I have been doing a running report on endorsements for the June 26th Democratic Primary in NYC (particularly Brooklyn races which I know the most about). Here is my latest update.

I want to note that voting in these primaries is critical. People complain about corruption in local politics all the time, but if they don't vote in these primaries they are doing nothing to fight that corruption. If you want a better system for Brooklyn and for NY State, pay attention to these primaries! It also helps to donate to or volunteer for some of these candidates.

LATEST ENDORSEMENTS:

CENTRAL BROOKLYN INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS: Considered the most progressive and most reform club in Brooklyn.

One of the best things about this club is that they require candidates to fill out pretty tough questionnaires so you can read about each candidate. Click here to see the questionnaires that have been turned in for the June 26th primary.

Now here are the CBID endorsements:

LATEST CBID ENDORSEMENTS:

Martine Guerrier (57th Assembly District) (Something of an upset in the club, but many people found her very smart and refreshing)

Robin Garson (Civil Court Judge)

PREVIOUS CBID ENDORSEMENTS:

DISTRICT LEADER:

Jo Anne Simon (District Leader AD 52)
Chris Owens (District Leader AD 52)
Lincoln Restler (50th AD Male DL)
Lori Citron Knipel (44th AD District Leader)
Jacob Gold (44th AD District Leader)

ASSEMBLY:

Joan Millman (52nd AD)
Jim Brennan (44th AD)

STATE SENATE:

Velmanette Montgomery (18th SD)
Eric Adams (20th SD)
Kevin Parker (21st SD)
Daniel Squadron (25th SD)

CONGRESS:

Nydia Velazquez (7th CD)
No Endorsement (8th CD)
Yvette Clarke (9th CD)
Jerrold Nadler (10th CD)

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club (LGBT issues)

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club Endorsement List Primary 2012

PRESIDENT: Barack Obama

UNITED STATES SENATE: Kirsten Gillibrand

DISTRICT LEADER RACES

52nd Assembly District State Committee, Brooklyn: Jo Anne Simon
66th Assembly District State Committee, Manhattan: Arthur Schwartz

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

6th Rory Lancman, Queens
7th Nydia Velazquez, Brooklyn
8th Hakeem Jeffries, Brooklyn
9th Yvette Clarke, Brooklyn
10th Jerry Nadler, Manhattan/Brooklyn
11th Mark Murphy, Brooklyn/Staten Island
12th Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan/Queens
13th Charles Rangel, Manhattan
15th Jose Serrano, Bronx

NEW YORK STATE SENATE

11th Senate District, Tony Avella, Queens
13th Senate District, Jose R. Peralta, Queens
16th Senate District Toby Ann Stavisky, Queens
20th Senate District, Eric Adams, Brooklyn
21st Senate District, Kevin S. Parker, Brooklyn
22nd Senate District, Andrew Gounardes, Brooklyn
23rd Senate District, Diane J. Savino, Staten Island/Brooklyn
25th Senate District, Velmanette Montgomery, Brooklyn
28th Senate District, Liz Kruger, Manhattan
27th Senate District, Tom Duane, Manhattan
30th Senate District, Bill Perkins, Manhattan
31st Senate District, Mark Levine, Manhattan
33nd Senate District, Gustavo Rivera, Manhattan

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY

28th Assembly District, Andrew Hevesi, Queens
39th Assembly District Francisco Moya, Queens
42nd Assembly District Rhoda Jacobs, Brooklyn
44th Assembly District James F. Brennan, Brooklyn
52nd Assembly District Joan Millman, Brooklyn
57th Assembly District Olanike Alabi, Brooklyn
61st Assembly District Matthew Titone, Staten Island
64th Assembly District Sheldon Silver, Manhattan
70th Assembly District, Keith L.T. Wright, Manhattan
71st Assembly District Herman D. Farrell, Jr., Manhattan
73rd Assembly District Dan Quart, Manhattan
75th Assembly District Richard Gottfried, Manhattan

JUDICIAL RACES

Surrogate Court Manhattan: Rita Mella
3rd Civil Court District, Manhattan: Olga Statz

OLDER ENDORSEMENTS:

Lambda Independent Democrats (LGBT issues)

For Congress...
Nydia Velazquez, 7th CD
Hakeem Jeffries, 8th CD
Yvette Clarke, 9th CD
Jerrold Nadler, 10th CD
Mark Murphy, 11th CD
Carolyn Maloney, 12th CD

