Category: News and Opinion

If someone introduced a resolution at Park Slope’s Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) to honor Lynne Stewart, an attorney convicted of aiding and abetting an Islamo-fascist terrorist group, it would undoubtedly pass with flying colors.

And while Stewart’s conviction does raise some troubling questions about what appears to be an effort by the Federal government to impede the rights of criminal defendants and their counsel, Ms. Stewart is clearly no hero.

Part of the frustrating nature of the continuing debate about Andrew Cuomo’s purported involvement in the 1977 Mayoral campaign’s infamous “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo” posters is that the ambiguities in the story prevent serious discussion of the underlying question about how long the statute of limitations runs for candidate “bad acts”, and whether the statute should ever run. Instead we focus on questions like: Did the posters exist? If so, did Andrew have anything to do with them?  If he did, should we hold this against a 19 year old 29 years later?  If Andrew knew, how could Mario not? And, if Mario knew, how could people outraged in 1977, forgive and back Mario in 1982 (Allen Roskoff, this means you), and then hold it against Andrew in 2006?

Bill Weld in accepting the endorsement of the Libertarian Party said he disagrees with the Party on legalizing drugs and prostitution but he concurs that government should be "kept out of your bedroom". Isn’t this a contradiction?

Rock Hermon Hackshaw

Jerry Skurnik is probably the most academic of all the resident bloggers here, and that’s good. His columns are factual and insightful. He backs up his positions with stats and verifiable info. He hardly moves to those fudgy areas of innuendo, speculation and political gossip, where most bloggers move on occasion, and where a few actually reside permanently. And that’s good.

Continuing an irregular series on who the likely voters are in the upcoming "hot" elections, I turn today to the 30^th State Senate District in Manhattan being vacated by David Paterson.  These percentages are based on data in the Prime New York voter file and these reports come with the usual caveats – ethnic data is based on last names so are not 100% accurate, past voting behavior is not always predicative, etc.

Likely Primary Voters Estimated Percentages

Blacks    55%

Hispanics 20%

Jewish   15%

Seniors    28%

I have commented on the race for the 20th Senatorial district twice in the past 5 weeks, and what I have written is there for everyone to see. That’s why I blog openly. I use my full name because I want to be responsible for what I write.  I refuse to take the coward’s way out, and hit someone from behind a sobriquet. I don’t hide because I am not afraid. Politics should brook no coward, but alas, cowardice abounds in this "game".

Stupidity also abounds, but thats somewhat understandable given today’s educational climate, with standards perpetually deteriorating. Too many people leave school unable to think critically, or even rationalize well. It’s unfortuneate, but "c’est la vie".  I do believe that candidates for public should be able to differentiate between common sense and stupidity, and when their supporters make stupid statements, the candidates should  immediately move to correct them. With all this as a backdrop, I hope that Eric Adams and Anthony Alexis would get a grip on their supporters like immediately.

Why does New York City do so poorly compared to the rest of the State on school aid and legislative pork? Let’s look at the budget process; what follows may seem a simplistic rendering of a complicated series of events, but actually gives more thought to the process than that exercised by the majority of legislators in any given year (which is sad, because I wrote the whole thing while waiting for my toast to pop).

The New York State Constitution’s budget process is a Robert Moses created contrivance whose purpose is to rob the legislature of its legislative powers. The legislature has responded in many years by exercising the one constitutional power it has, which is to do nothing. The current governor has far greater constitutional powers, but regards lethargy and sloth as a matter of personal religious practice, rather than as constitutional law. But, this merely has slowed the process in some (actually many) years. In good years and bad, the basic process remains the same.

Are we all so used to the fact that Mike’s rhetoric has nothing to do with actions that it is no longer worthy of comment?

On Thursday, Mike spoke to a pro-choice group and the press reported:

“On this issue, you’re either with us or you’re not. Period. You can’t have it both ways," said Bloomberg, a Republican, in a passionate noon address before the liberal NARAL Pro-Choice New York. "We can’t let anybody equivocate."

Bloomberg said pro-choice supporters must stand tall against elected officials who "try to nuance themselves" away from a commitment to abortion rights "in the interest of political expediency and partisan politics."