Riot Watch! in Thailand, subway troubles in NYC and another way smoking kills

- The subway system is the absolute best method of getting around Manhattan. It doesn’t matter if you are going from the Upper West side to Chinatown; the subway is the best way to go. An all-day pass costs visitors just $8.25, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than a single cab ride. The subway is also much faster, which may be its primary benefit. However, if the option is taking a cab or walking versus putting your life on the line to ride the subway, that choice becomes much dicier. Despite serious efforts over the past decade-plus to improve safety and security on the subway, a new problem is making riders wary: a lack of functioning security cameras at subway stops. Last week, new came out that there were no cameras at the Christopher Street station, where two men were stabbed to death and the suspect escaped. This week, the word is that the litany of cameras at the City Hall station may look imposing, but the reality is that none of them work. That news has citizens and local observers speaking out vociferously against the failure of the city’s government to ensure the safety of subway passengers. At present, the MTA has 2,270 working cameras in the system, but an additional 2,100 cameras are either not up or installed but not yet functional. Many of the non-working cameras are caught up in an ongoing lawsuit over a high-tech surveillance system that has yet to function as designed. Safety advocates and citizens’ groups are warning subway riders to be aware of the fact that just because a camera is on the wall above you at a subway stop, you cannot assume that it is working. Making matters worse, the MTA is cutting about the jobs 400 station agents, who serve as the eyes and ears of the system. They hope to balance that out with the addition of 900 new security cameras this summer, but skeptical riders and critics are not convinced that those promises will hold up. To be fair, most of my subway rides have come during daylight hours or at least before late night, so I can’t speak much to how safe people should feel in a subway station at, say, 11:45 p.m. on a weeknight. What I can say is that if a city is able to afford security cameras, it should also be able to have them up and running. No excuses for that, New York city officials and MTA, no excuses at all…………

- To say figure skater Nancy Kerrigan has led something of a cursed existence over the past couple of decades would be an understatement. She’s the only athlete I remember whose chief rival hired a bunch of goods to bash her on the knee with a lead pipe in order to secure that rival’s spot in the Olympics. That incident, spearheaded by current celebrity boxer and white trash hero Tony Harding, took place at the U.S. Championships before the 1994 Winter Olympics, when an assailant knee-capped her in back hall during practice and an investigation revealed rival Harding and her band of goons were behind the attack. However, that attack and its importance pale in comparison to what she and her family are going through now. Her 70-year-old father Daniel died on Jan. 24 following an altercation with his son and Nancy’s brother Mark, an incident prosecutors termed a violent attack during a "trivial" argument over use of the family telephone. Mark Kerrigan has been charged with manslaughter in the death after being indicted by a Middlesex Superior Court grand jury. He had already been charged with assault, so adding a second count to the charges against him clearly illustrates how seriously the authorities view what happened. Those close to the family insist that the family doesn’t blame Mark for what happened, which makes some sense given the fact that Daniel Kerrigan had a pre-existing heart condition. However, if you have a family member with a known heart condition, aren’t you backing off a little earlier in an argument so as to not aggravate their condition and possibly cause a tragic heart attack? That seems to be the line of thinking for the local distract attorney, who is pressing forward with the case. "We allege that the defendant's violent reckless actions and complete disregard for his father's safety and well-being endangered Daniel Kerrigan's life and resulted in the substantial harm that led to his untimely death," District Attorney Gerry Leone said in announcing the indictment. "This defendant should have known that the cruel acts that he committed against his elderly father, including grabbing him by the neck with enough force to cause a fracture, were highly likely to result in substantial harm and endanger his father's life." A state medical examiner determined the cause of death was "cardiac dysrhythmia" -- a loss or interruption of a normal heartbeat that can lead to cardiac arrest -- after the altercation and resulting neck trauma that damaged Daniel Kerrigan’s windpipe. Overall, it is a sad, tragic and horrific situation and one in which the end result of the legal process isn’t going to provide closure or peace for any of the involved parties……….