For NY State Senate...
Eric Adams, 20th District
Kevin Parker, 21st District
Diane Savino, 23rd District
Andrew Gounardes for State Senate, District 22
Velmanette Montgomery for State Senate, District 18
Daniel Squadron for State Senate, District 25

For NY State Assembly...
Rhoda Jacobs, 42nd AD
Olanike Alabi, 57th AD
Jim Brennan for State Assembly, District 44
John Mancuso for State Assembly, District 60
Joan Millman for State Assembly, District 52

For Civil Court Judge...
Lizette Colon
Robin Garson
Wavny Toussaint

For District Leader...
Lincoln Restler for Male District Leader, 50th AD
Jo Anne Simon for Female District Leader, 52nd AD
Faryce Moore for Female District Leader, 57th AD
Joanne Seminara for Female District Leader, 60th AD
Jacob Gold for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 44
Lori Knipel for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 44
Chris Owens for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 52

More below  read more »

More of this please:

From PAC+:

PAC+ says it will spend more than $10 million organizing for Obama in black and Latino communities. An independent effort from the left whose targets include Texas, Georgia.

En Espanol:

In English:

The left needs to do more of this kind of marketing to voters.

Awhile back I encountered at a local NYC blog a form of Holocaust Denial that was new to me: the claim that yeah the Holocaust happened and Jews were killed (among other targeted groups, I would add) but there were no gas chambers.

Now you'd expect the Nazi perpetrators to kind of fit in with this denial, but the truth is they don't. In fact they remember family photographs that document the proximity of the gas chambers and they are remembered by their descendants.

Now there are many sources of evidence for the gas chambers. And I have discussed them before.

There are two main sources of evidence in any crime scene, and the gas chambers were, quite simply, massive crime scenes. Those types of evidence are eyewitness testimony and forensics. Good criminal cases are built up using both.

Eyewitness testimony is in itself almost overwhelming. Eyewitness testimony doesn't just come from the perpetrators or inmates so much as liberators who may have misinterpreted what was a crime scene where the perpetrators tried hard to cover their tracks. But there are camps like Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka where the evidence is very strong, where both the number and consistency of eyewitness testimony is overwhelming. You can find eyewitness testimony here in some detail.

Further testimony can be found here:
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/arperpsspeak.html

More confessions by perpetrators can be found here:
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/arperpsspeak.html

And of course an excellent eyewitness testimony by an inmate can be found in Elie Wiesel's Night, where he describes the journey he and his family through the concentration camps.

As the allies closed in on Germany in 1945, there was a concerted effort to destroy evidence. Even before that, in cases where things went wrong the Germans systematically destroyed evidence of their crimes. The prime example of this is the extermination camp at Sobibor which was the scene of one of the very few successful prisoner revolts which led to a mass breakout. To cover up, the Germans dismantled the camp with the stated intent of hiding what had gone on there. This makes it harder to prove by forensics what happened. Archaeological analysis can identify areas that look like they were gas chambers and crematoria and basically give evidence completely consistent with the eyewitness testimony. That alone helps, given the overwhelming and consistent eyewitness testimony from inmates, perpetrators and liberators.

Some of the forensic evidence (documents, film footage, etc) supporting the eyewitness testimony can be found in this article on forensic science used in Holocaust investigation..

Forensics also shows traces of cyanide gas in the very remains that eyewitnesses claim were gas chambers and that archaeology suggests were gas chambers. These chemical data basically prove they were gas chambers. The key study was done by Polish scientists at the Institute of Forensic Research in Krakow. The authors are chemists. The first author became Director of the Institute of Forensic Research in Krakow.

More evidence can be found discussed in this BBC article, and this article from the University of San Francisco, and this article from Skeptic Magazine.

But there is another bit of evidence that I didn't take into account the last time I wrote about this. The evidence that may not be direct eyewitness testimony but is direct testimony of those who lived in the shadow of and prospered from the extermination camps. BBC News has an article on descendants of Nazi war criminals that directly addresses this issue. From BBC News:

When he was a child Rainer Hoess was shown a family heirloom.

He remembers his mother lifting the heavy lid of the fireproof chest with a large swastika on the lid, revealing bundles of family photos.

