the DNC approaches

I-93 will close for certain periods of time beginning Sunday night. The DNC is here, it is upon us, and I'm wondering what the traffic on the north and south bound highways are like even at this early hour of 11am as people flee the metropolis for non-DNC traffic restricted locales all through New England.

I contemplated leaving the area myself, without the DNC as an excuse but because ... I can. I'm unencumbered. If I want to go to Maine or NY I can. But. That would strand Doug. And Team Way Out Inn sticks together even when the going gets rough.

Doug informed me that his commute should be interesting. He travels down 93 to the town right where they're closing the highway. It's four lanes wide, but starting Monday morning only TWO lanes will be open.

Four lanes which are normally 90% filled with people driving southbound is going to be two lanes filled with people driving southbound, unless more than 50% of the people who normally traverse this highway opted to take the week off. And then traffic won't be so bad. Which is what the Democratic National Committee and everyone else surrounding the event recommend people do. But no one really knows if 50% of the people are staying away from the city.

But Doug doesn't really have a choice. It's not like he can telecommute for a week. As for staying away, if he took the time off someone else would have to be brought in per diem. If a patient can't swallow, if there is no SLP on board on a daily basis for evals and stuff, well then, someone could die. And that's not good. And a lot of people just don't have a choice. A lot of people are saying "Shut up and suck it up -- it's only four days." But that's... well. That's four days that may be sheer hell. I told Doug he may as well stay at the nursing home for four days, find a roomie who won't mind his snoring. Something. Just stay there and don't leave. It's only four days after all.

I've seen interviews with Democratic National Committee spokeswoman MaryEllen Burns as she glibly recommends people drive out to I-495 to commute anywhere to the north or south. It's only 50 miles out of anyone's way to get to the only highway that will be open.

Yeah, come home to Peabody or Plymouth via Worcester. Great Idea.

In the best of all possible worlds, I want to see MaryEllen Burns on Monday of next week saying "see, I told you so... it wasn't so bad." In the meantime though, I have a foreboding sense of doom, and it begins with the 11 mile backup at the Hampton Tolls this evening.

Don't get me wrong.

I don't begrudge the DNC for having a convention. I think conventions are fun. Or at least, they LOOK fun. They're a big party, an opportunity for people to rally around and have a damn good time. The thing is, Boston isn't a city designed to do stuff like this inside of... Conventions should be held in Big Sunbelt Cities like Atlanta, where the roads are wide, where the arenas aren't in the middle of the town center but are out in the belt way.

Someone recommended on a radio program that they do these things way up north in Maine where Phish has their concerts, at the old asbestos-ridden air force base up there. It's spacious, no one can drive past in a car bomb next to the arena, only 2000 people in the tiny little town nearby are inconvenienced instead of 300,000 people. I think it's a stylie idea. Better yet, isn't there somewhere in like Iowa where people can go?

Another person called into the radio program and said that people just needed to relax. 3500 people are showing up for a convention, but on a daily basis 35,000 people show up for a Red Sox game and the world doesn't end, right?

The key there -- no one shuts down the mass transit system, the commuter rail, and the major highways for the Red Sox. See the difference, buddy?

There is also a lot of talk about the "Free Speech" Zones where the protest groups are being cordoned off in order to keep them away from the delegates.

For those who don't live in the area and may not be aware of what is going on, the city has set up an area for protesters. Unfortunately from the protester's point of view (and really, mine too) the areas are no where NEAR where the delegates can see or hear them. And, they are designed with HUGE chain link fences, Jersey barriers, and BARBED WIRE.

Nice Free Speech Zone. It sounds more like Gitmo to me.

Security issues being what they are, based on what I've seen happen at previous huge events like this, protests get out of hand. I can understand the need to keep protesters away from areas where they may wreak havoc on the town, and also keep them apart from the cops who ... over-react. But keeping them so far away from the people whose attention they are trying to get with their protest, I don't think that's at all fair.

So the protesters went to court, and they had a judge decide whether or not the planned "Free Speech" Zones were in violation of their right to true free speech based on the location and the design.

It's all a mess -- I'm all for free speech. I'm all for the (A) crowd having their say. But here's the kicker -- the Boston Police Union is planning to picket as well. Over the past few months, they've been picketing everyone and everything because of their lack of a contract. Arbitration resulted in a solution, but they're still going to picket events. Even though the issue is resolved. Which is INSANE if you ask me.

I wonder if they'll put the Police Union members in with the Anarchists in the Free Speech Zone, or if the cops can protest wherever they want. I think they belong in the cage with the Black Tea Society. A picket, a protest -- it's all the same. Free speech, one stop shopping.

I think that security is really important, but I think that a lot of this is sheer bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Doug and I were discussing the whole security and terrorism thing, and in our minds, any terrorist wouldn't come NEAR this kind of thing, either here or in NYC when the Republocrats do their thing. And the amount of effort and the security measures from highway closures to newspaper vending boxes vanishing from the streets is just plain wasteful.

The soft targets are the ones truly in danger. Mini-mall in Walla Walla Washington -- unprotected while billions of dollars go to protect the Fleet Center. Day care in Orlando Florida -- unprotected while the harbor in Boston now has a Coast Guard boat worth a billion dollars.

It's obvious. Isn't it? I'm not the only one who sees this. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who sees this. The terrorist goal is to obstruct our way of thinking and way of living. While John Kerry is up making his acceptance speech, a terrorist may very well see Kansas City Missouri as a tasty target. A soft tasty target.

Actually, I rather see something happening during the Republocrat's convention instead. The goal is to fuck with George Bush's re-election. If something happens during HIS acceptance speech, you better believe Americans will equate his presidency to this point with the event, and his candidacy will go down the shitter. That's what happened in Spain, did it not?

Kerry would be a shoe in, and it's pretty obvious he'll make efforts to immediately pull everyone out of Iraq, and whatever attempt the Bush administration had at staying and making sure the interim government got on its feet would be quashed, and the country would be in shambles again, and Kerry would be to blame and more terrorism will ensue because the United States screwed things up and... well. You get it.

It's all fubar no matter who is in office next.