What The Fuck, New York City

So I'm reading this article about the new World Trade Center. The mammoth monument to celebrate America's ability to bounce back. Obviously, we're not that good at bouncing back since, you know, the building isn't built yet and it's been nearly ten years. I'm intrigued by it because it's architecture, and architecture fascinates me. I don't particularly care that it's a monument, nor do I feel like a monument means people will "remember" that bad shit went down that day. Really, it just reminds me of bureaucracy. And architecture. I prefer to think of the positive aspects-- you know, the architecture.

But of course, that is nearly impossible when reading about the defense of the not-yet-built milestone that is a giant penis the length equal to this nation's incorporation.

If you want to go visit  this monument when it opens, this is what you have to contend with:

670 police officers devoted solely to the defense of the structure. Think of how many police officers your town or city has compared to this one building.

400 closed circuit cameras monitored by even more NYPD officers and software designed to detect things like unattended bags and other threats.

Any vehicle will be screened before entering the site. Tour buses, deliveries, cars, trucks-- they are all screened. I imagine if you walked up in a wheel barrow or a jet ski they'd screen them too. You won't be able to escape screening by walking in either, because walk-ins will be screened as well. I imagine this will be similar to the joyous occasion that is boarding an airplane. By the way, this screening happens before getting into the building.

Police plan to use a vehicle security center to screen tour buses, trucks and cars before they enter the site and park or makes deliveries using an underground roadway. Pedestrian traffic, including visitors to the museum, also will be screened before they can enter the central plaza.

Ticketed visitors to the memorial will be funneled into a security screening room with airport-style metal detectors and X-ray machines. Employees and frequent visitors will be pre-screened so they can bypass regular checkpoints.

Sounds like potential terrorists just need to try and get a job at the future world trade center if they really, really want to be persistent.

This is all mostly fine to me. I understand why they do this kind of crap. I personally find it to be a waste of resources and pointless, but I get why they do it. Throwing money at a problem makes people feel good, and what they're doing has a very "we're taking it seriously" feel to it. But how far is too far? Is there a point where you lose something with extra security?

Once upon a time, people dressed up to go on a plane. You basically wore your Sunday Best. Now, that'd be asinine because you'd have so much to worry about. Take off your shoes, your belt, empty your pockets, so on and so forth. At this point, flip flops and sweats are the best option for flying, in my opinion. (For convenience purposes only, of course).

But then there's this nugget:

Final touches are also being put on another ambitious piece of the plan: Screening every car, truck and other vehicle for radioactive materials – evidence of a possible dirty bomb – and other potential threats as they enter lower Manhattan. To achieve that, police are installing cameras, radiation detectors and license-plate readers at the 16 bridges and four tunnels going in and out of Manhattan.

Not only is the NYPD attempting to "secure" the building that will become the world trade center, nor just the surrounding area, but they are also attempting to secure essentially the entire island of Manhattan from anything resembling a threat.

So what happens when a camera or detector detects something? I'd hate to have the FBI busting down my door because some sensor detected something it didn't like. Generally the response to these types of things is to act first and ask questions later.

I feel bad for the New Yorkers whose toll costs are about to double to help pay for this surreptitious screening. (Approximately $2 billion out of $33 billion over a 10-year plan)

More selfishly, I'm disappointed that it will now cost even more to visit my brother; I may not be able to put a price on it, but it's worth $15 to New York.

Goodbye Keith, We'll Miss You

In the world of news, there are very few people who can make it exciting. While Keith Olbermann may have at times been a little over the top, I think he brought something that the news needed: unrelenting honesty. And I think that with that comes a certain amount of anger, which at times can be hard to control for someone in a  position like that. I can understand many of his frustrations, and I think his show was something of a triumph, if a bit biased.

There are few wordsmiths quite like Keith, though, especially in the news, and that is what really made his show enjoyable; I love words, and clearly Keith Olbermann does too.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So we bid you adieu, for now. I'm sure you'll be back sometime, somewhere, and we'll be waiting. Besides, we don't watch tv anymore anyway, so hopefully you end up somewhere where we can catch up.

