own such a weapon. But I don’t recall ever hearing that watching someone else hold up such a weapon is a "terroristic" act.

You see, other than the silly 17 second video of the scam artist Malik pulling out the partial rocket launcher for Mr. Hossain, there was no evidence to convict these men. Nothing.

Since this quick showing of an unfamiliar weapon was the only evidence, that makes Mr. Hossain the “terrorist” and not Mr. Aref. Both were given equal sentences of 15 years, but were sent to vastly different prisons. So… why is Mr. Hossain the “terrorist,” the only one of the two who actually saw the weapon, confined to a medium security prison in New Jersey, and Mr. Aref who saw nothing illegal is in an extraordinary super high security ethnically segregated former death row in Indiana?

Obviously, “terrorism” is not the reason for their unconstitutional imprisonment. The degree of punishment doled out to each of the men reveals convincingly that this entire Bush administration legal farce is pure political harassment. Nothing more.

We are definitely not safer because of this unamerican injustice. We are all much less secure, and all of us should be very alarmed.

Albany Supporters Of Aref And Hossain Outside The Federal Courthouse In NY City, March 2008

So, you might ask, if there was no evidence, why did Steve Downs and Kathy Manley and all the other lawyers who volunteered their time, why did they lose both the trial and the appeal? Are they lousy lawyers?

That brings us to the heart of the matter. The only way to convict these men was by introducing secret evidence that neither the jury or the defense lawyers were allowed to see. Secret evidence. Take our word for it. You can trust the Bush administration to tell the truth.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which is a department of the White House in Washington DC, and a Bush appointed vicious clown of a federal prosecutor named Glen Suddaby, used this case to undermine a basic principle of law that goes back essentially unchanged to medieval England. The principle is this: secret evidence is no evidence. If you can’t present your evidence in a public courtroom, then you cannot charge or convict.

The legal term for this principle is habeas corpus. The US Constitution is perfectly clear about this, only the most terroristic America haters would dispute habeas corpus. But unfortunately, terroristic America haters like Glen Suddaby, who is now a federal judge, are deeply imbedded in our deeply dysfunctional federal justice system. And the FBI, which derives all of it’s power and legitimacy from the person of the President, has demonstrated a hatred of and ready willingness to overthrow the US Constitution.

How can a lawyer fight secret evidence? At least three times during the trial, the idiot judge told the jury "There were good and valid reasons for the FBI to target Yassin Aref." This ranks among the most utterly stupid and blatantly anti-american comments ever delivered by a sitting federal judge during a trial.

What about the jury? I asked Steve several times about the carefully selected jury, why were they so foolish? I mean, if I was on that jury (no way) it might have hung 11 to 1, but there wouldn’t have been any convictions without evidence. Not that day. What was their problem, why did these spineless wimps on the jury allow themselves to be manipulated by America’s enemies in the courtroom?

At first Steve was annoyed with my question, but eventually he realized that it was a serious inquiry. He finally explained, “The jury could see that there was no evidence of ‘terrorism,’ but at the end of the day they said to themselves, ‘But what if they really are terrorists? Better safe than sorry.’ You have to understand the mood of the times, how badly people were frightened by nine eleven.”

Funny, I was not terribly upset the day that nine eleven was happening, I’d been expecting something like that to happen for some time. I was actually relieved that it wasn’t worse, a “nuke in a suitcase” as a friend of mine had been talking about. But I became bug eyed terrified by the reaction to nine eleven, the pointless wars, the censorship, the nullification of the Bill of Rights, and most of all the public paralysis as our nation was being beaten to death by our "leaders."

Kathy Manley, Steve Downs, Daily Gazette Columnist Carl Strock, Albany Mosque President Shamshad Ahmad
Promoting Yassin Aref’s Extraordinary Autobiography at the Spencertown Festival of Books

Fine, but who cares about the rights of a couple of foreign immigrants? Well, once the political elites have effectively eliminated habeas corpus from the Constitution they can use secret evidence against YOU.

Imagine this scene. Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings finds out that not only did you not vote for His preferred candidate in the last election, you’ve been supporting His biggest political enemy Dominick Calsolaro with monetary contributions and volunteer time. Clearly, The Mayor needs to make an example of you as a warning to others.

