After 16 continuous years of Republican mayors in New York City, you would think that there would be an urgency amongst democrats (nationwide) to get rid of this present pompous and arrogant mayor Michael Bloomberg: well you could have fooled me. After watching President Barack Obama (and surely his political director /Patrick Gaspard too) insult the democrat’s nominee William (Billy) Thompson, with what must be described as the worst half-assed endorsement ever given to a mayoral candidate for a major political party, I am demanding an explanation from the White House.

What the hell is going on?

The democrat’s primary took place on Tuesday 15th September, 2009; there were exactly seven weeks to the general election; you can’t tell me that in those seven weeks the White House did not schedule a few campaign appearances with the nominee (Billy Thompson) for Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and his wife, the Clintons, et al.

Who dropped this ball?  read more »

Come next Tuesday 3rd November 2009, Mr. Carrie Solages will be on the ballot for County Clerk of Nassau. This Long Island native is a thirty year old lawyer employed at his family’s law firm (Solages and Solages). He has been described as “the young rising star of the Nassau County Democratic Party”. This description came from none other than Thomas (Tom) R. Suozzi himself: Nassau’s County Executive. Suozzi made this comment last May when he nominated Solages for the post.

Mr. Solages has been a member of the Nassau County Commission on Human Rights since 2007, and was an assistant District Attorney in the Bronx before starting with this law firm. He was born on Long Island to a black immigrant couple from the Caribbean nation of Haiti. If elected he will be the first black person to have ever held this position. Many Caribbean-Americans here (and not just Haitian-Americans) are quite proud of this candidate; expect a bump in turnout in certain parts of the county.  read more »

I was first introduced to the Brooklyn Paper by a political friend who told me that it was the place local insiders went to find out what was up politically in Brooklyn. When Rupert Murdoch bought the Brooklyn Paper, I was horrified. Everything that Murdoch touches goes down hill, its accuracy suffering because of his extremist political ideology.

Well the Brooklyn Paper HAS gone downhill, but not quite as fast as I had predicted. But I have already noticed a Foxification of its style which I predict will continue.

I think a clear indication that the Brooklyn Paper will become just another lousy, biased rag in Murdoch's portfolio is the fact that starting Friday the Brooklyn Paper will now be included inside the already extremist, inaccurate and biased New York Post. The Brooklyn Paper is now going to symbolically be embraced by one of the worst papers in the world. Sadly, I once relied on the Brooklyn Paper to give me some insider perspective on local politics. Now, though it still occasionally fulfills its old function, it is clearly not to be trusted and it is very unlikely that I will be citing any Brooklyn Paper rags without first confirming from other, more reliable sources.

I hate it when the better candidate works with sleazy people. It really makes it hard to endorse that candidate. In the city council race for the 19th district in Queens, Democrat Kevin Kim has brought onto his staff someone I have come to know all too well, the ultra sleazy, usually loser, Michael Tobman. Now Kevin Kim seems a reasonable candidate, and his Republican opponent is, well, a Republican with all the unfortunate baggage that carries with it since Bush threw the nation down the toilet for the benefit of Saudi Arabia. [UPDATE: Let me say again just to be clear...I do prefer Kim over Hallorn]. But hiring Michael Tobman is such a stupid move that it calls Kevin Kim's judgment into question given Tobman's nastiness and losing record. My own experiences are at the bottom. First, here is a press release from Kim's Republican opponent regarding sleazy tactics and Tobman:

Statement from Steven Stites, Spokesman, Dan Halloran for City Council Regarding Kevin Kim Consultant Michael Tobman

“At what point does Kevin Kim have to answer for the questionable conduct of his staff and the people he has chosen to run his campaign? The unfounded name-calling and sleazy tactics have escalated into destroying Halloran signs on private property, moving from dirty politics to outright criminality are just a part of a pattern that has emerged since Kevin Kim unexpectedly defeated all of the more mainstream centrist Democrats in the primary on September 15.

