Push all the sanctimony aside, and the race for Assembly in the 54^th AD consists of three ciphers; two of who were handpicked by committees of Party hacks.   

According to the Wall Street Journal, “over the next decade, Mr. Bogle said stocks are likely to generate an average annual return, including dividends, of around 7%. ‘Your money will double in 10 years,’ he said. ‘How bad is that? People ought to get over the illusion [of higher expectations] and realize that they may have to invest for longer time periods, start earlier and save more.’"

That is an optimistic forecast. But New York’s public employee pension funds assume a much higher rate of return, for a mixed portfolio of stocks and lower yielding bonds. So politicians can avoid admitting how much they have harmed taxpayers and those who rely on public services and benefits, by retroactively enhancing the retirement benefits of those who already had the richest retirement benefits, as part of political deals. In New York they keep denying, even as required pension contributions soar and services are cut despite the nation’s highest tax burden. After all, those with privileges expect rationalizations to go along with them. Remember that when politicians and public employee unions organize protests against layoffs, cuts and pay and benefits for new hires, service cuts, fee increases and tax increases. And if you point out what has been done, they cover their ears and scream.

My congresswoman Nan Hayworth is a former eye doctor who has anything but 20 20 vision.  She is a tea party buffoon who defeated an honest, hardworking, reasoned congressman, John Hall.

The 9/11 attack was a disaster by any measure, with nearly 2,000 people killed in NYC, the loss of 15 million square feet of office space, and months of disruption. But was the response, and the fear, disproportionate, with two wars and a host of new security intrusions? Is the actual toll of what happened on that day, as large as it was, small compared with the negative effect on the United States, economically, fiscally, psychologically, and in global relations? What shouldn’t be forgotten is that what actually happened that day was only one tenth what most people believed had happened, and/or feared might happen soon.

It‘s pre-primary rush time, as I attempt before the election to do at least three pieces I’ve outlined in my mind, as well as at least one more Gateway, and still see my parents before they go back to Florida.

SCHENKLER: "The fact is, any of the other half dozen-plus candidates mentioned for the Democratic designation would have done better."

The New York Times reports that Democrats led by a gutless president are bending to the will of extremist Republicans and caving to demands for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.  This is a betrayal of the base of the Democratic Party – Middle America and our vulnerable senior citizens.

This article will skip over the 54^th AD race, which deserves an article of its own. Hope I get to it.

Let’s not even talk about how the president’s job speech is three years too late.  Let’s not stand in awe of his soaring oratory.  Let’s not frown upon the grim faces of Refusenik Republicans.  And let’s just dismiss the staged applause of Democrats.

Tea Party extremism threatens the nation and rides rough shod over the president.  America is a liberal country at heart where most people identify with the Democratic Party.  America is looking for an alternative to the president but is turned off by the Republican presidential candidates who can only be described as an assorted group of cranks and misfits.