A pleasant surprise.
New Kings Dem Leader apparent Frank Seddio says he wants to abolish the positions for the eleven horses Vito appointed to the Party Executive Committee–a truly substantive change, for which credit should probably be shared with Lew Fidler (and the late Tony Genovesi).
Good going Frank. Seddio Is Protégé and Likely Successor of Lopez as Brooklyn Leader www.nytimes.com
Clueless 53rd AD Republican Assembly candidate Richy Garcia makes the case for voting for Vito.
Will someone please put up a credible write-in candidate?
ALEX LOW (President of NKD): We're on it. Vito Lopez likely to easily win re-election over inexperienced, unprepared Republican challenger www.nypost.com
Bragg weighs in on the least mysterious mystery of the year (who in Brooklyn is capable of making a Tilzer-like typo?). Who Made the Akselrod "Typo"? braggblog.com
Abe Tischler: Twit of the Year. State Senate Candidate Grabs 27,000 Fake Twitter Followers politicker.com
Bronx Assembly Ricky Martinez is winner of Gatemouth’s Honorary Bi-Sexual Award (Maybe he thought he was Ricky Martin)
Martinez, the opponent of Assemblyman Jose Rivera, used to go out with Jose’s now forgotten but not gone daughter Assemblywoman Naomi.
There is no indication that Martinez ever got paid for his efforts, but Jose did see to it that Ricky got a position on the Democratic State Committee.
In other words, first he was schtupping the daughter and now he's schtupping the dad. NorwoodBX: New Bronx Family Feud? norwoodbx.blogspot.com
The only redeeming thing one can say about the politics of southern Queens is that at least it's not the Bronx. $weet life in Rotten Apple www.nypost.com
I've been so discouraged about the State senate primary between indicted mediocrity Shirley Huntley and anti-same sex marriage (and using it)/uses member items for blatant politics/waste of space James Sanders that I was all set to endorse the third candidate, Gian Jones, sight unseen.
Then I remembered that that was how I first endorsed Huntley.
This is what I found on Jones' website:
Gian Jones may have served five months in a federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, but he says the experience only makes him all the more qualified to mentor youth and prevent them from going down the wrong path. It is knowledge he takes with him on the campaign trail, running for the seat of state Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica).
Jones maintains his innocence, and says the fraud case was his first-ever tangle with the law. He believes the episode humbled him, and he called it an “amazing learning experience,” but quickly added that he is not trying to glamorize or advocate for incarceration.
“I felt I was an innocent victim,” Jones said. “Sometimes the law is not written to your benefit.”
And that, I assume, is the change he is seeking in running for the legislature. Activist running for Huntley's Senate seat www.gianjonesfornewyork.com
A few days ago, I note that at least part of the blame for the hysteria about the City's highly sensible proposal to require informed consent before a mohel performing a briss can engage in the procedure called metzitzah b'peh comes from the Mayor's on making speeches where it sounds like he wants to ban the practice outright.
At the time I said that, the Mayor’s seeming ignorance of what he is actually proposing was matched in its outrageousness only by the demagoguery of people like David Storobin.
That was wrong. I was giving Storobin too much credit.
Storobin is not merely a pandering demagogue, he is an ignoramus.
Storobin issued a press release which said Bloomberg had insulted Jewish parents by suggesting they didn't care about their children:
“The Mayor should stop worrying about other people’s children and let us raise our families in the manner we choose.” Storobin also falsely accused the Mayor of calling the practice "barbaric."
Then Jewish Week asked Storobin whether he opposed the "informed consent," which was the only thing the Mayor had actually proposed.
Storobin responded, “Obviously, if there is any risk of disease for any kind of a reason, then giving parents informed consent is something that could potentially be advisable.”
Having caught Storobin in a contradiction (albeit an unintentional one, since Storobin clearly didn't have the first clue about what he was talking about), Jewish Week then asked whether Storobin thought that the practice didn't pose any health risk to infants, and Storobin admitted that he issued his press release “not because someone was necessarily studying the issue, but precisely because we heard talk of a ban, that this was the beginning and not the end.”
Then, showing his knowledge of medicine and Jewish ritual were nearly equal to his grasp of the fact and his respect for the truth, Storobin the flatulated that “in general, the rabbis have very, very strict rules for health … that are oftentimes much more strict than government rules…"
This from a man who, out of whole cloth, falsely accused his opponent, Simcha Felder, of not opposing the Mayor's proposal, when Storobin's position, after being confronted with the facts, was closer to the Mayor's than is Felder's.
Runner up in the award for being a putz about putzes is Malcolm Smith, who on Zev Brenner's show characterized the Bloomberg proposal as a ban, and then refused to respond to repeated calls seeking clarification of his views on the proposal for informed consent. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new-york-news/pols-add-weight-orthodox-opposition-metzitzahThe Jewish Week www.thejewishweek.com
Although Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi and Aguda leader, Chaim Dov Zwiebel, has admitted "There’s nothing about filing a consent form that is inherently in conflict with [Jewish law],” the hysteria continues.
Why would that be?
Their flack, Mike Tobman betrays more than he intends with the answer:
“It warns parents that the city suggests a link between the practice and serious health worries, [and] it would undoubtedly have a chilling impact,”
Yes, learning the truth would have a chilling impact upon at least some people, who might be deterred from using a mohel who practiced this technique.
Maybe being presented with such information would not deter an ultra-frum Jew, but being presented with such information might impact upon the conduct of a recent Russian immigrant who got his mohel by calling Chabad.
All the better says I.
If Tobman thinks the practice is so safe, let him pledge to use it on his next male child. (Please Mike, don’t do it!)
As to anyone who's upset about having to sign a document they don't believe, the form could surely be phrased to advise the parent of the information without making the parent admit to the information's truth, only that the parent received it.
And if that's not enough, I have another prescription.
"Take two Kol Nidres and call me in the morning." Despite baby dying after getting herpes, Orthodox rabbis say they’ll defy law on ancient circumcisio www.nypost.com
Sad to say this Ben Smith piece minimizing the importance of Republican lying (and essentially saying "so what" and "so's your old man") only proves how effective the strategy is.
The central point of the convention was an effort to scare old people into believing that Obama was stealing their benefits and giving them to people who look like the President.
In actuality the “cuts”, which are also part of the GOP budget plan, don't hurt old people (they target waist), while the GOP plan to end Medicare as we know it for people under 55 will undermine current retirees by (1) restoring the prescription drug donut hole Obama eliminated, (2) diminishing Medicare's bargaining power to slash the costs of care, and (3) undermine Medicare's future base of political support so existing benefits will almost surely become a target.
How does Ben article deal with this central narrative?
It goes entirely unmentioned. Pants-On-Fire Politics www.buzzfeed.com
For those for whom Tampa was not enough to close the deal (then again, if that didn't work, WTF would convince you?) A LONG List of President Obama’s Accomplishments – With Citations www.addictinginfo.org
Chris Rock: If you vote against Obama because he can't get stuff done, it's like saying, "this guy can't cure cancer. I'm gonna vote for cancer." Twitter / chrisrockoz: If you vote against Obama because … twitter.com