They featured his father as a young child playing with his brothers and sisters, in the garden of their grand family home.

The photos show a pool with a slide and a sand pit - an idyllic family setting - but one that was separated from the gas chambers of Auschwitz by just a few yards....

His grandfather Rudolf Hoess (not to be confused with Nazi deputy leader Rudolf Hess), was the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp. His father grew up in a villa adjoining the camp, where he and his siblings played with toys built by prisoners.

It was where his grandmother told the children to wash the strawberries they picked because they smelled of ash from the concentration camp ovens.

So family members not only admit to the existence of the gas chambers, but washed their produce because of the ashes that came from the crematoria,,,I mean how much more evidence does anyone need??? Eyewitness testimony from BOTH sides, forensic evidence, AND documentary evidence running through the families descended from the war criminals.

It is rare that you get such clear evidence of a crime!

Return to Mole's History Page.

Return to I Had a Thought  read more »

This comes from a friend who does a huge amount of this kind critical stuff:

Obama Campaign Trip to Pennsylvania
Saturday, June 2nd, 8:30 am
Departing Port Authority Bus Station, NYC

Dear Friend,

Please join me Saturday, June 2nd for a day of canvassing with the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. This is a bellwether district in a swing state, and a short bus ride from New York City.

Recent polling shows the presidential race reverting to a neck-and-neck contest. The Gallup Tracking poll shows a one-point race, Obama 45, Romney 46. Mason-Dixon has Romney up by three points. Rassmussen Tracking has Obama up by two. The CBS News/New York Times poll gives Romney a three point advantage 46 to 43. All indications point to a desperately close election, and we need your help now in swing states, like Pennsylvania. The president’s reelection depends on our presence on the doorsteps in key areas, early and often.

We meet at Port Authority Bus Terminal (South Terminal, 8th Ave. btwn 40th & 41st St.), at 8:30 am Saturday morning, June 2nd. Buses return at 4:05 and 6:10 pm. Round trip on the bus is $41.15. The ride is about 1 hour 40 minutes. A home-cooked lunch is provided.

Thank you to everyone for your time and commitment. Please RSVP by e-mail, phone, or sign up on the Obama campaign website, so I can provide a headcount to Obama’s team in the Lehigh Valley. I look forward to seeing you again.

Best wishes,

Tom Predhome
NYVolunteers@gmail.com
(646) 736-6177

I really didn’t want to touch this race; however, some of my advisors convinced me to say something about it or be branded a chicken/lol.
You see near every time I write something about Charles Barron I get these strange (and often inane) calls or e-mails, from different folks with different strokes. And it doesn’t matter if I write something critical or something positive. They are out there and they are watching.

When I said his wife (Inez) was better qualified than Kathy Black to be school’s chancellor; I didn’t get a peep from the Barron sycophants; similarly when I devoted two columns commending him on his symbolic protest vote(s) against a particular Bloomberg budget. How come? And it has been like this for years: whatever I write relative to “Chucky-Bee” is under the microscope. So be it.  read more »

On June 26th [it's good if I get the damned date right!] there is an important Democratic Primary election in NY State. The decisions are between reform and corrupt, progressive and regressive. I would like to do another of my round ups of endorsements from local clubs, focusing on those that are considered progressive and reform-oriented.

I want to note that voting in these primaries is critical. People complain about corruption in local politics all the time, but if they don't vote in these primaries they are doing nothing to fight that corruption. If you want a better system for Brooklyn and for NY State, pay attention to these primaries! It also helps to donate to or volunteer for some of these candidates.

So here is a round up of endorsements from local clubs and organizations. (Presented before with the addition of Lambda Independent Democrats' latest endorsements)

MOST RECENT ENDORSEMENT: Lambda Independent Democrats (LGBT issues)

For Congress...
Nydia Velazquez, 7th CD
Hakeem Jeffries, 8th CD
Yvette Clarke, 9th CD
Jerrold Nadler, 10th CD
Mark Murphy, 11th CD
Carolyn Maloney, 12th CD

For NY State Senate...
Eric Adams, 20th District
Kevin Parker, 21st District
Diane Savino, 23rd District
Andrew Gounardes for State Senate, District 22
Velmanette Montgomery for State Senate, District 18
Daniel Squadron for State Senate, District 25