“We know Kevin Kim hired Michael Nussbaum of Multimedia/The Queens Tribune paying huge sums to do his hit pieces against Dan, including spurious attacks on Dan Halloran's heritage and faith. We know Kim was involved with a ‘bait and switch’ backdoor endorsement with the scandal-plagued Working Families Party, which is under investigation in multiple jurisdictions and is tied to the national scandals with ACORN. Add to that Kim's attempt to hijack the Independence Party's line by an ‘opportunity to ballot’ petition in August, which was fortunately thrown out by the Board of Elections because it was ‘riddled with improprieties in the signatures gathered.’ It’s a never-ending list.

“Now we find out that Kevin Kim's newest advisor is none other than Michael Tobman. Tobman is an infamous lobbyist known for his Karl Rove-style gangster campaigns. He has been called by the Gotham Gazette the ‘Sleaziest Lobbyist in New York,’ and he has admitted to violating a series of ethics and lobbying laws. These are the people being employed to advance the Kim campaign.  read more »

If you don't exercise a muscle, it atrophies. Similarly, if you don't exercise the right to vote, that right will also atrophy.

It was bad enough that the recent Democratic primary drew 11% turnout, and worse that the runoff had a turnout of about 7%. But worst of all is the number of Democratic "leaders" who didn't bother to vote in the runoff. According to the Daily News' Erin Einhorn, that list includes:

State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada
State Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson
State Senator Eric Adams
Assembly Member Felix Ortiz
Assembly Member William Scarborough
Council Member Kendall Stewart
Council Member Maria Baez
Representative Yvette Clarke
Representative (and Queens County Democratic Leader) Joseph Crowley

Espada's excuse was that he had morning meetings in Manhattan and then got called away on "private family matter out of state." And I have a bridge for sale.

Apparently, Sampson, Clarke and Crowley had absentee ballots, but mailed them in too late to be counted. Uh huh. Like they didn't know when the deadline was. And what politically active, politically aware person mails an absentee ballot in after the deadline? Puh-leeze!

This year I am endorsing quite a mixed bag for the general election. It is an unusual list for me, mixing Greens, WFP and Democrats. I have some serious beefs with both the Greens and WFP, but sometimes they do hit on a superior candidate. But I am so not about Party line this year (somewhat uncharacteristically).

Mayor: Bill Thompson (Democratic Party)  read more »

In 2008 Americans became aware of a region most had never head of before: South Ossetia. The nations of Russia and Georgia fought a war over South Ossetia. South Ossetia is recognized as part of Georgia by all but three nations. Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela all recognize South Ossetia as independent, though Russia treats it more as a satellite of Russia. North Ossetia is part of Russia. Recently, about a year after the war itself, the EU issued a report on the war that blamed both Russia and Georgia for the outbreak of the war and blamed both for violations of human rights. Ossetia remains a flashpoint today with no real resolution to the conflict.

The Caucasus region, which includes several such flashpoints including Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Abkhazia, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, actually has a fascinating history going back as far back as history goes. To many New Yorkers, many of these cultures blend into the "Russian" communities in places like Brighton Beach. In fact, many restaurants we think of as "Russian" in NYC are actually Georgian.  read more »

Last week I reported on an event I was alerted to by two sources where Brad Lander was caught at a pro-Bloomberg event alongside Brad's homophobic ally Dov Hikind and Bush supporter Rudy Giuliani. Brad was literally on film sitting next to Giuliani. This was an event widely reported to include racist remarks aimed at Thompson and an observer of the event wrote into the Boro Park news paper Hamodia describing racist comments made after the event (as well as considerable dissatisfaction among Hasids about Bloomberg).  read more »

What’s the fuss?

Do tell me what’s happening?

