How Would You Artistically Describe The 2nd Ave Line?

While the MTA, politicians and the public battle the fare increase out, the transit authority is busy in other areas. One project involves creating underground reservoirs where flood waters on the tracks can go after being pumped, alleviating rain delays that are more on schedule than the MTA can hope their subway trains can ever be. In other, lighter news, the MTA is calling all artists for their new subway stations on the to-be-completed 2nd Ave. subway.

From The NY Post:

The massive public-art commissions for the 96th, 86th, 72nd, and 63rd street stations are expected to attract artists from across the country, officials told The Post.

"We're looking for work that melds with the architecture and with the community of the new stations," said Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts for Transit.

The new stations will be much brighter and sleeker than those in the rest of the system, and the works, which will cover as much as 2,200 square feet of wall space at each station, should reflect that, said project manager Lester Burg.

The four commissioned "pieces" will cost up to $4 million for the four stations and artists have until December 21st to submit their designs. The applications should be interesting to see and review, perhaps the MTA might let the public in on the decision-making process, possibly with more say than they allow for the fare increases. Time will tell if New York's brand new stops will come close to the unique designs that Los Angeles installed in their one subway line.

Priceless

The video is great, but the story behind it is, like the title, priceless:

Bloomberg Fails 9/11 Heroes Again

You know that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?" Well Mayor Bloomberg really needs to check that one out after supporting Charles Hirsch's decisions regarding the heroes of 9/11 who worked on that wretched pile. Officer James Godbee was a well-fit ex-Marine and an NYPD cop, but after working on the pile, he suffered a fatal heart attack caused by sarcoidosis at the young age of 44.

It sounds like he was one of the many victims of the toxic stew that engulfed lower Manhattan in the days, weeks and months following September 11th. Yet when his widow talked to Hirsch, he told her that his death would remain "classified" and marked as "natural causes" because he wasn't there on the pile on September 11th. Instead, he was there on September 13th. Big @#%$& difference!

For the Mayor to support this man and not a blue ribbon commission is outright absurdity. The victims and their families deserve better than this. Hirsch was already taking fire over Officer Zadroga' death a few weeks ago and now we have him in the news yet again for similar reasons. I guess this was better because he didn't accuse Godbee of injecting prescription medication....nevertheless, Hirsch insulted both families and he is a stain on this city. Bloomberg should have him removed or at the very least investigated, not a man to be commended.

Shame on Hirsch and shame on Bloomberg.

Support Our Local Writers Tomorrow

It is commonly known that there is always something to do in New York City and tomorrow is no different. At high noon in Washington Square Park, the Writers Guild of America East will be holding a solidarity rally until 1:30PM approximately. Organizers are expecting around 1,000 people to show up, but I have feeling that those that love labor and the writers who are in this union have many devoted supporters. Even many that can spend their lunch hour in the Square to show the big corporate studios who's side their on.

From WGAEast:

Solidarity Rally
Tuesday, November 27
Washington Square Park
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.

Join your fellow members of the Writers Guild of America, the labor community, and supporters and fans, as the WGA begins week four of its strike against the media conglomerates of the AMPTP.

Meet us at Washington Square Park for a Solidarity Rally. We’re expecting a large attendance from the union community -- including SEIU, AFTRA, SAG, UNITE-HERE, AFT, NYS AFL-CIO, national AFL-CIO, and the New York City Central Labor Council among others -- as well as some exciting speakers, music and entertainment.

We want to thank the thousands of union members from every industry who have joined us on the picket lines from New York to Los Angeles and stood with us to preserve decent working standards against corporate power. Now that we’re going back to the table, it’s even more important to send the companies a strong message: We’re all in this together and we demand a fair deal!

If that isn't enough to coax you over, there will be a ton of celebrities as well, both political and plain old Hollywood style ones. Some names include Senator John Edwards, Congressman Jerry Nadler, Tim Robbins, Michael Emerson, Joe Pantoliano, Colin Quinn, Aasif Mandvi, Tony Goldwyn, Evan Handler, Gilbert Gottfried and many, many others. So I better see you all at Washington Square Park tomorrow at noon!

