Tea Party Rally Signals Shift

By Michael Boyajian

Jeff Green publisher of News That Matters reports that he attended a Tea Party rally this past weekend in Putnam County.  He states that he observed very little racism, xenophobia or homophobia at this rally but for one speaker who was greeted with cheers from the crowd when he called Andrew Breitbart an American hero.

If that's the deal, and you are completely selfish, why not gamble more? So the city's public employee pension funds seem to have concluded. They want to put more money into hedge funds, which generally don't hedge (accept lower but more assured returns) at all. They leverage — producing huge returns in some years, and 100 percent investment wipeouts at other times, all while charging massively higher fees to their massively overcompenstated managers.

What this is about is coming up with a rationalization to claim the pension fund investment returns will be higher in the future than they will actually be. So more pension enrichments can be awarded but not paid for, until the costs explode and devastate the future of younger generations.

The Morphing of a Democrat

By Michael Boyajian

I had been a Democrat my whole life along with most of my friends and family.  In college I worked with NYPIRG on the No Nukes movement.  While in college I heard Mario Cuomo speak and he convinced me to support whatever it was that he was advocating due to his great oratory.  In 1983 I publically supported John Glenn for president.  But the Democrats chose Walter Mondale and that pissed me off and I jumped to the Republican column seduced by the imperial glamour of the Reagan Administration.

One general rule of thumb in politics is voters don’t really pay attention to a race until September and Labor Day.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, is probably hoping that’s the case after it has been revealed she did not cast her first ballot in an election until 2002, nearly two decades after she first registered to vote.

Staten Island District Attorney and Republican candidate for Attorney General Dan Donovan is promising not to seek higher office for two years after completing his tenure if he wins the state Attorney General's job.

Congressman Hall Says Busing is Back

By Michael Boyajian

The New York Times reports that rail travel is flat but bus ridership is on the rise.  This information would seem to take the wind out of the sails of plans to build a network of super trains around the country though we suspect rail ridership is related to an aging national system and declining service rather than the need for super trains.

The Witch Hunters Among Us

By Michael Boyajian

They were there in the Dark Ages killing women accused of witchcraft.

They were there for the inhumanities of the Spanish Inquisition.

An investigative subcommittee has charged Congressman Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, but to those hoping the Harlem Democrat is going to resign, don’t hold your breath.

Rangel is a fighter, and when he does decide to leave, he’ll want to do it on his own terms.

In a statement Rangel said: "I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media."

"I will be glad to respond to the allegations at such time as the Ethics Committee makes them public."

This week has brought several expressions of outrage over Israel convicting an Arab citizen of “rape by deception” for lying about his religion in order to bag a Jewish girl.