Remember how Doug Hoffman went on Glenn Beck's show to say he was unconceding the election because ACORN stole it for Owens? Notice how there nary a mention about the Vick's & tear-duct abuser on his latest letter about the election results.

Hoffman: Bill Owens won 23rd Congressional Race - NewsChannel 9 WSYR

Statement by Doug Hoffman
"Yesterday, the remaining ballots were counted in the 23rd Congressional District special election. The results re-affirm the fact that Bill Owens won.  read more »

Well what do you know? Via Patrick Ruffini comes a post by Glenn Trush musing about rumors that Harold Ford Jr may be testing the waters for a possible run against Kirsten Gillibrand.

Not that I am against primarying Gillibrand --as I have said before, I want both Gillibrand and Schumer to sweat their asses for the Senate seats they're not entitled to have. But ... I mean ... HAROLD FORD JR?!?!? Sure, the post is based on a single forum entry at Democratic Underground that posited: I live in NY and was just polled about a possible primary between Kirsten Gillabrand and Harold Ford Jr. for the Senate seat. I was wondering if anyone had heard if he was considering to run. But ... I still mean ... HAROLD FORD JR?!?!?

Is this the best New York State Democrats can come up with? A former Congressman for Tennessee who was thisclose to being a Republican?

In Congress, Ford had an ideologically conservative voting record. He supported a ban on benefits for same-sex couples, as well as the Federal Marriage Amendment (which would ban same-sex marriage). He told Democrats they should be more supportive of the Iraq War and criticized Senate Democrats who attempted to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito. He was one of the few Democrats who voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, and he supported some restrictions on abortion, defining himself as a pro-life candidate, including supporting a ban on intact dilation and extraction (called by its opponents, partial-birth abortion). He supported the Republican effort to intercede in the Terri Schiavo case

Ponder that one for a second.  read more »

Dear Sarah Palin, George Bush and other End of Time Believers,

I am sorry to inform you that I will be preventing the second coming of you savior. It's nothing personal, but I just don't intend to move to Israel just to suit your religious beliefs. Let me explain below.

You see, End of Timers, I'm Jewish. Now, I don't actually keep Kosher (I love pulled pork way too much...and bacon cheese burgers are pretty damned good too) and I only occasionally attend synagogue. In fact I think I have visited more Buddhist temples in Japan than I have visited synagogues anywhere in the world. Though I did spend some time and effort a few years ago to help save a synagogue in Latvia, if that counts.  read more »

Last week I wrote about an NYU professor who wrote a bigoted and ignorant piece on Forbes.com essentially working from the hypothesis that all Muslims are violent. Tunku Varadarajan used the phrase "Going Muslim" to describe incidents like the one at Ft. Hood, going into some detail in describing what he meant by this term:

“This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”

I wrote a letter to NYU President John Sexton, which I also posted to Daily Gotham, to express disgust at the bigotry of Tunku Varadarajan. I should note that I suggested no specific actions in this regard other than calling on Sexton to reject the kind of bigotry expressed by Varadarajan, and suggesting that it reflects poorly on NYU.  read more »

Seems dozens of top retired military brass are fed up with Republican lies and fear-mongering and are supporting Obama's decision to close Guantanamo Bay's detention center. Get a load of the list of signatories:

GENERAL JOSEPH HOAR, USMC (RET.)
GENERAL CHARLES KRULAK, USMC (RET.)
GENERAL DAVID M. MADDOX, USA (RET.)
GENERAL MERRILL A. MCPEAK, USAF (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL RONALD E. ADAMS, USA (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL ROBERT G. GARD JR., USA (RET.)
VICE ADMIRAL LEE F. GUNN, USN (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL CLAUDIA J. KENNEDY, USA (RET.)
VICE ADMIRAL ALBERT H. KONETZNI JR., USN (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL CHARLES OTSTOTT, USA (RET.)
VICE ADMIRAL JACK SHANAHAN, USN (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL HARRY E. SOYSTER, USA (RET.)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL PAUL K. VAN RIPER, USMC (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL PAUL D. EATON, USA (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL EUGENE FOX, USA (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL JOHN FUGH, USA (RET.)
REAR ADMIRAL DON GUTER, JAGC, USN (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL FRED E. HAYNES, USMC (RET.)
REAR ADMIRAL JOHN D. HUTSON, JAGC, USN (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL MELVYN S. MONTANO, ANG (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM L. NASH, USA (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL WALTER L. STEWART, JR., USA (RET.)
MAJOR GENERAL FRANK TERRELL, USAR, (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID M. BRAHMS, USMC (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES P. CULLEN, USA (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL EVELYN P. FOOTE, USA (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL LEIF HENDRICKSON, USMC (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID R. IRVINE, USA (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD O’MEARA, USA (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL MURRAY G. SAGSVEEN, USA (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL ANTHONY VERRENGIA, USAF (RET.)
BRIGADIER GENERAL STEPHEN N. XENAKIS, USA (RET.)

