01 May 2006

May Day

In the good old days, we'd click on the Walter show, and see the obligatory 16mm footage of those 29-wheeled ICBM haulers puttering across Red Square. Even as a kid, I suspected that those things were leaking oil, had lousy brakes and it was all the commies could do to dust them off and fire them up for the annual hoo-ha.

Now on May Day, we switch on Katie, and see a more legitimate threat; out sovereignty whittling away. A million folks who think non-citizens should dictate taxpayer-paid policy; city streets full of foreigners who want rights for free, all day long demanding the American Dream without that inconvenient 'America" part.

Among the above-the-fold ignorance, the top-of-the-hour entitlement and public relations hurricane was the notion that if enough illegal immigrants don't go to work today, "the Gringo's economy will come to a halt," and we will all have to take notice.

Well, I did notice. A friend offered to buy me lunch today, and we went to a place near the office that reliably knew he craft of the burrito. Closed.

So we went to a different place that happens to have solved the hot hoagie, thank you very much. No economy came to a halt today, except at the burrito place that didn't bother to unlock the door in order to take our money.

How speedily this culture learns about modern America: It's no longer the pragmatic, practical, logical, rational or econimically demonsterable that matters. What matters is your feelings and getting your face on tee vee.

It's too bad that in all the media coverage, there was one sentiment that no one bothered to float: Even with the $17 billion we give Mexico every year, it must still be a really lousy place. Buenas Noches, I guess.

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