RNCWatch

New York Magazine Weighs In

It's likely that very few of the readers of this website actually read New York Magazine. Why would they? ... its days of Tom Wolfe inspired creative fervor are long, long, gone. Nevertheless, this week's issue contains a cover story on the upcoming RNC protests; odds are, its the most comprehensive coverage of the RNC thus far.

The cover of the issue is ridiculous (it looks like they got Kid Rock to pose for their photographer.) And of course, the article tosses out the usual activist cliches (the first page of the story, in fact, is all about consensus process. ho, hum. skip to page 2.) Nevertheless, there's a ton of information here, much of it fascinating, all of it quite useful. It even got us a little excited.

Of course, there's the requisite second story about how the police are preparing. Flash: they're more worried about terrorists than they are about protesters. Although I imagine the NYPD means that in an insulting way (“The demonstrators are kind of self-deluded, thinking that they’re the primary focus of our concern and planning,”) its good to know that New York's finest doesn't see a group of protesters who have almost never injured a single person as as big a threat as homicidal terrorists.

The author of the article on the protesters is Logan Hill. Oddly enough, it seems most of his work thus far for New York has been film and music reviews. Craig Horowitz, author of the cop story, has written about the police, anti-semitism, and Israel, among other things.

Pepsi: Partying With "The Most Powerful Man in the Most Powerful Country in the History of the World"

The New York Observer is reporting PepsiCo has already spent $50,000 to reserve the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a party during the Republican National Convention. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, PepsicCo has given the Republicans over $1.4 million over the past four years in soft money. During the same time, the Purchase, NY-based company gave the Democrats about $250,000.

Pepsi's bash at the Met will be one of many corporate-sponsored party/lobbying sessions during the Convention. The New York Observer also reports Verizon will host a party at the Tavern on the Green and AT&T is setting its eyes on the Central Park Zoo.

When the Observer asked Bill Harris if these parties are just another effort for corporatiosn to lobby politicians, here's what he said:

"I know that there are a lot of pseudo-intellectuals who like to talk about that, and like to complain about the lobbyists and the fund-raisers. I think that is very superficial...

When you’re talking about that in the context that this is the most important country that’s existed ever in the history of the world right now, and that this will be the most powerful man in the most powerful country in the history of the world, it seems a little superficial to say these aren’t important tasks to be carried on."

Hmmm.

Without sounding too much like a pseudo-intellectual perhaps it should be noted -- as the Bush administration just announced a war against obesity -- that PepsiCo and the soft-drink lobbying arm, the National Soft Drink Association, are at the forefront of the movement to keep soft drinks and candy in schools. The Association has repeatedly released studies that attempt to prove obesity and drinking of soft drinks are not related. In a recent letter to the government the group wrote "NSDA believes that soft drinks can be part of a healthy, balanced diet given the importance of daily fluid consumption and the body’s daily need for energy."