And here is what these top military leaders of all branches of our military have to say:

Dear Senator/Representative:

As retired generals and admirals of the U.S. Armed Forces, we write to express our
profound concern about the continued use of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to imprison terrorism suspects. We welcomed the Executive Orders signed by President Obama on January 22nd mandating the facility’s closure, ending torture and other abusive interrogation techniques, and returning to a policy of adherence to the Geneva Conventions. We strongly support the prompt closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison as a necessary and important step toward rebuilding the reputation of the United States as a nation committed to the rule of law. Closing the facility should be an urgent priority, and we urge you to do all you can to accomplish it.  read more »

...to get marriage equality, asks the Village Voice.

If you answered "Ruben Diaz", you'd be half right, but the Pentecostral zealot is only part of a larger problem that the Voice sums up simply as chickenshit Democrats.

Last week, Governor Paterson called lawmakers to a special session to deal with the state's hemorrhaging budget, but also to vote on gay marriage. Democratic senators punted.

"I'm still stinging from the disrespect we received," says Cathy Marino-Thomas, president of Marriage Equality New York. She had spent all of last Tuesday in the Senate Gallery and outside Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson's office, only to be ignored: "Our folks were out there all day, pouring their hearts out, begging for a vote, pleading for a vote—or, at least, an answer on whether or not there was even going to be a vote, and no one even addressed them!"

New York's Democrats take quite a bit for granted when it comes to who will support them and why. They won their slender majority in the Senate in 2008 despite the massive outflow of resources into the coffers and walklists of the Obama campaign. Then they pissed that majority away in a coup that originated in their own caucus and made the state a national punchline. And now, we're on the verge of what could be a bitter fight for the gubernatorial nomination in 2010. None of that bodes well for anyone trying to expand that Democratic majority in the Senate, certainly not for the foundation of any such effort, raising money. "Please, give, we promise we won't fuck it up this time around". Good luck with that, especially when it comes to getting all those dollars from LGBT donors. One of the more difficult political tasks is to be put to shame by the New York State Assembly, but the Senate has managed just that, trailing behind the Assembly 0-2 on marriage equality.

New York Democrats - and by that I don't mean most of the incumbents serving, if that's even the right term, in the legislature, but the party activists, grassroots leaders, volunteers - have to realize that the national netroots motto, More and Better Democrats, applies in spades to our state. What we do with that realization, time will tell, but I'd suggest time is running out for those who think business as usual will run on forever like Niagara Falls.  read more »

Frome the December issue of Vanity Fair - no story link, buy the damn magazine - comes this poll:

Q: Some protesters against the administration's health-care proposals have been seen carrying signs calling for their states to secede. If you could pick one state to remove from the United States, which one would it be?

A: California 10%, Texas 8%, Alaska 3%, Hawaii 3%, None 60%.

Take that, California and Texas. Us, people want to keep around.

The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators in a public, civilian court within sight of Ground Zero is one of the strongest expressions of America's strength that I have heard in many years. There is no honor, no pride, no confidence in trying your enemies in secret. There is honor, pride and chutzpah for America to hold fast to our ideals, trust our democracy, and try our enemies in full public view.

