“New York City’s Central Park …emerged out of a complex mix of motivations – to make money, to display the city’s cultivation, to lift up the poor, to refine the rich, to advance commercial interests, to retard commercial development, to improve public health, to curry political favor, to provide jobs. No single individual either conceived or carried through the massive public project that, in the end, cost more than $10 million (three times the city’s total budget in 1850) and took more than eight hundred acres out of the most expensive and intensely competitive real estate market in the United States.” -- Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and The People.

There he is: Vice President Al Gore defending democracy. But yes, sisters and brothers, there is a fight underway which is not about the elections. It is about the vote and about the inconsistent nature of democracy in the capitalist USA.

What became very clear immediately after the November Election is that the Republican Party and segments of the Democrats were more concerned about the formality of an election rather than its content. When Democrats, such as New Jersey’s Toricelli, suggested that Gore move toward concession, he was saying, in essence, that having gone through the formality of the election, the content was irrelevant. It did not matter to him and many other politicians that there were all sorts of irregularities, not to mention allegations of fraud. The USA went through an election and that was that as far as they were concerned.

During more than a decade, mushroom clouds often rose toward the sky. Winds routinely carried radioactive fallout to communities in Utah, Nevada and northern Arizona. Meanwhile, news media dutifully conveyed U.S. Atomic Energy Commission announcements to downwind residents: "There is no danger."

In the region, journalists followed the national media spin and threw in some extra bravado. "'Baby' A-Blast May Provide Facts on Defense Against Atomic Attack," said a headline in the Las Vegas Sun on March 13, 1955.

Now everybody's prepared to nurse grudges and hug hurt feelings. The nice thing about dealing with real 5-year-olds is that they're easily distracted and get over their tantrums quickly.

The Chavez situation was simply hopeless, and the first people to realize it were the Bushies, who dropped her like a hot rock. I'm perfectly prepared to believe that Chavez took an illegal immigrant from Guatemala into her home out of the kindness of her heart and paid her a little for housework out of kindness, as well. The trouble is, that's illegal.

Chavez herself is on the record as saying that Zoe Baird was guilty of "harboring an illegal alien" and therefore could not serve in the Cabinet.

There was just no way around it: Chavez's nomination was doomed by what might in fact have been an act of kindness. Makes you think there might be something wrong with that law, doesn't it?

Suddenly, a rattled CNN anchor was apologizing for the technical difficulty. And viewers were left to ponder the unintended juxtaposition of media images.

We're told that the new administration has embraced the concept of diversity based on merit, with a prime example being the choice of Powell as secretary of state. But the most important domestic policy job is attorney general. And the Ashcroft nomination has sparked a firestorm of resistance for many reasons, including his racial history.

Testifying, Ashcroft did not lack for requisite sound bites: "I believe that racism is wrong... I deplore racism and I always will." His wording was always careful. At one point he said, "I condemn those things that are condemnable."