Peyser on Town Clerks: "I cannot fathom why New York allows a rabbi, priest or Shinto minister to refuse, legally, to perform gay weddings — but the law extends not one lick of respect to nonordained individuals of faith."
Let me explain it to you real, real slow.
Clergy are officials of a religious denomination who are under no legal obligation to do anything but administer the tenets of their faith. You don't go to a Rabbi for a baptism or a Priest for a bris.
But Town Clerks are public officials required to issue licenses to ALL who legally qualify.
A Rabbi is under no legal obligation to conduct a marriage between a Jew and Gentile; even most Reform Rabbis refuse to do so. But Andrea, do you think an Orthodox Jewish Town Clerk who refuses to issue a license to a couple of mixed religions should be anything but fired? Gay-nay marriage clerks say: 'I don't!' www.nypost.com
I am puzzled why "progressives" who say that a Democrat accepting the Conservative line is disqualifying and makes it imperative we support the WFP candidate [in the 54th AD], cannot bring themselves to declare that a Republican accepting the Conservative line is also disqualifying and makes it imperative we support the WFP candidate (who happens to be the Democrat) [in the 9th CD] When will Lincoln Restler’s parents be sponsoring a fundraiser for David Weprin?
Is Israel really important inn the 9th CD?
The money point here is that without Israel, there would be no race in the 9th CD worth talking about (same sex marriage might be the icing on the cake for some ultra-Orthodox, but could not do it alone).
Would Bob Turner have sold out his hard-core neo-Libertarian beliefs and become a rhetorical defender of entitlements (even attacking Weprin for being too soft) were it not for the potential opportunities opened up by Israel and the potential support of Koch & Hikind? The Brooklyn Politics Blog www.thebrooklynpolitics.com
What’s Marty Golden’s favorite flavor?
Vigorish!
The Mayor gives Senator Golden $10,300, nearly a quarter of the money Golden then funneled into his family catering business.
It would look a lot like what Ruby Diaz calls a "bribe," if the Mayor's agenda were banning same sex unions, undermining tax caps, and fattening public pensions. He even screwed the Mayor on microstamping and charter schools.
Since this is not the Mayor's agenda, one must assume it's just the vig Mike is paying the sharks for the GOP line in 2009.
"The Vig Is Up, Marty!" The Brooklyn Politics Blog www.thebrooklynpolitics.com
Fidler for Governor; Gatemouth for Secretary of State
(Full disclosure before Gary Tilzer starts spreading invective: a small portion of this $327 grand came from me). Fidler Raises $327K for Unspecified Office [Updated] | PolitickerNY www.politickerny.com
So let me get this straight, the story is that, in one election district, consisting of 14th square blocks, one political club filled in the blank space on its petitions left for County Committee candidates with the name of someone once convicted of a crime, and this is somehow supposed to indicate exactly what about the prosecutor whose name is printed at the top of the petition?
The reporter assigned to this non-story doesn't even understand the process. She talks about the 14th district as if there only one of them. In Queens, there are 18 different election districts bearing that number. 'Elect'-ile dysfunction in Queens www.nypost.com
Ahmadou Diallo for City Council?
When I worked for the TLC in the 90s, the single most common driver name was Mamadou Diallo.
I'm betting that, in Helen Foster's district, variations on this name are probably more common than David Cohen is in Riverdale. So, it is not necessarily a big story that one of these fellows is running for Council; it was bound to happen sooner or later. A Candidate Named Diallo | PolitickerNY www.politickerny.com
What is a 21st Century RINO?
Ev Dirksen's son-in-law and Alf Landon's daughter.
But, don't worry, Ted Bilbo, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis are now good Republicans. We can’t default on our commitments www.washingtonpost.com