The Gateway (Leftovers–Read My Peter King Piece Instead)

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Perhaps the saddest thing about NY politics is the high percentage of insurgents who resemble Ciafone. Errors And Mysteries As John Ciafone Bids For Ballot In Queens Assembly Race www.cityhallnews.com

 

Right wing Zionists, please take note–Israel has too many enemies for you to conjure up more out of its friends.

Money quote:

"This heightened vulnerability leads many pro-Israel advocates to reject expressions of “critical support” because insidious efforts to delegitimize Israel internationally gain credibility when Jewish voices rally against its policies. In turn, advocates of “critical support” say a vocal, pro-Israel but anti-occupation position exposes a needed distinction between those who, while critical, stand firmly on Israel’s side – and those whose criticism of Israel masks opposition to the state itself.Tellingly, the Reut report underscores a similar distinction. It notes that Israeli policy often fails to differentiate “critics” from “delegitimizers” and that, by tarring them with the same brush, Israel pushes the former into the hands of the latter. It suggests that Israel should “engage the critics” – even if they’re harsh and unfair, as long as they don’t demonize Israel and don’t blatantly deploy double standards. Not an easy call, but it can marginalize the delegitimizers." What does being pro-Israel mean? www.theglobeandmail.com

The King of Fuh

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BRUTE FORCE (in an early release on the Beatles' Apple Label): “And the Fuh King did what he wanted to do

I said the Fuh King–he went to wherever he wanted to go

Mighty mighty Fuh King

All hail the Fuh King

The mighty Fuh King

All hail, all hail the Fuh King”

CONGRESSMAN PETER KING: Under the freedom of religion in this country, you cannot stop a mosque, a church, a temple from being built… But also, there is a bit of a double standard there. I remember when Catholic nuns wanted to build a convent near Auschwitz and there was a worldwide opposition to that.

I’m not saying that the legal position is the same in Poland as it is in New York…But I’m saying the moral outrage that was shown over that, and that was 50 years after the Holocaust and there still was a feeling of outrage that you would have something of another religion constructed on what was considered sacred ground.

At Last, A Lower Scoring Game Than Soccer: Schneiderman v. Lazio in The World Cup Integrity Match (The Gateway) (Updated)

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Could there be anything more despicable than someone who calls himself a "conservative" trying to use landmarks law as a sham-ful and shameful means to deprive someone of their right of religious free exercise?

Memo to Rick Lazio, Tom Ognibene and Carl Paladino: We live in NY, not Saudi Arabia. Rick Lazio Makes Guest Appearance at Landmarks | The New York Observer www.observer.com

 

The Gateway (Reshma to Judgement Edition)

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Congressional hopeful Reshma Saujani complains of "an all too familiar media distortion that favors process over policy, this piece is emblematic of a political culture that is failing to inform voters about the issues, " but the most damning things in the WAPO article she complains about were verbatim quotes of what she said; -so much for distortion.

And as for complaints of elevating process over the issues, which candidate is complaining about the other's PAC contributions (while taking bundles of non-PAC contributions from the same interest groups) and financial holdings, as opposed to her votes? My Views on Wall Street and Our Broken Political Process www.huffingtonpost.com

 

The Gateway (Reshma?!? No, Ugando Better Edition)

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Is Stephen Moore the most despicable man in America? Think Progress » Stephen Moore calls for raising taxes on the poor in order to pay for tax . thinkprogress.org

 

Who's this Lebron guy, anyway?

 

Much as I hate to admit it, this article has a point, and so did Michael Steele (although Obama did not choose this war–we were attacked!). Nonetheless, Steele's absolute right to speak as a private citizen, without having his patriotism questioned (would that his party extend Democrats the same courtesy), does not guarantee him the right to speak as Republican Chair without his ideology being questioned. In Defense Of Michael Steele | The New Republic www.tnr.com

 

The Gateway (Sex and the Single Amigo Edition)

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Robbins jokingly links Carl Kruger's problems to the Russian Spy Imbroglio–one day after Gatemouth did.

