Sieg Heil, Y’all

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask Boomer With Attitude, brought to you from Charlotte, N.C., where “preventive warfare” isn’t just a failed White House policy, it’s a popular police tactic.

Dear BWA: How do you liberals feel now that the press has turned against George Bush, just at the time when we need to be focusing on winning the war on terrorism? — W Was Right

Dear W Was Right: I can’t speak for other liberals, but I feel fine, thanks. However, I think you’re underestimating just how many people have “turned against George Bush.” With 70 percent of the American public opposed to his policies, finding someone of authority who will publicly defend Bush is like looking for a cat at a Rottweiler convention. And no wonder. It wasn’t bad enough that the guy launched a misguided war that, in the end, has strengthened the Islamic terrorist cause around the world. Now he’s effectively pardoned convicted felon Scooter Libby, in one of the most transparently corrupt, “cover-your-ass” moves in political history, confirming again what we’ve known for some time: the only laws the Dubya administration respects are the ones they make up in order to give themselves more power.

Libby got his “Get Out of Jail” card the same week the Supreme Court, now controlled by right-wing ideologues including Bush-buddies Roberts and Alito, confirmed the current conservative vision for American education — a return to racial segregation. They also endorsed the restrictive GOP version of freedom of speech, which is: it’s fine for anyone rich enough to afford political ads, but it’s verboten zu studenten. Sorry, I meant to say “forbidden to students”; for a second, I thought I heard someone say “Sieg heil.”

Now that even GOP pols have caught on to how angry the American public is about Bush’s disastrous presidency, even previous “supporters” are jumping off their former gravy train. Or, as a friend put it recently, they’re “joining Sen. Richard Lugar in a stately procession out of the burning building, with as much dignity as men with their pants on fire can muster.”

Dear BWA: What were all the arrests last week after the downtown fireworks show about? — The Prompter

Dear Prompter: Several things instigated Operation Schweinhund. First, when the police department swarmed down and made more than 169 arrests after the July 4 fireworks show, they were trying to break their own record, set when they arrested 25 people last year during the post-fireworks fracas. This year, the police didn’t let the lack of actual disturbances downtown stop them from achieving their persönliches bestes. Sorry, I meant to say “personal best.”

Seriously, the police took heat after last year’s disturbances, and they wanted to show everyone who’s boss. An extra 300 cops were on duty, with officers posted on nearly every corner downtown. Once the fireworks were over, they moved in like flies on roadkill and took people into custody for such heinous crimes as curfew violations, being drunk, and peeing in public — all things that, like it or not, you kind of expect at big nighttime urban public gatherings. God help any bystanders if actual disturbances had started.

The July 4 arrests were obviously also a result of the ongoing, largely unspoken campaign to keep as many young African-Americans out of Uptown as possible — witness last summer’s ridiculous anti-cruising crusade, as well as Mayor Pat “Polo Shirt” McCrory’s learned comments last week on the subtleties of hip-hop culture (or is that “gang” culture? I get confused, as does the mayor, apparently). In any case, without these big shows of force by the police, people might start to think they have a Constitutional right to assemble or something. Scary!

Naturally, money also played a part in Operation Schweinhund. A lot of dough has been spent, both by government and private investors, to make Uptown a tidy Disneyland for all those tourists the Visitors Bureau keeps telling us the city attracts. Hey, I don’t know about you, but nothing makes me feel better about going out than seeing the police carrying out mass arrests.

Dear BWA: Your “Transit Tax Smackdown” column (June 27) confused me. So, are you for or against repealing the transit tax? — Just Wondering

Dear Just: Sorry for your confusion, although I thought it was pretty clear when I wrote, “I’ll hold my nose and vote against repealing the transit tax.” I support efforts to install light rail in Charlotte, even though, in my opinion, they’re about 20 years late. I wish two things, however: one, that the folks in charge of installing it were competent and honest (CATS honcho Ron Tober and City Manager Pam Syfert should have been canned for the scandalous cost overrun cover-up). And two, that the urban visionaries who pushed hard for light rail would speak out more about the reasons light rail is a great idea — and would step out from under the political umbrella of the phony McCrory/Mumford “grassroots” group that’s fighting the repeal effort. If the county transit tax is repealed, light rail’s most prominent supporters, through their arrogance, will be as responsible for the defeat as those who are fighting the tax.

Send “Ask BWA” questions, comments and love offerings to john.grooms@creativeloafing.com. Please let us know if you wish to use a pen name.

This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2007.