For those Serf City readers who have given up on fixing the system and are ready to dismantle it, the first ever NYC Anarchist Book Fair will take place this Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South. The book fair includes over 60 groups/book presses/zines/infoshops and 12 workshops through out the weekend. The festivities kick off Friday night with an Anarchist Film Festival.
The White House is seeking to fill a new and exciting position; Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Coordinator.
Any takers?
The White House has already approached three retired generals, including Army General Jack Keane and Air Force General Joseph Ralston. Both said no.
The third didn’t hold back his opinion either.
Retired Marine General John Sheehan states that ”the very fundamental issue is, they don’t know where the hell they’re going,” quotes the Washington Post. “So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, ‘No, thanks.’”
It’s bad enough that the idjits in Silly Council have driven Wal-Mart to take their ball and go home, ensuring that NYC families will continue to suffer smaller selection and higher prices when shopping for groceries. Now Assemblyman William Colton wants to ban plastic grocery bags from “large” supermarkets throughout New York State. Since Gristedes chairman John Catsimatidis estimates the plastic bags cost about a penny apiece while the paper bags cost 3-4 times as much, expect the end result to be higher grocery bills for everyone. And if you’re like my family and re-use your grocery bags as wastebasket liners in your apartment, add in a new expense (and more petroleum products consumed) after you’re forced to buy new garbage bags at the store.
Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to speak at this year’s commencement at Utah’s Brigham Young University. The predominantly Republican student body and staff have been protesting Mr. Cheney’s presence on campus.
Even the Mormons don’t want him around.
In a usually peaceful environment, the students have been up in arms over the upcoming speech by the Vice President. The reasons they site aren’t political. They’re personal.
In an article appearing in today’s New York Times, writer Martin Stolz quotes a 22 year old student, Andrew Christensen, as stating, “the problem is this is a morally dubious man.”
Professor Warner P. Woodworth, 65, agrees. “We espouse honesty, chastity, integrity, ethics, virtue and morality, and he does not epitomize those values.”
Although Mormons in Utah tend to vote Republican, and value the same conservative values that Mr. Cheney claims to value, the population of Brigham University sees a different side to the Vice President.
Granted, corruption exists in all power structures. However, Mr. Cheney’s most recent approval rating, along with President Bush’s, have been extremely low (32% and 38% respectively).
When even a conservative, Mormon population protests the very presence of a Republican leader, it is clear that said leader needs to make some adjustments.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”
It looks like my favorite NYC muckraking website, UncivilServants.org, is getting some results in curtailing the abuse of government parking permits. Streetsblog is reporting that the new commanding officer at the 5th Precinct — contrary to NYPD tradition — is actually towing the cars of cops who park illegally. Kudos to Inspector Yee.
Hat tip: The Empire Zone
FYI, Matthew Roth, editor of UncivilServants.org, will be the guest speaker at the Manhattan Libertarian Party’s June meeting.
In my March 30 blog “Mayor Rudy and the arrogance of power” I cited statistics showing an alarming increase in complaints for apparently bogus stop and frisk activity during the Giuliani administration. Well hold on to your hats folks , Rocco Parascandola in his Newsday.com article “Stop-and-frisk stats suggest flaws in NYPD practices” says last year’s number exploded to over 508,000 - up five-fold over 2002. Is one out of every 16 New Yorkers visibly up to no good? The only place the number is that high seems to be the government.
Tom Elliott, guest-blogging at Alarming News, scores a major scoop with a damning chain of emails between Councilmember James Oddo’s chief of staff and a scientist they hoped would help them push through the aluminum bat ban. Seems the scientist told them, sorry, but there’s simply no evidence that aluminum bats are more dangerous than wooden bats. But Oddo’s lackey didn’t want to hear it.
There’s a chilling report on the City Limits website about the proliferation of surveillance cameras in public schools. The cameras constitute a $120 million city program intended to reduce school violence. While they’ve been successful in creating an Orwellian atmosphere, the schools are apparently more violent than ever:
In Mayor Bloomberg’s preliminary Management Report for fiscal year 2007, data showed a 21 percent jump in major school crime from July through October 2006: 348 incidents were reported over the four-month period, as opposed to 287 incidents over the same period the previous year. The rise was largely attributed to 197 cases of grand larceny, the sort of crime surveillance cameras are supposed to deter or solve.
“I can only imagine that the increase would have been worse without the cameras that exist,” [City Councilmember, the program's sponsor] said.
Another fun fact from the article: The NYC public schools are manned by 4,625 safety agents – a larger force than the entire police departments of Baltimore, Boston, or San Diego.
Kids, graffiti is bad, mmm-kay? But Jesus H. Christ, arresting a 13-year-old for writing “okay” on her desk??? The poor kid was handcuffed and placed under arrest in front of her classmates in Dyker Heights, then chained to a pole at the 68th Precinct Station House for three hours.
The real shame is that she got busted for such lame graffiti! Back in my day (in the dark ages when we used punch cards for computer class), kids made the effort to write bad-ass graffiti on their desks, using racial and sexual ephithets that would make Don Imus blush. If this is the sorry state of teenage rebellion today, we’re in serious trouble.
Hat tip: Rational Review News Digest
We’re working on the next issue of Serf City, the tabloid newspaper that covers New York politics from a libertarian perspective. This is a great opportunity to get your name and opinions in print. You don’t have to be a libertarian to contribute, but articles should be pro-freedom in theme. We strongly prefer stories with local relevance, but we will also consider national political issues.
We also really need editorial cartoons and photography.
The deadline for the next issue is April 16. Send your stories and pictures to editor (at) serfcity (dot) com.
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