The two “Johns” of whom I write are John Liu and John Sampson. Liu is the NYC comptroller. Sampson is the state senator from Brooklyn’s 19th district. He is also the conference leader of the senate democrats. I want to believe he is actually the senate minority leader but some folks tell me that’s not official.

Anyway, both Liu and Sampson have come in for some serious ragging in mainstream media lately. I want to believe there is more to this than meets the unsuspecting naked eye.

A few columns aback I told you folks that the three major newspapers (Times, Daily News and N.Y. Post) are in the tank for NYC council speaker Christine Quinn: with the objective being to make her the next mayor of this city. They have been trying without subtlety to decimate those they perceive as her main opponents in the 2013 mayoral primary. Thus, over the last few years, they have been taking occasional pot shots at people like Marty Markowitz, Bill DiBlasio, Adolfo Carrion, Scott Stringer and Bill Thompson (don’t forget Anthony Wiener also). It is sad. These forces seem to believe that many aren’t observing all this. They are wrong in that assessment.  read more »

This is adapted from something I wrote some years ago when I actually worked in the building where the Triangle Shirtwaist fire took place. But it is a part of American history, labor history, and Jewish-American history that Teabaggers want us to forget. And we must not EVER forget because the women who lost their life that day died so that today we have fire regulations and unions. The Teabaggers are desecrating the memories of those women who died 100 years ago.

On March 25th 1911, 146 people died in the very building I used to work in before our lab moved to the NYU school of medicine. The result of their deaths was the rapid growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and the real beginning of the fight against sweatshops. These are the very advances that right wing extremists in the Republican party are trying to eliminate, forgetting those 146 deaths. It also was the beginning of fire regulations in American cities.

The story of the fire and the missed opportunities to prevent it are chilling. But what is more chilling is the fact that America has forgotten why we need unions. Even some unions have forgotten what unions are all about, but I want everyone who doubts the need for unions to remember the events of March 25, 1911.

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When I was growing up, one of my dad's favorite sayings was "Don't let anybody ever tell you you're a dumb Mexican."

Our mom definitely taught us that there are times when we must stand up for our convictions and not back down.

Loretta Sanchez became my hero when she defeated the disgusting right wing extremist Bob Dornan in an upset victory in Orange County, California. Several years later, her sister Linda Sanchez was elected to a nearby district and they became the first ever sisters to serve in Congress.

As the children of Mexican immigrants, their story is obviously one of overcoming great odds and prejudice. But they have overcome those odds with grace, intelligence and great skill.

In 2008 Loretta and Linda (along with Richard Buskin) published their story, a book called Dream in Color. I love the title as much as I love the Sanchez sisters. And I always meant to buy the book. But I tend to read either ancient history or pure escapist science fiction or fantasy. The stupid turn to the discredited and failed right wing Republican agenda in the 2010 midterm election was what made me finally buy the book, because I knew it would be an inspiring story, and I needed an inspiring story. And I was not wrong in my expectation.  read more »

There has been a raging debate over immigration reform which has been taking place for too many years now. I have kept relatively silent for many solid reasons. One of which is the fact that I am foreign born. I didn’t want the silly people who troll these blogs to accuse me of some built-in bias.

Despite the fact that I do try to look at issues objectively for the most part, there are those trolls who just post crap in the threads for whatever reason their strange minds perceive. Recently, I was pleasantly surprised when V.J. Machiavelli told me to my face, that I am relatively open minded about most issues (or something to that effect); since VJ is one of those blog trollers I observe and study. He is very lucid when you meet him in person. He is nowhere near the silly and strange poster he sometimes projects. I found him to be quite engaging: pleasantly so.

Coming back to the immigration debate: let me openly say that too many Hispanics are being emotional about this issue and not being cerebral; which has caused this important piece of legislation to be stalled just as much as the maneuverings of the repugnicans in Congress.  read more »

Update #2:
Binghamton Chief of Police will not confirm who the shooter was. Has asked for press not to circulate the name that's been going around. They haven't confirmed the identity of the killer, whether there were more shooters or the identity of all victims.

Update #1:
[deleted]

From Multiple deaths feared in hostage-taking - Crime & courts- msnbc.com:

NBC's Pete Williams cited city and state officials as saying that as many 13 people might have been killed. But Williams cautioned that the information was very preliminary and may change by because police were still searching the building.

At least 41 people were in the American Civic Association building at the time of the shooting, The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.  read more »