I am sorry to report, as my first post post-vacating, the death of Folk, Jazz legend Artie Traum from metastatic liver cancer at age 65. He and his older brother Happy had been scheduled to sing a set at Clearwater in June – but Artie’s advancing illness barred the appearance. See the family announcement here He and his brother Happy were constant figures on the NYC music scene since the late 1950's and 1960's long before their breakout success in the late 1960's.

For more, read the somewhat derivative NY Times Obit , the Wikipedia entry , Artie Traum’s largely abandoned My Space page (with some great audio files) and the The Guardian . If you’re committed to much, much more try here

In my opinion, however, the best way to remember Artie Traum is through his music. Try, for example, this wonderful You Tube performance with links to others.

I hate it when Mayor Bloombertg does something right. Lucky for me, when, as here, he takes a positive step, he does it in a negative way. So the good news is also the bad news.

As long hinted, Mayor Bloomberg has taken the useful, if somewhat technical, step or implementing for NYC planning purposes a somewhat more realistic definition of “poverty.” Announced by Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs at the annual convention of the NAACP, the new formula will take into account some actual costs of living unlike the previous standard still used by the Federal Government (a jury-rigged, back-of-the envelope calculation accidentally frozen into federal law). The New York Times account is here , the Washington Post's is here and Gail Robinson's Gotham Gazette squib is here. The result of the Bloomberg rejiggering is that there are now, by NYC count, somewhat more poor people and somewhat fewer extremely poor people. (Why? Because the new model counts as income government benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid)The NY Post's amazing take after the jump.

The bad news?

Do you think that perhaps the outrage against banks in the mortgage foreclosure crisis has been tamped down by complexity and lack of human dimension to the story? Read on. I know Sarah Ludwig, Director of the Neighborhood Economic Development & Advocacy Project has been saying for years – I’ve heard her – that predatory lending practices targeted largely at minority homeowners was sucking the hard-won home equity out of lower income communities into the hands of the banks and real estate speculators.

In the last few days though two articles and one cartoon bring the mortgage crisis into wonderfully clear relief:

Susan Dominus, writing in Monday’s NY Times how foreclosure fears fatally led a Queens national guardsman to volunteer to fight in Afghanistan, and how his family may now lose the home he tried and died to save . It’s great reporting.

Kai Wright, writing in The Nation tells the mortgage foreclosure story through the lens of an Atlanta family . For a clear telling of what Mr. Bush and his banker buddies are doing to us, miss this story not.

Of course, Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury has been on top of this too. In a current cartoon, a wounded Iraq veteran is coming home but… .

For me, the policy take away? Drive Republicans from office.

Do you recall John McCain’s war-loving-lyrical response to the challenge of getting along with Iran? (See also this Moveon Youtube.)

Well, a more pressing question might be whether George Bush & his allies in Israel will pull an “October surprise” on our election process. Imagine if you will, some “Gulf of Tonkin” incident, some “Weapons of Mass Distraction” science fiction, some “supporters of cross-border terrorism” lies. Would the Republican Party benefit from such an attack? Would McBush-Cain strategists think so? Certainly McCain’s only hole-card is his claim to being tough on terrorists.

July 1, Update Having so consistently lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, would you think the liar-in-chief or his servants would be truthful about Iran? Tuesday's Washington Post reports the CIA ignored facts and analyses which showed Iran long ago suspended its nuclear weapons program

A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. The onetime undercover agent, who has been barred by the CIA from using his real name, filed a motion in federal court late Friday asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time.

Laura Rozen at Mother Jones collects snippets of expert observers' views which are really worth reading. Their take-away? Most of them think military action against Iran is unlikely. But –

Seymour Hersh has another blockbuster in The New Yorker. Cross-border terrorist George W. Bush has sent US forces to fight Iran. Hersh’s must-read essay which appears in this coming week’s issue points out that the clandestine US actions against Iran “are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.”

All the fuss here about Senator Martin Conner and Daniel Squadron has, for me, left the waters muddied. Let me tell you my position and how I got there. Obviously, you'll decide for yourself.

I am carrying Martin Conner's nominating petitions (I live in the district), even though the Senator has not been an inspiring leader. The bad news is that when, as a constituent, I'd ask Senator Conner for something concrete (for example for support for the Domestic Workers Bill Of Rights or foreclosure prevention), I'd get excuses, reasons he can do nothing or just no answer at all. The good news is that he favors a progressive agenda. That is: He talks the talk, but so far hasn't walked the walk. On the other hand, Democratic Senators live in a special powerless limbo where they are rarely able to effect or affect actual change. So, I am inclined to cut people in that position some slack.

Daniel Squadron, on the other hand, is running from right field, as I see it. He may be proud of his connections to Mayor Bloomberg and Education Commissioner Klein, but that rules me out as a supporter. The Bloomberg-Klein-Squadron Department of Education has been a mismanagement nightmare, at least to public school parents like me.

