I love the WFP. Granted, they sometimes do things I think are not in anyone's best interests, including their own, but usually, they are gold. Witness this:

Tell me that's not brilliant. More information and a call to action can be found here.

Janet Jagan, US born, life-long leftist, former President of Guyana and widow of Cheddi Jagan, Guyanan political leader who had the honor of being overthrown by both the British the US CIA. (Cheddi Jagen’s overthrow by the CIA is a central plot element in an excellent thriller, by the way, The Yellow Dog Contract by Ross Thomas.)

Janet Jagan's web site has collected her memoirs, political writing and bio here . She maintained her ties to US radicals and spoke often in the United States. Many of us who heard her and watched her career from a distance were impressed with her grit, determination and carefully thought out political views. She was a wonder and inspiration. Her NY Times obit is here

Helen Levitt, leftist and one of the 20th centuries better photographers of street life (and she would say one of the luckier) died a few days ago at 95. She worked with Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans and James Agee.  read more »

Tuesday, April 7, 2009; 7pm - 10pm

Location: The Tank at 354 W. 45th Street, New York, NY 10036

We're going to party like it's 1929.

Join a swinging evening of performance & parley, as you raise a free-flowing drink to drown your recession blues, and venture into The Tank's new midtown home.

Burlesque, music, film & good company will let you to live-easy at our speak-easy, and it's all in the name of a cause: helping the non-profit presenter The Tank continue to support emerging artists.

The Tank, like many non-profits, has been hit in this economy; recently, we were told we wouldn't receive a $9,000 grant we expected because all grants have been frozen by state budget cuts. But we won't give up! Our goal for April 9th is to raise that $9,000 and you'll help provide the anti-Depression love ...as you lift your own spirits & a few pints.

Ticket prices:
Boot-Legger - $50
Flapper - $100 (includes listing online & on site)
Tycoon - $250 (makes you an event Co-Host, 2 tickets)
Robber Baron - $1,000 (makes you an event Lead Host, 4 tickets)
Daddy Warbucks - $9000 (makes you the official Event Sponsor, 10 tickets)  read more »

Okay, I really like this: the New York Democrats are explicitly tying our republican opponent in tomorrow's special election in the 20th, Jim Tedisco, to what passes for thought leadership in that motley bunch.

Ben Smith speculates that this piece probably went mainly to Dems, as base activation; I'm more intrigued that the mailer prominently touts the Gillibrand endorsement, but omits the Presidential recommendation. Oversight, or calculation?

My apologies to the dogs. Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver and Majority Leader Smith have struck a deal on NYS’s budget. In a number of ways, read for yourself, it's not great but it is a significant improvement over the rotten Paterson proposals which were aimed entirely at harming lower and moderate income New Yorkers and protecting higher income residents. Robert Harding writing in The Albany Project picked up the press release in full and the State Senate provided hot links to the actual budget bills for those committed to self-abuse (Thanks to Liz Benjamin who posted the link). The negotiations were carried out completely behind closed doors to the disappointment of reform-minded folk who’d hoped for a cleaner process. See Amy Traub's spirited defense of the broad outlines of the budget on the DMI blog (with which I agree). Also check out the NY Times budget critique favors better spending controls.  read more »

A deal has been struck among New York State legislators and Gov. Paterson to tax some higher income New Yorkers at a somewhat higher rate. See also the report in the New York Daily News. and the Albany Times Union

In my opinion this is a good deal for New Yorkers and a great victory for the complex coalition of labor unions, community organizations and social service agencies which lobbied for months. The irrational, unplanned and wildly harmful budget cuts proposed by Gov. Paterson will largely be avoided. The increased tax rate will produce about $4 Billion dollars which, while greatly needed is not quite enough.

The worst part of the deal is that the two-step rate increase expires in three years which means we will have to re-fight this fight then.

