Bullshit Patrol: Mystery Solved.
After a little detective work, I can now report that the man who allegedly threatened Democratic District Leader Lori Knipel's life in 1992 over the County Leader vote was the late Steve Harkavy.
For those who don‘t know Harkavy was the guy with the "Loud Pushy Jew; Deal With It" T-Shirt whose hobby was competitive barbeque and who had a license plate that said "LEGEND" (presumably in his own mind).
I don't believe it really happened, but it is not incredible that Steve told someone that he might kill them.
What is incredible is the thought that anyone would ever believe a word Steve said about anything.
I wouldn’t believe him if his tongue was notarized.
No wonder no charges were ever brought. Everyone was too busy laughing.
But he was fun to have a drink with.
More Loud Pushy Jews:
Goldberg: There's a move afoot… to force Jeffrey Wiesenfeld from the CUNY board. Wiesenfeld, it will be recalled, blocked John Jay College…from granting…Tony Kushner an honorary degree, because of Kushner's views on Israel…Wiesenfeld's campaign was wrong…but is this new situation much different? The faculty wants to purge the CUNY board of someone who has, by their lights, objectionable views, and who used his position as an appointed member of the CUNY board to advance those views.
Fallows: The obnoxious guy at CUNY is not having his "freedom of speech" threatened.
He's having his presence on the board called into question. Freedom of speech is a right; membership on the board is a privilege. FWIW.
GATE: Bad analysis; an honorary degree is also a privilege, not a right. If you’re making that argument, you’re echoing Wiesenfeld. At any rate, the legal standard is that a CUNY trustee appointed by a governor can be removed by the governor only upon proof of “official misconduct, neglect of duties or mental or physical incapacity.” Blustery bloviating seems unlikely to meet the legal definition of “official misconduct.” Wiesenfeld has certainly not “neglected” his duties (which would probably be preferable to his diligence) and any mental incapacity was quite apparent at the time of his appointment (which should never have occurred), meaning our standing to raise it now would seem to have been waived. Now, Kushner's Critic Has His Freedom of Speech Threatened (UPDATED) – Jeffrey Goldberg – National – www.theatlantic.com
Four Things about Councilwoman Darlene Mealy.
1) During the term limits debate, I noted:
Then there were the last minute changes of heart, with Darlene Mealy making an emergency trip to the restroom, a la Simcha Felder in the Speaker‘s race, with the slight difference being that Felder made his trip because he’d figured out a way to avoid voting, and Mealy made her trip because she hadn’t.
All very amusing, but one is tempted to ask a few questions.
Why is it that the effort by Ms. Mealy, to bring a $25,000 member item to a block association controlled by her sister, should only now come to light? Because of efforts, apparently by both sides, to leverage her vote? I can hardly blame Ms. Mealy for her bowing at the alter of the Porcelain Goddess, because I’m getting pretty nauseous myself.
2) Rock Hackshaw said this about her in 2009: “From the first candidate’s forum you could tell that Ms. Mealy-Mouse was just a “cute li…l thing” and that was all; but cute lil things are for the beauty parlors not City Hall. What we need in the corridors of power are competent people who are brave, intelligent, dedicated, hard-working and honest in tackling the big issues of the day. Darlene Mealy is one small pin-prick away from being an airhead. They all know this; black electeds, white electeds, Hispanic electeds and Asian electeds. Labor knows this; county leaders know this; and so too most newspapers and media outlets. Trust me: they all know this…
…Political junkies like me, see her all the time displaying her incompetence, ineptitude and non-savvy. She can hardly punctuate a verb, far less string together two coherent sentences in a row. She is definitely on David Letterman’s top ten list of worst electeds in the country…Darlene Mealy’s ineptitude was glaringly on display. She was an embarrassment. I will say no more….
… Politically speaking, if you compare Tish James to Darlene Mealy, then Tish is Albert Einstein and Darlene is failing the first grade block-building class. It’s that bad…
…But Darlene Mealy: OMG.
Someone near to me said: WTF (truly). People were asking what she was talking about. Some folks even laughed while she spoke. Sharpton had to even admonish her a few times to be specific and answer the questions (directly).
She needs to go home. Truly. Last night, one of Mealy’s opponents (Tulani Kinard) exposed the council woman for exactly what she is: an empty hairdo. Any of Mealy’s present opponents can do better than she in the council…
…The point of all this is simple: many influential people in this naked city know that Darlene Mealy is a travesty. Behind her back they joke about her; they need to stop doing that. Tell her to her face: go home lady. She might get the message. The idea of letting her publicly embarrass herself…”
3) She hired Rock for her staff in 2010, after he had written the above.
4) The Brooklyn Politics Blog www.thebrooklynpolitics.com
To update an assertion I made after the storm, we've now gone from the end of the beginning to the beginning of the end. Mired At 40 Percent, Is Bloomberg At "New Normal"? www.cityhallnews.com
Collins very makes the case for better regulation of charter schools.
How do I square my agreement with my support for ending LIFO? They are both about restoring accountability in our school. Reading, ’Riting and Revenues www10.nytimes.com
Chait explains taxes for dummies who don't understand them, which appears to be most of the mainstream media (except for the ones who publicly misconstrue the code on purpose).
And Sully has a more honest chart. Does The Middle Class Have All The Money? | The New Republic www.tnr.com
What can you say about a man whose signal accomplishment is his "most glaring political liability" Romney Aims to Inoculate Himself on Health Care online.wsj.com
Romney may not be better than Obama on choice, but his health plan was. Wonk Room » Romney On Obamacare: ‘President Should Have Been More Attuned To What We Did In wonkroom.thinkprogress.org