The Latest

Senator Kevin Parker and Anger Management Lessons: Will they work?

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Last week, in a Brooklyn Court House, far removed from the glare and scrutiny of the New York media, Senator Kevin Parker squared off with his political nemesis Wellington Sharpe ( through lawyers of course), once again. The last time these two had squared off  was fall 2004, when they both attended a birthday party for  NYC council-member Kendall Stewart, at Cafe Omar in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. This is where Sharpe claims that Parker physically assaulted him for the second time that year. And for the second time Sharpe made a complaint to the NYPD.  The first complaint had come a few months earlier, after they had attended an event  in Brooklyn sponsored by Haitian-American activists. Don’t expect these two to be exchanging Christmas gifts any time soon folks. 

The 11th CD: A Guide For the Perplexed (The First in a Series of at Least Three Parts)

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The race for Congress in the 11th Congressional District works best when viewed as a morality play, allowing the audience to comfortably weigh their own competing values against one another, while pondering their irreconcilability. At the end of such a play, one can walk out satisfied that one has exercised their intellect, and then one can discuss it for hours on end over a double latte or a crisp white pinot, without ever actually feeling obligated to convert one’s conclusions into an actual course of action.

The race for Congress in the 11th CD works worst when viewed as an actual election, because once the curtain falls, one is obligated to actually vote for one of the candidates.

1 year later, Mike still lying about Olympics

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It’s really amazing. The Bloomberg administration is so used to telling lies about the Olympics; they can’t help themselves even if it serves no real purpose. On Friday, a small item in Metro New York concerned Mike being asked at the press conference announcing the new stadium for the Mets about whether there were any plans to have the stadium designed so that it could serve as an Olympics stadium if the City bid for one again.

Mike responded “You could not use this for an Olympic stadium. Olympic stadiums hold 150,000 for track and field.”

Don’t Print the Legend: The Real Story of the Commuter Tax Repeal

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To complain about scandals in Albany is like griping about someone farting while you're walking through an open sewer. Acts of actual illegality are the exception rather than the rule, and are usually the function of laziness and inattentiveness to paperwork. Far more significant are the acts which are moral outrages, but perfectly legal. And, finally there is the press, too jaded or dumb or lazy to pay attention, and nearly always getting it wrong. The stupidity often festers until it becomes the conventional wisdom, so that even those who know better decide that it’s the west and you print the legend. The stupidest Albany legend is the one repeated by Ed Koch, time and again, while everyone nods their head at it’s sage wisdom: “Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver was responsible for killing the commuter tax in 1999, and he did so to help the Senate Democrats win a special election”. WRONG!!! 

The problem with Cynthia McKinney

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Did you notice all the chatter on TV about Donald Rumsfeld saying he didn’t know what Condeleezia Rice was talkimg about? 

Neither did I but there it was in the Washington Post.         

One reason why nobody on TV was talking about it was because they were talking about the self-indulgent foolish actions of a liberal Democrat.

And that’s why the Cynthia McKinney story is important.

Because this "progressive" who cares about poor people, who wants to end the war in Iraq put her personal demons ahead of all those issues she cares about.

Lessons in politics: Revisiting a boxing coach with Cynthia McKinney in mind.

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Back in Trinidad when I was in high school, I fancied myself a boxer. So I would go to the gym on many an afternoon, trying to emulate the moves of the many great professionals that I had seen or read about. Sometimes I would showboat (hot-dog) , because I had quick hands and feet. To my chagrin, the coach would always admonish me to "keep it simple". I hated to hear him say that:  "just keep it simple, no need for all that fancy stuff".

Then I left high school  and  found that coach’s words could be applied to life, and usually  that the simpler you keep it the better. So after  doing my research on the latest Cynthia McKinney news-making incident, my old coach came to mind.

Cuomo not the homo – revisted

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Last week in response to an entry of mine about Andrew Cuomo, someone wrote:

AGAIN this 1977 thing comes up. Why?

THINK FOR A MINUTE: Not one person in this whole wide world has ever kept a copy of any of those so said posters. How come? Wouldn’t they be collector’s items? And also different people who recollect seeing them have diff descriptions . It’s another URBAN POLITICAL LEGEND.

I direct all to this Daily News column –

"Alas, there is still one big sore spot, and Cuomo raised it yesterday: signs that appeared on Queens lampposts in 1977, saying "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo." The issue threatened to derail Koch, who denied on TV he was gay. Koch believed the Cuomo camp was behind the signs, while Cuomo has always denied it. He said yesterday he thinks he knows who did it, but that there is no point in identifying the person now."

No Clean Hands Available Here

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(Part Three in an Occasional Series on the Race in New York’s 10th Congressional District)

Re-reading my two prior posts (See, Curse You Chuck Barron and  Edolphus Towns And The Limits Of Pork) anticipating the nauseating battle between Ed Towns and Charles Barron, it occurred to me that this might be that rare contested race that did not involve mudslinging. I mean, why would these guys need to lie about each other when the truth will suffice?