Good night and Good Luck. Though, I'm not convinced you'll need it.

Man Cat: A True Republican

A couple weeks ago, our republican friends in the senate continued their vow to get nothing done. You see, there was a bill up for vote called the Paycheck Fairness Act. Sounds understandable, right? Nah, it's actually a jobkiller because, if you're a republican, everything except tax cuts is a jobkiller. Let's dive into this bill, shall we?

First of all, this isn't a new bill; it passed the House of Representatives almost two years ago in January of 2009. That's how congress works, the House passes things and the Senate occasionally might vote on some of them. This isn't an exaggeration; through filibustering and other nonsensical senate rules the House has passed an astonishing 420 bills that the senate has just let sit around. It's kind of stupid when you consider that the house has several hundred more members to have to wrangle to get things accomplished than the Senate. But the Senate has the filibuster, their Golden Gun, so to speak. Not only does the Senate have the option to ignore bills the House passes as they please, but should one of these bills come up for a vote a mere 41 senators can stop a bill from being voted on. Yeah, senators are such children that they need to vote on whether or not to vote. And unless you have a supermajority of sixty votes, forty one senators can block anything from getting a vote to pass.

One such senator is Susan Collins from Maine (yes, a woman) who argues that the bill would place an undue burden on small businesses and "impose increased costs and restrictions on small businesses in an already difficult economic climate." That's right paying women the same amount as men simply costs too much. Not to mention, asking business owners to pony up that extra cash at a time like this? Hell no, ain't gonna happen. Who wants to be restricted on what they can pay a man when they have to constantly worry if the women they employ are also worth that much. Or maybe this will hurt men in the long run, because they won't get the raises they deserve for fear of needing to also give women that same raise, as Forbes suggests.

It kind of pisses me off when people try to blame problems on unrelated things or skirt issues by changing the subject. The major complaints people have is that women have more rights in wage parity and more resources to fight for equal pay. How is that controversial? The law doesn't say that you can't pay Jim $35,000 and Susan $32,000. No, what it says is if you're going to pay Jim more it has to be because he is better at his job than Susan is.

I think we've all been at a job sometime working our ass off getting paid practically peanuts while someone less skilled was, shall we say, more handsomely rewarded. Doesn't it suck? I know I've literally been in the room with a boss of mine while he thanked someone else and told them what a good job they did on something that I actually did. And when that person pointed out that I actually did the work, not him? Nothing. I can only imagine the strife and annoyance women go through on a daily basis in the workforce.

I'm not feeling particularly wordy anymore, and I'm tired and annoyed by this kind of crap. Over and over again and this childish behavior really out to end. Be a fucking human being already.

Everything Is Always A Work In Progress

Another round of my Man Cat as art project is in store today. Today's drawings are not done yet, in fact, they've hardly been started. I decided to draw Man Cat inspired by Henry Darger. In case you don't know Henry Darger, he would draw cute, young, girls with penises instead of vaginas. I believe he got crap for that since it's kind of controversial, I guess, but I think it's cute and funny, and something I like to do anyway so once I saw In The Realm of the Unreal I knew I'd have to create a Man Cat drawing inspired by Darger. It's in the very beginning stages. Really, I just jotted an idea down in a couple minutes so I wouldn't forget. I hope to finish it sometime in the future, and make it colorful. And cuter.

Man Cat Inspired by Henry Darger (Click to Enlarge)

As for this drawing, the bottom is going to be Man Cat as chairman Mao, inspired by Andy Warhol's print of the infamous dictator. I think that suits Man Cat well. The top stamp-sized sketch is Man Cat inspired by Shepard Fairey's OBEY print of Andre the Giant.

Man Cat inspired by Warhol and Fairey (Click to Enlarge)

More to come on these drawings when they are finished.

Thanks for reading.