holy crap

Another one of those theoretically minor yet disturbing events in the new world:

Guy gets his bag searched boarding the ferry today. Person searching the bag tries to confiscate a book he has in it.

Read the post:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mephron/349969.html

Meanwhile:

"The New Freedom Initiative proposes to screen every American, including you, for mental illness. To this end, the president established a New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to study the nation’s mental health delivery service and make a report. It’s interesting to note that many on the staff appointed to the Commission have served on the advisory boards of some of the nation’s largest drug companies."

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=830

Better mental health is a good thing, but I don't my government, or the pharmaceutical industry to be involved in the diagnosis process. I've spent the last 8 months doing media analysis on the pharmaceutical industry, and it scares the crap out of me.

RNC stuff

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/11/rnc_protest/index.html

That's about the upcoming protest situation in NYC for the RNC.

I've been pretty blase about the RNC coming -- I mean, I'm appalled and unhappy, but unlike many of my peers I've been convinced that at least in terms of protests/safety/riots it won't be that bad.

I'm increasingly less convinced, in part because of the above article and in part because when I wear shirts like "Republicans for Voldemort" I'm no longer getting discrete smiles on the subway, but sometimes as many as a half-dozen people a day coming up to me to inquire where I got it.

I'm not going to speculate on what NYC will be like at the end of the month, because frankly, this situation is so unprecedented, I couldn't come up with a good guess.

But speaking of the above article and my and my satircal t-shirts -- the following has occurred to me:

From the beginning, as protest permits were denied and denied and denied, I've said one of the only ways we have to protest wherever we are is clothing. I still think this is a true and powerful thing. But I also think that anyone wearing protest garb/satircal t-shirts/anti-bush/anti-republican t-shirts should consider the possibility they will be considered a protestor in a non-approved protest zone and face possible arrest. It's completely insane, I realize, but I think it's a real possibility.

I think the rage New Yorkers feel about the convention _using_ our city is being vastly underestimated, and that the protestors coming in from other places are potentially the least of it.