Tel Aviv - Does anyone care about the peace process anymore? Wall Street is on
fire. The Magic almost beat the Heat. Gingrich is still around. I think I have herpes again. It's
going to be another rough spring.What I can't understand at all, though, is why America cares if Texas leaves the Union. Does it really matter anymore? A bunch of drunken hicks in a trailer in the Texas desert decide to secede and the country puts a thousand law enforcement officers on the scene, ever major news network is out there in khakis, and suddenly, the talk of black U.N. helicopters and Armageddon seems more real than ever. Hell, if Bet Shemesh ever decided to secede from Israel, I'm sure no one would step in its way.
The whole issue of a "union" of states baffles me anyway. I'm not surprised that a real revolution doesn't take place in America by next weekend. Americans think that Ruby Ridge and Waco were big counterinsurgencies threatening the survival of each and every poor soul's pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. That's right. A couple of Idaho rednecks, one of whom was pregnant, and a guy who thinks he's Jesus sleeping with thirteen year old girls. Real counterinsurgency. Try telling that to the victims of Algerian village massacres which happen every other day. See what kind of chuckles that produces.
How bad would losing Texas be? I've seen that stand-up shtick of Letterman and Leno on our own cable wonder, Star TV, but in all seriousness, how bad would it be? You lose the Astros? The Rangers are gone? The Oilers? Sure, the Cowboys are a good team. As long as they're not in jail. Are we really going to miss any of these loser teams? As far as the Rockets, this is the most over hyped team in NBA history. All they have to do is fart, and the basketball hall of fame is ready to induct them on the stop. Let's face it: professional sports would be a hell of a lot better off without Texas.
Normally, I support revolution. But what went down in Texas had little to do with any substantial political change. The whole show ended when they ran out of beer. What really happened is that America continues to pretend as if it is a part of the real world of violent struggle. But in over two hundred years, America has never had to deal with armed insurgents rampaging through the country side, killing innocent women and children, destroying property, and wreaking total havoc. Unless you count the American cavalry, that is.
The Philipines, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Sudan, Zaire, and so many many more countries actually know what it's like when a part of the population decides that it wants to form its own country. However, this happens when a segment of the population unifies together with common goals. This could never happend in a nation like America where a family of four can't even agree on what to watch on the boob tube. Let's face it: America is a far cry off from any real internal strife. When South Florida or Maine finally decides in one threaded voice, no more; we're getting out, and tanks and land mines enter the picture, then I will agree that a real movement has begun in the land of the free. Until then, I'll spend my nights in more provocative contemplation: over a bottle of Carlsburg at Joey's Bar on Allenby Street.