- ANNNNNNDDDDDD……..YOUR NETWORK GETS A TALK SHOW! AND YOOOOOUURRR NETWORK GETS A TALK SHOW! AND YOURS, AND YOURS……AND YOURS! Now, imagine that first sentence in over-dramatized, high-decibel Oprah-speak. See, it seems that Oprah Winfrey doesn’t really want to exit the daytime talk world, she merely wants to have a show on her terms and her terms only. Her run on syndicated television will end in September, but once that chapter in her life ends, Winfrey will take four months off and then return to TV on her OWN network. "She's going to continue doing what she loves, talking to people, from the famous to the infamous," OWN CEO Christina Norman said. "But this time, she's going to be untethered from the chairs and taking the show on the road." If you don’t known, OWN stands for Oprah Winfrey Network. I guess that when you’re one of the richest and most powerful people in the world, you can name entire networks after yourself if you please. OWN launches January 1, 2011, replacing the Discovery Health Network for Discovery Communications. "My vision for OWN is to create a network that inspires our viewers and makes them want to be who they are on their best day," Winfrey said in a written statement. Speculation over Winfrey’s next step has been plentiful since last year, when she announced that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would end its 25-year run on September 1, 2010. The new show will be "Oprah's Next Chapter" and it will literally feature her going around the world to places both foreign and close to home to interview the same types of people she has talked to over the past 25 years. OWN unveiled five new original series on Thursday, joining 10 previously announced. In seeking to get the network off to a successful start, Winfrey will also host a show called "Master Class," which will feature intellectual giants of the present sharing their most important life lessons - people like Jay-Z, Condoleezza Rice, Sidney Poitier and Loren Michaels. Oprah’s pal Gayle King will also host a show on the network, as will country/pop singer Shania Twain. If nothing else, it should be interesting to see if Winfrey can attain the same level of success in launching and running her own network as she has achieved these past 25 years. I sure won't be betting against her…………

- Smokers, you are proving my point for me. Banning smoking entirely is one of my primary life goals, plain and simple. Cancer sticks not only kill those smoking them, they can also lead to lung cancer in anyone unfortunate enough to inhale secondhand fumes. Nothing like deliberately and purposefully upping your chances for lung cancer, emphysema and other smoking-related maladies all in order to get your nicotine fix. But even when a smoker is fortunate enough to cheat death in the form of those illnesses, that doesn’t mean he or she is in the clear. Take the story of 74-year-old Ronald Doyle of Virginia Beach, Va. as a cautionary tale for all smokers. Virginia Beach fire officials responded to a call from a caretaker who found Doyle’s body in his bed when she reported for work at around 9 a.m. The fire was out before firefighters could arrive on the scene, but Doyle had already succumbed to smoke inhalation long before the caretaker arrived. The home did not have smoke detectors, so that was another strike against Doyle’s survival. This is not meant to demean or belittle Doyle’s death, as a Vietnam veteran deserves plenty of respect. However, it is one more reason to adopt my suggestion of a total ban on smoking. Not only can it kill people through all manner of painful and horrendous diseases; it can also lead to potentially deadly fires with the potential to kill or injure many more. Fact is, Ronald Doyle was someone’s brother, someone’s father, grandfather or friend and although he was 74 years old, he probably still could have had a few good years left if not for smoking. Do me a favor, all you smoking supporters out there: just stop. Stop arguing, stop trying to sell the rest of us on the fact that it’s your life and you can do what you want with it even if that means jamming cancer sticks into your pie hole and inhaling toxic fumes. Your nasty habit kills people, drives up health care costs and just makes the world an all-around worse place to live……………

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! It rages on in Thailand, where my peeps, the Red Shirts, continue to wreak absolute havoc in downtown Bangkok in their quest to force the government to hold new elections. The target today was the reopening of the PTV station, which was closed down shortly after the government declared a state of emergency Wednesday. Angry rioters continued their demonstrations to return PTV to the air despite government claims that the station was guilty of distributing misinformation. Another media outlet, Nation TV, showed the anti-government protesters locked in a standoff with the Thai military. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the station was shut down "to restore peace and order and to stop the spreading of false information to the Thai public." Either that or it dared to reports facts and legitimate information that the government didn’t want getting out, one or the other. Nothing like hiding behind so-called emergency measures banning the publishing, broadcasting or spreading information considered a threat to national security. In short, it is censorship and it is bullsh*t. Shutting down media outlets because you don’t like their message is oppression and fascism at its height and these protestors are doing the absolute right thing by standing up to it. The country’s stocks have also taken a hit as a result of the ongoing civil unrest, with Thai stocks dropping more than 24 points, about 3 percent, after the government declared the state of emergency. That declaration was prompted by angry protestors storming the country's parliament, which was the coolest sight I have seen in a long time. The emergency decree basically sets up martial law under which authorities can take actions without court orders, such as summoning, arresting and detaining people and conducting searches. Abhisit said the measure is effective in Bangkok and nearby provinces, meaning opposition forces need to step their game up and be on high alert. The emergency decree was accompanied by a government demand that that demonstrators leave protest grounds immediately, which obviously isn’t going to happen. In a totally laughable maneuver, the government claims to offer

transportation for those who want to return home. Mmm hmm, sure you’ll transport them home. As long as home is code for a secret, filthy prison where they will be kept and beaten, then I agree. Protestors saw right through the “offer” and after bum-rushing the parliament building they regrouped at their main gathering places at Phan Fa Bridge and Rajaprasong Intersection. Should you want to represent and support their commendable effort, the official name of the group is United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. The group’s fundamental belief is that Abhisit was not democratically elected and new elections are needed. So riot on, Red Shirts, riot on…………