So Jerry Jennings calls up some of His buddies in the Republican Party, “C’mon, help me out here.” In exchange for unknown favors from Jerry, Federal Judge Glen Suddaby makes arrangements to have YOU charged with terrorism. Next thing you know you are in a courtroom feeling very helpless because you can’t see the evidence against YOU… or even if there is any evidence.

YOU are now in big trouble. If you are lucky, Jerry Jennings will have a little talk with you before the trial ends. “How about you lay off bugging Me, and stop supporting that a–hole Calsolaro. Tell you what. Make Me a promise, and I’ll talk to the judge. Maybe that secret evidence will go away.”

Unthinkable? Maybe five years ago, but not any more. The Aref/Hossain mistrial makes this scenario all too possible.

The Media At The Book Announcement. At The Same Time The News Was Breaking About Eliot Spitzer’s Smearing By The Bush White House. Most Of The Media People Present Chose To Stay

Here’s the problem today. There are no more appeals left for these guys except the US Supreme Court. I hear Kathy Manley is working on that, but even she acknowledges that’s almost hopeless. Everybody knows that the Supreme Court contains five Republican Party hacks who hate the US Constitution, and who put their party before their country.

So the only thing left is to knock on the door of the royal palace and beg the emperor for mercy. That’s what this petition is all about. It’s not asking President Obama for a pardon for Mr. Aref and Mr. Hossain. It is asking the President to review the process that convicted these men, and to take a hard look at the issues and motivations and personalities that created this farce. That’s all.

Right now the President is looking hard at the Justice Department that he inherited from America’s enemies. Scandal has been brewing for years over there, barely suppressed with great effort by Bush and his handlers. We’ll be hearing plenty more about the US Attorney Scandal in the next year.

Steve Downs has written a hell of a header on this petition for the President to read. It’s a very elegant piece of writing. Please read it. And sign, not for these two unlucky immigrants, but for yourself. Yesterday they came for Mr. Aref and Mr. Hossain, tomorrow they will come for YOU.

 

Dear President Obama and Attorney General Holder:

We join with the consensus of people who believe that upon taking office you must move swiftly to close Guantanamo, end warrantless electronic surveillance, and prevent the U.S. from engaging in further torture. These fundamental errors arose because the Justice Department succumbed to post-9/11 hysteria and set aside the Constitution and a long legal tradition of due process and respect for human rights to sanction illegal government policies aimed primarily against Muslims.

Yassin Aref Last Month In Terre Haute

The fundamental errors of the Justice Department did not stop just at international issues such as Guantanamo and torture, but continued into domestic prosecutions of Muslims based on suspicion of possible future criminal activity, rather than on actual crimes committed. Obviously, prosecuting innocent people because of suspicion that they might commit crimes in the future is highly illegal, and violates the Constitution and our legal tradition in the same way as the Bush Administration’s policy on torture or Guantanamo violates it. That these prosecutions were directed at a particular religious group – Muslims – makes the errors all the more offensive to American notions of justice. We ask you to review these prosecutions.

Project SALAM is an internet project, whose web address is listed above, dedicated to recording and documenting the Justice Department’s illegal abuses against the Muslim community after 9/11. On our website we have listed approximately 400 cases that we believe may have resulted in injustice – and the number keeps growing. Rather than provide you with massive amounts of material showing this abuse, we are including with this letter only a sample of newspaper columns from around the country showing how independent newspaper reporters reacted to some of the phony, over-hyped, under-proved prosecutions of Muslims that have occurred around the country. If this material does not convince you that an investigation is necessary, we will be happy to provide more.

The abuses in the prosecution of innocent Muslims have not received the same publicity or scrutiny that Guantanamo or the torture policy have, but they have resulted in equally serious or even greater abuses. We believe that large numbers of innocent or overcharged Muslims are serving long prison terms based on illegal and unconscionable prosecution tactics, where the prosecutors knew or believed that the defendants were not guilty of any crime or were not guilty to the extent prosecuted. If an independent inspector were to examine the files of these cases, he or she would discover memos indicating that the prosecutions were begun not because the prosecutors believed the defendants had committed crimes, but at best because they believed the defendants were suspicious or might commit crimes in the future, and at worst because they believed that a successful prosecution might intimidate the Muslim community, or boost approval of the administration at the polls, or justify the large budgets given to law enforcement after 9/11, or lead to the “cooperation” of the target defendant against other suspicious targets. In many instances, no criminal activity would have existed at all but for the fictional conspiracies or terrorist plots created by the prosecutors themselves.