The coalition, One New York: Fighting For Fairness, will now have to face our Billionaire Mayor who proposes taxes on low and moderate income New York City dwellers. Mr. Bloomberg refuses to tax the personal income of higher earning City dwellers -- preferring instead much higher and very unfair sales taxes.  read more »

The Empire State Building and most of Manhattan around me joins Earth Hour. From EarthHour.org:

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

One more :  read more »

I sense that most of us who are active in New York City’s political arena have ambiguous feelings about the need for a public advocate, and I base that on years and years of conversations on this topic with fellow activists. Even people who aren’t very “political” have waded in on the longstanding debate over the utility of this office, and its role and function in city government. In fact, there have been times when the generic conversation(s) appeared to be abolition of this office, and the saving of millions in staff salaries and OTP. Even Mayor Bloomberg has had choice words for the office, and he has at times joined the debate to give his most afforded opinion -negative of course.

And then there are those who see the office as much needed, and they always talk about its potential more than its shortcomings or glaring inadequacies. On this issue I am an in-betweener. I look at the potential for a lot of good things from this office -in the lives of poor people especially- and I always hope that the advocate will see his or her role as more than just mayoral-prep. When I remove my idealist cap and put on my pragmatic hat instead, I see this office as potentially replicating services that many other agencies can and should provide for New Yorkers; so count me as one of those who could go either way on this. The problem for public advocates in today’s incarnation is that the media -and near everyone else- thinks it is only a pit stop on the road to city hall. And this is why I have decided to come out early with my endorsement for September’s public advocate primary; the person I am endorsing today, isn’t running for mayor in the future, he is simply running for public advocate: period.

Within the current field of runners are NYC council members Bill deBlasio (Brooklyn) and Eric Gioia (Queens); a former public advocate from 1992-2001: Mark Green of Manhattan; and the popular Brooklyn-born civil rights attorney: Norman Siegel. They are all strong contenders in their own right.  read more »

This was a few days ago, but only catching up with it now. This is another case of the city screwing our first responders, with Bloomberg being among the most eager to screw them, and few people from the City Council or Public Advocates office stands up for them...again. And it is another example of Norman Siegel, candidate for Public Advocate, already advocating for New Yorkers. This is Norman Siegel's comment at a press conference and rally on behalf of 9/11 Heroes:

We are here today to be supportive of those New Yorkers – firefighters, NYPD, Port Authority police officers, and emergency medical technicians – who heroically assisted in the rescue and recovery effort after that horrific morning of September 11, 2001.

We are here today to speak out in defense of those New Yorkers – whose injuries and illnesses, in some cases life-threatening, were sustained from their exposure to toxic materials during the rescue and recovery effort after the WTC terrorist attacks.  read more »

Do you notice how few politicians have the cajones to raise taxes on people who make half a million or more a year (keep in mind, that means half a million dollars a year INCOME, not net worth), but they will all, with a great show of reluctance, let people who depend on NYC's subways and buses get screwed over every single time?

Our city DEPENDS on good transit more than it depends on anything except maybe effective garbage collection. Yet fare hikes and service cuts are the politically easy thing to do if times get tough. Even though the MTA has proven itself completely unreliable right down to fraudulently keeping two sets of books, they are allowed to continue to function without adequate oversight or punishment for their shady practices.  read more »

Last night was the first of three Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID) endorsement meetings. It was a full house and a late night. Personally I was mostly in the back with Jacob, talking to Rock Hackshaw, Norm Siegel and their respective campaign people. So I don't have as many personal observations, but I can combine my limited observations, my wife's obsevations, the candidate questionaires the club received, and the final outcomes. You can find the candiadte answers to the club's questionaire on the CBID website.

The short story is that CBID as a club has basically gone through the same calculations I have personally gone through on these three races.  read more »

Fantastic news from the Twentieth: per Siena (.pdf), Democrat Scott Murphy now holds a statistically significant lead over republican obstructionist Jim Tedisco.

