No wonder I didn't get the joke at first... not a joke by a New Yorker - we don't refer to any Hot Dog as a Jumbo, it is a Hot Dog or a Sausage. No, Max, there is not desire for censorship here, just a sigh of wonder at the bad taste of some. You see, New York is quite different from lots of the rest of the US. Where there are bias incidents in Texas towards Moslems, here in New York, the right and left are meeting in Syrian restaurants, to protect them from any fools who think Islam is the enamy. In Mohamet's Felafel shop, on St. Marks Place between 1 and A, where we can still smell the burning wreakage, right wing neighbors of mine, discuss - debate and argue over sending troops or my solution, creating ecconomic justice. But, the eejits who did this, hit one of the few places where the underlying misery which breeds their discontent, has lots and lots of folks who care about it. In fact, one reason - until a few weeks ago, most of America hated New York, was our leftest traditions. So, it is not very unlike the IRA bombing Manchester - a meaningless stupid act. Yes the world didn't change, it only came to New York, but many of us here, already aknowleged that. You may be surprised to learn that President Mandela speaks of the action of the New York City Council, in being in the lead of the disinvestment movement, which helped to end aparthide and set him free of his jail cell. The US federal government, he did not thank, he thanked us, not the US.
Well, what you don't hear at Mohamets, from the right the left, Jew, or Moslem are jokes about some 6,000 of our neighbors and guests, firefighters - court officers and police officers, pilots, flight attendants, and just plan folks being roasted and crushed to death. No, we are not jokeing, we are thinking of folks, good folks like John Tierney, whoes dad teaches Gaelic with my friends, John who was new to the Fire Department, still a rookie, who ran into hell for others he did not know, who still lies somewhere under the rubble, or perhaps was just the grey ash we all breath in every day still, well, if you find it funny, come to New York, I will buy you a hot dog in front of John's still burning pire, and let's see if you can eat it.
Pray for peace, work for justice
Larry