wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comment from Erica Weems
Date: February 5, 2008, 9:20 pm

I would appreciate less biased reporting from WNYC. I feel that I have to listen to BBC every time I want analysis that is not so obviously slanted in its political views.

Comment from Sher in Manhattan
Date: February 5, 2008, 9:54 pm

URGENT - PAY ATTENTION!*!*!*
Why are you not noticing that tornadoes in Tennessee have disrupted elections and final reporting — Aren’t you monitoring CNN?? Pay Attention!

Comment from George Showman
Date: February 5, 2008, 10:27 pm

YOU JUST BAITED THAT POOR MAN FROM Arkansas (or wherever he was). The sequence about whether Obama might have been somehow Islamic sounded like a setup — you were asking leading questions.

Frankly it was a terrible piece of work — what are you thinking? You turned this man’s hesitation and perhaps ignorance into something that sounded like paranoia!

Comment from jaishri abichandani
Date: February 5, 2008, 10:39 pm

My family was split along generational lines today in corona Queens - my parents voted for Hillary while my brother sister in law and i voted for Obama. My parents were concerned w/ the health care issues, while I feel that Barak brings less political baggage and chance for real change without being indebted to special interest folks. As an immigrant from India, I feel that the future lies w/ America embracing a leader who is not cocooned from the realities of non whites by white privilege and he is not entrenched a part of a system that is incapable of facing our racial and economic future. Obama is today what America will be in less than 50 years - an intelligent bi racial human with an eye on our place in the world, not a arrogant hypocritical exploitative blustering leader of a hated empire. if we are to have a place of honor in this world, it will not be through the graces of the current politicians.

Today, i had the most unpleasant encounter with the policeman in the polling station. As per the front page of the New York Times website, I took my camera to take some photographs of the dismal basement in which we have been voting for the last decade. I was accompanied by my niece and nephew (5 and 9 years old respectively) to “help” me with the voting process. After taking several photographs of the room outside the polling booths right in view of the policeman assigned to the station, I was ordered to stop taking photographs by one of the voting officers. The policeman then sprung into action, demanding my camera, threatening to arrest me and generally being completely aggressive including lecturing me about signage when I had no signs for any candidates on my person. He took the camera from me and proceeded to delete all the photographs while insisting that he did not care if the New York Times had asked for images, I was lucky he wasn’t arresting me.

My question is - Is it illegal to photograph ouside the polling booths or was I unduly harrased? there were about 3 other individuals there so it wasnt that i was disrupting a busy polling station. Why would the New York times request images from these stations if it isnot allowed. Did others face the same harrasment when they attempted to photograph their experiences or was I singled out due to my being visibly South Asian?

My nephew was so traumatized by the encounter that he was afraid that he would be arrested as well for the next hour. I printed out the New York Times request for images to assure him that I had not been breaking the law and we would not be arrested, dropped off the print outs for the policeman (who could not care less) and made a complaint to the local police precinct. They also did not know for certain whether one can legally shoot images near polling booths. I am furious about the encounter and not sure at whom - myself for taking the photos, the policeman for being such an appalling authoritarian, the New York Times for requesting images that can potentially get us in trouble, the police precincts for not having the information or for the steady repeal of our civil liberties which means that I can no longer even walk down the street in my neighborhood on a normal day with a camera without being questioned by cops in case i am a “terrorist” (This has actually happened not very long ago)

This encounter leaves me hungry for a leader like Obama. I am a life long feminist - I believe Obama the man is also a feminist (although only Hillary gets to publically calim that status due to her gender) - but Obama is a also person of color - a white person can sympathize but never know what it means to be non white in what is still a white supremecist society for a few short decades - we can welcome the change that is coming by embracing Obama’s vision and positivity or we can resist it by voting for a woman who is part of a crumbling system. Coming from South Asia where we have had women leaders in Burma, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - history has shown us that women can be as corrupt as men if they are to lead. I go with Obama.

Comment from NY Photoman
Date: February 5, 2008, 11:07 pm

Note to jaishri abichandani - did you get the badge number of the officer who deleted your photos? You MUST file a report - it is totally legal to photograph in a polling place, this is what is meant by “free and fair elections.” I have done this many, many times. This NYPD officer is 100% wrong. Even if they think you did something wrong, a police officer NEVER has the right to delete photos from anyone’s camera.