Three cheers to former Congressman Vito Fossella. He’s putting his prejudice ahead of his self-interest. I would have thought that since Islam allows men to have up to 4 wives, Vito would have converted by now.
Three cheers to former Congressman Vito Fossella. He’s putting his prejudice ahead of his self-interest. I would have thought that since Islam allows men to have up to 4 wives, Vito would have converted by now.
http://capitaltonight.com/2010/09/fossella-vs-the-mosque/
Former Rep. Vito Fossella sent an e-mail today asking fellow Staten Islanders to join him for a “peaceful gathering… to speak out on the proposed mosque to be built near Ground Zero.”
You might not have noticed it, but two terrorists who tried to attack Kennedy Airport were convicted in Federal Court in Brooklyn this week.
You might not have noticed it, but two terrorists who tried to attack Kennedy Airport were convicted in Federal Court in Brooklyn this week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/nyregion/03kennedy.html
After reading & hearing the arguments about putting Khalid Sheik Mohammed on trial in a civilian court in New York, you might be shocked to learn the following about the case:
*The trial lasted one month, not five years
*A jury not afraid to convict terrorists was found
*Security did not shut down Downtown Brooklyn and did not cost millions of dollars
*Residents living in Brooklyn Heights were not forced to move out during the trail
*Subways kept running
*There was no attempt to free them by other terrorists
*Terrorists did not attack the courthouse
*The trial was not a propaganda victory for terrorists who are now heroes through out the Muslim world
After the commercial break, the Mayor continued on the same theme: ''Those are actually the basic fundamental questions that need to be asked, that often aren't and then we displace the responsibility to the police. What about the parents? How was the child brought up? What values were they given? What ethics were they taught? What happened in their church? What didn't happen? These are the basic things that create a lawful society, a decent society.''
After the commercial break, the Mayor continued on the same theme: ''Those are actually the basic fundamental questions that need to be asked, that often aren't and then we displace the responsibility to the police. What about the parents? How was the child brought up? What values were they given? What ethics were they taught? What happened in their church? What didn't happen? These are the basic things that create a lawful society, a decent society.''
Staten Island District Attorney and Republican candidate for Attorney General Dan Donovan is promising not to seek higher office for two years after completing his tenure if he wins the state Attorney General's job.
Staten Island District Attorney and Republican candidate for Attorney General Dan Donovan is promising not to seek higher office for two years after completing his tenure if he wins the state Attorney General's job.
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knickerbocker/donovan_takes_pledge_in_ag_race_oKaOHAChxFBEM0hCBd3jMI
"I'm making this pledge because I believe New Yorkers should have confidence that the person they elected Attorney General is there for one reason only, and that's to serve the people of this state, not their own personal ambitions or aspirations," Donovan declared in an interview with WABC-TV that airs Sunday morning.
I wonder if the WABC reporter followed up be asking Donovan why he didn’t make the same pledge to Staten Islanders. After all, he was re-elected last year and he is now running for higher office. Isn’t he serving his personal ambitions or aspirations rather than serving the people of the Island?
As sure as death & taxes, one pedicatable result of the signing of LeBron James by the Miami Heat was an op-ed by a Manhattan Institute scholar in the NY Post making a claim about New York’s high taxes versus Florida not having any income tax.
As sure as death & taxes, one pedicatable result of the signing of LeBron James by the Miami Heat was an op-ed by a Manhattan Institute scholar in the NY Post making a claim about New York’s high taxes versus Florida not having any income tax.
Josh Barro wrote –
In addition to sunny beaches and fabulous people, one of Miami’s finest features is its lack of an income tax. Florida’s zero rate compares favorably to Ohio’s top rate of 6.24% (plus 2% local tax in Cleveland). And it looks like heaven compared to the top rate of 12.62% in New York City, which is the highest in the country due to a 2009 “temporary” tax increase.
Barro is honest enough to say that the tax issue may not have been a major factor in James’ decision. But if it meant any difference to highly paid free agents, wouldn’t the tax free paradise of Florida have been attractive to these guys before last week?