Reunited And It Feels So Good

For the first time, Al Gore was invited to the Bush White House as one of the winners of the Nobel Prize. As you can tell, Al looks comfortable and talkative while George is standing there with that fake smile of his, probably wishing this was all over soon.



Don't worry George, you only have 420 days left to go!

So Mr. Bush, Are You A Criminal Or Just Out Of Touch?

It is now post-Turkey Day and a week since Scott McClellan's publisher provided an excerpt from his upcoming book. That excerpt showed that McClellan had no idea he had passed on false information from Rove, Cheney, Bush et.al and now he is ready to cash his chips out for this very lucrative book deal. Everyone has had some time to digest their turkey and the clip from Scotty's book....so what does the pResident have to say about it?

From SignOnSanDiego:

The excerpt, posted on the Web site of publisher PublicAffairs, renews questions about what went on in the West Wing and how much Bush and Cheney knew about the leak. For years, it was McClellan's job to field – and often duck – those types of questions.

Now that he's spurring them, answers are equally hard to come by.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn't clear what McClellan meant in the excerpt. “The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information,” she said.

Well of course he'd never do anything illegal, this is our commander in chimp chief we are talking about here. And Dana would never pass on false information about false information either, right Ms. Perino? Well if that is the case, then it was and is a sad state of affairs that Mr. Bush can not keep a lid on his very own press secretary. Right?

TBogg looks into his crystal ball on how future press conferences might go from here on out:

One months later:

White House press secretary Tony Fratto said it wasn't clear what Gordon Johnroe was going on about when talking about some woman named Perrino, and that he had no idea who Scott McClellan was. “The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information,” he said.

Six days later:

White House press secretary Joe Lieberman was clearly agitated today when he accused the nations press of playing "some kind of partisan media 'gotcha' game with the Bush Administration"when it was clearly in the nations best interest to "move on" and get behind the recent invasions of Iran, Syria, and Yemen, all of whom , according to the former Senator and current Republican Vice Presidential nominee, "harbor ginormous stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and, did I mention that they hate our freedoms?" He later added, “The president has not and would not ask his spokespeople to pass on false information” to the few remaining journalists who hadn't already left the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in order to start drinking heavily until they forgot their deep personal shame .

Damn, if Lieberman is press secretary number six, I pray to the almighty not to see who number seven might be.

Rudy Attracts The Press And Who Else?

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. He's the national favorite, Mr. America's Mayor, stood by in his city and made it to photo-ops while people died in the wreckage of what were the Twin Towers...then he left the mayorship and made millions off of his fame and now he's running for President. It is quite the accomplishment to even be a front runner, but is there really anything behind it? In New Hampshire it doesn't seem that there is much there at all.

From MSNBC:

The numbers of reporters have ballooned. In addition to the regulars, all of the New York City tabloids are here, as are several national newspaper chains and numerous still photographers. Even Australian and Danish press made a cameo. For a campaign that never had a formal launch, this weekend almost seems like an unveiling.

The crowds, however, don’t seem to have gotten the message. A rally for Giuliani in front of Manchester City Hall garnered only a few dozen supporters. Backers of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich almost seemed to match them in numbers. Giuliani generates healthy crowds at town hall meetings, but they are not all loyalists. When it comes to rallies and events where partisans are expected in droves, Giuliani’s crowds disappoint. And the mainstream media has started to notice.

Finally they are noticing, wow, it only took the media until late November to see that Giuliani is made up of the majority of his words, that is, hot air. While Obama attracts tens of thousands, Rudy gets dozens. That alone speaks volumes. Astute observers that New Hampshire-ites are, they have seen that Rudy isn't much more than rhetoric. He talks enough, thats for sure, but a sound candidate worthy of the White House?

Hardly.

Hummers, Driving Through The Mess They Make

Isn't it ironic that with climate change, the vehicles that symbolize the gluttony of our society can drive through the catastrophes they help create? Sure, the Hummer isn't the sole problem, not every car out there is a Hummer. Still, it is a slap in the face that GM flaunts this car in such a terrible tragedy that was partially brought on by our ridiculous consumption habits, one being the enormous amount of cars out there that help destroy our environment.

You Know How Immigrants Suck Our Resources Dry?

