Seen at Bluesfest in Chicago.

Posted by Dennis at 16:01 (Central) | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That troubling dynamic, gentrification, continues to push its way into my neighborhood, Manhattan's East Village. "East Village" is itself a relatively recent appellation, intended to make the area sound more attractive. Few bemoan the decrease in crime or open drug dealing, but with those changes a neighborhood often seems to lose its character as well.

Continue reading "a parking lot, where the Latin Quarter once stood" »

Posted by Will at 12:40 (Central) | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably heard about the rioting in France. When I picked up the newspaper this morning and turned to the op-eds, I saw a ridiculous piece by David Brooks trying to link the riots in France to gangsta rap.

Yeah, go back and read that last sentence again, I know you can't believe it.

I thought about dismantling his essay piece by piece, but then I realized all I would have to do is wait a few hours for O-Dub to do it for me, and lo, he has. Oliver says it much better than I ever could.

Posted by Dennis at 17:10 (Central) | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Every time I check the news, it infuriates me. I mean, it's pretty plainly obvious that the Bush administration dropped the ball and is now trying to cover up their mistakes, even though their energy _should_ be going towards actually doing something for the people affected by Katrina. Sometimes you just have to step back and breathe deeply (literally or metaphorically) in order to maintain some sanity. For a lot of people, including me, that means falling back on routines. The daily New York Times crossword puzzle goes a long way towards calming me down (even though the rest of the paper regularly drives me crazy) and when I combine it with a pint it makes for the perfect post-radio show tradition. I'm not even going to try to cover all of the Katrina-related news, but I will point you towards some sources of news and (liberal) commentary that I've been checking: * AmericaBlog has been on top of breaking news better than anyone else I've seen. * Oliver Wang a.k.a. O-Dub is actually a music writer, but he's an educated man (Ph.D.) who writes coherently, and has been touching on a lot of the social issues implicit in Katrina's devastation (poverty and race). * The usual suspects: Daily Kos, Political Animal, and Eschaton. * Update: Check out this timeline of events put up over at Talking Points Memo. I was heartened by the way that the media tore into the Bush administration last week, but all signs are pointing toward the media reverting to their natural sycophantic ways and regurgitating Bush administration talking points. We'll see what happens - when all is said and done I expect that Katrina will have an unprecedented body count, ecological damage beyond imagination, and an economic impact that will last for years.

Posted by Dennis at 10:31 (Central) | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The news coming from New Orleans keeps getting worse. FEMA was systematically dismantled under the current administration, resulting in the weak and incoherent response. Hell, the head of FEMA used to be an _estate planning attorney_ with no experience in disaster management! Where are the National Guard troops that should be helping manage this crisis? Oh, I forgot, half of them are over in Iraq fighting an unnecessary war that this administration started. On top of it all, money that should have been used to reinforce the levees was diverted to fight the war in Iraq. Even though National Guard staffing is at a low and FEMA is a mess, had proper leadership stepped up right from the beginning, the damage toll could have been mitigated. Had Bush not been on vacation, he could have ordered Naval hospital ships and other military units to be standing by at alert as early as Friday when Katrina crossed the southern tip of Florida. Had they been ordered to, Guard units could have been evacuating the stragglers as early as Monday evening by helicopter. Air drops of food and water could have been implemented as well. And if a clear chain of command had been established, National Guard helicopters may have been able to sandbag the breaches in the levees on Tuesday _before_ the entire city flooded. People are saying that we shouldn't politicize this disaster, but we can lay much of the blame directly at the feet of this administration. Don't we deserve a leader who can actually _lead_? Where was Bush when all of this was happening? On a _five week_ vacation. He's already taken a _full year_ of vacation as president. As events began unfolding on Monday and Tuesday, Bush was gallivanting around having cake with John McCain and playing guitar. Even when reports started trickling across the wire on Tuesday morning that the levees had been breached, what did he do? Fly home to _Crawford_, and then fly into _Washington_ on Wednesday. It's somewhat reminiscent of the way he sat around in the classroom on 9/11 reading "My Pet Goat" for seven minutes and then promptly spent the rest of the day hiding by flying around on Air Force One. George W. Bush - the great American Nero.

