Author: Gatemouth

In the film “Chariots of Fire” a rich man of Jewish origins sets out with a goal in mind and proceeds to dedicate all of his considerable resources, both material and from within, to its achievement.

Any resemblance to the current Mayor of the City of New York are unintentional, for my point is a different one.

In an effort to achieve his goal of Olympic Gold, Harold Abrams hires the world’s best track coach. The coach makes clear that his services are worth the considerable sum which Abrams is willing to pay, but also acknowledges it may not be enough.

Sam Mussabini tells Abrams he can improve his game, but “I can’t put in what God’s left out.”

I recently argued  in this space that New York State has no real political parties (with the possible exception of the Conservative). I saw nothing last night to make me re-evaluate that conclusion, but that is a talk for another time.

Unlike in New York State, there is something called the Democratic Party functioning nationally in more than just name. It is a broad based coalition, which, by its nature, is often divided. In addition, its hands are often bound by the nature of the peculiar institutions through which it operates, none perhaps more peculiar than the US Senate.

Most notably, is that, given the size of our nation, it is forced to operate locally through units of varying degrees of efficiency or even existence.

10:26 PM

76% of precincts reporting

Bloomberg 50%

Thompson 47%“There is a out there a great seething resentment, not all of it rational, but much of it quite on the mark, for the sort of clueless lack of concern over this legitimate frustration. And for many, Bloomberg is its personification. In fact, the perception that there is nothing to be done about Bloomberg only fuels the fury of those so afflicted.” — Gatemouth (10/11/09)

The time: 1965.

The place: Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Somewhere around 1949, the 40,000 strong Jewish community of the Silk City, Paterson, New Jersey (where my maternal great-grandfather ran a textile mill in partnership with noted designer Boris Kroll, and where my paternal grandfather lived between bankruptcies by hustling schmattes at farmer’s markets), which supported Jewish congregations of every denomination and a kosher hospital, while providing inspiration to Allen Ginsberg (whose father and step-mother lived in a building owned by my father), began its exodus across the Passaic River, where it relocated almost intact in the Bergen County borough of Fair Lawn. The Jews of Fair Lawn had crossed a County line, but unlike their neighbors, continued to read the Paterson News and the Morning Call, rather than the far superior and far more relevant Bergen Evening Record.

The setting: Mrs. Scheinfield’s second grade class.

KURT VONNEGUT: If you wish to study a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon.

In Part One, entitled “Cats Cradle“, I sadly put forth the proposition that all of New York’s ballot status parties, save the Conservatives, were granfalloons. The creator of that term, Kurt Vonnegut, defined it as meaning “a proud and meaningless association of human beings.”

I argued that this was totally accurate description, except for the part about “proud.” I then went on to explain why this was so about both the Working Families and Independence Parties.

KURT VONNEGUT: A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings.

I have not for decades felt the need to cite a quotation from the master of making the whimsical seem profound; not at least since the day long ago when I made the adolescent-switch away from airplane glue to pleasures more organic. Now, having made the adult-change-of-life-switch in drug of choice from alcohol to Zetia, I find myself compelled to once again quote Kurt, in an effort to make the profound seem whimsical.

So it goes (though the line belongs to Vonnegut, I prefer to attribute it to Nick Lowe).  

JUSTICE WILLIAM ERLBAUM: The American verdict of 'not guilty' can indicate one of two things,…Innocence, or the case is not proven. In the case of these [felony assault counts], the case has not been proven.

Agree with the verdict or not, Justice Erlbaum’s words, with their implicit acknowledgment of what he likely thought actually occurred (even if he did not think it beyond a reasonable doubt) are, since the matter’s inception, among the few things said about the Monserrate case by someone who has attained their job by election, which are actually at least arguably defensible.

As I’ve reported previously, Jimmy McMillan, the Mayoral. candidate and sole proprietor of the “Rent is Too Damn High Party (now DBA as the “Rent is Too High Party”) is a certifiable, frothing at the mouth, anti-Semitic lunatic who blames the Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism for the tragedy of 9/11.

Yet, in spite of this fact, McMillan is enjoying an unprecedented run of free and largely favorable publicity, much of which portrays him as a feisty but lovable eccentric.

The Atlantic Antic had been a triumph for six year old Dybbuk.

Already having persuaded Domestic Partner to buy him $50 worth of toy MTA trains, he climaxed the afternoon by sneaking behind the Police barriers in front of the Waterfront Alehouse, treating those watching the second set by the Black Coffee Blues Band (featuring Popa Chubby, whose is to French Blues fanatics what Jerry Lewis is to their cinemaphiles, but with far more justification) to a half-hour demonstration of exotic dancing which drove the audience into a frenzy and got Dybbuk at least one invitation to join a comely cougar for a nite-cap (“every woman is watching him,” she told Domestic Partner, “and every man is jealous”).

I happen to like Bill Thompson just fine; he’s a smart and thoughtful guy who has served our city well at the Board of Education and as Comptroller.

To the extent that Mike Bloomberg’s educational policies have been about unclogging the deteriorated arteries of 110 Livingston to do an emergency bypass (as opposed to being about absolute power providing proof of the validity of the theorem propounded by Lord Acton), Bill Thompson pretty much served as Bloomberg’s John the Baptist.

Before Thompson-initiated reforms set the stage for Mayoral control, one could not get there from here. With Mayoral Control now having gotten us to a somewhat different destination than reformers anticipated, Bill Thompson may be one of the dozen or so people in the City who has some idea how to mend this beast in the manner real reformers intended.