DECEMBER
26, 2004 --
President
Bush accepted nomination for a second term by the Republican National
Convention, September 2 in a New York City that, so far as LPR
could tell, was
indifferent, at best, to the GOP gathering --with isolated outbreaks of rudeness
directed at GOP delegates.
On its part, City Hall provided isolated
outbreaks of heavyhanded tactics, including the use of orange netting for crowd
control near Madison Square
Garden, the convention site -- and reportedly to sweep up for arrrest demonstrators
and pedestrians.
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| September
2004 -- The southeast corner of 7th Avenue and 34th--one
block up from Madison Square Garden and across the street
from Macy's. Here police are using the netting to control
pedestrians crossing 34th Street, after the convention session
September 1. |
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September
2004 -- The crowd on 16th Street.
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September
2004 -- The police in formation on 16th Street.
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Litigation brought
by citizens who were sent to the city's detention camp, at the Hudson
River, for demonstrators is ongoing.(This facility is about a half
a mile from the detnetion center for cars towed for illegal parking.)
Four days after
the Republicans nominated President Bush for a second term, his
predecessor was in the
news -- undergoing Labor Day heart bypass surgery. It was reported that Dr.
Craig Smith, former President Bill Clinton's heart surgeon, is a Republican.
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September
2004 -- Dr. Craig R.. Smith, President Clinton's heart
surgeon.
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Dissidents in New
York City gathered outside Yankee Stadium, in October -- but these
were Red Sox rooters, cheering their team after it defeated the Yankees
for the American League championship, winning the league title in seven
games,
with an unprecented four game sweep after losing the first three games.
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September
2004 -- Johnny Damon of the Red Sox outside Yankee Stadium
on September 19.
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LPR recalls
hearing one of the Yankee announcers, during the fourth game --
with the Yankees leading, speaking of another long winter for Red
Sox fans. This announcer might have paused to recall Yogi Berra's
sage comment that it is not over until it is over.
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October
2004 -- Yankee fans jeering at the Red Sox bus.
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Tragically, a college
student was killed when Boston police fired on fans marking the Red
Sox win over the Yankees with street violence. The dead young woman
was reported to have been just a bystander. (LPR does not recall any
GOP
convention-related fatalities in New York.)
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November
2004 -- This photo of the statue of Ted Williams outside
Fenway Park, taken
after Boston swept the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals,
seems to show a smile on the face of
the greatest Red Sox player ever that might not have been apparent before
the Bosox won the 2004 baseball
championship of the world.
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November
2004 -- Shana in Fenway Park after Game 2.
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In Washington, D.C,
there was a Million Worker March, in mid-October, that drew several
thousand workers and heard speeches at the Lincoln Memorial from Dick
Gregory, Danny Glover and others, and heard entertainment provided
by activist-rapper Wil b and singers from "Billionaires for Bush" --
not a pro-Bush
ensemble.
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November
2004 -- "We're not the problem. We're the solution" T-shirt
seen at Million Workers March, Washington, D.C. October
17.)
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The NBC night
signal was visible in Rockefeller Center, election night, as Tom
Brokaw anchored his last presidential election telecast (unless
he will be
brought back in 2008, that is).
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November
2004 -- The NBC bat signal?
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November
2004 -- Tom Brokaw looking in LPR's direction.
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There followed in
New York City, in November, some outbreaks of depression
at the Bush re-election, and the two great New York November public events: the
marathon (now the ING Marathon) and the parade Thanksgiving Day long known
as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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November
2004 -- The Rockettes rehearse for the big event.
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November
2004 -- Getting a cup of water in The Bronx.
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November
2004 -- Moral support for the NYC marathoners.
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LPR went to Torrington,
Connecticut, late in November, to see if Jackie Mason would be as popular
there as he is on Broadway. The Warner was not filled to
capacity, but the lauighs for Jackie were as loud as heard from a New York City
audience.
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November
2004 -- Jackie Mason outside the Warner Theatre, November
27th.
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Also in November, LPR attended screenings at the 11-day New York International
Independent Film and Video
Festival, and the one-evening New York Home Film Festival. The state of film
creativity outside the commercial fortresses is indeed spirited, alive and quite
well, LPR concluded.
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November
2004 -- New York International Independent Film and Video
Festival -- Revathi Radhakrishnan, director
of "One Among You."
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November
2004 -- New York International Independent Film and Video
Festival -- Youxin Yang, director of Feuille, a beautifully
photographed story about a modern love triangle. (In French
and Chinese.)
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November
2004 -- Crista Giuliani at the New York Home Film Festival.
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Before Jackie Mason
appeared onstage at the Warner Theatre, LPR saw former Connecticut
Governor John G. Rowland in the lobby. On December 23, LPR heard a
radio report that Mr. Rowland was going to plead guilty to a federal charge of
tax evasion -- on gifts he had received, apparently from people doing -- or seeking
to do -- business with the state. Didn't the former governor know that legal
influence is by way of campaign contributions?
So far as LPR is aware, the media has yet to report on what happens to people
not found on the lists of legal major political contributors. How much government
business goes their way, that is?
If, in Washington, D.C. influence-peddling is not a major activity, why the need
for lobbyists and expediters? Indeed, why
the sporadic cries of "the system is corrupt" -- heard from various
officials in Washington?
Why the calls, from time to time, to give government back to the people?
It is reported that Mr. Rowland will be sentenced in March -- with business continuing
as usual in the nation's capital, among other political venues in the land, LPR
supposes. (And people visiting the Warner in Torrington should know that Mr.
Rowland is said to be have been key to its
restoration.)
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