Well it is a load of steaming, heaping BS and the product of xenophobic bastards everywhere that spread their ignorant hate of others. If you don't believe me, just look at the studies out there that show otherwise. Here in New York, all immigrants make up 21 percent of New York's population and over 22 percent of the gross domestic product. A labor think tank examined the effects of immigrants on our state and it shows just how important they are, if you didn't know already. Chances are, more than one in five of you are one of those that help contribute to the economy.

From The Daily News:

Immigrants, who make up 21% of the Empire State's population, added $229 billion to the economy last year alone and accounted for 22.4% of New York's gross domestic product, Fiscal Policy Institute researchers found.

(snip)

The report found that immigrants in the city are moving into various realms of commerce and employment, and now make up 21% of all chief executive officers, half of accountants, and one-third of office clerks, receptionists and building cleaners.

The study also found that city neighborhoods with high concentrations of immigrants have seen rapid growth over the past decades in new business startups.

Will these facts and figures put an end to the crap the right wing spews over immigrants on a daily basis? Probably not, but at least clear thinking Americans can look at what is really going on, and not on Fox News. The Albany Project highlights much more from the report here.

Trent Lott Says Buh Bye

In an official announcement that could come today, Trent Lott will be stepping down from his Senate seat at the end of this year. The Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour will appoint his successor that will serve until next year when an election will be held to see who be the next elected Senator until 2012, since Trent was re-elected only last year.

From TPM:

Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in Pascagoula and Jackson later in the day to reveal his plans. According to congressional and White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective the end of the year.

No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health. The senator has "other opportunities" he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating. The senator is serving his fourth Senate term.

Lott's colleagues elected him as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption for the Mississippian after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party in 2002. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for southern segregationist policies.

Oh yes, that little outburst back in 2002 sure did cost Senator Lott quite a bit. According to his book, he was shocked that President Bush condemned his comment about wishing for the old segregationist days (how dare he!). It was probably on par for him seeing what kind of response George showed for his neighbors that were wrecked by Hurricane Katrina.

Okay, Katrina was far, far worse in anyone' eyes. Perhaps Trent finally saw the error of the Republican way of dealing with government's relation with the people. When it comes down to it, less government means less services, including federal (and state) responses to disasters. If there isn't any money in the people's bank, then nothing will get done. That was surely evidenced at the end of August of 2005 and it still shows down on the Gulf Coast.

Even though he is only 66 and not in bad health, Trent is leaving disaffected by what was going on with him and his fellows leadership of our country. Oh and that new lobbying rule could be playing a factor in the decision as well. Now there must be a new way. Rep. Chip Pickering is being touted as a replacement, being his protegé and all, but is that what Mississippi and the Senate needs?

I beg to differ, and we might just see that Mississippi does as well, especially with people like Mike Moore being so heavily favored by many in that southern state.

"The War On Democracy"

Seeing who is fighting for the ideal and against it could shock many Americans to their core:

Not Much Thanks For These Indian Workers

Four days without a post and I am starting to feel funny, so its Monday, four days after Thanksgiving and there's still plenty to report on. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that no one ate more than I did (or else you'd be pretty sick), I was at my aunt's house and the amount of food was enough for 60 people, not the six that were in attendance. Meanwhile halfway across the world, there are hundreds of Indian workers that provide a small slice of New York's infrastructure, but barely get anything in return for their hard work.

From The New York Times:

The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That’s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times — images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York’s manhole covers are born.

When officials at Con Edison — which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India — were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.

“We were disturbed by the photos,” said Michael S. Clendenin, director of media relations with Con Edison. “We take worker safety very seriously,” he said.

Nevertheless, these disturbing pictures will not do a damn thing in changing where Con Ed buys their manhole covers. If anything, design specifications might phase out this Indian company's contract sooner or later. Con Ed will continue to follow the pre-eminent policy of buying the cheapest product that fits what they want to place on top of the thousands of holes in our city's streets and sidewalks. That goes for the city of Syracuse and New Orleans as well.

When you are walking down the street today, make sure you remember where that heavy piece of iron came from....and give thanks that they are not too badly injured for Con Ed's reduced price.