For NY State Assembly...
Rhoda Jacobs, 42nd AD
Olanike Alabi, 57th AD
Jim Brennan for State Assembly, District 44
John Mancuso for State Assembly, District 60
Joan Millman for State Assembly, District 52

For Civil Court Judge...
Lizette Colon
Robin Garson
Wavny Toussaint

For District Leader...
Lincoln Restler for Male District Leader, 50th AD
Jo Anne Simon for Female District Leader, 52nd AD
Faryce Moore for Female District Leader, 57th AD
Joanne Seminara for Female District Leader, 60th AD
Jacob Gold for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 44
Lori Knipel for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 44
Chris Owens for District Leader/State Committee, Assembly District 52

CENTRAL BROOKLYN INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS: Considered the most progressive and most reform club in Brooklyn.

One of the best things about this club is that they require candidates to fill out pretty tough questionnaires so you can read about each candidate. Click here to see the questionnaires that have been turned in for the June 1st primary.

Now here are the CBID endorsements:

Jo Anne Simon (District Leader AD 52)
Chris Owens (District Leader AD 52)
Joan Millman (52nd AD)
Jim Brennan (44th AD)
Nydia Velazquez (7th CD)
No Endorsement (8th CD)
Yvette Clarke (9th CD)
Lori Citron Knipel (44th AD District Leader)
Jacob Gold (44th AD District Leader)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (10th CD)
Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (18th SD)
Sen. Eric Adams (20th SD)
Sen. Kevin Parker (21st SD)
Sen. Daniel Squadron (25th SD)
Hon. Lincoln Restler (50th AD Male DL)  read more »

My wife and I applaud Barack Obama and Joe Biden finally embracing the righteousness of marriage equality. At LAST! It has taken way too long for marriage equality to be supported by the leaders of the FREE world. We are ALL more free now that they have done so.

My wife grew up in New York. I grew up in California. When we decided to get married (as a hetero couple, if that wasn't obvious) we had to agree on where to get married. Ultimately I convinced her (due to the venue I could offer for free) to get married in California. It was an amazing wedding. But we settled in New York. We visit my family in California about once a year. Ironically, my family in California has spent more time with our kids during our brief visits out West than our East Coast relatives have spent with them despite the fact they could see them any day they want.

During the brief period when marriage equality was legally accepted in California, my wife and I agreed we regretted we were already married because we were about to visit my family in California and we wished we could get married AGAIN, together with the same-sex couples who for that brief period in California had the FREEDOM to get married. We felt that their right to get married made our own existing heterosexual marriage THAT MUCH MORE SPECIAL.  read more »

Ostensibly there are very few people willing to say the obvious: that relative to recent political events dealing with the issue of “same-sex marriage” (or “marriage-equality” as others label it), Joe Biden and Barack Obama both messed up. And in my estimation they messed up big time.
To me the qualified silence from left-leaning columnists -in critiquing Biden and Obama- is simply another miniscule example of cowardice in politics and journalism: USA-style. I can only hope this wouldn’t come back to haunt too many moderates and progressives on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday (after the first Monday) next November.  read more »

The co-op apartment building I live in has recently been bullied by Verizon trying to lock our shareholders into a deal with FIOS. So I have become rather sensitive towards what a really lousy company Verizon is. And comparing Verizon to other telecom companies, according to Green America's Responsible Shopper site, Verizon is among the worst telecom companies in America (T-mobile and Sprint are the best) though because of laws that help companies get semi-monopolies, there isn't always much choice in a given area.

Which led me to take notice of this little Mother's Day campaign focusing on Verizon's rather poor treatment of working women:

You can read a detailed report (PDF) of Verizon's anti-middle class policies here. But let me highlight one particular anti-American practice of Verizon's: they actually take more tax money than they pay:  read more »

From Justin Krebs at Living Liberally.

Thursday, May 10th. 6:30-9:30pm.

Location: The DCTV Firehouse, 87 Lafayette St

Food provided by Eating Liberally & Jimmy's No. 43

Open bar (beer, wine, liquor).

Beer and specialty drinks provided by by Six Point Craft Ales; Bitters, Old Men; and Bluecoat, American Dry Gin
Meet this year's honorees, enjoy the company of fellow Liberals from across our network, raise a glass to our successes and help support our continued expansion.

