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From Robert Novak June 5, 2008 column –
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2008/06/05/hillarys_latest_provocation
Polltaker John McLaughlin found a 49 percent to 38 percent edge by McCain over Obama among all women. That is an extraordinary result, running counter to a longtime Democratic advantage.
Why do I get the feeling that when it comes to comparative local government spending by category, as shown in one of the spreadsheets attached to this post, I’ve been writing the same thing over and over again for more than 15 years? Some things have changed, to be sure, but the general patterns remain in place. New York City’s local taxes are higher than average primarily due to higher spending on Medicaid and social services; police and correction, interest on debts, and pensions and public employee health care. Mass transit also soaks up a lot of non-fare revenues here, though the savings from New Yorkers being able to have fewer private automobiles offsets this. Spending in other categories is often low, though in the case of public education it is much higher, relative to the national average, than it used to be.
The last time people really paid attention to public finance issues was the early 1990s. Then, most the blame for the problems of the time was assigned to the poor, minorities, immigrants, and those living in older central cities and getting by on welfare. Those grasping for money now should never be allowed to forget this, because by that time cash welfare had already ceased to be a major factor in the city and state budget, despite one million people on public assistance. Today it amounts to virtually nothing even in New York City — $1.2 billion in spending funded by all sources or 0.3% of the income of New York City residents, down from $1.9 billion (or $6.4 billion in $2006) or 1.4% of income in FY 1977. Well, that 84% inflation-adjusted decline is one real change. So where is the money going now? For the most part the same places it did in FY 2005, in FY 2004, in the last Census of Governments year in FY 2002, and in the previous one in FY1997.
Never let it be said that Brooklyn’s politics is boring; it is not. Maybe years from now, when the black areas of Brooklyn become as sterile as the white and Hispanic areas are now (somewhat) -where there are hardly ever primaries anymore- we will all look back and wonder where the gumption came from; since it seems that we could always find a primary challenger to some black incumbent, on the other side of the tracks. This year is no exception. Maybe the respect for the county machine is dependent on where you live in Brooklyn; because black insurgents seem to operate on the Winston Churchill principle; which is in essence: that success comes by going from one failure to another, without losing enthusiasm.
“The Democratic party will indeed suffer the consequences of its actions. Republican women who crossed over for Hillary will go back to their own party, while others will either stay home or write in their votes for Hillary. Still others will leave the party that has no respect for the women who constitute two thirds of it's (sic) base.
In recent times, the Republicans have stood for their beliefs. Although many of us progressives fight vehemently against their platform, at least we know who the enemy is. This time the Democrats have shown their true colors and it's high time for a party that respects the needs and rights of over half the population. Maybe Senator Clinton should start a National Women's Party. She certainly has the base she would need to make it happen. At least that party will state its mission clearly through it's title. The Democrats certainly did not live up to their name.”
Yvette Clarke represents the 11th congressional district in Brooklyn. Her mother (Una Clarke) is the former city council woman from Brooklyn’s 40th councilmanic district. When Una was term-limited in 2001, her daughter Yvette succeeded her in the council seat. Una was born on the island of Jamaica and loves to highlight her roots as a maroon. Yvette was born in Brooklyn, and loves her Caribbean-American heritage and culture as much as she loves her African-American birthright. Maroons are militant people: they don’t take too much shit. Bill Perkins was lucky that Una wasn’t at City Hall yesterday.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/06/06/khalid-sheik-mohammed-on-same-sex-marriage-value-of-counsel/?mod=googlenews_wsj
For the past five years, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been under the care of federal civilian and military employees who have taken an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The experience apparently has not enamored him of the document. At his arraignment here Thursday, the alleged 9/11 mastermind said he would not accept any attorney, even a fellow Muslim, “who is sworn to your American constitution.”
Displaying a surprising understanding of such concepts as federalism and dual sovereignty, Mohammed referenced recent decisions by state courts in California and Massachusetts under the powers reserved to them under the Tenth Amendment.
Friday’s New York Times profiles Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard on her major role as an advisor and flack for John McCain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/us/politics/06fiorina.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
The story notes that she was fired by HP, paid $42 million to walk away and is “widely criticized for mismanaging one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies.”
Fiorina defended her tenure at HP by saying –
So the Democrats National Convention Committee selected Room Eight New York Politics to send two bloggers to Denver -to cover the party’s convention: whoop-dee-damn-doo. Don’t get me wrong: I am honored to be selected. It is a privilege. It is also a once in a lifetime kinda thing that hopefully -if I do have grandkids- I could tell them about it. And when the editors (Ben Smith and Gur Tsbar) purchased my plane tickets, I felt I have won a small bingo in a catholic senior center. So now I have to find some seed money for accommodations and greasy-spoons, but there are worse things I could be doing in the dog days of August. Of course I wish it was Sade Bederinwa or Darlene Rodriguez or Liza Sabater (instead of Gatemouth) accompanying me on this run: but c’est la vie. Don’t worry folks; I will put a mark on my underwear, soft things and toiletries, etc/lol. And I will hide my rap music collection and my reefer stash (you never know with these wannabee black guys).
As you can see if you downloaded the spreadsheets attached to this post, New York’s state and local taxes continue to be sky high as a share of its residents’ personal income, and did not drop significantly as the economy recovered from the recession earlier in the decade. Only Wyoming and Alaska are in New York’s vicinity, and in these states a huge share of the taxes are paid by oil and mineral taxes, not state residents and businesses. If New York City were a separate state, it would have ranked ahead of both those states with total tax revenues at 15.9% of personal income, 46.1% over the national average, assuming the burden of New York’s state taxes is distributed in proportion to personal income. (It isn’t – the dedicated MTA taxes that are only collected downstate are included as state taxes by the Census Bureau). The state and local tax burden in the rest of the state was 23.4% higher than the national average at 13.4% of income, which would have ranked sixth (behind New York City, Wyoming, Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Maine) if the rest of the state were a separate state.
Unless you are one of the people profiteering off this situation, there are two ways to look at it. You can be outraged that the tax burden is so high in New York. Or you can be outraged that given the high tax burden in New York, we have so many unmet needs with threatened school cuts, the onrushing collapse of public housing and public transit, a shortage of public recreational facilities, and inadequate preventive health care for many. The discussion should be limited to how, and by whom, most of us are being ripped off, not whether or not.
http://www.uticaod.com/election2008/x43066911/Independence-endorsement-goes-to-Hanna
The state Independence Party has dropped U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri from its endorsement roster and thrown its support to his opponent.
At the announcement at Hotel Utica, the party’s state Vice Chairman John Dote said … Arcuri said in 2006 that he would work to get U.S. troops out of Iraq, but they were still there.