Tag: misc

An interesting art project. The story in the New York Times:

The origins of the show can be traced to 2001, when Pedro Mateu-Gelabert, a sociologist researching the relationship between H.I.V. and drug use, first glimpsed the packets in an empty building in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, where addicts would shoot up. Immediately, he said, he was struck by the fact that the images on the glassine envelopes served as advertisements.

In New York, for some reason, heroin is sold in little glassine bags or envelopes. I found that strange coming from Baltimore where heroin is sold in gelcaps. In New York they also wait “on line” rather than “in line.” And in New York they have no friggin’ idea how to make a crab cake.

Regional differences… crazy.

My quote of the day comes from Solomon Peeples, 86, a former director of NYC’s Bureau of Pest Control Services. He was talking about rats: “They jump two feet from a running start; they can fall 40 feet onto a concrete slab and keep running…. We’re no match for them, as far as I’m concerned. Man does not stand no chance.”

The runner up is Esther Bark, 50, who has seven daughters and said, “To suddenly put them in an open-minded place is not good for them.”

Of course I wouldn’t be for stupid people attacking Muslims either. But there is something deliciously ironic in turning against people who flew across the country to join your hate-filled cause.

What else can you say about something so idiotic? (other than “Go back to Jersey, you friggin’ yahoos!”)

At least it shows the true color of these so-called patriots is more blackshirt than red white and blue.

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.

“Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

I was in the hardware store the other day. The one where the business owner is a middle-aged, liberal, dog loving, some’er teeth, former punk kind of guy (only in New York).

Dire Straits “Walk of life” was on the radio and I mentioned how I loved that song when it came out… and how today he sounds more like a Bruce Springsteen wannabe.

Then we started talking about Springsteen. It took me years before I liked Springsteen (till hearing “Nebraska,” to be precise). Right about then a very clean-cut older guy came in and overheard our conversation. I noticed, as he interrupted, that his belt holding up his shorts and tucked in shirt was perfectly straight around the circumference of his big belly:

“Springsteen, Born in the USA. You ever hear the lyrics?”

No, and, er, that’s not what we were talking about.

“‘Put a rifle in my hands/Sent me off to Vietnam/To go and kill the yellow man.’ How about that? Yellow man!”

Silence. (though those areinteresting lyrics)

“You know what it is about Vietnam?”

No. But I bet you’re going to tell me.

“We could have won that war!”

Really?

“Yeah, we could have won that war if it weren’t for… communistsand their sympathizers. Sympathizers born right here in the USA!”

You know, I thought we lost 50,000 men over there because it was a fight we kept fighting even though we couldn’twin. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you lose. Especially in another country’s civil war.

But what do I know? I was barely alive. Maybe the problem wasn’t conditions over there but people over here who were against the war. Maybe we just needed more troops and few more years to really beat those bastards.

Kind of like the war on drugs. Or Iraq. To think that liberal ol’ me may be responsible for brave young soldiers running over IEDs and not the draft-dodging politicians who sent them there in the first place. (Don’t judge patriotism by service! Judge it by flag pins in the lapel!]

It’s always easier to blame others than admit you were wrong.

But I said nothing. This guy was already on mindless autopilot mode. Standing in front of an ACLU sticker shouting about communists and their sympathizers ruining this country.

I took my box of garbage bags and left.

Harry Moskos–journalist and streetcar advocate (also my uncle)–writes in the Albuquerque Journal, “Obama’s Birthers Should Check Out My Daughters’ Papers.”

Our two daughters, like Obama, were born in Honolulu. We lived in Hawaii from 1963 to 1969.
…
Obama was born at Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children, the same hospital where our daughters were born.

Read the exciting truth about Barrack Hussein Obama’s supposed native-born American birth!

From the Times:

New York authorities are investigating a manhole fire that startled passers-by just a few blocks from where a Times Square car bomb failed to detonate over the weekend.

A spokesman for the Con Edison utility says smoking underground electrical cables caused the fire Monday afternoon.

I have lots of smart readers.

Can someone please explain to me why it’s not a crime to kill somebody if you’re driving. If it were any other situation, it would be crime, right?

Hell driving drunk safelyis a crime. But killing somebody sober isn’t? I don’t get it.

Here’s just the latest example.

Since there’s no good newspaper left in San Francisco, I guess it’s up to the Washington Post to report stories like this.

Today, in 2010, the difference between New York City and San Francisco (or Santa Monica) is amazing. I’m always a little shocked out west and think, “Wow, I thought we figured out how to deal with this problem years ago.”

I’ve noticed there is generally more aggressive begging in “nice” neighborhoods than there is in any poor neighborhood. Rich neighborhoods are safer. And in the ghetto, people have less money to give. Plus it’s easier to play off white liberal guilt in “nice” parts of town.

In the past 20 years, homelessness has not gone away in New York City, but it’s gotten a hell of lot better for both the homeless and normal residents.

Police need to pay attention to “Broken Windows” quality-of-life urban issues. Homelessness is one of these issues. But, some say, the link between “Broken Issues” issues and violent crime has never been proven. True. It may or may not exist (though I suspect it does).

But homicides have gone way down in San Fransisco without any obviously corresponding drop in quality-of-life issues. But quality-of-life issues matter for their own sake. Those who think that public urination, for instance, doesn’t matter probably have never had anybody piss on their stoop.

Homeless people have problems. No home, for one. Unemployment, for another. And, more often than not, mental illness and substance abuse. Too many homeless advocates (though not all) seem to advocate for more homelessness rather than less. Aggressive begging helps neither the homeless nor the city.

San Francisco, in terms of homeless and aggressive begging, is like NYC 20 years ago. It doesn’t have to be this way. While walking down the street, people have a right not be harassed while walking down the street. Period.

Idiots, like one guy quoted in the story, say that anti-homeless laws, “unfairly targets the poor, homeless and people of color. ‘If you illegalize sleeping, camping, lying, sitting, congregating, then what’s left: Walking?’” Oh, please. That attitude is so 1980s!

Homeless is a problem for both social services and police (yes, solving the problem does cost money). One without the other won’t work. But without the police “or else” of arrest, some people will always “choose” to live on the streets. In my block, that’s not an acceptable choice.

If you think thank that homeless should be allowed to live on my block or on my subway, I invite you instead to welcome them to camp in your yard or commute in your car.

I’m not a “quote of the day” kind of guy. But I just came across this one from Art Buchwald. I always like his moxie:

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don’t think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you’re hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.