The republicans are expressing an amazing amount of hysterical fear at the prospect of giving the terrorists a fair, public trial. I am proud as all hell that we FINALLY have the balls to do this. I have full confidence that our democratic system is strong enough to hold this trial and I thank the Obama administration for restoring our confidence in our own democracy. Bush dragged this out for 8 fucking years, making us all afraid, doubting America's strength. Obama is reminding us that we are strong, our democracy is strong and our court system is strong. The terrorists wanted to frighten us, to make us doubt America and its democracy. Bush fell right into their trap, spreading fear and doubt. Obama is sending a clear message to Americans, to the terrorists and to the world that America's democracy will NOT be frightened by terrorists anymore. We will put our faith in our own values and feel confident that we will prevail over the fears and doubts the terrorists and Republicans both seem to thrive on.

When the 1993 bombings of the WTC happened, we maintained our faith in our own American democracy and tried the perpetrators publicly in a civilian court. That showed balls. That is better than most countries in the world would do. We gave them a fair trial and they are serving their sentence.

I am proud to see those who planned the attack on our city are being brought right here to New York to stand trial. In many ways it makes me feel prouder than I have for a long time. It shows the world that YES America IS strong enough to trust in our core democratic values.

I swear, some people aren't even pretending any more.

The New York Times:

In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.

Snip.

Representative Yvette D. Clarke, Democrat of New York, said, “I see this bill as an exciting opportunity to create the kind of jobs we so desperately need in this country, while at the same time improving the lives of all Americans.”

Representative Donald M. Payne, Democrat of New Jersey, used the same words, but said the bill would improve the lives of “ALL Americans.”

Next time around, why don't we just save the public the considerable expense of holding elections and just choose from the pool of available lobbyists to do the people's business.

Found in the Bedford-Nostrand subway station, apparently, the second-worst President in history is enjoying a comeback, with this framed photograph posted there by an anonymous admirer.

There's a higher than usual amount of wringing of hands and rending of garments going on in teabagland. No, not over their recent defeat in their first real, voters-with-ballots electoral contest in NY-23, but elsewhere in the Empire State. Right here, in fact, on the shores of the Hudson. It seems that the same people who wish the City of New York would just fall into the Atlantic are positively consumed with our fate in the face of President Obamacommienazi's Justice Department deciding to try the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, in Lower Manhattan, the scene of his crime.

RedState:

There have been reports in the past month about another potential terrorist attack disrupted in New York City. Bringing these high profile terrorist leaders to New York will just put a target on New York again.

Michelle Malkin:

If this White House thought Tea Party activists were an “angry mob,” wait until they see the backlash from 9/11 family members and their supporters nationwide. We’re not going to sit down and shut up about the reckless, security-undermining Obama 9/10 agenda and conflict-of-interest-ridden AG Eric Holder.

Tedious weaseling bullshit, as per the usual. New Yorkers are not afraid. We weren't afraid when we got hit, and we're not afraid now. Certainly not of the deranged "angry mobs" that think their President is the bastard child of Hitler and Malcolm X.

Congressman Jerry Nadler had something to say, of course [Emphasis added]. Here ya go.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Representative of Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan as well as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, issued the following statement on the announcement today by the Department of Justice regarding certain Guantanamo detainees:

“I thank the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder for their diligent efforts to bring to justice those who have committed acts of terrorism against the United States. In particular, I applaud the decision to bring those individuals responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center to New York to face trial in our federal courts. New York is not afraid of terrorists, we want to confront them, we want to bring them to justice, and we want to hold them accountable for their despicable actions.

“It is fitting that they be tried in New York, where the attack took place. On that day almost 3,000 innocent men, women, and children were murdered, and New York has waited far too long for the opportunity to hold these terrorists responsible. We have handled terrorist trials before, and we welcome this opportunity to do so again. Any suggestion that our prosecutors and our law enforcement personnel are not up to the task of safely holding and successfully prosecuting terrorists on American soil is insulting and untrue. I invite any of my colleagues who say that they are afraid to bring detainees into the United States to face trial to come to New York and see how we handle them.

“Trying these alleged terrorists in New York also will allow family members of 9/11 victims to see these trials and confront these defendants in open court. These families deserve that opportunity, and I thank the Department of Justice for providing it.

“Finally, however, I am disappointed that the Attorney General has decided to pursue cases against other Guantanamo detainees in military commissions. While Congress has reformed some aspects of that system, the military commissions are no substitute for trials in our federal courts or through courts-martial. We must ensure that these commissions are not simply used as a lesser vehicle for cases in which the evidence is not sufficient.”

