OT - Report From The Convention

"Bruce Palmer" wrote in message
et...
If you look at a picture of Madison Square Garden you'll see 2 parts:
the round arena part and a 30-story office building part. One of my
clients is in the office building part also known as 2 Penn Plaza.

I spoke with someone there earlier today where they're running a
skeleton shift this week and allowing any employee who can work from
home to do so. Among other things they run a fairly sizable IBM
mainframe system. They have a contract with Iron Mountain services
which is a company that maintains offsite storage of backup tapes.
These backup tapes are rotated in weekly and monthly cycles.

Monday is the day Iron Mountain makes its pickups and today their
plain-white panel van snaked through Manhattan traffic towards the
fortress that is Madison Square Garden and 2 Penn Plaza. Hilarity
ensued when the driver was stopped by the police and secret service
several blocks short of his destination. Much fun was had by all.
Especially the driver, Abdullah.

He got the tapes but only after parking half a mile away and carting the
tapes away from the building on a dolly. I can just hear him at work
this morning... "You want me to drive this plain-white van _where_?"

Poor bugger. I wonder, would the same thing happen to a "Joe" or "Pete"
(white, Anglo-Saxon) etc?

--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Bruce Palmer" wrote in message
et...

Poor bugger. I wonder, would the same thing happen to a "Joe" or "Pete"
(white, Anglo-Saxon) etc?

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.

Security there is extremely intense.

I'm avoiding NYC this week myself.



--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge

In article ,
"Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote:

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.

Cops everywhere are employing their newly-confirmed power to demand
identification without probable cause. Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court.
Nice to know you're not immune to the "War on Terror" hysteria . . . :-/

Security there is extremely intense.

No doubt.

I'm avoiding NYC this week myself.

I've been avoiding it since my last visit there in 1985. :-p

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

"Herb Schaltegger" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote:

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.

Cops everywhere are employing their newly-confirmed power to demand
identification without probable cause. Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court.
Nice to know you're not immune to the "War on Terror" hysteria . . . :-/

Well, in this case, 34th between I think 6th and 9th Avenues are closed to
traffic.

This person was turning onto 34th.


Security there is extremely intense.

No doubt.

I'm avoiding NYC this week myself.

I've been avoiding it since my last visit there in 1985. :-p

I actually enjoy the city and am down there every other week or so these
days.



--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote [30 Aug 2004]:

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.
Cops everywhere are employing their newly-confirmed power to demand
identification without probable cause. Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court.
Nice to know you're not immune to the "War on Terror" hysteria . . . :-/

There is a lot of irony in the fact that US people used to laugh at
Eastern Europe people about that very thing...

Still, it's very positive to hear that the guy not only survived but was
also allowed to complete the task (although not as originally intended).

--
(moskit-at-irc.pl)

Marek Moskal wrote:
Herb Schaltegger wrote [30 Aug 2004]:

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.

Cops everywhere are employing their newly-confirmed power to demand
identification without probable cause. Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court.
Nice to know you're not immune to the "War on Terror" hysteria . . . :-/

There is a lot of irony in the fact that US people used to laugh at
Eastern Europe people about that very thing...

Still, it's very positive to hear that the guy not only survived but was
also allowed to complete the task (although not as originally intended).

Yes, he was.

I only posted that little anecdote for its humor value, since it was
related to me by someone who was there, not to make any kind of "statement".

I'm sure anyone in the same position would have been stopped, not just
guys named Abdullah.

--
bp
Proud Member of the Human O-Ring Society Since 2003

In article ,
Bruce Palmer wrote:

I only posted that little anecdote for its humor value, since it was
related to me by someone who was there, not to make any kind of "statement".

I'm sure anyone in the same position would have been stopped, not just
guys named Abdullah.

That's even more of a "statement" to me: now cops can stop anyone, at
any time, for no particular reason. It's not been very long since we
had comedians on TV doing their schtick on Nazis and we all used to
laugh about it. Remember the old, "Vere are your pa-perssss?!" bits?
Well, substitute cops all over America for the Nazi buffoons from the
skits and welcome to 21st Century America.

I don't much like that part of it, frankly. The Fourth Amendment of the
Constitution *used to* stand for the general proposition that cops
pretty much had to leave you alone, absent probable cause to believe
that both a crime had been committed and that you had committed it.
They needed both before they could stop you, detain you and demand
identification and perform any kind of search. I'm frankly astonished
that more people are not upset about the fact that this is no longer the
case.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
~ Robert A. Heinlein
http://www.angryherb.net

On 2004-08-31, Herb Schaltegger wrote:
In article ,
"Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)" wrote:

Given I saw them stopping a car on 34th on Thursday of last week and
demanding IDs, I'd say yes.

Cops everywhere are employing their newly-confirmed power to demand
identification without probable cause. Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court.
Nice to know you're not immune to the "War on Terror" hysteria . . . :-/

I was reading something the other day - damned if I can remember where -
which aregued that the NY statutes are sufficiently different to the
(was it Arizona?) ones the ruling was made on that it doesn't apply in
most cases - it *does* apply in a vehicle, but then it essentially did
anyway (requirement to show a license, &c). Having heard Stories about
NY police, waving all the documentation you have and grovelling still
seems the safest bet, though... g

Security there is extremely intense.

No doubt.

OTOH, Penn Station is still open, I'm told. That one must be a real
headache...

This is certainly making the UK approach - hold the Party conferences in
a medium-sized coastal town after the holidays are over - seem
substantially more rational.

--
-Andrew Gray

"Andrew Gray" wrote in message
. ..

OTOH, Penn Station is still open, I'm told. That one must be a real
headache...


Technically yes.... but only 2 out of I think it's 9 entrances. Which means
a madhouse.


This is certainly making the UK approach - hold the Party conferences in
a medium-sized coastal town after the holidays are over - seem
substantially more rational.

--
-Andrew Gray

Andrew Gray wrote:
OTOH, Penn Station is still open, I'm told. That one must be a real
headache...

Yes, it is and yes, it is. What's curious is the news reporting on this
aspect. On virtually every TV newscast (and there are 4 or 5 local ones
in the NYC area) the spin is that commuters are staying home because of
"fear of terrorism". Now that may be true of some small number of
people but by far the larger reason seems to be that people simply want
to avoid the nightmare of going in there this week, period. At least
that's what I've heard from the people I deal with who normally commute
to Manhattan every day. Can't say I blame them. You couldn't pay me
enough to take the train into Penn station this week, and fear of
terrorism has absolutely nothing to do with it.

--
bp
Proud Member of the Human O-Ring Society Since 2003