I think that those accusing Bill DeBlasio of being weasely on the Young Men's Islamic Association proposed for the Holy Mother Coat Factory are just traveling on cruise control, accepting the received wisdom that DiBlasio would handle this issue like he handles everything else.

That's unfair.

Yes, normally, it would be offensive to assume that anyone (even our surprisingly outspoken Mayor) would object to investigating the source of the "Mosque's" money if there were an actual credible national security concern (and the investigation were conducted in the normal course of business by the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security rather than in public by the NYC Council Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations).

So we are all watching as Senator John Sampson goes through his OJT (On the Job Training) as the majority conference leader of the state senate. The title in itself is as redundant as a recurring decimal. It is only meant to appease another very flawed and obviously failed elected official named Malcolm Smith (Sampson’s predecessor). Smith is another of the many black leaders who have now become major embarrassments. Apparently black leaders don’t seem to mind when the mainstream media piles up on flawed, failed and corrupt Hispanic electeds; and I say this because my observation over 37 years has been that you will hardly ever see black electeds publicly coming to defend their Hispanic colleagues. And yet, as soon as a black elected is exposed for his/her indiscretions, extravagances, corruption and abuse, some fool will jump out from behind some supposed militant rock to proclaim it’s some kinda conspiracy against black electeds. It is so predictable it isn’t funny anymore; and it has nauseously played it self out ad-infinitum. 

MARY ALICE MILLER: [Senator Kevin] Parker was at the BOE challenging his opponent's petitions. (He didn't mention Wellington Sharpe by name.) During the conversation, Parker said this about the likelihood of petitions being challenged in Brooklyn: “The ballot process is one of the most corrupt processes. What you find in this country is that 50% of the ballot challenges happen in the state of New York. And 50% of those happen in the borough of Brooklyn.”

Let me be clear, I did not write this piece because I am out to get Senator Kevin Parker.

The American Brain Drain

By Michael Boyajian

Bob Herbert writing in the New York Times reports that America is suffering from declining academic excellence among other things falling to 12^th of 36 nations with people having college degrees.

This my friends is only the tip of the iceberg.  It’s more than Americans idly sitting in front of their TVs watching reality television while munching on a bag of potato chips without a book in the house.  The real problem is the reverse brain drain that will relegate the country to Third World status.

The more Kevin Powell compares Ed Towns to Charlie Rangel, the more Kevin starts to bear an eerie resemblance to the fat man with the funny NYC accent. Former 'Real World' star Kevin Powell has a real financial mountain to climb in bid for Congress www.nydailynews.com