I recently published a long, and I think somewhat damning analysis of the record of Kings County Democratic Leader Vito Lopez in the area of selecting Democratic Party nominees for judicial office. Given that it is a subject so sleep inducing even to the average insider that much of it can be forgotten instantly, I will rehash the high points.

For several years, the implementation of an Independent Judicial Screening Panel by the Kings County Democratic Party for its candidates has been considered by supporters of Lopez to be one of his crowning achievements, at least when his supporters are talking to the press. Even some of his critics will grudgingly acknowledge this.

In last week’s New York Post, Michael Barone, the conservative pundit, who fewer & fewer gullible people still consider a political analyst, proclaims that the Democrats will lose the Congress this November.   

I read over the weekend that President Obama might try to help Democrats in the Congressional election by staying quiet. After all, since he has been in office for, what, 17 months, some are beginning to blame him for the consequences of a 30 year debt binge by Generation Greed.

That would just extend the biggest mistake he has made. Obama built up a huge political organization during his campaign that attracted donations and support from millions of Americans. I had expected, with his campaign team joining him in Washington, that the campaign would be extended and its supporters mobilized to confront the country’s problems. By, for example, providing support to members of Congress who supported his plans, and challenges to those who didn’t. It hasn’t really happened.

WHY AM I REMINDED OF ERNIE K-DOE? Strange, but this article supports two seemingly contradictory conclusions:

1) For many Israeli feminists, the “Rape by Deception case” has nothing to do with racism or Arabs, and those who condemn this conclusion as naive should remember that this is the nation that produced Moshe Katsav and Haim Ramon. The anger of Israel women anger is not without some good cause, and Jew of Arab, the bums are still males.

2) There is among some Israelis an almost Germanic desire for racial purity divorced from any mere religious belief, and far more insidious than the "Shiksas are for practice" admonitions of my great-grandmother (who, incidentally read the Forward everyday)

Conclusion by Stephen Stills: "nobody's right if everybody's wrong"

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

By Michael Boyajian

Ron Zacchi of Marriage Equality New York recently asked me to join up with Hudson Valley Out and About and distribute MENY cards to their members at a Bethel Woods concert featuring the Boston Pops and Idina Menzel Broadway star of Wicked and Rent.  Needless to say I jumped at the chance to see the famed Pops while helping the marriage equality movement on a splendid summer evening.

The New Neanderthals:  America’s Captains of Commerce

By Michael Boyajian

Bob Herbert reports in the New York Times that corporations laid off far more workers than were necessary during the recession and although they are now reporting record profits they are not hiring anyone back choosing to sit on immense piles of cash.

A sad day indeed; today, in protest, I removed my Facebook connection to the Anti-Defamation League (which did not even have the guts to post their shameful announcement on their page). A Terrible Decision by the Anti-Defamation League – National – The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com