Seems an NYU professor, Tunku Varadarajan, has written a column where he refers to "Going Muslim," meaning:

“This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”

This implies that some how being Muslim is inherently violent and anti-American. Daily Kos has an article discussing this bigoted article and recommending writing NYU President John Sexton to express disgust at the bigotry of this NYU professor.

Since I work for the NYU medical center, and since I have published with a wonderful, brilliant and caring Muslim colleague, I feel honor bound to write a personal rejection of Tunku Varadarajan's bigotry. Here is my letter to John Sexton:  read more »

NY1 has posted the result of their survey of state senators on marriage equality, and while the survey is incomplete (at least two senators they list as "undecided/unavailable" are definite "no" votes) the results are not great.

The bill could come up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday; now is the time to get your senator on board. Organize phonebanks, call people and ask them to urge their senator to vote yes.

I have not been afraid of attacking Mayor Bloomberg's positions and actions when I found them to be amazingly wrong. The least I can do, therefore, is to praise him highly when he is (IMHO) absolutely right. Such is the case with proposed gas drilling upstate, using a process known as hydraulic fracturing.

This process involves injecting enormous amounts of water, mixed with sand and a whole lot of toxic chemicals, into the ground in order to open fractures in a rock layer known as Marcellus shale and extract natural gas that is trapped in the rock. There are three problems with this:

First, the natural gas often finds its way into private water wells -- on Jan. 1 in Dimock, PA, a private water well actually exploded from natural gas buildup, and four other wells were shut down after tests showed dangerous levels of gas.  read more »

One year ago, Kieth Olbermann said it just right:

What I don't understand is how two consenting adults loving each other threatens anyone else? My marriage isn't threatened if gays can marry!

Last month a coalition of 18 Scientific organizations (and these are big ones...some of the biggest in the world) issued this statement (PDF) to the Senate:

Dear Senator:

As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view.

Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.  read more »

This is an amazing video of IVAW's guerrilla performances of "Operation First Casualty". As you can see the performances were done on the streets of New York City; going to the heart of the ugliness of war.

Today is Veterans' Day. To honor my brother, who is an anti-war activist in Puerto Rico, a New Yorker by birth and a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, please take a moment to watch Operation First Casualty.

And don't think twice about donating to their cause. It's an honorable one.

I couldn't stop laughing at his "deconstruction" of New York City smugness in The The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire State of Mind:

Hey New York City! Please pretend to be humble. We know we're awesome. We don't have to rub it in.

LOL!

I took some heat for posting about Democratic City Council Candidate Kevin Kim hiring Michael Tobman as a consultant given Tobman's past record of Karl Rove style tactics and recent record of being part of losing campaigns. I suppose the reason I got heat was because I quoted a Republican source in my article, though my info regarding Tobman's poor record on both ethical and efficacy grounds was based largely on my own experiences.  read more »

Celebrating 150 Years of "Origin of Species"

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
The New York Academy of Sciences

Presented by Science & the City, The Darwin150 Project, The Center for Inquiry, and the History & Philosophy of Science Section

Join Science & the City for a very special evening as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of the landmark book, The Origin of Species, by the most legendary member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Charles Darwin. Three leading scientists will discuss the importance of Darwin’s theory of evolution and how his observations informed their three very diverse fields of work – psychology, neurobiology, and linguistics.

* Nobel Laureate and neurobiologist Gerald Edelman will share brand new observations about the evolution of the human brain and the emergence of consciousness.

* Renowned psychologist Paul Ekman (whose work is portrayed in the FOX TV show “Lie to Me”) will explain Darwin's insights into the origin and nature of compassion.

* And UC Berkeley neuroscience and biological anthropology professor Terrence Deacon will talk about the evolution of human language.  read more »

Although I will take an anti-choice Democrat over an anti-choice Republican any day, I have to say that the 64 Democrats who voted for the anti-choice Stupak-Pitts Amendment are a serious disappointment. Some are expected. Some I really hoped for better and I can safely say I am unlikely to support them in the future.

Here is the statement from Planned Parenthood on the passage of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment:  read more »

Twenty years ago today, the hated Wall of Berlin came thundering down under the hammers of a long-suffering people denied their freedom and their basic dignity by the communist tyranny of East Germany.

