Musings from the Big City

Just about ready to board my flight back to America's Wang™. It's been a great trip to New York City and environs, and special thanks to all my dear blogfriends -- if I have time later, I'll link you all up. In the meantime, you know who you are.

I did have a couple of interesting bloggable experiences, though. First, there was a guy on the flight north Thursday afternoon who was all Thug Life and shit ... he wore a Tampa Bay Buccaneers #32 Michael Pittman jersey, which was the first thing I noticed ... until he walked back up the aisle in the plane and I saw the tattoo emblazoned on the nape of his neck, below his hairline and clearly visible above the jersey collar:

FUCK

THE

LAW

His parents must be so proud.

Then, yesterday, whilst enjoying a beautiful stroll through Central Park, a guy passed by me wearing a T-shirt, the entire message on which I couldn't make out. But the salient points were this:

"naive (adj.):

1. [Dictionary definition]
2. [Another dictionary definition]
3. Any Jew who votes for Obama."

What the fuck? I mean, seriously?

I wanted to approach the guy and ask about the shirt, but my friend indicated I'd be on my own, and I wasn't thrilled with that option -- so I let it go. But I really am worried about anyone who truly believes that kind of shit.

Anyway, flight's boarding ... more to come later.

Reflections from Ground Zero

Yesterday, I visited Ground Zero for the first time. There's a new PATH (transit) station there, and construction is underway for the planned memorial ... but the chief emotion I felt there was not anger, or even really sadness. I was more puzzled and frustrated than anything.

Why is there so little access to the site? I understand that it's an active construction site, but it seemed that The Powers That Be went through some extraordinary steps to shield from view the site itself, and I found that troubling. I managed to get one picture of the actual construction (right), but I felt kind of intrusive, or like I was doing something I shouldn't have been doing ... as though someone wants us to feel shame about the place.

We shouldn't be ashamed of Ground Zero, and we shouldn't be obscuring it from public view. Likewise, we shouldn't be using it as a rallying point for killing Brown People and anyone who disagrees with the Bush crime syndicate, as so often happens, thanks to the Chinese Ribbon Magnet Lovers and the Flag Lapel Pin Brigade and all the other faux patriots out there. As racymind said to me this weekend, we need not only to defeat neoconservatism wholly and completely; we need to crush it under our thumbs, bury it in the ground, and salt the earth so that it never grows again.

In short, I miss the time -- before the PNAC-sponsored destruction of America began in 1994 -- that this actually meant something:

Travel day

Heading back to America's Wang™ today, after I roam Midtown looking for goodies to take home to my kids.

Has anything been happening since Thursday? I haven't turned on the teevee or read a newspaper the whole time.

I might even post a few NYC pics when I get the chance. Not that you don't know what it looks like, but hey, it's my fucking uncivil blog.

In which I meet Lizz Winstead and Ed Schultz

Hi again from midtown Manhattan. The following is no April Fool, I assure you.

Tonight, on the recommendation of res ipsa loquitur and after dinner with watertiger, Culture of Truth, HoneyBearKelly, and Bunter, racymind and I went to Shoot the Messenger, a terrific "two-in-one" show that combines a caustic-yet-frighteningly-accurate morning show parody with an interview session. Tonight, the "star" and co-creator of StM, Lizz Winstead, interviewed Air America Radio host Ed Schultz.

What a terrific show. The first half, the morning show parody, was a riot. My favorite part was when they interviewed the author of a book exploring why Barack Obama was going to have trouble reaching out to "middle America" (remember, this is a parody, folks). The title of the book: Oreo Nation: Campaigning for the Creamy Middle. Ouch.

