Category: News and Opinion

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORK POST and THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

|

Dear Editors:

The constitution of this country reserves a special place for newspapers in this unfinished democracy: a special place which comes with specific responsibilities to the polity. Newspapers are expected to inform and edify the masses beyond the mundane day to day events of life in this city, state and nation. Its columnists, free-lance journalists and editorial boards are also expected to take positions on issues, in order to stimulate debate and discussion amongst elites, professionals and ordinary folks alike. Thus the roles and functions of any newspaper are quite important to the theory of democracy. And despite the fact that television, radio, the internet and other contemporary mediums within modern communications technology, have altogether surpassed newspapers as the main mode of information-gathering for most people, the responsibilities mandated by the constitution remain the same. 

Signaling A Change In Tactics: Will The Real Tea Party Step Forward

|

Signaling A Change in Tactics:  Will the Real Tea Party Step Forward

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

Frank Rich reported in the New York Times that Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers were bankrolling the Tea Party.  It was ironic to me that foreign born billionaire Murdoch would be the force behind the most xenophobic movement in American history turning brother against brother in a political civil war in a country in which he had no birth right leaving many to wonder if he himself should be deported.

IS JOHN SAMPSON OUR BEST HOPE FOR REFORM IN ALBANY?

|

On any given day, one can create a checklist of issues facing us in this state: issues which need addressing by our Albany legislators in a timely manner; issues which affect millions of New Yorkers in profound ways. And yet, Albany’s collective response over time has left a lot to be desired. It is no secret that between the Senate (now 62 members) and the Assembly (150 members), Albany has been dysfunctional for years: very little gets done. It’s a joke that isn’t funny anymore: it’s an ongoing situation of which most serious political people have become frustratingly inured. 

Over the years, there have been too few individuals who intermittently jumped up to seize the mantle for change in Albany. Over the years, there have been too few individuals willing to articulate a framework for reforming the way business is done up there: Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi was one. And there have been too few elected officials willing to fight to change the sterile leadership of Speaker Sheldon Silver (as a precursor to real reform): Assemblyman Michael J. Bragman was one. The point is this: Albany harbors too many political cowards and convenient opportunists.

Putting “The Gateway” in Perspective, and Exhuming its Prehistory

|

A few months ago I began an experiment, by changing the format of this department. As I noted then, I spend too much time on Facebook, and it displaced my time on Room 8 as my #1 time waster, but while Facebook displaced Room 8 in my life, Room 8, in its own way displaced Facebook. I started my Facebook life making somewhat edgier versions of David Barry-like observations, combined with opining about Rock and Roll’s roots and branches; and except for posting links to my Gate pieces, barely let politics include, even during the primary season.

But somehow, in a manner resembling my current obsession with the Young Men’s Islamic Association proposed for The Holy Mother Coat Factory, I became obsessed with passing health care reform, and specifically with the idiotic left wing efforts to sabotage it because the achievable was not good enough.

The Gateway (Putting My Caveats in a Row Edition)

|

Young Men’s Islamic Association developer Sharif El-Gamal seems to enjoy the gamier side of life a bit too much to be a Wahabbist, and seems too angry to be a Sufi; he bears a far greater resemblance to a US Senator from Louisiana crossed with a State Senator from Flatbush.

Nonetheless, it is worth remembering that if NYC barred the sleazy from the development of real estate projects, our skyline would resemble that of Dayton, Ohio, but with more open spaces. Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal has a history of run-ins with the law www.nydailynews.com

　

The Romanization of Christianity

|

The Romanization of Christianity

 

By Michael Boyajian

 

I have been drawn for well over a year now to visit Rome to see first the Forum which was the center of the expansive Roman Empire and then the Vatican the center of the universe for one billion Roman Catholics.  Unfortunately I have been prevented from going for various reasons but have found other ways to visit through my imagination, travel and history books on Rome and television shows on the subject.

Rick are you running scared? Big Mistake to turn down the NY1 debate

|
Ten years ago, I was at the Buffalo Senate Debate where a relative unknown at the time, Suffolk County Congressman Rick Lazio walked across the stage and stuffed a campaign pledge in front of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But that move, perceived as bullying, locked his place in political history as an example of what not to do during a debate with a female candidate. Clinton's support among women voters was solidified. Lazio may now again be in a circular firing squad of one.

The State Senate Primaries (Part Two): Basil “Faulty” and the Charter School Boys Choir

|

GATEMOUTH: And while I share the DLC’s willingness not to invariably come down on the sides of the unions or other traditional liberal allies (say, on charter schools), I find that, on many of these issues (like charter schools), I end up skeptical about the new ideas in actual practice.

LEON WIESELTIER: …The New York Times published a warming story about the rage for charter schools among hedge-fund managers. It appeared in "Sunday Styles," and was a fine glimpse into the current fashion of "social entrepreneurship" and "philanthrocapitalism“….But what irked me… was the usurpation of the moral prestige of the public sector by the social prestige of the private sector…one of the most effective methods for the delegitimation of government in our day has been the notion that charity may do the work of public policy, that private wealth is the answer to social crisis.

© Room Eight