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The Gateway (Emergency Surgery Edition)

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In which it is proven that getting a get well from Gatey is a bit like going under the knife:

When Diane Savino said she was committed to getting rid of something useless and full of poison, we thought she meant John Sampson.

The problem is that, by allying with Dean Skelos, she and her friends decided that when they got rid of the old appendix, they needed to get a new one transplanted.

Seriously though, feel better Senator.

Governor Cuomo is riding high.

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Wow!

Normally this time of year with the budget and all, NY Governors are running for cover, but not Cuomo.

The latest Siena College Poll out Monday morning shows Cuomo with the highest approval rating ever for a governor during six years of the college’s statewide polling. A sky high 77 percent of New York voters, despite the problems of the economy and the possibility that 10,000 state workers may be laid off, feels Cuomo is headed in the right direction. That’s not all.

An Explanation for “Liberal Guilt”

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There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this morning. Residents of affluent school districts in Kansas have sued to overturn state rules that limit their ability to raise taxes and increase school spending. “Kansas is one of a handful of states that limit how much money local school districts can raise from property taxes—a restriction to ensure a rough parity in spending across the state,” according to this source. “Lawyers for Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback noted that parents can spend as much as they want on their children's education through private tutors. But courts in Kansas and across the U.S. have repeatedly held that states have an obligation to ensure equity—or at least, get as close as possible—at public schools…The state's position has drawn strong support from parents and school administrators in poor districts across Kansas.”

While only a handful of states have the same limitations as Kansas, most states have much more equal school financing than New York. In many southern states, in fact, school districts cover entire counties while in the Midwest states cover a much larger part of the school bill. Tabulations of school spending inequality that I have read, ironically, always have the true Blue States of the Northeast and West coasts with the most unequal school funding, and the Red States with the least. Perhaps that explains “liberal guilt.” The liberals are guilty, and in the past used to feel that way.

The Gateway (Boogie Ooogie Ooogie-ing at Bar Great Harry While Remembering Ruby’s Edition)

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I believe that in 1978, the year of Elvis Costello and the Cars, the Best New Artist was Taste of Honey (remember "Boogie Oogie Oogie"); the Clash and the Pistols weren't even nominated. Then there was the year the Best Rock and Roll recording was "The Alley Cat."

Folks, if you watch the Grammys for anything but gawking purposes (and the inadvertent good performance), you've probably missed the point

 

 

UFT ad blasts Bloomberg

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“Mayor Bloomberg sees things differently than the rest of us. Our schools are short of money. Yet he refuses to ask millionaires to pay their fair share. He says class size doesn’t matter.”

That’s how the teachers’ union starts it's new TV ad attacking Mayor Bloomberg for pushing to repeal the “Last In/First Out” state law that requires teachers be laid off based on seniority rather than merit during a budget crisis.

The Myth Of Main Street Moderate

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A few pundits and others in the press have decided that moderate Republicans are making a comeback.

 

They have decided this true because the number of Republican Senators & Congressmen who are members of the self-declared centrist group, the Republican Main Street Partnership has grown.

 

Here’s the Political Fix blog of the Washington Post –

 

Bloomberg’s Pension Proposals

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At this point, I almost feel that everyone who might ever take a look at Room Eight either knows what I would think about things, or is willfully not dealing with the issues I raise. But in case someone is merely dense, here once again is what I think of Mayor Bloomberg’s pension proposals. Any difference in total compensation, the sum of wages, pensions and other benefits, between older and younger generations of public employees represents a social injustice – and/or a reduction in the future quality of public services. The only question is the nature of that injustice, who benefitted from it, who will lose (or has lost), and how. Therefore, any change in pension benefits for future employees should be offset, dollar for dollar, by higher cash pay for those employees, or higher pension contributions for existing employees.

That is not what is being proposed. What we have is yet another cycle of screw the newbie, flee to Florida, with older generations passing retroactive pension enhancements for themselves on their way out the door, and then hitting younger generations of public employees with lower wages and benefits and the New Yorkers who remain here with diminished public services at higher tax rates. Mayor Bloomberg claimed he was different. But he has exactly replicated the policies of New York’s machine pols, to the detriment of the city’s future, because that was and is the path of least resistance in the era of Generation Greed.

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