All this talk from right-wing republicans about whether or not Barack Obama deserved to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize comes from spiteful and resentful perches. Always remember that there are very few people who possess the moral courage to support another’s success without envy. Republicans have demonstrated this with full regal display, ever since the day the announcement was made, that Obama had won the internationally prestigious and coveted Nobel Peace Prize: and attendant award(s).  read more »

[UPDATE AT BOTTOM WITH FURTHER INFO ON THE EVENT] Someone sent me a link to the latest event Brad Lander went to with his friend, infamous anti-gay politician Dov Hikind. Seems Lander joined an event in Boro Park where the likes of Rudy Guiliani were honoring Mike Bloomberg and Carl Kruger. So basically, Lander continues to rub shoulders with Republicans and anti-gay politicians. From Jewish Breaking News:

Boro Park Jewish Community Council, Community Leaders, Rudy Giuliani Honor Mike Bloomberg
By SF

Today was the annual BPJCC Legislative Breakfast in Khal Chasidim hall
The honors went to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Carl Cruger, State Senator Kevin Parker, Boro President Marty Markowitz, (both not attended)

Among the attendees was Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Anthony Wiener, Carl Cruger, Martin Golden, Jerry Nadler, councilwoman Savino, Simcha Felder, David Weprin, Dov Hikind, Brad Lander...

And here's one of their pictures (more on their site):  read more »

First of all, let me state that I am NOT accusing Michael Bloomberg of being a racist, or even of condoning racism (well, maybe that second one). But is a person is known by the company he keeps, then maybe the mayor needs to consider a change of scenery.

According to several sources, Giuliani made a number of comments to an "ultra-orthodox Jewish" gathering that were clearly thinly veiled racism -- warning that Thompson would give us severely rising crime rates and make NYC "another Detroit." The NY Times reports:

Mr. Giuliani did not mention Mr. Bloomberg’s Democratic challenger, William C. Thompson Jr., by name. But during the first of two campaign events alongside Mr. Bloomberg, he said that not long ago many parts of the city were gripped by “the fear of going out at night and walking the streets.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Mr. Giuliani said at a breakfast sponsored by the Jewish Community Council in Borough Park, Brooklyn. “This city could very easily be taken back in a very different direction — it could very easily be taken back to the way it was with the wrong political leadership.”

Since Bloomberg was apparently there, and was not reported as having separated himself from Giuliani's remarks, it could be considered to be condoning racism on his part. On the other hand, Bloomberg has never been known for making instant decisions, and since Giuliani's remarks weren't explicit, I'm willing to give the mayor a day or two to distance himself.

But only that long.

Oh yeah -- crime started to go down under Mayor Dinkins; Giuliani merely took credit for his predecessor's work.

From El Diario's endorsement:

The financial crisis and economic recession have compounded what was already a brutal squeeze for so many New Yorkers. Rising rents, stagnant wages and the high cost of living—aggravated by tenant harassment and an emphasis on building mega-developments rather than livable neighborhoods—have triggered the displacement of poor and working class families throughout the city.

In the past year, more than 4 in 10 low-income Latinos either had their wages or hours reduced or lost their jobs—or both. Food banks cannot keep up with the demand for food. The number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters is at a record high. New York City has more than a million people living in poverty.

After a decade misspent lionizing the rich and their excesses, too many New Yorkers are paying the price for the decisions made in Washington, on Wall Street and in City Hall. What New York City needs is an executive with a balanced perspective towards development and growth, where families most in need are a high priority. This leader is Bill Thompson.

Thompson has a sterling record in both the private and public sectors. For nearly eight years, he has served this city as its comptroller, successfully managing billions of dollars in pension funds, highlighting deficiencies and disparities in critical city services, and emphasizing communities that have historically been absent from the table when it came to asset management and city contracts.

Read more here.

At the rate they're going, New York's state legislature, and in particular the Senate, might just as well end the farce, leave the building, and set it on fire.

If you haven't been paying attention, this is what happened: a Democratic state Senator, one Hiram Monserrate, was found guilty of slashing his girlfriend in the face last year before Christmas. However, there are degrees of guilt, apparently, leaving a hole large enough for none other than bigoted shitbag Ruben Diaz to jump through.

The New York Times:

Calls for Mr. Monserrate to resign drew angry responses from his allies, including Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx. “Senator Monserrate was found guilty of trying to do good by forcing his girlfriend to go to the hospital for treatment,” Mr. Diaz said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

Actually, that wasn't the point of the whole matter. It's not as if Mr. Monserrate's companion had been in need of treatment before he, well, slashed her face with a broken glass.  read more »

This last weekend was the 5th DDDB Walkathon to raise money for the legal challenges against Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards scheme. Joy and I have participated in the walkathon each year...and we have taken Jacob along each time, so this has been almost a birthday event for Jacob for each of the 5 years he has been alive.

