Depends on where you look, I think – Howard Stern is a high-profile libertarian, and he’s been railin’ against Bush non-stop for the last few weeks, with no signs of stopping.
I don’t think Libertarian is the be-all end-all representation of libertarian political thinking (thank goodness! 
).
The safest way to protect everyone involved would be to hold conventions in the woods or a corn field or something.
I tend to agree with World Eater, in that our freedom comes at the cost of a certain amount of vulnerability. Safety tends to come at the cost of degrees of freedom. It’s a pretty conflicting situation for us all to be in.
Actually, I’m leaning towards e) The people of New York and Boston who actually have to friggin’ work during the conventions, to, you know, make a living. (well, at least the inconvenienced part)
Oh, honey, we’re all gonna be on vacation that week!
I’m not sure what they mean by “two hubs”, unless they are counting the North Station Commuter Rail and North Station Subway as two separate hubs.
Many people where I work in Cambridge are going to take that week off. Anyone coming in from the North (93) or North Shore should probably seriously consider it.
I live south of 14th St. and work south of Chambers, so I lived under what was essentially martial law for a week and worked under those conditions for almost a month. Here’s a secret: I like the dogs. I’m grateful to the upstate kids who signed up for guard duty to help pay for college and found themselves outside my door and on my train to protect my comfortable ass from Osama.
If I were the bad guys, I’d try to hit one or both of the conventions. I would. We can’t cancel them – that’s democracy. We’re not (at least here) cancelling trains – we’re just gonna have them a little more crowded with cops.
Hell, forget the terrorists – most of us lived here before Guiliani. A cop on a subway train is a good thing.
Don’t worry about it – everyone will get to work (well, OK, I’ll admit I’m glad I don’t work at 1 Penn Plaza – those guys are screwed), everyone will get to do whatever else they do and it’ll all be fine.
Would that I could! I take the commuter rail to and from North Station, and the Orange Line subway from there to my office, so I’m doubly screwed.
Two saving graces that may make it bearable: I work odd hours, so I head into Boston at midday, and come home on a 7:30 or 9:30 train, which should spare me some of the mob confusion. And if enough folks decide to take a vacaiton then, that should cut down on the hassles a bit more.
It’s still going to be a bitch, though.
M’kay. The extra security precautions aren’t being undertaken to A)prevent a terrorist attack (possibly affecting an election, Madrid, anyone?) and/or B)to prevent an assisination attempt on either the President or Sen. Kerry, but C) to suppress Free Speech!!! Right.
Somebody’s tinfoil is wound way too tightly.
Actually, my main problem with the whole thing is that they are having the damn thing at the FleetCenter, which is in the same building as a major transit hub and forty feet from the Central Artery, and right near downtown, rather than the brand new convention center they’re almost done with that’s a little bit further away from everything. It’s basically going to be an insane pain in the ass for everyone trying to commute to Boston from the north shore, and a less insane pain in the ass for everyone else who works in the downtown area (for example, me). Given the security precautions necessary for the damn thing, the location of it is going to seriously inconvenience a fucking lot of people who just want to get to their damn jobs.
Oh, if only we could wish them all into the corn field!
The safest way to protect everyone involved would be to simply not hold conventions at all.
They’re utterly meaningless. The days of the old brokered party conventions are long gone. Conventions, now, are nothing but a made-for-television event, a days-long campaign ad.
The state primaries have all been held. We know who’s going to be the party’s candidate. We usually know by then who will be his (yes, I know I should say his or her but that hasn’t happened yet) running mate.
And, as a resident of New York City, I don’t want this mess here (nothing to do with party affiliation – I’m just a guy who has to get to work and stuff every day).
And don’t even get me started on NYC’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012.
No. And I hope Howard Stern isn’t either. But Murray Rothbard, at least for a while back then, really was the be-all end-all of libertarian thinking. Whatever Howard Stern is doing, it isn’t really “thinking.”
OK doctor I’ll make you a bet, any stakes.
Come convention time, if more terrorists and assassins are arrested than protestors, you win. If more protestors are arrested than terrorists and assassins, I win.
Deal? … No?
How the fuck does security at places like chemical plants, which house material that could be used in terrorist attacks, compare to clampdowns on subway and train stations where millions of people pass through regularly? I think additional security at chemical plants and nuclear facilities and such would actually be a good idea and it certaintly shouldn’t lead to an inconvenience for huge numbers of people (nevermind the Free Assembly questions some of the posters here have raised). Putting more security at obvious potential targets seems like common sense to me.
Sheesh, that place was a pain in the ass before the Fleet Center was there. The flock of commuters alone is enough to block traffic for a good 20-30 minutes at a time.
I’m so glad I decided to move out to the west coast. (read: Brighton)
I agree with LMM. Just cancel the goddamn conventions and move the election from November to May.
Why chemical plants when, as Tim McVeigh showed, you can get everything you need at WalMart or Farm and Fleet?
Even bigger boom, that’s why.
Don’t worry as soon as one of these little assholes drops a fertilizer bomb, you’ll need a retina scan to get into said Walmart. :rolleyes:
Quoth RTA…
Strawman. There aren’t going to be thousands of terrorists and assassins holding signs, chanting, and throwing rocks at cops. They express thier unhappiness with the current administrations’ policy by flying planes into buildings and detonating bombs in front of Federal buildings. THAT is what the extra security on the trains is about. It’s got nothing to do with the curtailing of free speech. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that there will be a place for anyone who wishes to protest to do so. OK, so it might not be within 8 city blocks of the convention center, so what? Protestors can, and rightly so, have their say, it’s just that no one’s going to pay attention when they’re so far away, again, too bad.
Frankly, it’s not worth risking the PUSA’s life (no matter WHO it is) just so some folks with a chip on their shoulders and a message can stand in front of the place and picket.
As far as the extra hassle is concerned…That just flat sucks. Nothing like causing difficulty to the people you’re supposed to be courting…stupid. I’m with LMM on this as well. Just 86 the damn conventions, they’re meaningless and cost extra money and time to the host cities, and really do very little to influence the vote AFAIK.
Riiiigggggght.
So using your very logic they go to the other extreme and allow no protests within 20 blocks.
We’re getting places here I tell you.