Posted on 05/13/2004 6:01:37 AM PDT by condi2008
Edited on 05/13/2004 10:46:45 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
I share an obsession with Tony Soprano. This startles me and makes me unhappy because it has been my experience that once my inner fears are echoed in the outer culture, some kind of grim critical mass has been achieved, and trouble ensues. (Does this sound oddly egocentric, even for a pundit? I think it may. Yet it's true.)
On Sunday's "The Sopranos," Tony stayed up one night channel-surfing. This is not unusual for Tony. His sins keep him awake. Or rather a perplexing question about his sins: Why has the committing of them become so joyless? Why don't they yield happiness?
He comes across a documentary about the potential use by terrorists of the nearby Port of Newark. The Port of Newark, the biggest port on the eastern seaboard, receives millions of ship containers each year; the feds say they can check only 2%; terrorists could easily smuggle in a dirty nuke.
Tony becomes alarmed. He knows Port Newark. The mob is there, his people are there. It is corrupt, lazy, badly run. Suddenly he realizes there's nothing between his home and kaboom but a chain-link fence and a mall.
He shares his new anxiety with everyone, sounding like a crank. When a bartender doesn't respond with the appropriate anxiety Tony becomes enraged and beats him up. Tony has anger problems. So does al Qaeda.
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Notice nobody ever get up in arms about characters like Hesch of movies that portray Meyer Lansky. Why is it they assume we can look past the "stereotype" of Jewish mobsters but can't look past it when the mobsters are Italian? One of the funniest parts of the Sopranos is that the characters that spend the most time complaining about hte stereotype are the mobsters themselves... I guess people assuming they're mobsters probably interferes with business.
Terrorist threats? Cloning? Catholic bishops? Does Peggy have a theme here, or is she just stringing together a series of random thoughts?
Why those are the names of the two newest casino type gaming establishments in our small town. Now I think there are 84 in a town of 25,000. Neighboring state Penna...don't vote for slots the same thing will happen in your towns across the state.
I remember when members of the Gambino (or one of the others) started the Italian Anti-defamation League. They had a rally/picnic at a park in NY. Someone was shot at the rally. I never laughed so hard. My nonno was a hardworking guy and lived until 92. Never committed a crime as far as I know. That's the heritage he passed on to us. I have enough esteem to tell the difference between a gangster and my family and to laugh at myself and especially others.
Port Newark a potential target for al-Qaeda? If a massive explosion took place there, some might consider it urban renewal....
Except for its obvious impact of the whole structure of the Port Authority, and the financial infrastructure of New York City.
"Not under man, but under God and ??"
... the law.
I think it was one of the Costellos.
Lou?
I am surprised to see all the discussion about the Sopranos and not about THIS PARAGRAPH.
az
Joe..
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