----> What else? Go over the fold.  read more »

This month's Eating Liberally meeting will be May 8, 7 PM at Ghenet
(Ethiopian) restaurant.
348 Douglass Street Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 230-4476
http://www.ghenet.com/

This is a VERY good restaurant. There are some Democratic Primaries
coming up that are worth discussing. Some more info on those can be
found here:

http://dailygotham.com/mole333/blog/brooklynendorsementroundupforjune1stdemocraticprimary

I have always been a strong supporter of the police. They take on a difficult and important job and, though I see much room for improvement, some 90% of cops do about as good a job as anyone could.

But recently the level of police brutality in many cities in America, including NYC, has risen to insane levels. The bottom line is, cops, who are unionized and very definitely part of the 99%, are beating the crap out of fellow pro-union members of the 99% who have the nerve to exercise their Constitutional Rights by supporting unions and calling for the 1% to pay their fair share.

Right now I am about as angry at the police as I have ever been and am amazed that they are so willing to do the bidding of the 1% who actually treat them very badly. Don't they remember how Bloomberg treated them the last time they had to negotiate a new contract? I do. I was on the side of the cops then. But the cops seem to have forgotten who screwed them (Bloomberg and the 1%) and who stood by them (the very people who the cops are now beating the shit out of). Sorry, NYPD, but the only word I can find for what you are doing to the Occupy Wall Street movement and their supporters is "stupid." Yes. The cops are being stupid in alienating those who stood by them during the last contract negotiations. I personally will find it hard to stand next to the NYPD next time after the brutality and actually blatantly illegal treatment of the OWS protesters.

And I am not alone in this. The following comes from Democracy for America:

New York, May 5, 2012 On Monday, April 30, 2012, a major lawsuit was filed by four City Councilmembers and members of Occupy Wall Street against officials of the New York City government and police department. This case, Rodriguez et al v Winski, City of New York Et Al, raises very important issues and Democracy for NYC wishes to applaud and announce our strong support for the recommendations requested by the plaintiffs.

In recent times, members of DFNYC have witnessed firsthand how the NYPD systematically violates the First Amendment rights of citizens in the name of security. What happened on the night of November 15, 2011, when Occupy Wall Street protesters were evicted from Zuccotti park, was just one in a long line of incidents in recent years where the NYPD has shown an increasing willingness to use force and intimidation to prevent people from lawfully gathering to express their political views and protest. As the lawsuit states, “Police misconduct has flourished over the last twenty years in New York City and is once again reaching critical mass.”

The board of directors of DFNYC joins with New York City Councilmembers Leticia James, Ydanis Rodriguez, Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Jumaane Williams and the other plaintiffs in calling for, in particular, the authorization of a court-appointed monitor/auditor to review the past and present activities of the NYPD.

When the civil rights of our citizens are infringed upon by the government, independent oversight becomes imperative to the preservation of liberty and democracy. We urge all elected officials throughout the five boroughs to speak out in favor of more oversight of the New York City Police Department.

I notice my own councilmember, Steve Levin, has not joined in this lawsuit defending the rights of New Yorkers. Nor, I notice, has our so-called "Public Advocate," Bill de Blasio, who has time and time again acted like an advocate for developers rather than for the public, hasn't lifted a finger defending the rights of the public against police abuse.

For more about Democracy for NYC, click here.

We are all angry at the big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citibank because of their predatory lending practices, terrible customer service and greedy, selfish politics and business practices. Basically these banks and similar ones have screwed working class and middle class Americans and made a profit off our suffering. Then they got bailed out with OUR tax money when their lousy business practices and predatory lending hit them in the ass. These banks got us into the economic mess we are in and the CEOs of these banks took America to the cleaners and have been reaping the profits while we suffer foreclosures and tough times. And the fees they charge are insane!

That is why I advocate breaking ties with these big predatory banks and finding alternatives. I personally have been divesting myself of these big bad banks like Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank and instead switching my mortgage, accounts and credit cards to USAA (which only works with Veterans and their families), TD Bank (a large bank that actually has excellent customer service and did not engage in predatory lending), and local credit unions. I have particularly liked TD Bank who refinanced my mortgage at a much better rate and much simpler than the big bad banks.

But so far my wife and I still haven't been able to get rid of all our Chase and Bank of America credit cards. Paying off the debt is tough, but we are working on it. But I would like to find better credit cards to use.

Well, Green America has some suggestions I would like to pass on to you.

