July 12, 2004, Does it Get Any Cozier Than This?
Whenever the talk turns to potentially replacing walking liability Dick Cheney from the Republican ticket, the two names that pop up are the Sainted John McCain (who, if he took such a step to the Dark Side would cease to be sainted, would immediately become "The Sellout John McCain", and hence infinitely less useful); and the So-Called St. Rudy of Giuliani, former divisive and controversial New York mayor turned media star because of Bush's default in the early days following 9-11...
Fast forward a bit.... while both men are really smart charismatic guys, neither will help Bush more than Cheney will... So-- McCain stays in the senate, and as to St. Rudy... what could be a better business in the world of governmental fueled paranoia about such things as biological and chemical attacks? How about... being a remediation contractor! IF you clicked on the link, you read it correctly: former NYC Mayorissimo Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani is now in the bio- and chem- hazard remediation biz. And its biggest project to date: remediating
a building in Boca Raton, Florida that formerly housed American Media-- owner of the National Enquirer, among other ventures, for Rudy's own headquarters for Bio One.
If you think its just a tad opportunistic for Rudy to be in a business that feeds on American paranoia, just as he seems to have sent his lackey and buddy Bernie Kerik over to Iraq to make some money...
Honestly-- its the definition of a good Republican these days to cut yourself in on the crony action while the gettin's good. But... to cut yourself in on anthrax remediation at a time when we have a government that many think will sound the alarm bell at anything to get political points, this could just be an opportunity to make a killing-- even from false alarms... ah, limitless opportunity... America, she's a great country!
I hear anarchists might be planning to unleash biological warfare attacks on us... or else, cream pies... this is a job for St. Rudy! (Rudy may have been wise to retire from politics while he's out of it, as it becomes less and less likely we will be having another election in which he could run to take back his mayorissimo job, though in his case, maybe we'll make an exception... an election that "the terrorists" even could disrupt just should not be held, and the terrorists will have won...its for our own safety, of course...)
Anarchists... if this weren't the justification for testing out some police state methods on our until recently pretty free society, it would be funny... (I believe it was Leon Trotsky who once suggested that "Anarchy is liberalism... cleansed of the police." But I digress...) Anarchists...
How about "Protestors in a free society"? Or, after years of "First Amendment Zones", only calling on press-members who report on you favorably, firing people for disagreeing with you (and little else),... "Protestors in a free society" means about as much as "Shub anc og Neeych shmelfi".
What can you do? Hey, maybe St. Rudy will take his venture public...
Comments
"Daily News Prefers Grass over First Amendment"
In its lead editorial today, the Daily News endorsed the City's denial of allowing Republican Convention demonstrators to have an assembly in Central Park, which is far away from the convention site itself. Reason given: damage to the grounds. There will be similar denials for other locations, certainly based on other petty concerns.
I think the point is now obvious, the City will not allow any crowd of more than 50 people to have a peaceful assembly - Bill of Rights be damned.
Also, there can be no doubt that the City will be a police state while the convention is in town. Make no mistake and carry lots of photo id. I predict arrests of those in the City without photo id at the "random checkpoints" on every street corner "just to be sure." What do you think a force of 10,000 police officers will be doing?
Posted by Fatt Nudge at July 13, 2004 12:21 PM
From personal experience at a protest in February 2003, I can tell you exactly what the New York City Police will be doing: it will be the equivalent of the world's largest "We lost the paperwork runaround"...
The protest will be at point X; the first , say 50 or 100,000 people will be allowed there, but everyone else will be diverted round and round on side streets so that they can't be counted... and "even the liberal" the NY Times will go along with it. Hence, a protest that had around 400,000 attendees (I extrapolated where I was and then counted blocks from a helicopter shot)was counted as 100,000-- because ONLY 1st Ave. protestors were "part of the protest" (and might Iadd, they were penned in at that); protestors on 2nd Ave., 3rd Ave. and Lexington Aves. were just diverted ever further northward-- not allowed to cross to First Ave.-- and not counted...
THAT is what the police will be doing around convention time...
I don't recall the Founding Fathers ever mentioning anything about limiting First Amendment expression to "zones" where elected officials wouldn't have to be bothered with that expression... but then, they didn't mention a lot of things that seem to be regarded as perfectly normal these days.
Posted by the talking dog at July 13, 2004 01:27 PM
Seems to me that we need to strengthen the laws permitting peaceful protest, since the Constitution is inadequate these days.
I was at the 400,000 person moment of silence in Central Park for John Lennon back in '81 (I think it was '81--getting old). Has the grass gotten frailer since then?
Won't go in for the protests at RepCon. Don't need the hassles and protesters will be stifled and shunted off anyway. I'll protest with my votes and by working for the Kerry campaign.
Posted by WallyCoxLives at July 13, 2004 03:01 PM
On a lighter note, it's a crying shame that the Daily News on-line version didn't carry the same sock-o anarchists headline that the paper version had yesterday. TD's link picked up the article, but with a much less juicy headline. I'm frustrated now, since I can't find the original. It went something like, "Convention Magnet for Anarchists--Top Cop Prepares for Threatened Chaos" or words to that effect. Wonder if they re-cycled something from 1904?
Posted by mamayo at July 13, 2004 03:35 PM
Sacco and Vanzetti have rooms booked at the Plaza for the event.
Posted by WallyCoxLives at July 13, 2004 03:42 PM
John Lennon died in December of 1980. I've come to regret my part in it.