Often the charges and the proof against the defendants rely on guilt by association and on the demonizing of free speech and lawful activities. Some of the common factors in these prosecutions have been the use of illegal wiretaps, secret evidence withheld from the defense, and entrapment of the defendants using criminals hired as "informants" to suggest activities for which the defendants had no predisposition. Prosecutors have intimidated juries with fear tactics, hyped pretrial press conferences, exaggerated security precautions at trial, mistranslated documents, introduced phony expert testimony, and admitted irrelevant but prejudicial material as “evidence.” The defendants, once convicted, have often been sent to a special Muslim prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Communication Management Unit (CMU), where their ability to communicate with the outside world has been severely restricted, and they are given minimal or no services that are normally afforded prisoners in other jails.

Mohammed Hossain At His Arrest

Many of the questionable prosecutions originated in a special terrorism unit in Washington which used warrantless NSA material to illegally generate suspicion and target individuals. Because the NSA material has been deemed secret, it could not be challenged or revealed to the defendants to show it was unreliable or false. (In the same way, the Justice Department classified secret legal memos that led to the establishment of Guantanamo, secret rendition, torture, and other abuses so that none of it could be challenged and shown to be false.)

Where it is known that a certain government agent committed perjury in some cases to obtain convictions, it is an established practice to appoint an independent investigator to examine all of the cases in which the agent testified to determine if the agent committed perjury in the other cases as well. Here it is beyond question that the Bush Administration engaged in highly illegal tactics to punish innocent people, mostly Muslims, in places like Guantanamo, and it is a matter of this country’s honor as well as justice for the victims to examine all of the cases in which such injustices may have occurred, including domestic cases.

All around the country, groups have been formed (by Muslims and non-Muslims) to protest particular cases of injustice, and these groups may send you information about the particular injustices they have observed. But tragically, in many cases the U.S. government’s tactics of scapegoating the Muslim community were successful, and no groups were formed to protest or advocate for wrongly prosecuted Muslims. It is especially for these cases of injustice that we ask that an independent investigation be conducted. Neither appointed defense counsel nor the courts can successfully protect innocent people when the government covers up its illegal acts by secrecy. Only a reformed Justice Department, which conducts an investigation of these cases by an independent counsel, can clean the stain of injustice from its record of abuse against the Muslim community in America.

You may contact us at any of the addresses below.
Yours very truly,

Stephen Downs Esq., lawyer, 26 Dinmore Road, Selkirk NY. 12158; (518) 767-0102; swdowns68@aol.com

Note: The original petition is complete and has been sent.
Sign similar petitions here.

If you are Interested in a copy Of Yassin Aref’s autobiography "Son Of Mountains, My Life As A Kurd And A Terrorist" there are still some copies available here.

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January 25, 2009

The Day Before The Inauguration

More people than ever, but hardly any politicians make the
annual short march across Lincoln Park to the King Statue

The other day a friend said to me, “I never hear about these Martin Luther King events in your neighborhood, at the Rockefeller Plaza, or afterwards at one of the schools. I don’t see them advertised anywhere. How come?”

Well, I could have lectured my friend about how the local corporate media makes a special point of not informing the public about upcoming events. But I didn’t this time. I can assure you that my friends have heard more than enough of this stuff from me.

Word of the M.L King events does get out every year, through churches, unions and governmental workplaces. All of the local and state politicians are somehow magically aware of the events. As usual, I saw no public announcements ahead of time, not even an email. Despite this information suppression, people like me do show up.

Waiting With The Parking Guy

Every year, the ceremonies start in the dismal auditorium under The Egg, where a sparse and somewhat sullen crowd sits in the half light and listens to a string of elected and appointed officials give a series of inane bordering on idiotic speeches. Meanwhile, unnecessary State Troopers get in everybody’s way and eye the audience suspiciously.

Eventually the officials run out of self-congratulatory platitudes and the vaguely irritated audience drifts out onto the concourse under the plaza. Thus the first part of the annual march is a disorganized drift across the nice warm concourse to stop at the doors opposite the State Museum. Then, after forming up, the crowd plunges into the cold outdoors for the grueling quarter mile downhill stroll.

I did not descend into the plaza for this ritual abuse, I learned my lesson last year. Although it was seasonably cold this year, I preferred to stand in Lincoln Park on a snow bank under the sunshine and wait. I’d rather freeze to death than listen to those speeches again. (Fortunately, I was wearing my thermal underwear.)