A year and some days ago, America astonished the world by drawing a bright blue line under the hateful Bush era, with the election of a new, young Democratic President, Barack Obama, and equipping him with almost unprecedented majorities in both chambers of the national legislature. Calls for change echoed around the nation, tearing down ancient prejudices and long-held assumptions in their wake. Everything was possible in the new, shining moment, the shining city on a hill restored to its full luster.

And as twenty years ago, the uprising in the United States was built on the will and the power of a people that had had enough.

Today the Congress is debating one of the great challenges facing the country, health care, and it's muck. Republicans and anti-choice Democrats will vote on a poison pill amendment to the main, must-pass bill that bars insurance for abortions, which is a complete tragedy.

From the left, netroots superstar Eric Massa declared that he could not support the main bill that is now making its way to the floor of the House. All other members of the New York Democratic delegation, including newcomer Bill Owens - who prevailed in NY-23, hahaha, despite Sarah Palin's orders to the contrary - are expected to vote for the healthcare bill see update and expect a roll call after the vote. Yes, we'll be keeping score.

The day before the much-anticipated vote on health care reform in the House of Representatives, Eric Massa, D-Corning, said that the Affordable Health Care for America Act gives too much to the insurance industry, doesn’t do enough to control costs, and he can’t support it.

“At the highest level this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry,” Massa said in a telephone news conference this morning. “There’s no other way to look at it.”

Massa said that the bill “fails to address the fundamental question before the American people, and that is, how do you control the costs of health care?”

Congressman Massa is correct when he argues that the current House bill creates a system that is glaringly inferior to the ideal solution, a single-payer approach that at a slice of the scalpel removes layers upon layers of bureaucracy, expenses, lobbyists, advertising budgets and what not other expenses that lard up U.S. health care spending with a cool $350 billion a year. But if that's your position, please, Sir, show us the votes in the House and the Senate, and how exactly you're going to get them.

And please don't expect a single netroots dollar for your next campaign.

Update: Spoke too soon. McMahon of Staten Island is voting against, Patrick Murphy of NY-20 is undecided.  read more »

Some time back I wrote in depth about the implementation of something called Homeland Security Presidential Directive #12 (HSPD#12)which threatened my wife's rights as well as the rights of every Federal employee and contractor (my initial coverage was picked up by the Huffington Post). The directive per se isn't bad, merely requiring a uniform system of issuing IDs to all Federal employees and contractors across all agencies. But, under the Bush Administration, no good idea went unexploited for opportunities to deny people their basic civil liberties. The implementation of HSPD#12 became a wholesale attempt to get anyone with access to a Federal facility (including my wife who was a grad student in a NASA run building) to agree to allow the government to investigate every aspect of their lives from medical records, financial records and interviewing their neighbors. Keep in mind, this has nothing to do with top secret materials. EVERYONE from the Board of Ed to NASA etc. would have to comply. This invasion of privacy is back.

Don't get me wrong. I remain impressed that we are far better off in all ways under Obama than we were under Bush, and I have considerable confidence that even when Bush-era polcies are continued under Obama, they will be applied more intelligently. However, there are definitely many Bush-era attacks on our civil liberties that the Obama Administration wants to continue. And no matter how intelligently they apply it, it remains an attack on civil liberties. One such attack impacts my wife directly.  read more »

Warning: disturbing imagery after the break. Proceed with caution.  read more »

Andrew Hoppin, the New York State's Senate's Chief Information Officer has had his team pretty busy. I got an email from their Director of Onine Communications, Phillip Anderson (one of the first bloggers here at The Daily Gotham and formerly of The Albany Project) describing the project:

The new site is extremely simple, with a Google-esque single search field. One can enter a bill number, a keyword, a Senator, just about anything and it find reams of information as well as comments on ALL Senate legislation. That's not all though.

The site and search are also available by phone by simply speaking a term and even by SMS text.

Sounds not just awesome but about what the state has needed for eons. If we could only get something like this for New York City. Oh right! It took a DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR to put money into updating the state's digital infrastructure. With REPUBLICAN MAYOR BLOOMBERG? Unless that's money his company and media cronies get to pocket, keep hoping.

Read the press release after the jump:  read more »