FEBRUARY
27, 2005 --
Proprietor's
Note …
Late Friday, I saw a piece, on-line with this headline "Both
House of Congress get involved in Guckert/Gannon case."
The headline, to me, suggested that members of both parties wanted to look
into the matter of Jeff Gannon -- real name James Guckert and his access to
White House press briefings. The article, by Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp,
only listed Democratric members of the House and Senate as wanting officials
to look into the Guckert/Gannon matter.
Seems to me that the headline should have referred to House and Senate Democrats.
If the alias is a serious problem, do we remove the works of Mark Twain from
bookshelves, replacing them with, say, Tom Sawyer by Samuel L.
Clemens?
Just before reading the Strupp article, I read the L.A. Times piece on Gannon,
by Johanna Neuman, via Yahoo, getting the sense that the outcry was sparked
by his softball question to President Bush that
included criticism of Democrats.
And all this after LPR had, with valid media credentials, attended press briefings
and conferences for the visit to New York of a delegation from the International
Olympics Committee, here to review the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics
and Paralympics.
The L.A. Times article referred to news people wondering how President Bush
got to call on Gannon at a press conference. I was called on at press conferences
at the IOC visit -- by means of raising the
right arm for recognition.
This is to hope that my criticism of the Strupp headline will not lead to a
probe of the LPR media credentials at the IOC visit.
Whether City Hall will retaliate for my personal account of the LPRmobile seizure
by marshals, with Shana inside, while I was at a press conference on the
IOC visit is, however, another matter.
FEBRUARY
27, 2005 --
New York
Callousness…
LPR took the following photos of the place in Brooklyn where
the city took Shana and the LPRmobile, February 23.
This place is not very far from NYC2012's proposed venue of the Olympic Village
for the 2012 games. But what a different view of the Manhattan skyline.
LPR would let these photos speak for themselves. Other than to note the irony
--the LPRmobile was seized on Madison Avenue.
LPR believes the place in these photos
would not be used by the city if its officials honored the words of the man
for whom Madison Avenue is named: to work for "the common good",
and to hold "communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments with the
people."
As LPR left the place, the man behind the
window threatened that this writer might be charged with cruelty to animals.
His parting words, "I hope I don't see you on tv."
In this city, today, the possibility of such continued retaliation against
citizens cannot be dismissed. LPR clicksters should know that this incident
goes back to the wrongful attempt to tow the LPRmobile last July.
PVB demanded a fine and penalties, notwithstanding the fact that a PVB supervisor
ordered the tow canceled because there was no parking sign on the block.
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FEBRUARY
20, 2005 --
The
IOC is visiting …
This banner
-- "we're in an olympic state of mind" -- was hung
on Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue -- just a few blocks from "The
Gates" -- the very cold morning of February 19, as New York
City prepared to welcome the Evaluation Committee of the International
Olympics Committee, in town the 20th to 24th to consider the
city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Proprietor's
Note…
This is a piece
of Gates fabric handed out to visitors by monitors. This is not
a parking summons.
FEBRUARY
13, 2005 --
Blue
and Red Become Saffron…
Visitors from blue cities and also red towns
The smiles of both colors outnumbering frowns
Differing views merge o'er the United States:
Christo, Jeanne-Claude, don't tear down "The Gates"
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FEBRUARY
6, 2005 --
The Stock
Market …
The Dow Jones was up 288.93 points last week, but it is still
66.88 points below the December 31 close: 10,783.01.
Analysts were said to have attributed the
DJ gain of 123 points, last Friday, to disappointing employment figures and
a decline in consumer confidence -- seen as caution signs to a Fed ready to
raise interest rates again. LPR regards all this as a red flag shouting to
Alan Greenspan: STOP. DO NO HARM.
LPR wonders if this should be named The Greenspan Effect -- stocks increasing
in value on bad economic news and, of course, losing value on good economic
news.
Attorney General Spitzer: please take note.
Places for the IOC to visit …
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The
Metropolitan Museum … with scaffolding on February 1st.
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The
Metropolitan Museum … with icicles
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The
Central Park Zoo … One of the sea lions at the zoo.
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The
Central Park Zoo … tank, sweet tank.
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The
Central Park Zoo … Sea lion silhouetted (in the hole).
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Two Media Contributors to NYC2012 …
The New York Times Company is on the list of contributors to
NYC2012 -- in the $300 thousand and over category.
The Times ran an editorial, February 5, opposing a new stadium for the Olympics,
on Manhattan's West Side. The editorial also noted that the Times "would
be happy to see the Olympic Games come to the city."
The contribution of The New York Times Company to NYC2012 was not mentioned,
however.
Time Warner is listed in the $1 million and over category of contributors to
NYC2012. Time Warner's stock, February 3, closed at 18.04, down $1.41 from
the December 31, 2004 close of 19.45. At 18.04, Time
Warner is only a nickel above the December 31, 2003 closing price of 17.99.
Sayings of NYC2012 (Part 1) …
From a City Hall press release, February 2:
" humanity will shine"
" peace is the dream"
" records will break"
" every flag will wave"
" there will be dancing in the streets"
… to be continued (LPR advisory, not an NYC2012 saying).
LPR Advisory --"The Gates" …
Posts for "The Gates," the Christo-Jeanne-Claude Central Park artwork
are set to start going up February 7. LPR caught some of them, February 5,
waiting to be unpacked.
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Crated
Gates.
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LPR here asks Christo
and Jeanne-Claude to consider, as a forthcoming public space art project,
filling New York's City's potholes -- and closing all gaps in catch
basins. With 2012, of course, as target deadline.
City Streets …
LPR went to Stand
Up New York, on 78th Street just east of Broaodway,. early evening,
February 5, to catch Shorty Brown's act, to learn that in the early
morning hours, a man hole cover blew, right outside the comedy club.
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Barricaded
manhole outside Stand Up New York.
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In show biz tradition, the show went on.
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Shorty
Brown inside Stand Up New York.
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A few hours later,
LPR got cauight in a trap gap -- an opening between the curb and a
catch basin in the Bronx. Definitely not funny.
LPR proposes that New York's comedians begin to take note of the deplorable
condition of the city's streets AND that courts rule the city has, by means
of all
those PVB people and police officers on the streets handing out summonses,
constructive notice of the potholes and traps and gaps that have made the streets
hazardous to our health.
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Pedestrian
trap?
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Think
of them not as merchandise, but as mementos.
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LPR
mugs, caps, T-shirts, coming soon. Also on the horizon - LPR
photos as photocopies suitable for framing, and blank cards with
photos on cover.
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