Sometimes I wish...

that Hunter S. Thompson had waited a few more years before making his grand exit. He would have loved current events. I think a former Louisiana governor once said, "the only way they'll get rid of me is if they find me in bed with a dead girl and a live boy." My, but the Republicans are trying hard.

I saw Malachy McCourt speak today at Dag Hammarskjold plaza near the UN. He sang "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and the crowd joined in the refrain. It was ghostly. I'd like to think that the cops watching over the event were moved, but most of them are not too bright (I don't want to paint with too broad a brush; Malachy's son is a cop, after all). There were plenty of people, getting ready for a march down to Union Square, holding signs with several variations on the "Bush is a war criminal" theme. Tourist double-decker buses passed by on 1st Avenue; I hope they were impressed, or mortified, one way or the other. There were way too many pests handing out literature suggesting that the planes that hit the world trade center were remotely controlled by NORAD. It is at moments like these when I'm not at all a pacifist, and soothe myself with visions of throttling these coo-coos.

After Malachy came Grannies for Peace. They sang a modified "God Bless America" with the end of the refrain going, "No Blood for Oil."