This new initiative against terrorism has given carte blanche to law enforcement world wide to take whatever steps are necessary to stop the terror. Israel now finds Arafat "irrelevant" and the Indian police expended over 3000 rounds of ammunition "subduing" the eight who stormed the Parliament building. The shell game has begun. It is as if the world has done a giant "do over". The new rules are as follows: Any world government in place as of September 11 is now considered the legitimate government of the region and they have the world blessing to beat and ferret out terrorist wherever they live. Plus if they choose from the US terrorists menu they will receive US dollars. So get ready for much more ugliness before this all settles down. Now how has all of this affected those of living in the beautiful place on earth?
Post Taliban California is a very different place now that the iron fist has been lifted. John Walker's parents have been on the news pleading for understanding, their son didn't know what he doing. Years of private school and family financed globe trotting doing humanitarian work twisted this misunderstood youth. Privilege is now a handicap? Local rich kid goes mad and joins Taliban made for interesting water bottle/latte chats among the few of us left in cube land. Thankfully the story of Gary Condit has vanished. Except for the single piece on how his supporters submitted forged signatures in a feeble attempt to keep him on the ballot. I don't believe he has any knowledge of Shondra's disappearance, but he is guilty of being stupid and having really really bad luck. It's just funny that he thinks he can run again. On the upside, the price of gas has dropped dramatically. Filling my car can now be done for under $30 for the first time in months. Can anybody say road trip? Yes we love our cars here and the airlines are just begging us not to fly so I say buckle up. Another bonus is the reduced number of cars on the road. Since Sept. 11 many companies have invoked that day as they shut down for the holidays and shed many more employees in an effort to muster cash for the year end number postings. The flop houses of San Francisco once known for their colorful residents of aging hippies, musicians, and winos now offer unlimited DSL as part of the room rate. The once mighty 20 something working with a .com has, in many cases, been reduced to sharing a community shower with Fat Red. Red worked the Stones concert in Altamont and hasn't been able to find work since. Want to see his scar?
Christmas shopping this year was also very different. George Carlin summed it up and we Californian's are more than happy to do what we can. The battle cry this holiday has been "....or else the terrorists win." Try it. It works very nicely and the talking heads continue to pound it into our heads, it was only a matter of time before it became the ad campaign of choice for everything. America, buy a truck, washer, jewelry, home pc, etc. now ......or else the terrorists win. In California we are only to eager to run out and buy a new flat screen digital TV with a design that will compliment our home and it's Feng Shui . Plus the police are now directing traffic in Union Square. Perhaps the best example of the changes here can be seen at any of the 6 million convenience stores. People are much more understanding and friendly with the employees. Also many of the stores have placed signs in their windows and the encourage the employees to wear red, white, and blue. So many of these people work long hours for little money and only receive contempt from customers who can't find an '89 Merlot at 3am. Now if we could only clear out the 6 people who hang outside everyone of these stores, by the payphones. I often wonder if they are all calling each other, or are they in fact a loose net of "terrorists" using the network of 7-11's to plan and scheme. Unthinkable? After watching both planes smash into the Twin Towers nothing seems far fetched. Finally not wanting to over look the environmental impact of the recent events, Stanford researcher Raphael Sagarin reminds us to adjust our global warming calculations to account for all the bombs we are dropping in Afghanistan. I knew I was forgetting something this week. Post-Taliban California will be different, or is it really more of the same?
--leftcoastlove--