- Wal-Mart Free NYC (3/11/2005) - Vornado Realty has dropped Wal-Mart from its Rego Park development plans. This happened the night after Newsday published my letter, so clearly I was the straw that broke the camel's back. In all seriousness, the plan was killed by some very effective, aggressive lobbying by the city's labor unions, particularly UFCW 1500 and the Central Labor Council. The initial plans for that failed Wal-Mart were announced in December, and the plan was dead by late… …
- Repealing the 20th Century (3/9/2005) - The Republicans can't help themselves. Dominating all branches of the federal government, and bolstered by decades of anti-government, pro-market rhetoric, they are actively repealing the 20th century. With veto-proof majorities, and no strong opposition from the Democrats, they are in the silly position of being unstoppable, even when they'd probably rather lose a vote. As policy, a national sales tax is more useful as a wedge issue, one of those "class warfare" issues that they… …
- The World of Tomorrow (3/5/2005) - I have a geeky affinity for World's Fairs that's a tad anachronistic for a red. World's Fair geeks are a bit like Disney fans or Michael Jackson supporters: optimistic naifs who believe in all that is good, pure and innocent and who view the future through rose-colored glasses. At their peak, World's Fairs were heavily commercialized, globally competitive and naively focused on different themes of progress through technology. That's why I find them so attractive.… …
- When Bush Comes to Shove (3/4/2005) - The Young Democratic Socialists of America will be holding a conference next weekend in New York City. For more information, check out their website. …
- “…I’ve come to wish you an unhappy birthday…” (3/3/2005) - It's my birthday. I'm 26. I'm feeling strangely okay about this. The server has almost fully recovered from last week's attack. My e-mail is back up and running, so I'm once again receiving all those helpful e-mails about Rolex watches, bigger penises, larger cumloads and moms I'd like to fuck (all of which, coincidentally, can be found on my birthday present wish list). Actually, there are two new spams I've gotten that are pretty amusing.… …
Continue reading "“…I’ve come to wish you an unhappy birthday…”"
- To Insure Proper Service (3/2/2005) - Is it bad manners, bad breeding or consumer alienation in our service economy that makes your typical New York Times reader so fucking stupid? For the second time in recent memory, the Times' Dining and Wine section has published an article on obvious tipping etiquette. The gist of the message? At the end of the day New York's delivery rules are pretty basic: Watch your dog. Have your money ready. Tip well, and do it… …
- Hear You Been To College? (3/1/2005) - I've been hiding a secret. I applied to grad school. When I graduated from Queens College, I was pretty sure that I was done with school. I felt like the higher up you go in higher education, the less actual education there is and the more image-conscious bullshit there is (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Ward Churchill). Besides you can only "study" the labor movement for so long before you become an armchair academic critic.… …
- Sticky Fingers (2/27/2005) - "Sticky Fingers" is a dark record that finds the Rolling Stones in the mother of all transitions. Freed from both their contract with Allen Klein and London Records and their rivalry with the Beatles, who, upon their break-up, left the Stones as "the World's Greatest Rock-n-Roll Band." The record features the official debut of their new guitarist, Mick Taylor, the young blonde blues virtuoso from the U.S.A. who replaced Brian Jones as lead guitarist before… …
- A Happy Fun Adventure (2/26/2005) - I killed a cat today. I was walking Elana back to the J train. She asks if we could go to the cheap fruit stand and buy some pineapple. I tell her it's a little out of the way, but we go anyway. We turn the corner and walk down Jamaica Ave. under the elevated train tracks. Before we walk ten feet we spot a cat in the road. "Ooh, kitty," she says in that… …
- Grave Concerns (2/24/2005) - Today's newspaper is sure to make one consider some grave options. First, there's Hunter S. Thompson, who, before blasting himself away on Sunday, left instructions to have his cremated remains blasted from a cannon. Second, is the far more grim news that the New York City medical examiner's office has given up identifying the remains of 1,161 victims whose bodies could not be identified or were never recovered from the World Trade Center attack. Many… …