You couldn’t tell it by looking at the Florida teams in the 3 salary capped leagues.
Miami Heat’s star player before last week was Dwayne Wade, who was drafted not signed as a free agent.
The other NBA team, the Orlando Sun’s star is Dwight Howard, also drafted not signed as a free agent.
And the Miami Dolphins or Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL nor the Tampa Bay Lighting and Florida Panthers of the NHL have been the leaders in signing free agents.
But Barro doesn’t have to look at sports stars to see that being forced to pay state income taxes doesn’t necessarily affect where someone chooses to live.
He could consider a person much richer than LeBron James, who has businesses all over the world, who could live anywhere he wants and chooses to live in and pay taxes in New York City. The person paying Barro for the op-ed. His name is Rupert Murdoch.
Struggling CNN is moving from its perch as a reliably lefty news source and positioning itself as a carnival sideshow. How else to explain Post reports that the network is close to signing the delusional, hooker-loving ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer as a chat host?
My question to Ms. Peyser – what would she call a newspaper that employs Ashley Dupre as a columnist?
Struggling CNN is moving from its perch as a reliably lefty news source and positioning itself as a carnival sideshow. How else to explain Post reports that the network is close to signing the delusional, hooker-loving ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer as a chat host?
My question to Ms. Peyser – what would she call a newspaper that employs Ashley Dupre as a columnist?
The U.S government can’t force troubled British energy giant BP to defer shareholder dividends or establish an escrow fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNBC Tuesday, noting that any effort by the White House to do so is merely “political posturing.”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard06162010.html
DEAL REACHED: BP has agreed to finance a $20 billion escrow fund to pay claims to people who lost income in the Gulf Coast oil spill, an administration source tells POLITICO. Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of payments to families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, will oversee the fund..
The U.S government can’t force troubled British energy giant BP to defer shareholder dividends or establish an escrow fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNBC Tuesday, noting that any effort by the White House to do so is merely “political posturing.”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard06162010.html
DEAL REACHED: BP has agreed to finance a $20 billion escrow fund to pay claims to people who lost income in the Gulf Coast oil spill, an administration source tells POLITICO. Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of payments to families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, will oversee the fund..
Because of the various investigations, the Daily News has called upon Andrew Cuomo to refuse to take the endorsement of the Working Families Party as has the NY Post, which also criticized Cuomo for accepting the Independence Party’s support.
Because of the various investigations, the Daily News has called upon Andrew Cuomo to refuse to take the endorsement of the Working Families Party as has the NY Post, which also criticized Cuomo for accepting the Independence Party’s support.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/16/2010-05-16_cancel_the_party_andy.html
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/andrew_duty_7j6U7uzTbQVqus22W6witK
I wonder if either paper will call upon Rick Lazio to refuse support from a Party that sold its line last year to a candidate who opposes almost everything its platform.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/07/ballot-line-bonanza.html
The going rate for a ballot line in New York City appears to be $250,000.
That's how much it cost Mayor Bloomberg to win over the initially recalcitrant city Republican committees and earn the right to run a third time on their ballot line.
Four of the five county GOPs have filed their July 15 campaign finance reports, and each has received $50,000 apiece from the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned independent mayor.
(Richmond County has yet to file, but a GOP source says the mayor was careful to give everyone the same amount).
“I believe strongly that he’ll be the next governor, and we’re proud to hold his coat on the way to the governor’s mansion.”
My advice to Andrew – if McKay or any of the other grifters who run the Independence Party ever hold your coat, check to make sure your wallet is still there afterwards!
“I believe strongly that he’ll be the next governor, and we’re proud to hold his coat on the way to the governor’s mansion.”
My advice to Andrew – if McKay or any of the other grifters who run the Independence Party ever hold your coat, check to make sure your wallet is still there afterwards!
Robbins writes –
... it should be worth the trouble to aim some of that fury at Espada's enablers. These are the deep-pocketed sponsors who have been all too happy to profit from this scoundrel regardless of his obvious taint.
