Administration caught off-guard by Blacklash
Administration caught off-guard by Black appointment. With Surrogates Unprepared, Effort To Sell Cathie Black Has Its Stumbles www.cityhallnews.com
In 2003, the State Education Commissioner rejected a waiver for a candidate for Yonkers School Superintendent, whose educational and governmental administrative credential dwarfed Cathie Blacks the way Arnold Schwarznegger dwarfs Danny DeVito, saying:
"There is no evidence…of any in-depth knowledge or understanding of… the educational challenges facing…students…the law does not permit me to simply dispense with the preparation and experiential requirements outlined in the Commissioner's regulations…"taken as a whole [the candidate's] education, training, background and experience are not substantially equivalent to the certification requirements set forth in law…[He] has no direct experience supervising teachers, assessing teacher quality or supporting teachers…Nor does he have a strong background in teaching strategies. His qualifications do not reflect a deep understanding of curriculum, instruction and assessment, or how children learn….[he] does not have direct experience with a school budget…there is no evidence he has ever managed a budget as large…Given the defined responsibilities of the position and the serious challenges facing the…school system,…I find [his] inexperience with curriculum, instruction and assessment to be problematic." Cathie Black Waiting for Approval From an Office That Has Said 'No' Before blogs.villagevoice.com
In reference to the Black appointment, I am reminded of the perhaps apocryphal story about the Press conference announcing Mayor Hague's new Commissioner of Weights and Measures. An unfriendly reporter asks him how many ounces are in a pound, and Hague responds "Give him a break boys, it's his first day on the job"
Needlessly nasty but hilarious NY Post Editorial:
"Climb into a cab these days and you're entering the Yassky Zone. As in David Yassky, New York's Taxi and Limousine commissioner, the star of the latest annoyance thrust upon the public by Team Bloomberg — an obnoxious 40-second TV ad beseeching riders to vote for the …"Taxi of Tomorrow." Those who've seen it understand: 40 seconds of David Yassky go a very long way indeed."
The only thing that could make this worse would be if the line about the 40 seconds was written by Diana Fortuna.Yassky's yak ruins taxis' quiet time–Editorial – NYPOST.com www.nypost.com
Essentially Sullivan opines that one does not need KY to make this slope slippery.
Though it may seem like a small opening (perhaps not the best choice of words) —and, as a Jew, not really my business–I think Michael Stipe may have gotten it right.
"It's the end (perhaps not the best choice of words) of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." The Pope And The Male HIV-Positive Prostitute – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
I suppose this is encouraging, but I cant' help thinking that the stance of Ensign, Snowe, etc., amounts to "Don't ask me, I won't tell" (Of course, Ensign supports "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in so many areas of his life) Ensign Joins Republicans Who May Support Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal | FDL News Desk news.firedoglake.com
This is fairly incredible. GOP Judges Write Senators Asking Them To Stop Obstructing President Obama’s Judges topicfire.com
Sabotage defined: The policy of Republican moderates. The new avatar of the Republicans, Lenin, called it "heightening the contradictions."
By contrast, non-moderate Republicans actually believe this batshit. The Washington Monthly www.washingtonmonthly.com
Gatemouth promises to one day read a detailed summary of Rivlin-Domenici, and to consider individual idea in Bowles Simpson; he agrees that, while overrated, the deficit is not as important as the economy, the long-range federal deficit cannot be dismissed, and that the existing deficit (courtesy of Dubya) is largely responsible for our inability to pass a larger stimulus at a time when it was needed.
He also agrees that, even if the soon to gone status quo had held, dealing with the long range deficit politically required the appearance of bi-partisanship, and therefore swallowing a lot of shit (as well as dealing with some painful realities we'd just as soon dismiss).
Nonetheless, Schakowsky’s ideas would be what I'd be proposing in a better world, and while that means its probability of success is probably a fantasy, the ideas embodied here should at least inform Democratic thinking as we work towards something which might actually have a snowball's chance in hell of passing t r u t h o u t | Schakowsky Proposes Alternate Budget Plan: Save Social Security, Tax Millionaires www.truth-out.org