Category: News and Opinion

Last year Brooklyn "progressives" and allies of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez had a field day complaining about the Vito Lopez/Dilan Family support for (then) Assembly candidate Rafael Espinal even though Espinal opposed abortion and same sex marriage (SSM), albeit in a limp wristed (perhaps not the best choice of words) manner.

Democracy Takes a Holiday. For half of New York Senate races, incumbents have no challengers www.democratandchronicle.com

Although I haven’t written much lately, my focus as a political-journalist remains the same: to educate voters in the hope that they would eventually make the right choices; especially in Brooklyn’s elections. The politics of Kings County is as stale and stinking, as a week-old patty sitting in the rusty showcase of some fledgling Caribbean-American bakery on Flatbush Avenue.

Interesting Political TV last night on RNN with Dominic Carter Guest hosting. 

One of the leading candidates for NYC Mayor Bill Thompson says should Anthony Weiner Run for Mayor, Weiner's Past is fair game for criticism.  Just Click Here to see it.

Also appearing was Connecticut Senate Candidate Chris Shays in the Republican Primary today against Linda McMahon, and Consultants Jessica Proud, Brad Gerstman, and Frank Morano responding to Paul Ryan being named as Mitt Romney's runningmate.

Worth a look even back in April when Chait wrote it, this article is now required reading.  The Legendary Paul Ryan nymag.com  

Here is something I wanted to do something about 15-plus years ago, but go nowhere because I was a public employee, and thus could make no useful contribution to the city. Use regulations that make no sense but remain on the books, to be enforced rarely and in a discriminatory way.

The New York Times reports that some yoga studios are being fined, and are at risk of being shut down, for being "physical culture establishments," which technically they are. Basically, just about any place with exercise is required to get a special permit that requires months to get — after you have already rented a place and started paying rent, but before you are allowed to do anything to prepare the property to open for business. It is something no business other than a huge national chain can afford, so most places — from karate schools to your local health club — just open without it, or get it later. But every now and again they go after someone.

Saturday morning crystallized what this campaign is really about. I will now outline my theory of this year’s Presidential race.

Other have hinted around the edges of what I’m about to say, but no one’s made the connections.  

Hope you can join me Monday Night at 6:00 p.m. I will be HOSTING the Political Show on RNN-TV (first time in the big chair in almost 3 years) My guests on Richard French Live will include candidate for mayor Bill Thompson, & Chris Shays who is running for Senate in Connecticut on the Republican side against multi-millionaire Linda McMahon. (Yes that McMahon of the WWF)

If Paul Ryan had merely proposed to keep federal taxes the same, rather than cutting them, and had proposed to reduce old age benefits for all Americans, not increase them for today’s seniors and cut them for those under 55, I might have something good to say about the Romney/Ryan ticket. But instead Ryan is little more than a panderer to Generation Greed, once again promising the better off lower taxes and the non-poor richer benefits with all the associated costs shifted to younger generations. He is another in a long line of careerist frauds.

So why doesn’t President Obama say so? Why doesn’t he highlight the Republican way of victory over the past 30-plus years, selling out the future and those who will live in it on behalf of the most selfish generations in American history? Why doesn’t he take this opportunity, win or lose, to ensure that no one under 55 (if they bother to show up) votes for a Republican at the national level ever again? Two words – Walter Mondale. Since he promised to raise taxes and cut spending to reduce the deficit, no Democrat has dared to stand up for the future of this country. Instead they have sought to get a few more of the benefits for their yuppie and public employee union constituents, at the expense of the people they pretend to represent, while hoping to avoid the blame in the end. If Obama would highlight the generational inequities not only of the Ryan plan but also of the past 30 years, I would vote for him enthusiastically. But he dares not, because he leads a Generation Greed-run party pandering to Generation Greed benefitting interests.

As I write this (or first did on Facebook) “Pal Joey” is on TCM, playing in the background and I can't help thinking how much cooler Richard Rogers was when Lorenz Hart was doing his lyrics instead of Oscar Hammerstein.