As the special election in the 20th C.D. enters the final weekend, Democrat Scott Murphy has reversed a four-point deficit and turned it into a four-point lead over Republican Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco. Murphy leads 47-43 percent, having trailed two weeks ago by a 45-41 percent margin, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of likely voters. Tedisco’s campaign is viewed by voters as more negative by a 44-25 percent margin, while Murphy’s campaign is seen as more positive. Regardless of who they are supporting, by a 45-35 percent margin, voters think Tedisco will win the election.

“While the percentage of likely voters supporting Murphy has risen about three points per week for the last four weeks, the percentage supporting Tedisco has dropped three points. In the last four weeks, Murphy turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll.

snip

“This remains a very tight race, with intense campaign activity on both sides,” Greenberg said. “Where will undecided voters and Sundwall supporters go? This race is likely to be decided, however, by the campaigns’ get-out-the-vote operations. Whichever side does a better job of getting their voters to the polls on Tuesday is likely to have a happier Tuesday night.”

I'm still not quite sure that we can hold this seat. But that's mainly because the consequences of us winning would be so delicious I can barely think about them.

Some more late fallout from governor Paterson's well-thought-out and masterful handling of filling the Senate vacancy created by Senator Clinton's elevation to State: Per The New York Times, above the fold, newly-minted - and newly pro-equality, imagine - Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was a chief prop to Philip Morris during the nineties tobacco wars.

Now in the Senate seat formerly held by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ms. Gillibrand plays down her work as a lawyer representing Philip Morris, saying she was a junior associate with little control over the cases she was handed and limited involvement in defending the tobacco maker.

But a review of thousands of documents and interviews with dozens of lawyers and industry experts indicate that Ms. Gillibrand was involved in some of the most sensitive matters related to the defense of the tobacco giant as it confronted pivotal legal battles beginning in the mid-1990s.

Nice. Put that together with the gun issue and her greased-lightning shift of convenience on civil rights, and it gets more and more certain that Gillibrand will face a primary.

Update: OK, there's pushback from Tracey Russo, who may or may not work for the Senator. Read what she has to say after the break.  read more »

Well, this is very nice: the DNC just bought airtime for the NY-20 special election in support of Scott Murphy. Murphy is running against Assembly minority leader Jim Tedisco for Senator Gillibrand's seat.

DNC chair Tim Kaine said in a statement:

"Scott Murphy has the skills and experience the people of upstate New York need in Washington, and he'll be a partner in helping President Obama turn our economy around and create jobs," said Kaine. "Scott is the right man for this job and after Tuesday President Obama will have another ally in his effort to bring the change we need to the ways of Washington."

And here's the ad. Not terrible.

In the first real achievement of the newly all-Democratic legislature, both houses have announced a repeal of the most invidious provisions of the 1970s drug laws characterized by draconian prison sentences even for first-time offenders. Opponents have long argued that the law, which disproportionately affects minorities, is racist in its application. The Times:

The deal would repeal many of the mandatory minimum prison sentences now in place for lower-level drug felons, giving judges the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison.

The plan would also expand drug treatment programs and widen the reach of drug courts at a cost of at least $50 million.

There have been several attempts over the years to reform Rockefeller, all of them blocked by posturing republicans, notably George Pataki and Joe Bruno. The Times, again:

Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who has led the effort in the Senate to overhaul the drug statutes, said he was confident he had support in the Senate to pass the plan.

“It’s no secret the Senate’s old majority was the primary barrier to reforming our drug laws,” he said. “But this is one of the reasons we fought so hard to take the majority. This is what our supporters have expected us to do.”

The legislation hasn't passed either house yet, but with all three men in the room on board, it should be voted on soon. Good work.  read more »

For those of us of a certain age (graying, balding, thickening) and political persuasion (left leaning) annual Pete Seeger concerts were a rite of childhood, a chance to see absent friends and to bask in the dynamic force of Pete's personality and musical energy. As we've aged many of us have kept up and renewed the Pete Seeger watch at the Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival Festival each June.

