Meanwhile, elsewhere ...

Then again, considering that yesterday was 9/11, I think it is well to remember what was exposed in the response of a majority of Americans during that first day and into the evening, before our leadership was activated, while the President flew all over the country before communicating anything to the American people. Along with the shock and the grief and the fear, there was an impulse to consider the meaning of the event, and Americans showed that they could lead themselves, community by community. And we saw that in story after story - firemen, police, emergency workers not waiting to be told what to do, just getting on the road heading toward New York. I wish I had more time than I've had recently, I'd like to organize a book on Corrente which preserves all the community efforts that happened from the bottom up.

There was even a willingness to look more deeply into what the motivations of the attackers were, the New York Times came through with biographical obits of ever person that died in the Twin Towers, and the police and firemen, too - those bios said so much about this country, and none of it was what is valued by the radical right. Unfortunately, once Bush realized the political potential of the event, and once the press got over its shock enough to place themselves at the center of the discussion of what "it all means," all those best instincts were literally smothered.

That's why Sarah Palin's sneering at the entire notion of community organizers was so noxious.

than we hear about. I think people are scared and overworked, but good community impulses remain in lots of places. This country wouldn't function at all if that weren't true given the stunning failures of some of our governments. Lots of places still get by with volunteer fire departments and medics.

And, yes, the aftermath of 9/11 is an excellent example. People in this country rushed to be with one another, even strangers. It's what makes the political response to it - by the media and the political leaders - such a crime.

are you near where Ike is going to hit?

In fact, I would argue that this kind of thing *is* the norm in this country. We hear about the times it doesn't happen because it's a bit unusual, not because it's the norm.

Every time I've had any kind of trouble of this kind, somebody, usually several somebodys have stopped to offer help within minutes. I particularly remember driving home with a friend on the highway very late at night in the middle of what had unexpectedly turned into a blizzard, and my friend's battered little VW Beetle ran right into a big drift in the right lane we couldn't get out of.

Almost immediately, a young guy in a fancy new Mercedes pulled over in front of us, dug us out and pushed the Beetle back onto the semi-cleared part of the road. He never said a word, shrugged off our thanks, got back in his Mercedes and drove off.

Somebody in the aftermath of 9/11 remarked that it took years to plan out that horror, but only seconds for everybody from office workers to firemen to respond with profound good of helping each other at the risk of their own lives.

I dropped my wallet on a Philadelphia street -- someone picked it up and called me; it was intact.

My then-husband and I zipped by a car on an icy road, casually sneering at the Jesus bumper sticker (I was young and stoopid). Five miles later we hit a patch of ice and ended up in the middle of a snowy field. The Jesus guy came and towed us out.

The other day a Jehovah's Witness stopped her car at the bus stop where I was waiting and gave me a ride. No proselytizing.

A friend dropped her wallet outside the bar down the street from my house. They called her up and she got everything back.

A guy shoveled me out of my parking space after the city plowed me in.

On the way to my uncle's funeral, I locked myself out of my car at a rest stop in the cold rain. The rest stop manager offered me a coat hanger but could do nothing else. I started to call my road service, but a truck driver insisted, with great glee, that he was an expert at this. Within five minutes I was on the road again.

And so on.

Once two guys decided to rape me.

Human race, +5

Policy not party!

was the media treatment and how it is balanced against the constant portrayal of ThugLife as an ideal for young people. In the celebrity game, thuggish behavior by suddenly wealthy young males is almost all that is seen on television and in the gossip mags. Some rapper shot some other rapper. Some football player busted for drugs - again. Some movie star spent umpty millions of dollars on bling. That's all that makes it to the press, the violence and shallowness and materialism, and for impressionable young people looking for role models this is what they're handed. This is the kind of irresponsible behavior that we, collectively as a nation, are teaching our youth to admire and emulate.

Where was the coverage on E! and MTV and ESPN and the talk shows and all the gossip rags about what Tony Romo did? And why wasn't it there? Where is the outrage from parents and educators and government officials when some ghetto trash is splattered all over the nightly news because she's getting released to house arrest, or when the trailer trash psychotic druggie who goes on a baseball bat rampage takes up a week's worth of news cycle that drowns out everything of importance, which is actually everything other than one rich fool's personal problems?

All very nice of you to show up here to proclaim that you're nice people too. I'm sure you are. But just like me, you are not Tony Romo. You are not a sports hero. You are not a role model for millions. The question for me is why is it not the cause of major revolt when Thugs are glorified? Why are parents not putting their foot down and saying "That boy's a criminal and no, you cannot buy his records"?

Who is really raising this generation of children, and why has it come to this, that parents are too exhausted by working three jobs or so emotionally beaten down that they have given up and have turned parenting over to the worst of the corporatists? Why is this not a matter of national discussion? Why isn't Tony Romo on the cover of every newspaper and magazine and invited to the White House and to testify before congress and held up as the spokesperson for a Renewal in Civic Responsibility campaign? Why are Tupak Shakur and Biggie Smalls and the Spears trash made into heroes and glorified for Thug and Slut, while the very decent responsible righteousness of Tony Romo isn't even a blip?

Ho hum, nothing to see here, we're all good people and so is everybody else, ha ha ha, another football story from Sarah, how amusing.

Yup, indeed.

Yup Yup Yup, Yup Yup Yo.