Bush to City: "Drop Dead"

Fun City Unfunded.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2200149,00.html

For all the bowed heads and commemorative speeches, for all the tourists who make a pilgrimage to Ground Zero as much a part of their Manhattan itinerary as a stroll through Times Square, the United States as a whole has effectively abandoned New York City.

 

"For all the bowed heads and commemorative speeches, for all the tourists who make a pilgrimage to Ground Zero as much a part of their Manhattan itinerary as a stroll through Times Square, the United States as a whole has effectively abandoned New York City."

Here's the problem: Why do I believe the rest of this article when I know this to be a lie?
America has continued to visit NYC as if 9/11 never happened, to the point where America now has to fork over $350-400 a night to get a decent hotel room. But America keeps coming, keeps going to Broadway, to Times Square, to Central Park.
So I have a harder time buying the rest of this person's treatise.

 

Exactly, Ragu. I take the PATH to and from NJ most days and the place is packed with tourists looking through the very tiny holes in the fence at something which is just a construction site. It is really creepy.

 

I haven't been there myself, but a giant hole, the size of a city block, probably stands out in the midst of one of the largest cities in the country.

 

Well, it's not exactly in "the midst" of the city, pern. It's the southwestern edge of Manhattan island, not exactly around the corner from the tourist trap that is Times Square.

And I agree that it's kind of weird to see people just standing there gaping at a construction site but I understand their desire to say they went to the trade center site, even if there is nothing to see.

 

The article isn't about NYC being abandoned in relation to the travelers. It is about the ability to get the insurance that is needed. It is about Bush saying, “We’ll do whatever it takes to get NYC running” and then cutting the budget and not providing insurance.

The most dangerous two miles in America has yet to receive any legitimate amount of federal funding for protection. It is, in fact, mostly monitored by cops of the local town which, despite being some pretty good people, aren’t fully qualified to protect the potential target.

It really is a joke. But, I guess that is what happens when you live in a state that doesn’t overwhelmingly support Fredo.

 

This is something they really do need to get a handle on. For some reason, every time I hear about it, I think of "black lung," something coal miners used to have a lot of problems with.

Whatever. That statement alone makes me mad. I hear the same about New Orleans too. I care, of course I care. I just can't continue to financially support the relief effort. That doesn't mean I don't care or think about it anymore.

I'm a little confused here. If the aid money is taxed they don't want it at all?

Long resented New York? I grew up in a very small, poor town, but no one there resented New York. They might have said it's not the life for them, but that's only because they prefer their small town life. I moved to Atlanta after high school and haven't heard comments like that here either. There's no denying that it's big and has a lot of money floating around, but to think "much of America" resents it and doesn't care?

The last time I heard, it was an attack against the United States, not a vindictive attack only meant to harm lower Manhattan.

What?



As for the tourists visiting New York thing...I really do want to go one day when I can finally afford to make it a decent experience.

 

I visited ground zero once a few years ago when it was just a huge whole in the ground surrounded by a fence and still had a lot of memorials and whatnot. It was actually very moving and telling -- I just think seeing it helps you understand the magnitude of it and exactly what happened.

 

There's nothing to see because the city and developers can't get together and decided to build a monument or a park. Greedy bastards, the lot of them.

 

Why do people go stand in an open field in Gettysburg, Pa.?

 

Understand something -- you can't see anything there. There is a tarp around the fence that prevents you from even looking in, which has been there for at least the past couple of years. You are not even looking at a bunch of bulldozers, you are staring at a tarp.