Citizen Roe
In another lifetime, Norma McCorvey was the anonymous Jane Roe who allowed herself to be used by the pro-choice movement as the plaintiff in the case that established the constitutional right to privacy and abortion, Roe vs. Wade.
In the intervening years, the radical right violated her right to privacy, tracked Ms. McCorvey down and exploited her own ambivalence over her personal tragedy and its use in national policy debate. They turned Jane Roe into a pro-lifer, as if the simple change of heart of a turncoat would invalidate the legal principles of Roe vs. Wade, and convince all women not to have abortions.
Since that “change of heart,” Ms. McCorvey has played a farcical role in the abortion debate, not unlike the titular (anti)hero of the movie, Citizen Ruth. The New York Times has dug her up one more time for an article published today, on a drug for ulcers that could also be used as a black market abortificant when the Roberts court inevitably overturns Roe Vs. Wade. Here’s what the erstwhile Roe had to say:
“When women start using these self-induced drugs, and start seeing body parts in their potty, they’re going to go bananas,” Miss McCorvey said. “And it’s going to be horrible.”
The Times did not identify any medical or scientific credentials for Ms. McCorvey, nor did it really identify her for speaking for any organization. Nope. Guess they just decided to interview a puppet for the fun of it.
“Children by the Million”
The disastrous magnitude of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the Gulf Coast is almost inconceivable. I’ll hardly bother with a political commentary on the government’s woefully inadequate response to, and preparation for, this utterly predictable storm. I don’t think that we, as a society, are going to learn the lessons we need from this.
Global climate change is real, and it’s magnifying the size and impact of storms like Katrina, but don’t expect Bush to sign the Kyoto treaty. The National Guard belongs here, protecting the nation, not occupying foreign nations, but don’t expect our governors to demand the immediate return of their states’ troops. Natural disasters are much more likely, and predictable threats than fantastic terrorist threats, but don’t expect the Department of Homeland Security to focus on coastal evacuation. We’ll learn nothing, and this will happen again. Perhaps next time it will be Long Island.
I haven’t been near a television this week, so it’s hard to comprehend reports of dead bodies floating in the water and the thousands who are feared dead. And so, paradoxically, I am focused on one man.
Alex Chilton is missing.
Chilton is not a celebrity, or even a rock star really. He’s kinda the ultimate cult figure. The invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.
He first hit the top of the pop charts as a 16-year-old in the late 60’s with the band the Box Tops. His deep growl, which powered hits “The Letter” and “Cry Like a Baby,” was produced by the amphetamines he was force-fed by his producers (the same svengalies who likely pocketed all the dough).
He resurfaced a few years later with the first significant power pop band, Big Star. Their first two records undersold, although, like the Velvet Underground, it seems as though everyone who bought those records formed a band. (A cover of one of their songs, “In the Street,” served as the theme song to the sitcom, “That 70’s Show” and probably provided Chilton with the biggest paycheck of his life.)
Big Star’s unfinished third record is the stuff of legend. The band, their relationships and even their record label were disintegrating during the recording of “Sister Lovers.” The result is haunting. Some songs are pissed off and defiant. Others are sad and resigned. Some trail off into nothingness. The record finally saw the light of day a decade later when Chilton became a cult figure.
He produced the Cramps and became a hero of the punk movement, touring London on a legendary bender. REM praised him. The Bangles covered him. The Replacements recorded a tribute to him, simply called “Alex Chilton.”
Chilton, meanwhile, continued to be a legendary fuck-up. He left plenty of unfinished records, his own and even half of a never-completed Replacements record. Finally, he sobered up and frustrated his new young fans by recording R&B covers instead of new paeans to young love and angst.
I saw Alex Chilton play live twice. The first time was at the old Bottom Line club, when he delivered a set of those R&B covers. The club is intimate enough that you could whisper your requests to him. Every plea for “September Gurls” or “I’m In Love With a Girl” would be met with a sly smile, a promise that that was the next song on the set list and another R&B cover. I loved him for it.
The last time I saw Alex Chilton was at the World Trade Center, which hosted a free lunchtime oldies concert every Tuesday during the summer of 2001. Chilton played with a reunited Box Tops for an audience of grey-haired old-time fans and pink-haired new fans. I remember looking up during the show to watch a few seagulls fly in between those two towers, scraping the sky. Two weeks later, that image, and the sound of Alex Chilton’s voice, haunted me as I watched images on teevee of seagulls flying out of the thick plumes of smoke and debris that rose from the collapsing towers.
And, now, there’s another national disaster and I’m thinking about Alex Chilton again.
According to his record label, Alex Chilton remained behind at his home in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached. He hasn’t been heard from since, and his name is listed among the missing on the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s website.