DDDB, contrary to the lies told by the likes of Marty Markowitz and Bruce Ratner's other cronies, is not an anti-development group. They support community involvement in the development process, oppose the misuse of eminent domain to seize properties for the profit of private developers, and they believe that the other plans for developing the Atlantic Yards area (e.g. the Unity Plan) are better than Ratner's and feel they should get due consideration. Keep in mind that Ratner was the LOW BIDDER for the project but got it anyway, probably because he happened to be a friend of Pataki's and has been generous with political donations.  read more »

After the 2000 fiasco and the refusal of many Green Party members to recognize their abysmal mistake that year, most liberal Democrats I knew turned against the Green Party. I for one couldn't vote Green for years.

Well, once the Greens refused to follow Nader, the architect of the 2000 fiasco whose ego only grew even more giganormous after that fiasco, into further oblivion, some of us started to watch the Greens with some renewed interest. Even many former Greens I know won't vote Green in any race where there is a close race between a Republican and a Democrat. Eight years of Bush is a high price to pay for a protest vote.

But there are some cases where voting Green starts to make sense, particularly in NYC where lousy, corrupt or right-wing Democrats coast to victory because they have machine backing and the Republican Party in NYC is about as pathetic as you can find.  read more »

This isn't about today's DDDB Walkathon, so don't look to today's events for why I am writing this. I will get to the Walkathon, a good event that showed (overall) considerable maturation over past events. This is a separate issue.

Often when I write a piece just plain praising a friend, there are some who get all worked up and criticize me for it. Somehow, saying nice things about a local politician who acts particularly classy isn't purist enough for some who feel they are the only arbiters of what is good and pure and right. Well, in the immortal words of Steve Martin, "Excuuuuuse me!" And in the immortal words of Jon Stewart, "I'm not your monkey."

I will not apologize for what I write unless it can be shown I wrote something factually inaccurate. Most of the time I am criticzied for actually praising a candidate (as opposed to my opposition pieces) the criticism comes from people who don't really know that person as well as I do, and are arguing against a caricature of that person. Well, caricatures make for good satire, but they aren't reality. So those of you, and you know who you are, who are getting on my case for pieces I write where I show that politicians you happen not to like are decent, accomplished human beings deserving of respect, well all I can say is get a life and get a clue that friendships and decent behavior are important beyond politics. So if someone does something particularly cool, I will give them credit for it, whether you like it or not. It isn't "fog" and it isn't BS. It is real human beings doing what they do best. So get over it. You will never get my respect by gratuitously putting down good people. Disagree all you want with people on issues, we all can take that. But don't expect me to respect crude and rude attacks against good people.

Last night Jo Anne Simon, my District Leader and unsuccessful candidate for City Council for the 33rd City Council district, had a party for the sole purpose of thanking those who supported her during her run for City Council.

I have been to victory parties on election day. They are kick ass.

I have been to parties on election day for candidates who lost. They are not so kick ass.

I have never been invited to a thank you party AFTER the fact where a candidate just plain wants to express appreciation of those who helped her out. Jo Anne Simon is a classy person who appreciates it when people help her out.

The race for the 33rd City Council district was a tough race. Several solid progressive reformers were running against one conservative and one corrupt candidate. In the end the corrupt candidate won and Brooklyn's supposedly most reform district has to face up to the fact that they just elected one of the most corrupt candidates around. And the reformers have to deal with the fact that they, quite classically, split the vote a thousand ways, sacrificing the good on the altar of the pure.  read more »

I haven’t done a “grapevines” column in ages so here goes. Too many people are saying that David Paterson needs to step gingerly out of the upcoming gubernatorial race: too many people. I wonder why? If I were David I would be gearing up to run by giving them all the finger; which I suppose he is doing right now. This whole mess was handled wrong from the day Eliot Spitzer selected him for LG. Even though I am not sure David Paterson will get elected as governor, I still think he should run.

