Losing the Peace

I watched a man shout out of his auto to a passing pedesterian. Best I can come up with is the pedestrian jay-walked or didn’t give the man the proper right-of-way… maybe. After giving the driver a nominal backward glance and shrug — more or less what I would do in that situation– the driver swirved to a park, rushed out, rushed over, and shoved the guy hard into the brick sidewalk.

“I’m calling the police!” the bruised, bloodied man shivered, as he tried to get himself up.
“I don’t fucking give a shit!” the man who just committed battery yelled back, muttering “Serves him right.”

I stood there, stunned. The rest of the crowd had more or less the same “WTF” reaction as I. I walked backward as a small crowd gathered necessary information, and left after I was certain someone had gotten the license plate number.

Somewhere in Florida, a man tried to drive over Katherine Harris. And another man threatened to kill his girlfriend for supporting Kerry.

Later, I watch from the distance the gathering of the weekly war protesters. Charming group, but I’m not sure any of them — or the majority of them — should be voting for Kerry. A majority of them probably will be or have, though certainly not all of them. From their perspective, I’m not certain there really is a difference. Granted, the two “Protest Warriors” (http://www.protestwarrior.com) with their Bush hats and their signs saying “Peace Through Ignorance” can say that there’s a difference.

I asked a LaRouchite why LaRouche endorsed John Kerry. The answer: “Basically we need to take over the Democratic Party.” Roughly the same answer that the peaceniks would have for why they’re voting for Kerry: vote for him, then hold his feet to the fire.

I take my leave. We’re at Orange, by the way. Which was the state we knew we’d be at now.

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