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Steel Like Roman Fortitude
By Michael Boyajian
I once did extensive reading on Ancient Rome and visited the ruins that were the very nerve center of that Empire and there is one thing I learned about its emperors, generals and senators. They all had steel like Roman fortitude and risked their very lives for glory and victory and advancement of empire.
Gay Apartheid and the Paladino Conundrum
By Michael Boyajian
A reader recently challenged my assertion that Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino was advocating a form of Apartheid for the gay community. You see that is just the thing with Paladino and his supporters. They say one thing, then back track, then forward track and in the end mean just what they originally stated. In this case they made homophobic remarks and then denied they were homophobes in a form of circular logic and that is the Paladino conundrum. It is the riddle of what he truly stands for other than profits through government rents and tax breaks.
The quality of life, the extent and quality of state and local government public services, and the level of state and local taxation are not determined solely, or even primarily, by policy decisions made in a given year. They are also determined, in large part, by decisions made in the past that provide current and future residents of a community with assets, or stick them with liabilities. This post, and the two spreadsheets attached to it, use data from the Governments division of the U.S. Census Bureau to evaluate how residents of New York City, the Rest of New York State and New Jersey have fared by this measure, compared with other places and the national average.
One spreadsheet contains data on state and local debts, pensions, and capital construction expenditures for FY1972 and all years (excluding those for which none was collected due to budget cuts) from FY1977 to FY2008, for New York City, the rest of New York State, the U.S. total, New Jersey, California and Illinois, presented in a series of ten line graphs (Charts 1 to 10). The second presents similar data, in a table set to print on two pages, for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia for FY 2007 alone, and ranks these states (plus NYC and the Rest of the State if they had been separate states) according to a single “sold future rank.” I suggest downloading the spreadsheets, and printing out charts 1 to 10 and the table, to follow along as you read the rest of this post and the one following.
Congressman John Hall Fighting for Voting Rights of New York’s Soldiers
By Michael Boyajian
Congressman John Hall reports that military personnel from four New York counties and New York City have yet to receive their absentee ballot packages. Congressman Hall rose to action on the news demanding that the State Board of Elections mail them out immediately.
This is amazing on so many levels.
Most importantly, Carl Paladino clearly has no taste buds. He ate the pastrami at Gottlieb’s and still manages to give the place a recommendation? Have you ever eaten the pastrami at Gottlieb's? They take the pastrami out of a plastic package and microwave it.
Although some of the prepared specialties are OK, the only edible sandwich at Gottlieb's is the brisket (which is pretty damned good). If you're not kosher, you'd be better off going to David's Brisket (just keep heading south on Lee till it turns into Nostrand) in Bed-Stuy. The brisket is at least as good, while the pastrami and corned beef are the equal of (or better than) any other Jewish style deli in Brooklyn (not that there's much competition anymore).
Raise High the Roof Beam
By Michael Boyajian
Conservative economic policies are nothing more than a sham. During the 1950s and 60s government spending was robust as we fought the Korean and Vietnam Wars, landed a man on the moon and engaged in a cold war with the Soviet Union. Yet we experienced prosperity unmatched in the annals of human history.
The Mask Removed
By Michael Boyajian
The trials and tribulations of Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino continue now with his hateful homophobic remarks against the gay community that end with a statement by him which in effect he says do not dare call me a homophobe for that would be untrue. Yeah sure, so long as gays are kept down much in the same way blacks were in South Africa during Apartheid.
Many of us were raised on this tradition: “if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.”
So borrowing a diplomacy page from the parental playbook, perhaps the nicest thing we could say is Cuomo is making Paladino look like a light weight. Further, quoting Republican strategist Ed Rollins, Rollins has labeled the Paladino campaign "absurd and irrational.” According to Rollins, “the Republican Party will take 10 years to recover from this candidacy.”
Let’s look at how Paladino has handled two subjects in the news recently. Marital affairs and debates.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS MR. PALADINO, don’t preempt your own negative attack.
You hit your opponent when you have the goods, or when you box your rival in, where he is forced to answer a question.
If you preempt your own negative attack, you are simply giving your rival cover. That is exactly what Paladino has done. He actually helped Cuomo.
How is this possible? What am I talking about? It’s simple. When Paladino claims Cuomo’s sexual “prowess is legendary," without providing any details, Paladino has effectively removed the issue off the table.
By sounding like he’s so out of control, so reckless, when reporters actually tried to ask Cuomo the question, Paladino has handled the matter so badly, that Cuomo can take the high road, and not be forced to answer.
In other words, Paladino swinging in the air aimlessly, by being so baseless in his claim without evidence, you could have predicted Cuomo response Friday to a possible affair question:
"I'm not going to get into the gutter with my opponent; we've gone through this before." Cuomo said.
Paladino has tried to explain to reporters his prior claim that the Democratic attorney general had multiple "paramours" while married to Kerry Kennedy. Paladino contends he made the unsubstantiated claim only to get journalists to ask Cuomo the same questions they had been asking of him.
But from now until the day Cuomo takes office… directly because of how Paladino handled the issue…Cuomo will simply say "I’m not going in the gutter with Paladino" and decline to answer any such question.
What Paladino didn’t consider is that he gave Mr. Cuomo more of an out than Cuomo’s own key advisers could have come up with.
On the issue of debates, Paladino has also badly handled himself. Frankly it’s the only issue Paladino has had left to throw at Cuomo, but even that didn’t work.
Paladino made the mistake of thinking he could attack and attack, without Cuomo giving in, but Cuomo has now agreed to share the stage with Paladino, AND ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR, and simply play a game of “beat the clock,” during the one hour time. They will all gang up on Cuomo as the front runner, and he will simply “talk to the voters ignoring everyone.”
Thus, Paladino’s message and more importantly his attacks against Cuomo will be diluted.
Paladino came on strong in the final weeks against front-runner Rick Lazio, so this should be said, the potential for that to happen again is there, but Andrew Cuomo is no Rick Lazio.
It bears repeating Cuomo is no Lazio.
Paladino’s general election campaign has been so bad, at this point Paladino will be lucky to escape with his image and not damage his lucrative Buffalo real estate business.
-Children should not be "brainwashed" into thinking homosexuality is acceptable.
If New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thinks the City or State of New York, which have higher taxes as a share of personal income than New Jersey, will pay for ARC, forget it. Andrew Cuomo evidently said that ARC project is important to New York. It is in fact important to New Jersey, and New York is already paying for part of it via the Port Authority. Without ARC, those working at high wage jobs in Manhattan might be more likely to live in New York City or suburbs on the New York side of the river. With ARC, those workers are more likely to live in New Jersey. That is the difference.
If Governor Christie and other parties can come up with a less expensive alternative, more power to them. Were it up to me, the new tunnel would have hooked into Penn Station to start with, perhaps continuing on to the Sunnyside Yards so NJT trains could relay there. But otherwise, New York’s elected officials should work to get that money diverted to projects such as East Side Access and the Second Avenue Subway that New York is struggling to fund. Give Christie $1 billion of the Port Authority money to get through next year’s budget, and use $2 billion for New York’s long term needs.
