New York Summer

I had a fabulous summer in New York these past few months. I got to spend time with my hot bf, whom I miss very much now, as he has left me back here in Columbus. And I have to have my tonsils out tomorrow! I am second guessing myself now, but cryptic tonsilitis is not a pleasant thing, especially to the nose. So, I digress...

Being in the "center of the universe" for some time has given me some new perspective. To start, I saw a well made documentary on Cite Soleil, a slum in Port Au Prince, Haiti, a place the UN has called the world's most dangerous place. It follows 2Pac (not the beloved US rapper) and his brother Bily, as the hired help of President Aristide. Their job is to intimidate political dissent in Cite Soleil and the greater Port Au Prince area.

The film highlights the frightening reverence for African-American thug culture that the desperate miserables of Haiti entertain. Haiti is illustrated as a democracy turned upside down by dictators trying to get some hold on law and order.This struggle to maintain power and authority is incarnated in the gang the brothers lead. Intimidation with AK-47s and other large weapons is a must to gain respect.Guns and violence, untreated disease and injury, and malnutrion and dirty water are all characteristic of the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

It makes one wonder how this happened. Perhaps it has been in the shadow of a world that could not embrace a black republic, as the West has consitently placed costly embargoes on the country, crippling civil society. The brothers run into trouble as Aristide flees from a rebel overthrow, and Franco-American troops arrive to reinforce the groups new-found sovereignty. See The Ghosts of Cite Soleil.

Living in New York showed me a thing or two about rent... and that is, it is expensive to live there! In Manhattan, the median rental price for just a studio is $2,200/month! While such astronomical prices keep the riff raff (like me) out of ritzy neighborhoods, it can be stiffling to the vibrancy of urban diversity. Across the pond, London is home to equal affluence that can afford such prices, as well as the rest of the city that cannot.

Enter co-op living. Imagine living on the Thames, on some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The building you live in is a beautiful post-war brick structure, and you have your unit, which is plenty big enough for you and your family, decorated sublimely. Imagine then that you establish your own rent, based upon your pay. You would effectively be imagining cooperative living in London.

A non-governmental bought up the land from the government at subsidized prices in the 60's. They constructed multi-use buildings, that is, residential/commercial in the same building, and have created a sustainable neighborhood where you don't have to be a doctor, lawyer, or CEO to live in.Instead, you must be of moderate income to rent out these units. A very clever idea indeed.

Controversy does not shy fromt this arrangement, though, as the organization wants to open a high rise luxury condominium building, where tenants will be charged market price. While this would promote mixing of classes, is this ethical in light of the fact the organization got the land at subsidized prices? Regardless, I know I would certainly appreciate such an organzation in Manhattan. There are few other ways in which the lower middle class can have access to the city center.

Speaking of the city center, the other day in Union Square I saw an anti war demonstration. It was quite refreshing, being from the Midwest, to see such animosity toward the Bush regime. Nonetheless, I wondered about the current ethnic tensions in Iraq. I don't know how responsible it would be for the US to pull out recklessly after effectively destroying any semblance of a civil society that existed before. Without "peace keepers" (I don't know if the term is appropriate for US forces), will the ethnic groups turn Iraq into the next Rwanda? Or did we just peel the band aid (Hussein's regime) off an increasingly more hostile situation, wherein the Sunni minority was priveleged. In any case, Washington obviously didn't have this thought out, nor did/do they care.

It seems more and more, as more and more evidence has not surfaced as to the existence of WMDs and the poor excuse for a government we installed is falling apart, as if the only reason we went into Iraq in the first place was money! As most people are realizing, the biggest winners in Iraq have been American corporations, who have reaped HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars from oil and US taxpayers. And not just any corporations! The ones old Bush and friends used to head. That is to say, Haliburton and its umbrella entities.

How are these corporations getting paid directly by the government? They are awarded contracts, without any market competition, and without any effective auditing to ensure where the money is going. They provide services, such as feeding the troops, building and securing airports and other infrastructure, transporting goods and services, and a plethora of other odd jobs. Of course, neither the troops or Iraqis are benefitting from these services. Why? Because these contractors don't give a shit about the quality of their work. Troops are served rotting food and nonpotable water, while Iraqis are given hospitals in which the plumbing is so half assed that piss and shit literally drip from the ceiling and down the walls.

And what does this administration do about these mother fuckers effectively wasting our tax dollars (and by wasting, I mean securing it in Swiss bank accounts)? NOTHING! They refuse to prosecute anyone. Why? Because they used to run these companies!!!!!! WTF!! Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you want more on your wasted money, see Matt Taibbi's "The Great Iraq Swindle" in the latest Rolling Stones (issue 1034, Sept. 6, 2007).

As long as Republicans keep the guise of strong faith and values (that is anit abortion and anti gay marriage) they can probably go on robbing this country out of its livlihood and lives for a long time come. As far as faith goes, author Christopher Hitchens says "To choose dogma and faith over doubt and experiment is to throw out the ripening vintage and to reach greedily for the Kool-Aid" in his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.This is one of many gems he put so poetically in his plea for secularism. I must say I agree with his Freudian views on religion. After all, this juvenile drink is certainly much more palatable to an unrefined tongue, as religion is to an unrefined mind. In his case for a more secular society, he cites that religion poses as antipode to reason/science, that religion does not provide anyone with any sense of morality that humans don't naturally have, that religion can be viewed as a form of child abuse (think male/female circumsision), that religion acts as an excuse for politicians to do as they will under the guise of faith, and that America's founding father's were in many ways anti-traditional religion. It is good reading for anyone no matter their faith or convictions.

On that note, I must be on my way back home to rest before my surgery. I'll have faith that I survive this horrible trauma my body's about to sustain. Wish me luck!