However, it was important that the most serious Beatles die first - John, then George. Looks like Ringo ends up as the survivor.
Posted by Hassan Bar Sinister at July 13, 2004 03:47 PM
The Fab-4 seems to be dying in order of age-- yougnest first-- so Ringo still hangs on at the end... Its only fair that the guy whose just happy to be here gets to stay the longest... I guess...
Anyway-- why do I picture Boris Badenov holding a bomb lurking around Penn Station...?
Has it not dawned on anyone that locking down the very New York City that was attacked "because they hate us for our freedom" (in the same manner as, say, the West Bank or Gaza) is exactly the kind of sight-gag that they will show on Al-Jazeera over and over and over, and it will end up being an even better recruiting tool for Al Qaeda than our insane attacking of a leading SECULAR Arab state in retaliation for attacks by religious extremists?
The only thing I'm confident of is that in New York, we WILL take to the streets. We won't be counted, except by each other-- but we WILL be there-- too many for the police to handle if they want to get all ugly-- but fortunately, NEW YORKERS (I won't speak for the likely imported anarchists, from whatever country Badenov is from, I guess), but NEW YORKERS will prove to be well-behaved and orderly, even as our freedom is being pissed on.
The protests will be loud, and they will be large, and they will be irritating to the powerful.
"If this be treason, make the most of it."--Patrick Henry
Posted by the talking dog at July 13, 2004 05:05 PM
"Has it not dawned on anyone...?" Are you serious? The terrorists won and George Bush helped them do it. Of course it has dawned on someone. Plenty of someones. You have George Bush, the US Congress, the Patriot Act, the airports, the streets of New York, the "security" measures at the Convention (don't bullshit me, Crablive--I know the difference between security measures and stifling protest, or didn't you hear about the two people who were security risks at a Bush rally because they were wearing T-shirts that were not complimentary to Bush--please, don't bullshit me because you waste your time and don't capture my interest when you do) all conspiring to destroy the freedom of Americans and the Bill of Rights. The terrorists won and George Bush and the US Congress did everything they could to help them, because while you have everyone afraid and confused, you can steal a shitload. Which is exactly what they did. Which is exactly what 9/11 was about to the Bush administration and many of the Congress people.
Posted by WallyCoxLives at July 14, 2004 08:41 AM
I thought you were more astute than that, WallyCox.
The terrorists are pawns. They are tools, not victors.
And don't forget, Rudy G is making a fortune off the terror gravy train too.
Posted by Hassan Bar Sinister at July 14, 2004 10:39 AM
Agreed on Giuliani. Also agree that they are being used by the Bushies to terrorize the country.
Actually, my comments were ill-considered. Here's what I really think. The terrorist agenda (one group's at least) is to get US bases out of Saudi Arabia and weaken US support for Israel. They don't hate freedom. They hate the way in which the US has conducted itself in the Middle East for the past fifty or sixty years. They also consider Saudi Arabia holy and want it free of foreign powers. In addition, the Saudi royal family is a despised passel of despots and the terrorists would also like to overthrow them. Among other reasons they hate the Sauds (other than despotic behavior) is that the Sauds do not observe Muslim law when they leave Saudi Arabia, so they are seen as "show" Muslims.
HOWEVER, Bush and the US Congress have done everything they can to grant a victory to the causes they CLAIM the terrorists uphold.
Posted by WallyCoxLives at July 14, 2004 10:46 AM
Wally, Wally, Wally
There are factions (5 families) of the Saudi Royal Family that sponsor the terrorists. How can they depose themselves?
There has been jockeying for the past several years for the top spot when the current king kicks off, including mysterious deaths in the desert.
Do you think there would be an Al Qaeda if there was a healthy strong king? And do you think Al Qaeda will continue once there is a successor?
Posted by Hassan Bar Sinister at July 14, 2004 11:20 AM
Hassan--
I think you have said enough for now. I appreciate your having chosen this forum for these disclosures (because no one will see it here!), but eventually, Prince Bandar will run a Google Search, and he will not be happy with you. (You do remember what he did the last time he wasn't happy with you... I'll try not to remind you...)
There are some things that the few readers who do make it here should know: the jockeying Saudi factions were generally all pleased with the unilateral American decision to go into Iraq... the secular Saddam Hussein was always a pain in the ass, mostly because he himself was sitting on enough oil, that if it got out (see "sanctions lifted"), to seriously threaten Saudi petro- hegemony and worse, maybe bring down prices...
Also, by the Americans throwing open the borders to Iraq, a fair number of AQ low levelers could be shipped up North for live-fire training, and show some rival factions they meant business, by blowing up Iraqi oil infrastructure (which we didn't do all that good a job of guarding, despite it being our only priority). Saudi oil infrastructure is, if possible, more vulnerable than Iraq's, because it is more concentrated-- I understand that half of all Saudi oil-- representing roughly 10% of the world's oil consumption, passes through one easily destructible, not particularly well-guarded pipe-line junction.
So, right now, we have an internal standoff among the Saudi combatants. But note-- AQ has never-- never targeted Saudi royals. They are not "hard targets"-- as Hassan points out, many of them are, and have been, easily taken out by "mysterious" car accidents, for example. Instead, they target foreign workers (and USA troops) in Saudi, indiscriminately killing locals (but never royals).
I think I've said too much...
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