City Council member Larry Seabrook has been indicted in the continuing probe into the slush fund scandal.

The 13-count indictment charges Seabrook with soliciting and accepting bribes, extortion, money laundering, and funneling tax money into phony nonprofits that existed only to benefit him and some of his relatives. In addition, there are a number of unnamed "Seabrook associates" who allegedly helped carry out his schemes.

This was not a surprise; it was pretty well known that Seabrook was under intense scrutiny throughout the past couple of years, and that an indictment would probably be handed down early this year. What remains to be seen is how many (if any) of the charges will stick.

Meanwhile, there is little chance that the City Council will take action against Seabrook unless he is convicted. That is not only standard practice, but also proper; a person is supposed to be presumed innocent, and no matter how serious the charges Seabrook deserves that same presumption.

Charles Barron, who challenged Christine Quinn for the Speaker's chair (like that was a contest) and has gotten into several ... spirited debates with Quinn, is the only Democrat in the Council without a lulu (except for Simcha Felder, who is leaving the Council at the end of January).

Is anyone surprised?

Some interesting assignments (interesting to me, anyway), after the jump:  read more »

(Note: Cross-posted from my website.)

Fans of the television series "The West Wing" will recognize the title of this column. In a first-season episode, the Bartlet administration is one year old and flopping around, seemingly unwilling to dive into any issue, preferring instead to "dangle our feet in the water." After one year of the Obama administration, life seems to be imitating art.

The last ten minutes of that episode should be instructive to President Obama.

In the wake of the loss of the Senate seat held for almost 60 years by Kennedys (Ted and John), especially in one of the bluest states in the country, Democrats are now reportedly doing some soul searching.

Again.

More after the jump -- a lot more.  read more »

(Note: Cross-posted from my website.)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”
– Matthew, 5:3

An enormous earthquake, followed by a long string of very powerful aftershocks, hit Haiti yesterday. Reports are still just beginning to come out of that bleak country, but it appears that the number of dead will be in the tens, or possibly hundreds, of thousands. In addition, as many as three million people are left without homes, without belongings, and possibly without hope.

Despite the enormous suffering and the hideous, horrifying situation the Haitians are facing, Pat Robertson – televangelist, hypocrite and pathetic excuse for a human being – said that this was the result of a “pact with the devil” made by Haitian slaves who overthrew their French overlords over 200 years ago. I’m not a physically violent person, and I have never truly wished to see someone die slowly and agonizingly, but for Pat Robertson I may be willing to make an exception.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, and has been for two centuries. Even before the earthquake, the country had little hope of ever advancing beyond its pitiable condition. It didn’t have to be – when Christopher Columbus landed on the island now known as Hispaniola, it was a lush, beautiful place. How, then, did the eastern two-thirds, now called the Dominican Republic, become merely poor, while the western third, called Haiti, become so impoverished?  read more »

This morning, the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club held a press event at City Hall in NYC, in which they called on Governor Paterson to withdraw the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) on a gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling being prepared by the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). About 100 people were in attendance, along with a nice gaggle of media folks.

The DEC issued the dSGEIS last fall and opened things up for public comment – and public comment was overwhelming – and overwhelmingly negative!

There are many reasons for the negative public reaction to this horrible document. The dSGEIS refuses to address the cumulative aspects of thousands of wells pumping tens of billions of gallons of water combined with toxic chemicals into the ground. It ignores the problems hydraulic fracturing has caused elsewhere, pretending that there are no problems except where there is an accident. It fails even to recommend strict controls necessary to protect the health of the people living near the drilling sites, or the water that those people, and anyone living downstream, use to drink, cook and wash.

I could go on forever, but you get the point.

In addition to the 100 or so attendees, there were elected officials from all levels of government, including three members of Congress (Reps. Michael Arcuri, Eric Massa and Jerrold Nadler), at least two state Assembly members (Deborah Glick & Brian Kavanagh), and several New York City Council members (I talked with Environmental Protection committee chair James Gennaro, Speaker Christine Quinn and newcomer Margaret Chin). Assembly member James Brennan (who will reintroduce a very good bill) sent a representative, as did Assembly member Richard Gottfried and state Senators Eric Schneiderman and José Serrano. Statements from some of these elected officials (more may be added as I get them) after the jump:  read more »