Here Come The Marchers

As usual, there was a genuine Albany cop posted at the entrance to the park at Morton Avenue, ready to block off the street with saw horses. But this year Parking Enforcement personnel were stationed at the intersections along the parade route. I suppose that saves the taxpayers lots of money on salaries since real cops get pretty expensive, especially on holidays.

The parking guy I chatted with who was stationed across from the entrance to the Lincoln Park Pool told me he wasn’t getting holiday pay, but he was happy to get the extra hours. He also admitted to me that he didn’t have the slightest idea what he supposed to be doing other than standing where he was. I told him he was doing a great job of keeping back the crowds and the cars.

One Of The Honor Guards…
Are Those DEC Patches On Their Shoulders?

One car did pull up and stop, a middle aged guy who took his dog down into the bowl of the park. Five minutes later I watched the dog run with effortless joy up the steep sides of the bowl, straight across the road and practically fly to the top of the grassy hill by the Sunshine School. I could see the ecstatic pooch circling a tree and leaping repeatedly with total abandon straight up into the air.

A few minutes later the guy came huffing up to the road. “Your dog went that way,” I told him, “and he looked very happy.” “His owner is not,” was the reply as he passed by and trudged up the hill.

That’s probably the only regret I have about living in an urban environment. I don’t want to own a dog if I have to confine it all the time like a bird in a cage. A dog needs to run as fast as it can over the hills, glowing with joy and excitement. It needs to do this every day of its life. Can’t let a dog do that in the City anymore, or in the suburbs either.

The Controlling Element Brings Up The Rear

After this we watched the Parking Enforcement Supervisor’s SUV pull up to the corner at the north end of the park, roof lights flashing angrily. It seems that the Parking Enforcement guy guarding the intersection up there had placed his saw horses carefully across Park Avenue, which was the parade route. The Supervisor, a much younger guy, stomped out of his vehicle and moved the horses himself to the proper position.

After these crises the procession finally appeared, a good healthy crowd. First came the cops in two cars, then the cops on horses. Behind them was the police honor guard with flags. And behind them were supposed to be a crowd of politicians… but where were they?

Quite a few of our elected officials were already in Washington DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, which was to happen the very next day. They were joining the million and a half relieved and joyful Americans on the National Mall celebrating the return of ethics and competency to our federal government.

But where were the rest of the local politicians? Was it too cold for those shirkers?

For several years we even had former governor George Pataki march out of the plaza to our statue, the first time in 1995 after he first got elected. Pataki had just finished running for office on a “hate Albany” platform, a tactic which seems to have played well in the more economically depressed parts of upstate New York. Partly for this reason the Republican governor was already at this time deeply hated by most of the taxpayers who lived in the City of Albany, deservedly.

Here’s a story that made it into the corporate media. At the plaza doors Pataki joined the gaggle of politicians behind the honor guard. But then, future mayoral candidate Alice Green walked up to Pataki and told him that he couldn’t stand near the front, he had to go to the back of the crowd. Being an easily manipulated spineless wimp, Pataki obediently trailed the procession all the way to the statue.

I’ve always admired Ms. Green for this gesture which revealed so much about the former governor at the start of his first term, and for delivering such a great zinger. Too bad Ms. Green and her husband are such active opponents of Pine Bush preservation. For that reason she will never receive my political support.

Mayor Jennings Reviews The Parade

Pataki’s successor Eliot Spitzer had exactly two chances to march out of the plaza doors to my neighborhood, but he blew it. This legal expert and top prosecutor seemed to think that the Cheney/Bush administration would not use the so-called “Patriot” Act to destroy political opponents like him by fishing through his bank records. Did Spitzer, like most Americans, imagine that this “terrorism” statute would not or could not be used against him?

I can understand how the average American does not realize how close we are to totalitarianism. But when a central figure like Spitzer demonstrates that he doesn’t have a clue how statutes like the “Patriot” Act are quietly destroying our country, then we are all in deep trouble.

Police Chief James Tuffey

Early last year Spitzer was about to make a one person last ditch effort to stop the impending sub-prime mortgage crisis by filing suit against the now thankfully defunct Republican administration in DC. Unfortunately for him, the electorate in New York State is easily manipulated by the corporate media, and Spitzer lost power instantly because of his personal bedroom habits.

