Marjorie:
I’m stunned by the latest news from Miami. Because I have a naive faith in the decency and wisdom of my fellow human beings, I had assumed that the Miami relatives of Elián had permanently moved to Sister Jeanne’s house on Miami Beach. Surely they realized that they had to get the boy away from the chanting throngs in Little Havana, that regardless of what happened next, that was no place for a little kid. What a dope I am. Lazaro González spurned Reno and took Elián back to NW 2nd Street late last night. We keep hearing that the Miami relatives want only what’s best for Elián–and apparently they’ve decided that what Elián needs is to be forcibly taken by scary large men in bulletproof armor. Marjorie, did you notice on TV by chance a group of people dressed entirely in black, holding hands in circle? There was one person, maybe the leader, dressed only in white. Who were those folks? It always makes me nervous when people in monochromatic clothing form a circle.
ABC aired a home movie, apparently freshly made at the Little Havana house, of Elián pleading with his father not to take him back to Cuba. Seems to me his emphatic wishes have to be put into context, and not just the context we’ve previously noted, which is that 6-year-olds don’t get to call the shots. This boy is so scared, he became convinced, according to Sister Jeanne, that he was going to be put back on a raft. He couldn’t sleep. Everyone had to persuade him that he wasn’t going to be dumped back into the Gulf Stream. This thing is just heartbreaking, and more than a little infuriating.
I’m also surprised that the police have yet to move the crowd back from the current set of barricades. I was there a couple of weeks ago: The barricades can’t be more than about 100 feet from the house. They’re right next door, practically. By 2 p.m. there could be thousands of people there. What are the feds going to do, drive through the human chain in one of their Waco tanks?
Marjorie, what do you think about Janet Reno? When I was at the Herald she was regarded as a straight shooter, totally by the book, and unquestionably honest in a town where you couldn’t say that about most public officials. Why does she have so many enemies now? She’s hated from every direction, left, right, the White House, now even in her hometown. She still strikes me as one of the least phony people in American public life. It’s not like she suddenly adopted a new hairstyle when she hit Washington. She doesn’t even take the medications (as I recall) that can keep her arms and hands from shaking.
Meanwhile we’ll have to keep an eye on the market today, since all the Michael Saylors of the world have been watching their paper fortunes disappear by the hour. I just heard the markets opened up. Generally speaking I love it when tech stocks take a dive since I’m mostly invested in pre-Old Economy stocks, which is to say, the Ancient Economy. I have taken a major position in, for example, the papyrus industry. I am heavily into chariots. For the record, I do own 30 shares of Microsoft. I guess that means our “Breakfast Table” exchanges are poisoned by my financial self-interest. Enough hits on this site, the next thing you know we can turn around the Microsoft nosedive.
One day recently I drank too much coffee and read an e-mail from a reader who had a hot stock tip, and I instantly bought some of it, right from my desktop computer, it all happened in about 30 seconds. The stock instantly plummeted. A total dog. Value cut in half in 48 hours. It was like stuffing cash down the garbage disposal. I consoled myself that at least it wasn’t my retirement money that I was blowing in the market, it was just the kids’ college fund.
I hope your day’s off to a great start.
Cheers,
Joel
