In 1609 on a bright summer’s day,

The Half Moon set anchor in old New York Bay,

Henry Hudson, a Dutchman, took a good look around,

He said “Boys this is gonna be a hell of a town!”

Today, September 2, 2009, is the 400th anniversary of that epic occasion, and so I’m off for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and who knows from there to celebrate.  Lest I be accuse of aggrandizing that dreadful isle full of people who think Philip Roth is a good novelist, I am a Brooklynite, and regard the Draft Riots to have been our first War of Independence.  I’m no Southern Avenger, but it can not be denied, if one accepts that conscription is slavery, that we New Yorkers easily waged a more momentous revolt against slavery than any which took place in the South during the war.

So enough insane transgression, I’m off to enjoy the greatest city on earth, may it one day cast off the yoke of the empire.