Cards Connected to Better Banks

There are socially responsible banks and credit unions that exemplify responsible lending practices—as well as community investing institutions that take the social mission one step further by also investing in low-income populations.

Wainwright Bank Visa Cards (fees and rates vary): Wainwright, a Boston-based bank with a tradition of “socially progressive” banking, offers six different Visa credit cards with different rates and terms. All of these cards are issued and managed by Elan, a financial services company. Steven F. Young, senior vice president at Wainwright, says they “chose Elan because we felt their consumer practices were best.”

Permaculture Credit Union’s (PCU) Visa card (13% apr, no annual fee): Based in New Mexico, PCU is committed to Earth-friendly and socially responsible loans and investments. PCU’s card is issued by the Illinois Credit Union League to anyone, whether or not they are a PCU account holder, though applicants should mention they are “affiliated” with Permaculture Credit Union.

ReDirect Visa (15.15% apr, no annual fee): The ReDirect card is issued by Washington state’s ShoreBank Pacific.Depositors fuel the bank’s lending programs, which enable sustainable community development. ShoreBank Pacific issues the card by way of TCM, which is owned by ICBA Bancard, a subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Your card fees support ShoreBank Pacific’s community investing mission, and half of the card’s proceeds go toward reducing CO2 emissions through Sustainable Travel International’s “MyClimate” high-quality offsets. In addition to a conventional rewards program, the card also earns cardholders discounts at the sustainable businesses listed in regional “ReDirect Guides” for Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins, CO; Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA; and Salt Lake City/Park City, UT. Those businesses that offer Internet purchasing will extend ReDirect discounts to any cardholder. There’s no need to have a ShoreBank Pacific account to apply.

Salmon Nation Visa (15.15% apr, no annual fee): This card, also from ShoreBank Pacific, directs a percentage of its income to growing a community of citizens that practice environmental stewardship of “Salmon Nation,” a bio-region stretching from Alaska to Oregon where wild salmon live. Like the ReDirect card, Salmon Nation Visa isn’t benefiting a mega-bank, and you don’t need a ShoreBank Pacific account to apply.

The Loop Card (11.99% apr, no annual fee): A Visa from Albina Community Bank in Oregon. Profits from this Visa from Oregon’s Albina Community Bank not only support Albina, but one percent of every purchase goes to Portland’s neighborhoods, funding education, health, social services, environment, the arts, or economic development projects. You do not have to have an account with Albina to get the card, and it is not connected to a mega-bank.

Shorebank’s Elan Visa Consumer Card (variable apr, no annual fee): ShoreBank, in the Midwest, is a community development and environmental bank that issues a credit card available to anyone nationwide through Elan, the same company servicing Wainright Bank’s cards, at a rate determined by your credit history.

Self-Help credit union cards (9.95–12.95% apr, no annual fee): Self-Help, headquartered in North Carolina, works in communities traditionally underserved by conventional financial institutions. It offers Classic and Platinum Visa credit cards to members, and through online banking, anyone nationwide can become an account holder and apply. The cards are issued by Self-Help, a community development bank.

For those purchases you make by credit card, using one of these best-option cards can make your charges a force for good.

One of my goals this year is to switch from my current credit cards, which are still mega-bank linked, to one or two of these cards. I hope you will all join my in making the switch.

Return to Mole's Consumer Advice Page.

Return to I Had a Thought

I was out of the country for a couple weeks and because of this I missed the passing and funeral of a political friend and activist-ally: Jenny Ortiz-Bowman. Those of us who knew her well called her “The Queen”. I knew of her long before I met formally her and worked with her in 1996. She was one of the many colorful people who played the Brooklyn political theater in the last half-century.

Jenny was the wife of Reginald “Reggie” Bowman: the Brownsville-based political-activist extraordinaire. Reggie heads up the organization representing tenants of public housing in New York City. He is a prodigious advocate for the needs of those in public housing; and has been for decades. He has fought for the homeless, the jobless and the downtrodden. He has been fighting these battles most his adult life. He is one of the very few who has prolifically challenged the Boyland family’s dynastic grip on the politics of Ocean Hill/ Brownsville (Brooklyn/55thAD). He has run against that clan quite a few times. He has done tenant organizing most his adult life; and he once headed up the school board in the infamous “District 23”area.  read more »