Now, Pete is 90 years old and a Madison Square Garden Concert is planned for May 3, 2009. The concert starts at 5 PM both to accommodate us Alter Kockers who can't stay out late and to allow an unending list of musicians to perform in Pete's honor. In my, somewhat eccentric, circle rumors of ticket sales were flying long ago and schemes were concocted to get seats or the best seats, or seats together. Performers and (as it turns out, of course) American Express card holders got first dibs on Monday March 23. Clearwater activists and members were allowed to order with a secret code (swordfish?) beginning on Wednesday. It's been a frenzied affair. People trading tickets, buying extra etc.

More than 40 artists are performing including Pete, Bruce Springsteen, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Dar Williams -- the list goes on and on. Check it out for yourself.  read more »

The annual memorial for the 146 workers who dies on the ninth floor during the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire will be held this Friday at noon at the site of the fire (now, of course, an NYU building) at Washington Place & Greene Street, just east of Washington Square Park.

From the Daily Doom:

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted on Wednesday morning to enact a series of fare hikes and service cutbacks needed to keep the transit system from going broke.

The vote was broken largely into three parts: fare hikes, toll increases and service cutbacks. After hearing from the public and the board members, the board approved each by a vote of 12 to 1.

“This is your last chance or forever hold your peace,” H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the chairman of the board, said before the final vote.

Nice. Bureaucratic attitude. More:

The authority’s board had hoped for a different outcome.

Gov. David A. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have championed a financial rescue plan for the authority that would have prevented the service cuts and allowed a much smaller fare increase.

That plan [pdf], put forth by Richard Ravitch, a former authority chairman, would have funneled new revenues to the authority by creating a new tax on payrolls and tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges. But several Democrats in the State Senate opposed the bridge tolls and blocked the rescue package.

But at least this isn't serious stuff that a lot of very smart people have put a lot of thought into. And just because we have an all-Democratic government - for now - doesn't mean our guys, love them dearly, are going to work together or anything like that. This is New York. We do things differently, uglier. And it's not, god forbid, as if eight million people a day rely on the MTA.  read more »

The President endorsed Scott Murphy to succeed Kirsten Gillibrand today in New York's 20th District.

Scott has the kind of experience and background we desperately need right now in Washington.

He's created jobs by building and growing small businesses while bringing people together to address difficult challenges. He supports the economic recovery plan we've put in place, and I know we can count on him as an ally for change.

To restore our economy and build a foundation for lasting prosperity, I'll need Scott's help. This week, Scott needs yours.

Sign up and pitch in to elect Scott Murphy to Congress

(Link)

The endorsement raises the stakes in this race considerably. It's already widely assumed that if Murphy wins, RNC Chairman Michael Steele's head will be paraded down the street on a pike. On the other hand, in the last five weeks or so, the candidates have hammered each other over the stimulus plan, making the election at least in part about the President and his agenda. I'd suggest that Obama's involvement in the race seems a little over-bold with an eye on this district's demographics, but not really. If we lose, he's going to blamed anyway, so he might as well go all in.

Ninety-Eight years ago on March 25, 1919, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory near Washington Square Park. When it was over, 146 workers, mostly women and girls who lived on Manhattan's Lower East Side, were dead.

The annual ceremony in memory of the fallen and in honor of the union struggles for safer workplaces will be held on Friday March 27, 2009, at 12 Noon at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Streets -- just East of Washington Square Park . The last few years have not seen large attendance as those who remember the fire are mostly gone and those who were told about it by our parents are getting pretty darn gray (where we're not bald.)

The Unite-Here invitation is here , a good online exhibit about the fire is is here .

By now you've probably heard of the special election to fill the seat of Kristen Gillibrand. That election is yesterday a week from now, so get busy. The Stonewall Democrats just sent this out on Facebook:

Event: NY Special Election Phone Banking - Voter Outreach
"Supporting Scott Murphy"
What: Club/Group Meeting
Host: Stonewall Democrats New York City
Start Time: Tomorrow, March 26 at 6:00pm
End Time: Tomorrow, March 26 at 9:00pm
Where: New York Democratic Party Headquarters

By the New York Headquarters, they presumably mean the office at 461 Park Avenue South.

