Back in my High School days in Paramus NJ, a gay teacher named John Gish, who was not technically out, was removed from the class rooms by the Paramus School Board for the heinous act of heading a political group which merely advocated for Gay Civil Rights. Later he was set up in a dubious drug bust and fired outright.
Then as now, Paramus was part of Jersey’s 38 Legislative District, a swing constituency (perhaps not the best choice of words) and the Democrats this year nominated for one of the Assembly seats, Tim Eustace, the openly gay Mayor of Maywood.
Despite being a non-incumbent Democrat in the District which was the State GOP’s top Republican target for a pick-up, Eustace won, and a big blow (perhaps not the best choice of words) has been struck for LGBT rights in a place where they were historically most aggrieved.
Paramus seems to have come (perhaps not the best choice of words) a long way.
Somewhere, if he is still with us, John Gish is smiling.
Will this turn the tide for same sex marriage in the Garbage State?
With the Fat Man in The Governor’s Office, probably not; but, like chicken soup, it couldn’t hurt.
11/8//11, 10:10 AM—polls open since 6. I am voter #1 in my home ED. I left my polling place happy in the knowledge that there was now at least one ED in Brooklyn where Gatemouth was tied for first in the race for Civil Court.
Democrats did well in local races around the State. I doubt there is much wider significance here, since the only way to cast a vote against Republican policy was to vote for candidates supported by a Governor dedicated to implementing them.
Nice to see Erie County Exec Chris Collins, who shot his chance to become Governor by calling our Orthodox Jewish Assembly Speaker "The Anti-Christ" go down in flames (luckily for the GOP, they dodged the bullet of nominating for Governor a loose cannon from Western NY); and nice to see Steve Levy's party change to GOP put his new allies on the receiving end of the incumbent fatigue which might otherwise have hurt the Dems.
In Monroe, Sandy Frankel proved once again that nothing seals being a loser like having once run for LG.
Meanwhile, on the Rock, Dan Donovan proved that the words that least scared him were "Jim Molinaro" (the words that most scare him are "call your first witness"). Poloncarz Holds Lead, Bellone Wins Handily www.capitaltonight.com
Progressive Politics Scorecard:
Getting Off Your Ass, Knocking on Doors and Occupying Voting Booths: 1
Drum Circles, General Assemblies and Occupying Wall Street: 0 In Ohio, SB 5's repeal buoys Democrats – Glenn Thrush www.politico.com
Sully and Wilkinson join in my observation that Occupy Wall Street is degenerating; Sully even uses that term.
Wilkinson: "The increasingly confrontational tactics of various OWS offshoots risks not only "distracting" voters from the message behind the movement, but risks tainting the message itself and generating a backlash.
Peaceful OWS protestors can disavow the violence and vandalism in Oakland all they like, but I'm afraid most Americans have so little patience for public disorder that their willingness to distinguish between the peaceful heart of OWS and its combative fringes will wear very thin very quickly…As long as the Occupy movement remains without acknowledged leaders who can credibly distance it from the worst behavior of its least reasonable affiliates, the movement will increasingly come to be defined by its most egregious episodes. And if the sort of bad behavior we've seen in Oakland and Washington doesn't soon come to an end, OWS could easily end up more albatross than asset to the left." Is Occupy Wall Street Degenerating Fast? andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com
Sarkozy: "Netanyahu, I can't stand him. He's a liar,"
Obama: "You're sick of him — but I have to deal with him every day!"
I'm sorry, but I don't get the umbrage being expressed.
What Obama confirmed by his remarks is that the US-Israel relationship is bigger than any two leader's likes and dislikes and that he knows it.
Could Israel really ask for better news than that? On a hot mic (or not), no love for Bibi – Ben Smith www.politico.com
OK, I get it now; we should celebrate the life of Khadafy, but Leroy Comrie is worthy of death.
Thanks for the clarification, Mother Chucker. Qaddafi Eulogized in Bed-Stuy | Local Brooklyn News and Features | The Brooklyn Ink thebrooklynink.com
Lew Fidler may be the Brooklyn Pol who must physically resemble Barney the Dinosaur (especially when he wears his purple suit), but Kevin Parker has him beat on the lyrics:
“l help you,
you help me,
we're a quid pro family,
with a check from you and a kiss from me to you
funtunfunefu-denkyemfunefu
I help you,
you help me,
we're best friends as friends should be
with a great big check and a kiss from me to you,
funtunfunefu-denkyemfunefu” http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/11/parker-invite-african-proverb-or-quid-pro-quo www.nydailynews.com
Here's something to drive you to drink (or drive you to drive):
Gatemouth on the Rock!
November Meeting–Staten Island Democratic Association
8 p.m. Tuesday November 15, 2011Karl's Klipper40 Bay Street
Guest Speakers Bloggers Gatemouth and Bouldin
40 Bay Street Guest Speakers Bloggers Gatemouth and Bouldin
Staten Island Democratic Association sidems.org
We end as we began, with reminiscence from my school days.
Growing up in a nearly all white suburb (there were some Asians, and a few Latinos who passed), nearly everyone was rooting for Smokin Joe Frazier to beat Ali.
It was a political statement–against the war, and against what Jean Shepherd called "the creeping meatball"– to root for Ali, so I did (Ali was also, truth be told, more fun to watch, both in and out of the ring), –it was such a statement of rebellion to hate Frazier that I even rooted for Foremen to beat him.
Frazier was overshadowed out of the ring by more charismatic figures like Ali (and Foreman), when, irony of ironies, the White Man's Champ had led a far more hard knock life than Ali, whose relatively middle class life was "of the house," and who had never lived a working life other than a professional one.
By contrast, Frazier had literally worked in the fields, and had then graduated to a Philly slaughterhouse.
Mailer summed it up nicely: “Frazier had become the white man’s fighter, Mr. Charley was rooting for Frazier, and that meant blacks were boycotting him in their heart…twice as black as Clay and half as handsome,” with “the rugged decent life-worked face of a man who had labored in the pits all his life.”
A friend observes that this all parallels Obama vs. Cain, but that’s unfair. Whatever one thinks of Cain, his politics are his own. Frazier’s supposed politics were thrust upon him, both by those who rooted for him (he was the first black man invited to address the South Carolina legislature) and those who rooted for Ali (especially Ali himself).
As to his technique in the ring, Frazier described a less eloquent and less elegant version of what Ali later called "rope a dope":
"The way I fight, it’s not me beatin’ the man: I make the man whip himself…Before he knows it — whew! — he’s tired."
Frazier’s real weakness?
He led with his face. Joe Frazier, Ex-Heavyweight Champ, Dies at 67 www.nytimes.com