Category: News and Opinion

Laryngitis

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MUST TO AVOID:

Village Voice: But, What Have You Done For Me Lately? (Worthless Rag ’06).  Those who dismiss paranormal phenomena be on notice. During last week’s sixth diss of Chris Owens I took the opportunity to use the release of Owens’ new song as the occasion for a loving parody of writer Robert Christgau. While the Dean of New York political bloggers oft times cites Michael Kinsley as the seminal influence upon his writing, the truth is the Dean of Rock Crits is his secret hero. And though the influence is sometimes hard to spot – the soul of brevity influencing the king of verbal diarrhea- (but then again, see Christgau’s endless essays on the Annual Pazz and Jop Product Poll), the plentiful  puns, cultural reference, piles of facts upon facts, and inside jokes had to come from somewhere, right? Then last week, the Voice fired the Dean while an unknowing Gate was channeling his spirit for fun and spite. Is this a Celestine Prophecy moment, or what? Is Hentoff next? Well, every cloud may indeed have its silver lining, but this is the most disgraceful act committed by a New York weekly not owned by Ed Weintrob since the New York Press wimped out on the cartoons. E-  
 

Gatemouth’s Voter’s Guide (Part Two – Judicial Races)

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   "You are as much a resource as google"
 – Azi Paybarah, New York Observer (both his paper and his life’s work) 

The subject of judicial selection traditionally draws a lot of hew and cry, but little passion. The first piece I ever did on Room 8 was about Judicial selection, and drew exactly zero comments, despite the fact it was written to offend the delicate sensibilities of nearly everyone (I’ll try to minimize repetition with the ground covered there).

Is Charlie King Delusional?

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The alleged big story this morning is that perennial losing candidate Charlie King is again dropping out and endorsing Andrew Cuomo.

Since nobody he hasn’t bought lunch for was supporting King, the story isn’t that interesting.

Except for the reason that Charlie gave for his decision according to the NY Times blog –

“I am doing this primarily because I am interested in unifying the Democratic Party at a time when we will face a strong Republican challenge,” he said.

Huh? Strong Republican challenge? Doesn’t Charlie read the papers? 

Grapevine #6

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This is my penultimate “Grapevine” column, as I tie up loose ends here on Room Eight; and as you know, I try to bring you the stories and speculation that you won’t see, read, hear or find, in the mainstream media. So here goes an abbreviated version.

In the 11th Congressional race I took only slight ragging for endorsing Chris Owens. Some Caribbean-Americans thought that I could have cut Yvette Clarke some slack, after the story broke about her not having a B.A. degree, and also not graduating from Oberlin College. I had to explain that as an educator I couldn’t take that stand, since it would have been contradictory to my general educational objectives and philosophical viewpoint. I also had to explain that if anyone working in the public or private sector, had been caught embellishing their college records, fudging on their qualifications, or lying about their true credentials, that such a person would have deservedly been relieved of their position, and/or at least disciplined in some way, shape or form.

Gatemouth’s Voter’s Guide (Part One- Intro; Statewide and Congressional Races; Notes)

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"The Dean, and the premier source of legitimate information"
– Maurice Gumbs 

As a public service to the perplexed I am providing links to the posts of mine most relevant to each of the contested races in this year’s primary. I’ve also written something resembling commentary concerning each of those races I’ve not already given any attention on Room 8 (although some comments are adapted from posts I’ve made elsewhere). This article is intended to be comprehensive, and covers every race for public office where a contested primary is taking place in the City of New York (as per the Board of Elections Website on September 1, 2006).

Slow Population and Employment Growth in New York City (Phony/Exaggerated Problem 1 of 4)

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The Manhattan Institute, the Public Policy Institute, and the New York Post continually moan about the extent to which New York State’s economy and population grow more slowly than the national average.  The reason, they assert, is because New York’s state and local taxes are high, and the solution is to cut taxes on people like themselves until they are near or below the national average.  Since New York has more pension obligations and debts than the national average, and the federal government covers a lower share of Medicaid and social services costs here, this would require spending on public services and benefits that were much lower than the national average.  In other words, all public services in the state, or at least those outside certain affluent suburbs, would have to be funded like New York City’s schools.

New York’s Economic Problems: Real and Unreal

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Happy Labor Day.  I began the day looking through the news, and seeing the usual round of Labor Day stories about the New York economy.  There is no doubt New York State’s economy is not the strongest in the country.  There is no doubt there are people in this state with economic problems.  And there is no doubt that bad state and local government policies play a role in creating those problems. 

And yet, hearing what is said in the media, by interest groups, and by elected and would-be elected officials, I find that the state’s problems are generally vastly exaggerated and misdiagnosed.  Some of the purported problems are inherent conditions which cannot be remedied; others are the flip side of good things New Yorkers would be loath to give up.  Some of the exaggerated problems are little more than a disingenuous excuse for more public money for interests that aren’t necessarily the most in need – a plea for the continuation, or even expansion, of policies that were bad to begin with.  Meanwhile the state’s actual economic problems, as I see them, are generally not on the state government agenda, mainly because there isn’t an organized group giving campaign contributions that is interested in them.  I’ll discuss the real problems, and my suggested solutions, in later essays (probably next week).  First, however, I’ll go over what I see as phony or exaggerated problems:  slow job and population growth in New York City, poverty and income inequality in New York City, the high cost of living in the Downstate Suburbs, and job losses and decline in Upstate New York.

Residency (Part 2)

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In part one of this column, I told you about residency as a way by which incumbents eliminate challengers. I also told you about the residency challenge of incumbent assembly member Noah (Nick) Perry (58thAD), against his businessman challenger Wellington Sharpe. I will get to that a bit later on. So far this year there have been quite a few casualties going the “residency” route. Let me examine some of them.

In the 55th AD in Brooklyn, Caribbean-American challenger Royston Antoine (Uncle Roy) was eliminated based on residency. In a previous “Grapevine” column of mine, I mentioned that an insurgent was running from an address outside the district; he was the insurgent. Also going down with Uncle Roy was his co-runner (Parker), who was on the ticket as male-leader. Believe me when I tell you that I tried to alert them to the problem and to the ramifications; all to no avail. I also apprised them of their options. When people refuse to take advice in this game, they pay big prices. You can ask Saquan Jones about this. He tried to run in the 43rd AD, but really didn’t understand what was being said to him about the pitfalls. He too was knocked off the ballot (signatures). Hopefully he learned and stays in the mix.

GATEMOUTH REPORTS; ED AND GERSH DECIDE

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"Chris Owens …has a naivette about the world that members of Congress are sometimes forced to confront. Owens is right that we would have been better off not going to war in Iraq, but there are times when the United States does need to defend its interests with might. Owens indicated to our editorial board that there is almost no fight he’d be willing to join." 

                                           Brooklyn Paper Editorial 9/2/06