Things are really bad when you have the artist who painted the famous Veselka mural (actually, it's all canvas), selling it to the highest bidder.

Damn.

From The Washington Times :

An analysis conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics found that Madoff and his wife, Ruth, gave the bulk of their campaign contributions to Democrats. The couple donated $238,200 to federal candidates, parties and committees since 1991, and Democrats received 88 percent of those donations.

Madoff gave $11,400 to nine Republicans in the same time period. None of them is in office now. Former Rep. Jack Fields of Texas received the most - $5,000. Other recipients included former Sen. Alfonse D´Amato of New York, former Rep. Vito Fossella of New York and former Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio.

And people wonder why one of the truisms of a progressive blogger is that mainstream media has always tilted to the right if not to the hard-right.  read more »

So I know that politics isn’t a game: it is serious stuff; very serious stuff. When I call it a game, I am just talking figuratively that’s all. And when I call it “the only game in town”, it’s because I know that if the “politics” of any state or country isn’t right, then society can deteriorate into chaos, confusion, anarchy, civil-war, revolution, hardships and/or strife. Societies go (break down) as “politics” go. Diplomacy is politics without war, and war is surely politics without diplomacy.

It is known that the United States of America has had its share of the growing pains that accompany political development. Examples abound: The Revolutionary War; the Civil War of 1861 thru 1865; the Great Depression; and also the days of Jim Crow. If those were games then they weren’t enjoyable for many. But people do play games, it’s human nature. And we play games every night and every day. “We never mean what we say and we seldom say what we mean”. And also, some who do say what they mean (and try to mean what they say), hardly ever seem to think of what the fuck they are really saying. And that’s why I hate “poli-tricks” sometimes.

I have tried to keep my readers abreast of my deliberations leading up to my run for public office once again, and I have tried (for the most part) to ignore the nabobs of negativism who spewed their crap on the threads of my blogs. No matter how much I proceeded to move my campaign forward there were always those who seem to be “doubting Thomases”. Last weekend, one elected official even suggested that I might be running for name recognition. What the………..?

But at least he told me to my face that he didn’t think I could win; that’s a slight improvement on what normally happens in Brooklyn with most of these phony black politicians and I.

After I explicated some hard raw numbers to him, he seemed only slightly moved. Fine. He is entitled to his superficial analysis. It seems to be the common wisdom in my upcoming race. If I were to win it is ostensible that many people will be upset (pun intended). It has become an incentive: I love to piss off those I consider fools.  read more »

Does anything in this state ever work right? From The Hill via Albany Project:

The Department of Justice has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking to ensure that New York counts ballots cast in the special Senate [sic; it's a Congressional race] election from military voters.

The suit seeks extra time for military voters to return their ballots, and has been seized upon by Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) and venture capitalist Scott Murphy (D), who hope to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-N.Y.) vacant House seat. Some estimate the snafu could affect 2,000 voters in the district.

Tedisco and Murphy are locked in a neck-and-neck race, and both national parties have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the contest.

The complaint, filed against Gov. David Paterson (D) and the New York State Board of Elections, says the Empire State has not provided sufficient time for military voters to receive and cast their ballots. Department of Defense estimates say 30 days are required for round-trip delivery of ballots to and from service members overseas. State law says absentee ballots, no matter the postmark, must arrive at election offices within seven days of the election.

But election officials in nine of the ten counties that fall completely or partly within the district issued their ballots too late, giving service members less than 30 days to return their ballots to election offices.

I've voted from overseas, and believe me, it is nightmarish. Active-duty military get more assistance in casting ballots - there's usually an officer on post to help - but it's a far more time-consuming effort than just walking across the park to cast your ballot.

Given that this country currently maintains hundreds of thousands of troops overseas, many of them in combat zones, the state Board of Elections needs to find a way to have their votes counted.