I hate it when the so-called “powers that be”, stifle competition amongst candidates and leave the voters with little or no choice (like they have now done with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand). By the way, do you know what Paterson said when he found out that he was selected to be Lieutenant Governor on Spitzer’s ticket? In his trademark jocular manner, I am told he said something to the effect: “surely, they couldn’t have vetted me”. He was right, wasn’t he? LOL.  read more »

On Columbus day and Thanksgiving, I often discuss the ambivalent nature of these holidays. Both represent the opening of the Americas to European colonization. This led both to the creation of opportunities that would not have been there otherwise. The example I always use is the fact that had the US not been founded, my family would undoubtedly been killed in Europe during the waves of anti-Semitic violence between 1900 and 1945. The events celebrated by Columbus Day and Thanksgiving day unquestionably saved my family. Of course those same events led to the extermination of many Native American families as well. Hence the ambivalent nature of these holidays.

Among the articles I have written on this subject are:

All we take for granted has been built on genocide

Columbus Day Through the Eyes of Native American Democrats

Columbus Day

And on a related note: America Before Columbus: 1421 and 1491

This year I have some different thoughts on Columbus Day, ones that link directly to the saving of families persecuted in Europe. What gets ignored in the celebrations of Columbus Day (which either are overtly pro-colonialism and/or oddly a reflection of Italian Nationalism) is the interesting story of Columbus himself and his family.  read more »

Here is what Barack Obama has to say about winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and I think it is amazingly humble and intelligent:

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.  read more »

I completely didn't see this coming. Barak Obama has just won the Nobel Peace Prize. From Salon.com:

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president...  read more »

Supposedly, it takes a lot for Rahm Emmanuel to be speechless. We've discovered what that could be: A Nobel Peace Prize for his boss. In Surprise, Obama Wins Nobel for Diplomacy - NYTimes.com

“There has been no discussion, nothing at all,” said Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, in a brief telephone interview.

Mr. Emanuel said he had not yet spoken directly to the president, but that he believed Mr. Obama may have been informed of the award by his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. There was no official comment from the White House. However, a senior administration official said in an e-mail message that Mr. Gibbs called the White House shortly before 6 a.m. and woke the president with the news.

“The president was humbled to be selected by the committee,” the official said, without adding anything further.

You hear that? It's the collective sonic boom of republican heads exploding.

Just got back from a departmental conference up in Massachusetts. LOTS of great talks (I gave one myself). But one in particular stuck in my mind. It was a talk by Juan Jose Lafaille, who got his degree from the University of Sao Paulo and is currently a professor at the NYU School of Medicine.

He studies a particular white blood cell called a regulatory T-cell. Many T-cells are active participants of our immune response and loss of T-cells leads to severe immune deficiencies. Regulatory T-cells are somewhat different. They actually, though closely related to the T-cells that actively participate in the immune response, actually suppress the immune response.  read more »

Okay, so many of you are going to say this is a stretch, but it isn’t: come next month, and let’s say Michael Bloomberg is elected to a third term as mayor (although I hope not), what is going to prevent him from overturning the term limits law again, and legislating himself a chance at being a four-term mayor? And furthermore, who is going to stop him? Pray tell.

The initial answer is as obvious as my handsome face: nothing. The secondary answer is even more obvious than my charm and wit: no one. Nothing and no one can stop Michael Bloomberg from going for a fourth term if he were to win again next month. Well, maybe the courts can (maybe).  read more »

With four weeks until election day, Bill Thompson has pulled within eight points of Michael Bloomberg, according to a SurveyUSA poll.

Thompson leads among voters under 50. He also leads in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Meanwhile, a recent NY Times article speaks to the issue on which Thompson can win -- term limits. It's why several people lost their bid for a third term, why Speaker Christine Quinn got barely over 50% in a three-way race, and why others survived a challenge with less than 50%.

Since he signed the new law, Bloomberg has repeatedly claimed that the City Council changed term limits, as if he had nothing to do with it. Coincidentally, he signed the law on November 3, exactly one year before this year's election day. (The timing was designed to take focus away from what the Campaign Finance Board was doing to help Quinn, but that's another story.)

Bill Thompson has to hit Bloomberg hard on term limits.  read more »