Cow Spotting and God on a Bus

I spot a cow and become perturbed by a religious ad.

Look what I saw in the lobby of a building on 7th Ave--one of my beloved park cows:





Not to single out the security in this particular [office] building (believe me, this is the norm), but I'm walking by, I see the cow in the lobby and do a double take, walk in, and start taking pictures, with nary a peep from the people at the security desk. Oh yeah, the terrorists don't stand a chance.

And speaking of terrorists, I was on the 104 bus (bus #6660 to be exact) and I noticed a God (?)ad; a quote form the Bible, I think (sorry for the poor quality):



Now, here's the thing. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is in charge of running the buses here. The MTA is pretty much a government agency (or, as close a government agency as a corporation can be without being the IRS). It's a public-benefit corporation chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1965...governed by a 17-member Board. Members are nominated by the Governor, with four recommended by New York City's mayor and one each by the county executives of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam counties....All board members are confirmed by the New York State Senate. Moreover, the MTA is funded by federal, state, and local government and by the issuance of bonds.

So, the federal, state, and local governments think it's appropriate to put religious propaganda on buses. You know, the very same buses that have been--and will quite likely be--targets of fanatical religious terrorists. I find this very disturbing.

I'm indifferent to the "In God We Trust" on the currency. I don't even care if the federal and local governments, in their zeal to do away with the separation of church and state, decide to plaster religious ads on park benches. But I draw the line at the government's cruel taunting of bus riders with religious ads.

We know that there are people who believe in sky fairies. We got that! We also know that some of these people want to blow us to bits. We also got that!

Instead of religious slogans, the government/MTA should use the space to educate riders on how to spot terrorists, or how to act in case of a terrorist emergency.