Don't Mind Us While We Add a Few Floors Under the Building

This is a pastiche of photos I took of a building on Columbus Avenue and 92nd Street where somebody decided to add a few floors under ground. From all appearances, the building is still occupied by its residents, though you have to wonder if it's safe and if the noise of this construction wouldn't drive you to kill yourself anyway. The hole in the foreground used to be a large concrete plaza that nobody ever used. Given the success of the Columbus Square retail development five blocks north, the owner is probably trying to cash in on all the wasted space. 

Supreme Court Stands up for the Constitution. Well, Mostly.

The Supreme Court killed DOMA today, and as expected the conservative block led by Antonin Scalia railed in its dissent at the injustice of it all. In a truly twisted turn of logic, Scalia claimed that those who were completely unaffected by the law are the real victims. It is revealing that his hissy fit from the bench made only an emotional dissent to an outcome he could not win through logic. That's the problem with conservatism these days. Unable to justify its point of view through anything in the way of an ideological truth, it panders strictly to emotions. The bigotry enshrined in DOMA was overtly discriminatory against a whole class of people. And yet, year after year after year conservatives denied it was so while continually failing to elucidate a logical argument in its favor. It was just so much emotion and fear. DOMA was good because they said so. 

Bigotry is looking at someone and seeing something intrinsic about them that you don't like, be it their manner, their skin color, who they associate with, or any other thing you can't put your finger on, but use to rationalize a hatred of them. When this hatred is recognized by others, it becomes discrimination. When it is enshrined in law, as in DOMA, it is unconstitutional. Persons who insists that only their values are the correct order for the world fall easily into emotional thinking. They quickly discard the logic and rule of law. Under such circumstances, they will never come to a rational point of view about their own self interest, let alone others.

DOMA was born out of fear that the state of Hawaii would pass the first same sex equality law. In a way that was a big favor. It focused the fight. Congress would never have passed a law guaranteeing marriage equality on its own. It was only by doing the opposite that equal rights could eventually be claimed. The clear assertion by the Supreme Court that DOMA, or anything like it is a violation of the constitution could only have happened if the law existed to begin with. It will be interesting to see how the fight plays out in the thirty states that have marriage discrimination laws. It's not looking good for them.

Window Washer Could Use Another Pair of Suspenders

This is known in the neighborhood as the ivy covered building. It is covered in ivy, which hasn't leafed out yet this spring, up to about the 8th floor. There's a window washer standing on the ledge on the 7th floor in this photo. It's difficult to see him, but I wanted to give an idea of the fearless height he is working at. From the second photo, you can see that he didn't bother concerning himself about showing an eyeful of builder's cleavage. He probably didn't think anyone was looking.

Romney Condemns the Politics of Envy, Says the Other 99% is Just Jealous

Bugger’s Notch, S.C. Speaking at a campaign stop, Mitt Romney responded to criticism today that he helped create the enormous gap between the rich and everyone else by blaming everyone else. Amid growing attacks on his years as a corporate vulture, Romney lashed out against critics he described as jealous people who just seek to divide the country more evenly. Citing President Obama as an example, Romney said, “Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires. He’s got what, one maybe two mill in the bank? I have over 100 million smackers. It’s obvious, he’s jealous." 

"I like being able to fire people."

Defending his work at Bain Capital, Romney asserted that creative destruction is part of capitalism. “At Bain, we just happened to be more creative.”  He said that it was almost painful to pile debt on a company and pay the proceeds out to Bain, "but how else could we teach the workers we didn't fire to be competitive? If you can’t carry the load, move to Mexico because that’s where your job is going.”

"Okay, so we killed a few people."

Reminding his audience that corporations are people, Romney admitted that Bain’s business strategy may have included a few killings, but he quickly characterized them as mercy killings. “Corporations are people, my friends. They are. And like people, they sometimes have mishaps, like breaking a leg that is too expensive to fix, and then they have to be put down.” A spokesman quickly clarified that the candidate’s remarks were not intended as an appeal for the euthanasia vote.

Electric Kool-aid Acid Guy

I met this German fellow in the gift shop of the Calhoun Mansion in Charleston recently. He was very proud of his Moods of Norway outfit. You have got to check out their website. It's fascinating. 

A week before that I had never heard of Moods of Norway, but after a recent trip to Zuccotti Park to see the Occupy Wall Street protesters, I made the required stop at Century 21, the designer outlet store that is always a mob scene. I bought a plaid shirt that I liked without even noticing the brand. I saw it was Mood when  I cut the tags off. So, it gave me a great laugh when I asked about the suit. He opened the front and pointed to the Mood label inside which also said  'Made by Sexy Blond Women in Norway'! 

The Real Zombies of Italy

A PR photo for Sarah Murray's book, Making an Exit seemed appropriate for Halloween. This is from a Capuchin Monastery in Palermo where in the 1800s, noticing that bodies preserve particularly well in the dry air of their basement, they began hanging dead clergy from the walls. National Geographic has a number of photos from the crypt on its website. One in Sarah's book is particularly startling for the snarl on its face, but you'll have to buy the book to see that.

Richest Congressman Practiced Republican Job Creationism in China

The richest man in Congress, Darrell Issa, was on NPR  the other day talking about the Postal Service where he brilliantly observed that “as a businessman, that no matter what they say, they have more than a small cash flow problem.” That comment was to establish his credentials as a "successful businessman" before his next move which was to propose a classic management maneuver: cut wages. Issa wants to establish a Government Control Board that could impose wage and benefit reductions on Postal workers. This is just good business. Never mind that Congress has refused to invest in the postal service, let it modernize, or even raise the 44 cent price of sending a letter from New York to California (something UPS charges between $23 and $71 to do) while demonizing its management and workers for the large losses.

Here is yet another millionaire businessman doing his vision thing on the economy. Cut wages, increase profits, cut wages, make money, cut wages, run for Congress.

Issa, through his company Directed Electronics, is responsible for more nights of disturbed sleep than anyone else  in America thanks to his annoying car alarms. The company's home page states, “Directed Electronics is the largest designer and marketer in North America of consumer-branded vehicle security and remote start systems ,” Notice it doesn't say manufacturer. Guess what that means. In all likelihood their products are not made in America. Like so much other junk that is sold here, they are made in China or Thailand or Indonesia, or even Japan. So, the richest capitalist  in Congress made his fortune without ever creating an American manufacturing job. (Oh, except at that factory in Cleveland that burned down.) Issa is a Republican and I think it is safe to assume he supports his party's low tax on business platform. Why wouldn't he? He is one of its greatest beneficiaries.