Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Bloomberg a racist?

No longer steeped in the New York political scene, I don’t have a knowledgeable position on the strike; I lean towards favoring the strikers. But I do have a position on this comment by the mayor:

NEW YORK—Transit strike rhetoric took an ugly turn after Mayor Michael Bloomberg described union heads as “thuggish,” a remark some say was racist in the context of a predominantly black union.

Personal attacks were flying _ not among those butting heads over a new contract, but between the transit union and the mayor, who has no official role in the negotiations. City subways and buses are managed by the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Bloomberg’s comment is another example of unconscious racism.

Predictions 2006

John Batelle’s Predictions 2006 are up. The first two real doozies:

1. Someone, and I do not know who, will make a big pile of Big Media video assets freely available on the web - and not via Google Video. This will be a major studio, or television company, which will realize that once you free content, content will come back to you in mashed up and remixed glory that has - holy smokes! - real business models like advertising and retail attached. The deal will be simple: anyone can download, rip, and mix this video, but if you plan to make money from it - even selling ads next to it - you have to cut a deal with the mother ship. The company that does this will be heralded as either visionary, lunatic, or both.

2. Google will stumble, some might say badly, but it will be significant. How? My money is on its second or third major deal - something on the order of the recent AOL deal. It may well be a loss (perceived or otherwise) in the Google Book Search case. Or it might be the privacy issue. This is not to say the company is going to fail, or the stock, for that matter. Just that it will face a major test in 2006 that it won’t pass with flying colors.

Read them all. Here’s how he did last year.

Oh, and, I like this one too: “15. Tivo and NetFlix will merge.”

Hillary’s not Bill

I just came from a table full of people who instantly said they’d vote Hillary for president. Most thought she would not win (and none of us thinks she’s a liberal). Slate points to this week’s New York Magazine:

According to an article, Hillary Clinton’s sponsorship of the Flag Protection Act illustrates precisely why she is unelectable. Not blessed with husband Bill’s “uncanny knack for finessing left and right,” Hillary may support the war and flirt with mom-and-apple-pie issues, but that will only alienate Democrats while failing to win over Republicans. “American voters have been habitually choosing a certain kind of distinctly American person as president, and Hillary Clinton is not that kind of person,” the author says.

I said the way for her to win is to, right after re-election as senator, start an exploratory committee and launch a listening tour that is the exact national replica of the one that won her first senate election.

Tourist tax!

Well, not really, but it sure feels that way: $130 in tickets!

Alternate side of the street parking has been suspended for the duration of the strike so I thought I had it made. Sadly, I was wrong.

My car is licensed in Georgia but I had never removed the New York inspection sticker from my windshield. Turns out, that’s illegal. Not one but two $65 tickets.

I’ll plead innocent. And wind up paying half the fine some months from now…

I made it to Sweeney Todd - not the alternative rock band formed in 1969, but rather the dark, re-imagined, revival Sweeney Todd playing on Broadway - via the PATH train then walking. Today I’ll take a similar route to visit my old stomping grounds in Westchester.

I had planned to drive; instead I’ll get to revel in the grandeur of one of the greatest indoor spaces in the world, Grand Central Station. On the way back through, I’ll buy a pie at the market.

Oh, we thoroughly enjoyed Sweeney. Doug, no fan of Patty, says “she’s managing the break better.” God! That’s! Good!