21 December 2007

"Ain't Nobody Gonna Do Anything In Here..."

That's a quote from this video taken inside the New Orleans City Council chambers prior to yesterday's 7-0 vote on demolishing the four HUD housing projects. Watch it all. Watch the opposition as they respect the dignity of every human being, and watch them respect the polity of the City Council. The cheerleader encouraging the shouting was a nice touch.

I think the City Council vote was the climax of this "debate", and I expect to see it fade from the front pages for a number of reasons: first, primary season is upon us and the national media will be focused elsewhere; second, the more folks look at the facts the less plausible the opponents accusations become; and third, the opponents did not come off at all well yesterday - their behavior lost sympathy and support for their cause (case in point: Bishop Jenkins' statement afterwards). There will be a few spasms over this in the next few months, and some lawsuits, but I'm calling this one is over.

Maybe now we can get on with building decent housing for the people who need it. Wouldn't that, dear readers, be a great Christmas present?

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has this post about Sharon Jasper, the activist shouting racial epithets in the video and who was profiled earlier in this Times-Picayune story on the debate. I must say, if you have a 60" TV in your living room you are not poor in my book. Unable to control your spending, maybe; but not poor. And the subsidized apartment she is in is better than the one my parents currently occupy post-Katrina, which they pay for. I am glad Bishop Charles Jenkins is distancing himself, and our diocese, from people like this "activist". He should never have been involved with them in the first place.

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