Tunnelvision
Stinkin' Lincoln
Just left a lovely post dinner chat on the Upper East Side with my good pal Jed Miller and his friend Susan.
But as I approached the Lincoln Tunnel the traffic backed up into a frustrating, pokey line of angry drivers. Here it is, almost midnight and the tunnel is backed up. However, it soon became clear--the police cars with flashing lights--that the police were screening for someone or something. All cars entering the tunnel were forced into one lane and an officer looked in each car; in some cases asking to see the IDs of the occupants. When I pulled up, the cop took one look at me and asked a perfunctory "Sir, did you have anything to drink this evening?" That wasn't the question I expected so I said "No." Of course, I had had a drink but many hours earlier.
In any case, the police, if they were screening for a terrorist, could safely now say that this was merely a sobriety check point. But when I emerged from the tunnel in NJ, it was clear the police presence did not have anything to do with breathalyzers. Police cars with flashing lights had channeled all the incoming traffic to a single lane there, too.
Terrorism jitters related to the information out of Spain alledging that the train bombers there had detailed drawings of Grand Central Terminal?
Will we even know?
White Heat
Martha Stewart. Free at last. She just left the Big House in WV along with, it's reported, a hair dresser en route to the private jet waiting for her at Greenbrier Valley Airport.
Some people -- you know who you are -- insist that she was convicted and went to jail precisely because she is Martha Stewart. The argument goes that if she were a man, she never would have gone to jail for what she did.
I disagree. The WorldCom, HealthSouth and Enron prosecutions are going to end up with men in stir. She violated securities laws, not for a lot of money in the end, in order to increase her wealth. She got caught. She served her time.
Gotta run--my celebratory souffle and Welcome Back Martha wreath made from palm fronds need attention.
Just left a lovely post dinner chat on the Upper East Side with my good pal Jed Miller and his friend Susan.
But as I approached the Lincoln Tunnel the traffic backed up into a frustrating, pokey line of angry drivers. Here it is, almost midnight and the tunnel is backed up. However, it soon became clear--the police cars with flashing lights--that the police were screening for someone or something. All cars entering the tunnel were forced into one lane and an officer looked in each car; in some cases asking to see the IDs of the occupants. When I pulled up, the cop took one look at me and asked a perfunctory "Sir, did you have anything to drink this evening?" That wasn't the question I expected so I said "No." Of course, I had had a drink but many hours earlier.
In any case, the police, if they were screening for a terrorist, could safely now say that this was merely a sobriety check point. But when I emerged from the tunnel in NJ, it was clear the police presence did not have anything to do with breathalyzers. Police cars with flashing lights had channeled all the incoming traffic to a single lane there, too.
Terrorism jitters related to the information out of Spain alledging that the train bombers there had detailed drawings of Grand Central Terminal?
Will we even know?
White Heat
Martha Stewart. Free at last. She just left the Big House in WV along with, it's reported, a hair dresser en route to the private jet waiting for her at Greenbrier Valley Airport.
Some people -- you know who you are -- insist that she was convicted and went to jail precisely because she is Martha Stewart. The argument goes that if she were a man, she never would have gone to jail for what she did.
I disagree. The WorldCom, HealthSouth and Enron prosecutions are going to end up with men in stir. She violated securities laws, not for a lot of money in the end, in order to increase her wealth. She got caught. She served her time.
Gotta run--my celebratory souffle and Welcome Back Martha wreath made from palm fronds need attention.
posted by John Barth at
12:38 AM
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