Posted by Dennis at 17:49 (Central) | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times just ran an article the other day on the zine Giant Robot. Giant Robot started out as a tiny, photocopied zine and now is a glossy. Ten years of influence on pop culture by two Asian-American guys not much older than me. This is really just the tip of the iceberg, though; Asian cultures have had a huge impact on pop culture. Japanese manga and anime and Hong Kong action flicks have influenced visual media from comics to cartoons to graphic design to Hollywood movies. The Japanese are even influencing auto racing with the new trend of drifting. Fashion, music and more - it's interesting that Asian cultures have had such an effect on Western culture, and yet there are so few prominent Asians in Western culture. I suppose I'm hardly saying anything new (see Oliver Wang's site, Pop Life for a nice jump-off point if this is something that interests you) but I find it interesting that the Gray Lady is picking up on it...

Posted by Dennis at 18:12 (Central) | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The return of the electric sidewalk gives me a chance to share this bizarre and frightening story with our readers.

Continue reading "watch ya step kid" »

Posted by Will at 21:12 (Central) | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reported that Police Officer Richard Neri, who fatally shot Timothy Stansbury last month, will not be indicted. "The grand jury apparently believed...that Officer Neri's conduct was not a 'gross deviation' from what would be expected from a normal person in that situation." But Neri is not a "normal person." He is a police officer. A normal person is not allowed to walk around the city with a gun drawn. Therefore it is impossible to say what a normal person's conduct would be "in that situation." Such a situation does not exist. This situation is a cop patrolling with a gun drawn. If it is not a "gross deviation" for cops to fire their weapons when they get surprised, we are all in trouble. Stansbury's family wants federal civil rights charges, NY1 reports. Neri still faces possible departmental charges, and experts say he will probably never carry a gun again. The Daily News published this well written, even-handed column by Michael Daly today. I will admit my bias: I hate cops. I'm not blind however. I do not think Neri meant to kill Stansbury. I do not think he should be charged with first-degree murder. I do think what happened was an accident. But everything I have read about the circumstances of the case leads me to believe Neri was tragically negligent in his duties. I am truly shocked and appalled at the grand jury decision. I get furious when reading about NYPD officers who only care that their Commissioner did not defend Neri in the immediate aftermath. I am too annoyed and too tired to write any more about it tonight, but I just wanted to share the latest developments, in case anyone cares. Rants on new topics, coming soon.

Posted by Will at 20:20 (Central) | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As The New York Times reported, New York's Finest have taken out another young black man. Early Saturday morning in Brooklyn, NY, Officer Richard Neri was performing a "vertical patrol" with his partner. As Neri opened the door to the roof of an apartment complex, he ran into 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury, who was entering the stairwell down. Apparently, Neri was surprised, fired his gun, and shot Stansbury dead. The surprise in the aftermath has been the response from the City. Mayor Bloomberg already showed last year that, unlike some mayors, he prefers not to blame the NYPD's victims for their own deaths. However, for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to immediately say the shooting appears unjustified is truly remarkable. Of course, Kelly's statements were not met with praise by his underlings. Nor by cop-lovin' Stanley Crouch. All the information released thus far points to Officer Neri being completely to blame for this tragedy. (The DA's office was interviewing another witness today.) This article says "Officer Neri made statements suggesting he had been startled by the door's opening and involuntarily fired a shot." Well, accidents happen, but when people die, one cannot just brush them aside. Neri may have been surprised to find someone opening the door from the other side. That is not an excuse for killing someone. I don't doubt that dark rooftops in Bed-Stuy are scary places. That's why we don't give guns to every citizen for personal patrol. That's why cops are supposed to earn their badges. Bullets cannot go flying whenever someone is startled. A criminal investigation is underway. We'll see if Neri receives special treatment because of his uniform.

Posted by Will at 22:39 (Central) | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)