In his old tribute, “Alex Chilton,” Replacements singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg concludes “If he died in Memphis, then that’d be cool,” but he was probably imagining a death of old age after a long life and career of writing and recording beautiful, sad, frustrating, awe-inspiring songs. At 54, Chilton is hardly old. He deserves the chance to make it back to Memphis. This is not cool.
(Thanks to Tommy for bringing this to my attention.)
The End of Easy Oil
There’s lots of hand-wringing over the totally-surprising rise in gas prices in the press (I mean, who would have ever predicted that rising demand and limited supply would cause price increases?). USA Today unwittingly finds a silver lining:
As she folds clothes at a Laundromat near her home in San Pablo, Calif., Thamara Morales, 30, counts up the ways high gas prices have changed her life…Trips to Wal-Mart are out. The closest one is about 15 miles away. Just to get there and back costs more than she might save by going.
Yes, this might hurt Wal-Mart. It will also hurt the sales of behemoth SUVs and minivans, and certainly discourages the construction of more pre-fab “exurban” communities. This particular American Way of Life – a two car garage in an enormous shack in a white bread suburb of nowhere in the desert, an hour-long commute to an office park, and endless driving to work, school, mall – has always been a selfish, environmentally destructive waste of resources. Soon, it may not even be affordable.
Frankly, gas prices have been too low, for too long, subsidized by the federal government’s investment in research and oil reserves. This has allowed Americans to wastefully consume without regard for the planet or even the finite nature of the resource that we are exhausting. (The Times magazine had a good article on the diminishing returns for oil production this Sunday.)
So, as much as the recent spike in gas prices hurts (and, as a car owner who needs his car for work, I know), it is good that it forces us to begin to confront our extreme dependence on oil now, before it’s too late.
I, of course, advocate a massive program of affordable housing construction in our major cities, as well as huge investments in railroad infrastructure within those cities, and between those cities and their immediate suburbs. And, yes, we should recycle and invest in alternative energy and all the other things that the hippies call for. But big cities are probably the greenest solution for our large populations, and we should begin to prepare for the inevitable migration back to the cities that will result from expensive gas.
The Cycle of Terrorism
What follows are my opening remarks for the Socialist Party’s Free Speech Forum In Defense of Lynne Stewart (which went very well, thanks to those of you who attended):
On behalf of the Socialist Party, I want to welcome you to our Free Speech forum in defense of human rights attorney Lynne Stewart. This forum is cosponsored by the New York City and New Jersey locals of the Socialist Party, and the party’s Direct Action Tendency. We have a really great panel tonight, with a number of crusading legal activists.
Before we begin, I want to address the terrible events of last Thursday. The Socialist Party USA issued a statement, from which I’d like to quote in relevant part:
The recent tragedy in London that resulted in murdering and maiming hundreds of working people, is a deplorable and de-humanzing act…It is our responsibility as brothers and sisters of humanity to condemn these acts of aggression and the imperialism of our governments in waging a war that results in untold victims…The murder of civilian non combatants, whether it be by individuals, groups or States, cannot be supported nor defended in the face of such brutal reality.
You know, when I first heard about Thursday’s bombings, my first thoughts were of the million-plus people who poured into the streets of London in February of 2003 to protest the war plans of their government and ours. That war against the people of Iraq was carried out by our governments, without our consent and without our support.
Why is it that the “blowback” for our governments’ actions is inflicted on those who are least likely to support it? Likewise, why is it that innocent civilians in Iraq – who were not likely to be great supporters of the Saddam Hussein regime – must suffer from the bombings, the loss of basic human services, the curfews and police checkpoints of the United States’ and Britain’s state-sponsored terrorism?
We’re caught in the middle of this cycle of violence that enhances the standing and power of demagogues and terrorists at the expense of our liberty and peace. Tony Blair’s poll numbers have gone up since Thursday, while George Bush lies (follow me here; some time travel may be required) that preventing the terrorism that resulted from his invasion of Iraq is somehow the reason that he invaded in the first place and he uses this to justify the continuation of this stupid war. Meanwhile, every day that goes by where US troops occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, every US dollar that flows into Israelli military spending, every new act of aggression means more recruits for terrorist networks like Osama bin Laden’s.
The collateral damage of this tit for tat is the spilling of innocent blood, the curtailment of our freedoms and the closing of our society. Already, we have teenage national guard troops defending Penn Station and other transportation hubs by machine gun. We have random security checkpoints and invasive searches. We have detainment and internment of “questionable” illegal aliens. We have increased domestic spying. We have criminal charges for those who dare to defend the constitutional rights of suspects. I fear what comes next.
I doubt that any of our three speakers tonight [Lynne Stewart, Shayana Kadidal and Daniel Gross] actually own a car, and if they do, I’d be surprised to see one of those “patriotic” magnetic ribbons on the bumper…but our three speakers tonight are true American patriots, defending our constitutional rights against those who would strip us of them and call out “traitor!,” “security risk!,” “terrorist!”