Weekend Grist

As we drift into another weekend, and New York drifts toward a record for October precipitation, a few random meanderings ...

If you are a cabbie, you might want to consider how your choice of radio programming affects your bottom line.

I was riding home the other night, and my driver was listening to a radio program hosted by someone known as "Citizen K."  (Google references to him are sparse, and for good reason.)  This guy was recycling every boilerplate bulletpoint from the fringe left, and was hawking some sort of conspiracy-mongering video.

His grand unifying theory to all that ails Planet Earth was stultifyingly predictable: It's Bush's fault.

I know that taxi passengers in New York have the "right" not to have to listen to the radio, but as hard as it is to find a cab, I'm not about to risk getting thrown out of one.  You could complain to the Taxi and Limousine Commission until you're blue in the face, but that doesn't get you from point A to point B.

So my protest was of a more silent form: no tip.  Almost unheard of, for me.

Contrast that with today:

I was certain I would be late for an early morning meeting.  I stepped out of my apartment building and actually said a little prayer that I would find an available cab, even though I believe in such things as devoutly as I do the Tooth Fairy.

Lo and behold, after walking less than a block, I saw a cab with its light on, but it also indicated that he was "off duty."  Still, he stopped, as they sometimes do.  He said he was on his way to get a cup of coffee, but he might as well make a little extra money and get his java downtown.

I thanked him profusely, and he proceeded to talk my ear off about everything.  Including "that fucking Bush" and "his war" in Iraq.  I could feel the hair on my neck stand on end.

I did my best to suggest alternate paths of thought without disagreeing with him more aggressively.  When he hypothesized that the military's bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq were somehow heating the atmosphere and affecting this year's hurricane season, I knew that he was a lost cause.  And when he began to agree with Saddam's rantings as to the legitimacy of the court that is currently deciding his fate, I quietly rejoiced that we had already reached my destination.

I swallowed very hard.  And tipped him more than 30 percent.  And made it to my meeting five minutes early.

Speaking of hurricanes, please hold the people of Mexico, Florida and anyone else who might be in Wilma's path in your thoughts.  And if you're a praying type, your prayers, as well.

I am not the kind to sit and wonder "what we have done to deserve this," a la the Pet Shop Boys, but at some point there just has to be a relief from the onslaught of tragedy.  A quarter-million dead from a tsunami.  A hurricane season that claimed more than 1,200 lives from Katrina, and roughly 200 dead and others left homeless from Stan.  50,000 or more dead in a South Asian earthquake, with many more vulnerable to death in coming weeks.

No one has done anything to deserve any of this.  Not "the fags."  Not "the infidels."  Not even the religious wackos.

For my part, this weekend I will be holding someone I love very close.

Comments

[Aatom]

to be fair, right wing radio can be just as batshit crazy, but i hear you. the GOP, and certainly this administration, have so many clearly defined areas that deserve criticism, yet all you seem to hear from otherwise rational Democrats is how everything is Bush's fault. In their enraged minds there isn't even a need to formulate a cohesive argument, they honestly feel like "I hate Bush" says it all. but when Bush leaves office, soon, then there will be a giant black hole where there should be a coherent argument for America to absorb on how to change things for the better. then they'll lose again, bitch and moan about how the whole country is full of uptight conservative religious nuts, and retire to their respective coffeehouses to sulk and blame everything on the next guy (even if that guy's name is Mrs. Clinton.) Democrats used to be a loyal opposition party, now they are merely a titular counterpoint to an increasingly GOP-only government. and in no small part this is a result of their long history (barring the outsider exception to the rule: Clinton) of mistaking the sound of a long slow paranoid whine for effective political rhetoric.

[Robbie]

Perfectly stated, Aatom.

[Josh]

Yeah, that was actually really well stated, Aatom. The lack of effective opposition in this country is what's screwing things up, not an ascendant GOP.