But it was Winstead's interview with Schultz that was most enlightening. The two covered a lot of topics, even spending a good bit of time on my question regarding the impact of the blogosphere on mainstream media (naturally, I mentioned Eschacon, and Lizz also mentioned Atrios in her response to my question). Schultz won't endorse a candidate, but he said that from where he sits, he doesn't understand why Hillary Clinton remains in the race. He also told a few anecdotes from his dinner last night with Terry McAuliffe, to which Winstead asked, "Did you lose a bet and have to have dinner with Terry McAuliffe? Was it like, 'You either have to go to Guantanamo or have dinner with Terry McAuliffe?' "

According to Schultz, Obama is making great strides with the superdelegates, a situation he called "the untold story from the media." Bill Richardson noted this, Schultz said, when he endorsed Obama -- that Clinton seems to have an unpalatable sense of entitlement in this campaign, a "strange definition of loyalty," as Schultz put it. "Barack really wants to attempt to bring people together; Hillary doesn't think you can bring people together -- you only have to win by one and then beat the shit out of them."

Schultz believes that if Clinton takes the nomination through "arm-twisting" of superdelegates at the convention, "there's going to be hell to pay in November." People, especially African-Americans, will feel disenfranchised. The money quote: "Catholics voted for John F. Kennedy. Evangelicals voted for Bush. What's wrong with black people voting for Barack Obama, or women voting for Hillary Clinton?"

There was much, much more but that's basically what I remember. It was a special event and I'm thrilled to have attended. Oh, yeah, then there's this:

Yeah, that's me, the Z-lister DFH from Florida with Schultz and Winstead. That pretty much kicked ass.

I think I might have to hang out in NYC more often ...

Tourist

I'm out and about in New York City today and, unlike some other bloggers I know, I don't have other folks with the keys.

So go listen to today's Blast Off! Radio show or something. Thanks in advance.

Live from New York, it's Blast Off! Radio, 2:00 pm EDT today

Last October, I gave you Blast Off! Radio live from Beverly Hills. Today, I give you the other side of the country, as I broadcast live this afternoon from New York City -- Manhattan, specifically. The city that never sleeps. I need more sleep. But I digress ...

Naturally, there will be an Eschacon review, and we'll catch up on what's going on in the news. Plus, as always, your phone calls.

TIME: 2:00 pm Eastern TODAY

Click here to listen

Call in number: (646) 716-7543

AIM: blastoffradio

E-mail: blastoffradio-at-gmail-dot-com

My voice, quite frankly, is shot to bloody hell, but I'll rasp my way through it. I blame Simels. (This is a not-so-subtle plea for folks to call in and spare America the sound of my incessant croaking.)

As usual, listen today, or the puppy gets it. And I mean it this time.

Cool Website of the Day

Overheard in New York.

Don't miss the Most Popular Quotes, like this one:

NewsFlash: Eccentric Dean of Electoral College Invokes Little-Known Constitutional Provision

Hobo: Attention, attention! I'm playing this saxophone to raise money for my spaceship!

Plays a horrible rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel."

Hobo: I'm going into space, and I'm taking George Bush with me!

Fellow passengers cheer.

--1 train

Ghost of Ayn Rand injures two in NYC

It seemed like a routine accident story ...

NEW YORK - A 15-foot pipe fell off a skyscraper being dismantled near the World Trade Center site and plunged through the roof of a nearby firehouse Thursday, injuring two firefighters, officials said.

Demolition work was stopped on the 40-story former Deutsche Bank building after the sprinkler pipe fell from the 35th floor onto Engine 10/Ladder 10.

Then it got weird:

Workers from John Galt Corp. were cutting the pipe at around 7 a.m. when it dislodged and fell through the firehouse roof below, officials said. Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries and released, fire officials said. The firefighters weren't hit by the pipe, the department said.

The city Buildings Department issued John Galt Corp. a violation for failure to safeguard the public and property, spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said. A message left with the company wasn't immediately returned Thursday.

Looks like the company really took the selfishness idea seriously, eh? "Who is John Galt?," indeed.

(If you haven't suffered through read Atlas Shrugged, you probably won't understand this post. Sorry.)