I had a wonderful father’s day weekend and hope you did too. Saturday, I went hiking in Clarence Fahnestock State Park, where mountain laurel in full bloom painted the forest white; swimming at Conopus Beach and (just escaped pummeling thunderstorms by) eating at the fairly affordable Cold Spring Depot in the 1893 Rail Road Station house. Sunday, my mostly grown children honored me with hors d’oeuvres, cheeses, chicken, and books about bicycles.

Here are two thoughts for next weekend, weather permitting:

As personal problems and scandal ended the political career of Staten Island Congress Member Vito Fossella, some Democrats and reporters seem to have awoken to what they say is a once in a generation opportunity to turn Democratic a Congressional seat long held by Republicans. (See also SI Advance, here .) As a result, the (in my opinion, conservative) Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, local Congress Members, Democratic Party "regulars" and the Working Families Party have endorsed NYC Council Member Michael McMahon over progressive, anti-Iraq-war candidate Steve Harrison. None of these groups, thus far at least, have shown any interest in the positions of either Mr. McMahon or Mr. Harrison. My sometimes ill-informed judgment is that ignoring the merits is a mistake. The reason why Democrats John Hall and Kirsten Gillibrand beat entrenched GOP Congress Members in 2006 was that they presented clear progressive programs to counter the Bush-clone policies of their opponents. In my view, to the degree that the Democratic party presents Bush-Cheney-Lieberman-clone candidates to the voters, it will lose.

To focus then on some of the issues which are crucial, in my view, I asked Council Member McMahon some questions He replied in part and you can (and should) judge those answers for yourself.

Below, however, are three questions which Council Member McMahon didn't answer. Because I respect the abilities of those who prepared the answers, I am persuaded that the omissions are deliberate. Those omitted answers concern issues which members of the next Congress will actually face.

More war? Mr. McMahon did not state whether, were he a member of Congress, he would favor or oppose further Iraq war funding. Billions of dollars, needed at home, are funneled into Iraq-war-profiteers and into an immoral and evil war. Check it out in more detail here . If we're to believe Nobel-prize economist Joseph Stiglitz, the total tab will come to three trillion . Can Mr. McMahon say no to such squandering? He doesn't say.

A while ago I asked Council Member Michael McMahon about his views on the war in Iraq and detainee policies. I received partial answers Friday night. and reproduce them below. It's a lawyerly reply with -- from my point of view -- good and bad news. It's most revealing, in my opinion, for what it doesn't say. Refer to my original questions, which I have reproduced below, to see what's not said. I will write about Mr. McMahon's reply further, later.

Statement by Michael E. McMahon in response to Daily Gotham Questions

I am opposed to the Iraq War and the time to start bringing home our fighting men and woman is now. That being said, we cannot allow politics to do anything that will threaten the lives and safety of our troops.

There were many in Congress who supported the war based on misinformation and the miscalculations of the Bush Administration. As documented in the recently released Senate report, the danger posed by weapons of mass destruction was exaggerated. It was these dangers that lead many, including the New York Times editorial board, to endorse military action.

But now that we are there we need a plan to get our forces home. I support the agenda that Senator Clinton has outlined;

* Phased redeployment
* Focus on stability with the assistance of the United Nations
* Intensive Regional Diplomacy

With regard to various city council resolutions on the War, I do not believe that the City Council, which has some very difficult issues to face, is best prepared to spend its time working on these issues. In my time in the Council, I have worked very hard on issues that affect the working men and women of my district and the City. As chair of the Sanitation Committee we have done some really good things on the environment, keeping the Landfill closed, and managing our solid waste.

What’s the bad outcome if your business plan involves exposing workers to hazardous materials and it kills two of them? The Occupational Safey & Health Administration (OSHA) will seek some money from you. In the case of Victor & Carlos Diaz, who died Dec.1, 2007 in a dilution tank at North East Linen of Linden NJ, OSHA seeks $79,250 in penalties. Killing workers certainly seems cheaper than killing pedestrians. Based on what I’ve been told, I think the OSHA charges and proposed penalties understate the wrongs that North East Linen and its owner committed.

For links to my prior posts on this click here.

North East Linen is an industrial laundry. It washes table clothes, napkins, uniforms. It discharges the used wash water to Linden NJ sewers. That water would be too corrosive because the washing process uses alkaline chemicals to clean, so North East adds sulfuric acid to the water to neutralize it. Sulfuric acid, itself, is a dangerous chemical to work with. When you buy it, you get a “material safety data sheet (MSDS)” which tells you about the dangers.

Tuesday updates at the end

The crane collapses are unrelated – said the mayor in a strong sign that he just doesn’t get it. "It would appear that there is no connection whatsoever between the two accidents," Bloomberg said

What he’s saying (incorrectly, I think) is that the immediate causes of the crane collapse and deaths on 91 Street are likely not the same immediate causes of the crane collapse on 51 Street. (While defective equipment seems to be at fault in both, there is more.)

What seems plain to some of us is that Mr. Bloomberg and his falling-down Building Department are common threads here. It is Mr. Bloomberg who gave the marching orders and funding priorities which were directed away from inspections to his (now former) Buildings Commissioner. Did she do wrong? No one I’ve talked to in the construction community thinks so. She was marching to the beat of Mr. Bloomberg’s drum.