Perhaps the former governor should have done things like march out of the plaza to the King statue, perhaps he would have made some friends who would have leapt to his defense. That is, some friends who would have leapt to the defense of the Bill of Rights. The hell with Spitzer. Our precious rights need friends a lot more than he does.

Eliot Spitzer ought to be thankful that the Republicans stopped at destroying his political career. He could very well have suffered the fate of Karl Rove’s computer expert Michael Connell, who was about to reveal the details about how the 2004 presidential election was stolen when he met with an untimely accident. Funny how this experienced and expert pilot forgot to put gas in the tank of his plane.

This year I hoped to see our new Governor David Paterson marching down Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard (S. Swan Street) but I was disappointed. You never know, Mr. Paterson, this may have been your only chance. Just ask Eliot.

Unless I’m mistaken, there were exactly three elected officials marching this year. I saw county legislator Wanda Willingham and long time assembly member Jack McEneny. This is, after all, McEneny’s district. And of course, the master of ceremonies himself who shows up every year, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings. Yes, this year The Mayor marched across Lincoln Park.

Behind the politicians came… the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation? With a banner, no less. I strongly suspect that there’s some sort of rotating obligation among the State agencies to participate in the M.L. King event. This year it was the DEC’s turn. Or am I wrong about that?

Behind the DEC came the military honor guard, with flags of course. This much of the procession was like a traditional parade, with the police, the government, the bureaucracy and the military in formation on display. Indeed, all of the oppressive controlling elements that bear down on our society were formally represented.

All but one controlling element, that is. So far, M.L. King day has been free of advertising and product endorsements, thus the corporations did not represent themselves in this march. Besides, corporations are decidedly unpatriotic, and they definitely don’t care about the well-being of communities like ours which they exploit.

Of course, the corporations were present in the form of the corporate media, but they did not participate in the event. They were present merely to fill up their air time with content. To put it another way, they were here in our park to grab something that they could sell.

Ah, but the short M.L. King march is a modern democratic parade. In traditional old fashioned parades you have to qualify in order to participate, that is, you have to be a member in good standing of either the oppressive ruling elements or of a respectable civic organization. If you don’t qualify, then you have to stand along the parade route and watch obediently.

I’d like to see more political holiday parades such as the Fourth of July or Memorial Day become open to us all. We see how traditional parades that take place on these days are sparsely attended and hardly noted. These days belong to all of us, thus all of us should have a right to participate.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the most purely democratic and well-attended parades are the numerous urban 5k runs for health that we have throughout the year. People unhesitatingly join these parades because these runs have no ideological baggage for the participants. Because the urban runs are empty of meaning, they acquire meaning from their settings. They become celebrations of urban communities, of public space. This is no small thing for those of us who live here.

The Wife started running (marching?) in 5ks for her health. She’s told me that she’s always had a dream or fantasy of just running down the road with total abandon like a young dog sailing over the grass and never coming back. For her, running is an approximate fulfillment of that desire. After all, she never has to stop running in urban races, does she?

Assemblyman Jack McEneny (Center) Bugged By An
Uptown Party Hack. The Guy Wouldn’t
Leave Him Alone The Whole Time

I was the only spectator lining the parade route when the procession appeared, and I jumped right in and joined the marchers. Here we were, the most important and decisive element in our society. Without our support, the oppressive elements marching in front of us would shimmer and fade like thermal mirages on an August pavement.

In two shakes we were at the statue. As usual the speeches and ceremonies and invocations were short. Nothing like an outdoor event in January to suppress the natural tendency of elected officials to blather until their audiences turn glassy eyed.

After all the official ceremonies people milled around in the cold and interacted, reluctant to leave the statue. I suppose if we held ML King day on April 4, the day of the great man’s assassination, we could have a barbecue. But then, if the weather was nice, the politicians wouldn’t shut up. There’s always tradeoffs for these things.

Several cute young kids posed shamelessly while the shameless corporate media filmed them and snapped their pictures over and over. I swear these kids didn’t move for about five minutes, gazing at Dr. King’s image with adoration. They seemed to be perfectly aware that their upturned faces were going to become the iconic image of the day’s events on the evening TV news shows.

Kids These Days…

The very next day would be a new beginning for our nation. During the week to come the worst of the old boys and party hacks would be swept out of the White House, hopefully never to return. If only we could remove them from everywhere, sweep them out of Albany. Then maybe yes, we the people can take back our country from the oppressive elements and prosper once again.

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