The L.A. Times today is chock-full of articles relevant to P&C.
- The lead story is on the massive demonstrations against proposed draconian laws against illegal immigration. They say it’s the biggest demonstration of any kind in L.A.’s history.
- Steve Lopez continues to write compelling columns about life on Skid Row and the issues surrounding it. Today he writes of single mother Elizabeth Brown and her two children and their struggle to find affordable housing. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of opposition to putting homeless shelters anywhere besides Skid Row.
- A obituary of the remarkable Desmond Doss, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII as a conscientious objector.
- A look at the controversy around erecting fields of crosses as war memorials/protests.
- The Hospital Association of Southern California is urging its members to revamp their policies for dealing with homeless patients in the wake of allegations of “dumping” the homeless on Skid Row.
Some of those links may require you to register for free at their site.
Re: Crosses.
When 2,000 crosses were erected on Worcester Commons, and again at Clark University, some expected there would be objections about the use of this Christian symbol, but there were none. This was a little surprising at Clark, which is a historically Jewish college. There were a couple token crescents and six-pointed stars, and one little tree (a sort of pagan thing), but these weren’t visible in any press coverage.
I think everyone understood that the cross symbolizes a grave, as well as Jesus.
From the article:
The article does a disservice to the anti-cross people by having them represented by an idiot like this. No American is any freer because of this war, and no American would be less free had we not fought it. It’s not the price of freedom, it’s the price of Cheney’s fantasies and Rumsfeld’s incompetence.
Re: LA demonstration
The LA Times says police estimated 500,000; the Boston Globe ran an AP story that said police said 100,000. If I were the LA times, I’d fly up a helicopter and run some aerial photos through a computer to come up with a number.
Didn’t hear about anything demo like this in Worcester.
Good for the Angelinos and good for Cardinal Mahony for his boldness on this one.
In New Left Review 47, there is a follow-up interview with Jesse DÃaz and Javier RodrÃguez, two of the organizers of the marches in 2006: some interesting clarifications therein.