Memo to NYC Board of Elections: You've posted every 2011 General Election Result except that for Kings County Civil Court.
Is this a conspiracy to deprive Gatemouth of the vote he received? Board of Elections in the City of New York – Elections Results vote.nyc.ny.us
In reply to my inquiry (on behalf of Larry Littlefield) concerning whether the near victory of a write in candidate in Lackawanna augured a larger trend, political consult Jerry Skurnik said:
"I have been meaning to write something about how the new voting machines make write-in campaigns much more plausible since Gerry O'Brien suggested it to me last year. But I just haven't gotten around to it and I'm not sure I will.
The Erie County story is, I think, an outlier. Where write-ins might make a real difference is in minor party primaries, where less than 500 votes can pick winners. We already saw that it elected one Republican State Senator – Greg Ball in 2010 and I expect to see both Dems & Reps running serious write-in challenges to the candidates picked by Mike Long, Cantor & McKay."
Memo to Charles Barron: Barney Frank just called Robert Mugabe "evil."
Of course, Frank’s a white Jewish homosexual, so he's suspect x3. MSNBC's Matthews Asks Barney Frank Does Newt Gingrich 'Personify' Evil? | NewsBusters.org newsbusters.org
More on accusations of Israeli "pinkwashing":
"By making the absurd claim that the issue of gay rights is being “manipulated” by the Israeli government, Schulman ends up making excuses for people who kill homosexuals." Sarah Schulman's Pinkwashing Op-Ed Is Nonsense – Tablet Magazine www.tabletmag.com
Sully, who doesn't exactly sing Hatikvah in the shower, nonetheless ridicules the idea of "pinkwashing":
"Schulman is a hardcore gay leftist, and her argument is…preposterous…. It is a fact that Israel is immeasurably, stupendously more tolerant of gays than any of its neighbors, including the Palestinians. Israel can and should be criticized for many things, but this surely isn't one of them. What you see in Schulman's ideology is actually a distrust of gay advancement if it isn't simultaneously part of some grander leftist ideological agenda, and subordinate to it….No good news to deter comrades from the struggle! What an exhausted, useless, remote volcano the gay hard left now is." Does Israel "Pinkwash?" andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com
The painful irony of the courageous liberators of the Arab Spring: no matter how smart they are about how backwards their societies are, they still can't think of anything better to do than to blame the Jews (h/t to an old album review by Robert Christgau). Praise Arab Spring, Not the Anti-Semitism: Jeffrey Goldberg www.bloomberg.com
Memo to Bibi: Gai kaken oifen yam! Netanyahu Government Suggests Israelis Avoid Marrying American Jews www.theatlantic.com
A Stupid Web Video from the DNC—if Romney interview was so bad, why not show the interview instead of just talking about it? Mitt Romney on FOX: A "Disastrous Interview" www.youtube.com
All the major candidates support ObamneyCare. Newt on the mandate – Ben Smith www.politico.com
The “liberal” attack on Cain continues. Herman Cain's Fox problem, revisited – Ben Smith www.politico.com
Seems to me that a guy born in the Canal Zone is on very shaky ground making jokes about what is and isn't part of the United States. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/11/mccain-sadly-concedes-long-island-is-part-of- www.nydailynews.com
Bullshit Alert:
Rangel foe claims a poll shows he can make a strong potential race.
Query: There are no lines yet. For all we know, the district might extend to Mount Vernon; so WTF is he polling? http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/11/potential-rangel-foe-claims-strong-poll-posit www.nydailynews.com
Why is the WFP taking slaps at Maloney on Wall Street issues when the only credible threats to her come from her pro-Wall Street right? WFP Targets Carolyn Maloney www.politickerny.com
OK, don't call it a "Millionaires' Tax." Call it "Tax reform," call it "Late for Dinner," but no matter what you call it, New York the State cannot solve its fiscal problems without some revenue. Cuomo’s Evolution: Gov talks grand economic plans, but won’t say ‘No new taxes’ | The Empire empire.wnyc.org
The fact that Parks close at night is not a free speech issue–park curfews existed long before “Occupy Wall Street” for reasons having nothing to do with political demonstrations. The law isn't merely content neutral–it's content irrelevant.
Maybe it's a limit on free speech to close city owned buildings at the end of the working day. Why not open them 24 hours too?
What an imposition on speech that they are closed.
So the question is, is the public good created by 24/7 Parks worth the costs of this change?
Given the undoubted policing and quality of life issues which will arise—even in the absence of a single political demonstration in any affected park, I would have to say I would prefer the money to be spent on schools.
And frankly, while I don't oppose a tax increase to avoid further budget cuts, I would oppose paying even one more penny for this proposal.
Come back to me with a statement on the fiscal impact and we can talk. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2011/11/nyc-council-members-remember-zuccotti-park www.nydailynews.com