Thankfully, this time there were no nude photos. Carl Kruger's Russian Secrets – Page 1 – Columns – New York – Village Voice

 

Sullivan calls out Linda Lingle for thwarting Civil Unions in Hawaii, and I agree–maybe she is even a homophobe; but we could probably have Civil Unions by next week in NYS, if not for politicians afraid of being called homophobes if they support them  (No, Civil Unions would not be my preference, but I didn't let my preference for Single Payer stop me from supporting Health Care Reform) . Not Even Civil Unions – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

 

The Gateway (Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back Into the Courts Edition)

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Truth is better than fiction department: disgraced former Judge Michael Garson is running for delegate to the Brooklyn Democrats Judicial Nominating Convention. And it looks like he will be unopposed!

 

Kinsley offers crucial advice to political writers:

"…today’s sermon is about something much more important than the future of the world economy. It’s about what to do when you, as a writer, run into people who didn’t like what you wrote about them. The real risk in a situation like this is not of a nice Hawaiian punch. It’s much worse: excruciating embarrassment. This is on my mind because…Jim Fallows discusses it in a recent posting. And also because it happened to me last week…Fallows has a simple solution. He says that you shouldn’t write anything about anybody that you would be reluctant to say to their face. He says he was taught this by Ralph Nader. But it’s an impossibly high standard. It requires either too much tact or too much courage.

Social interaction depends crucially on people not saying what’s on their minds. (God, you’re ugly. Where did you get that hideous tie? I hate your last book/new husband/lasagna.) People who insist on telling the truth about these things are jerks and boors. People who routinely lie about them are slick and oily. The only sensible thing is to avoid the subject. But if you’ve written about it, your mere presence in the room brings the subject up. Yet not to write about these subjects is no solution. There are important things that need to be said but don’t need to be said in the presence of those who might not care for them.

Therefore, young writers, ignore Fallows's advice. Write about what you think is important. Write the truth. And if you see someone coming you’d just as soon not run into, feel free to run away instead.” Krugman Is Crude | The Atlantic Wire www.theatlanticwire.com

 

The Gateway (Rerun Time for Sneaky Pete Edition) [Revised–More Amigos and Soft Core Porn (can you tell the difference?) Added]

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The Post’s Fred Dicker is a lot of awful things, but stupid is not among them, so I guess it was the editor of his piece–about a purported effort to throw Pedro Espada out of the Democratic Party–who took out the part about Marty Connor trying to do this to Pedro in 2002, only to have the Courts rule that anything Espada did on the Senate floor was protected under the State Constitution, and thus could not be used in a disenrollment proceeding.

I also wonder what the relevance of possible future criminal charges against Espada is. There is at least one Senate Democrat under indictment today (Kevin Parker –with players to be named later seemingly queuing up at the Courthouse door) and no one, not even his opponent, is proposing to throw him out of the party. Certainly, being the target of a criminal investigation does not disqualify one from being a Democrat, even if Republicans with the title of Majority Leader have been more creative in their efforts at wealth enhancement about than Espada has (poverty pimping is so 1970s).

And, as to Espada’s living in Westchester, lots of Democrats do, including at least three other State Senators. It might be a reason to throw him out of the Senate, but the party?

The Gateway (Why Write Thoughtful Essays About Byrd or Brownstone Brooklyn Politics, When You Can Just Post Links Edition)

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Republican financial reform=do the same things all over again, but hope for a different result. How To Kill An Ant | The New Republic www.tnr.com

 

Too good to be true?

Friedman: "I am struck, though, at how much Fayyadism makes some Arabs and Israelis uncomfortable. For those Arabs who have fallen in love with the idea of Palestinians as permanent victims, forever engaged in a heroic “armed struggle” to recover Palestine and Arab dignity, Fayyad’s methodical state-building is inauthentic. Some Arabs — shamefully — dump on it…And for Israelis on the right, particularly West Bank settlers, who love the notion that there are no responsible Palestinians to talk to so the status quo will never change, Fayyadism is a real threat. Akiva Eldar, a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, described this group perfectly the other day when he wrote how they “won’t relinquish the Arabs’ ‘no’s." Op-Ed Columnist – The Real Palestinian Revolution – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com

 

© Room Eight