The names on the checks to New Yorkers for Espada are among real estate's most prestigious. They came from the Rudin family, the respected builders, who gave some $4,000; from Leonard Litwin, the grand old man of luxury rentals, who gave another $5,000; from Donald Capoccia, the successful developer who depends on government subsidies, who gave thousands more.
Robbins writes –
... it should be worth the trouble to aim some of that fury at Espada's enablers. These are the deep-pocketed sponsors who have been all too happy to profit from this scoundrel regardless of his obvious taint.
The names on the checks to New Yorkers for Espada are among real estate's most prestigious. They came from the Rudin family, the respected builders, who gave some $4,000; from Leonard Litwin, the grand old man of luxury rentals, who gave another $5,000; from Donald Capoccia, the successful developer who depends on government subsidies, who gave thousands more.
Fair enough, I say. But reviews of the last two filings by New Yorkers for Espada show that it’s not only the real estate community that serve as Pedro’s enablers.
Since it did not follow the progressive, and Robbins is nothing if not a progressive who supports organized labor, he left out of the story, following union contributors to Espada who have given him a total of $17,900 since 2009 -
NYS AFL-CIO
DC 37
Vote/COPE
Local 32BJ
NYS Association of PBAs
UFCW Local 1500
Transit Supervisors Organization
Local 372, DC 37
NYS Correction Officers PBA
NY State Court Clerks Association
Steamfitters Local 638
NYS Troopers
IBEW Educational Committee
Public Employees Federation
Detectives Endowment Association
NYS Nurses Association
Bridge & Tunnel Officers PBA
TBTA Superior Officers Benevolent Association
Suffolk County Correction Officers Association
Soft Drink Brewery Workers
Mr. Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, leads 32 Senate Democrats, a tissue-thin majority. Most of his members, like most of Mr. Silver’s, are from safe districts in New York City. But the most vulnerable Senate Democrats are from places like Long Island, the North Country and Oneida County, occupying districts that were drawn for — and until recently represented by — Republicans.
Should even one of those members lose without a Democratic pickup somewhere else, Mr. Sampson’s majority will become a minority come January.
Mr. Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, leads 32 Senate Democrats, a tissue-thin majority. Most of his members, like most of Mr. Silver’s, are from safe districts in New York City. But the most vulnerable Senate Democrats are from places like Long Island, the North Country and Oneida County, occupying districts that were drawn for — and until recently represented by — Republicans.
Should even one of those members lose without a Democratic pickup somewhere else, Mr. Sampson’s majority will become a minority come January.
Number of State Senators –
62
Present breakdown –
Democrats –
32
Republicans –
30
Breakdown if one of the Democratic members lose without a Democratic pickup somewhere else –
Democrats – 31
Republicans – 31
John Harris of Politico reported on a story by Room 8 co-founder Ben Smith about union leaders pressuring Democratic Congressmen to vote in favor of the health insurance plan.
Harris pointed to the role being played by Andy Stern, President of the SEIU.Zuckerman, in an obvious attempt to imply that Obama is a corrupt as those horrible Clintons, stated said that Stern was #1 on the list of people who had overnight stays at the White House.
John Harris of Politico reported on a story by Room 8 co-founder Ben Smith about union leaders pressuring Democratic Congressmen to vote in favor of the health insurance plan.
Harris pointed to the role being played by Andy Stern, President of the SEIU.Zuckerman, in an obvious attempt to imply that Obama is a corrupt as those horrible Clintons, stated said that Stern was #1 on the list of people who had overnight stays at the White House.
Mort, in order to show that he is influential enough to know the powerful and non-partisan enough to joke with them, then said that Stern was a nice guy and that he had told Stern that the Obama administration were going to name a room after him.
Since, I have not read or heard of anybody complaining about Obama “renting out the Lincoln bedroom” (one of the most ridiculous charges made during the Clinton years), I suspected Mort’s story had a few holes.
I did a Google search and found out that it was true that Stern had visited the White House more than any other non-government official last year. But I found no evidence from even critics of Stern that he had ever spent a single night in the White House. All his visits were for meetings during the day.
http://www.atr.org/seiu-president-andy-stern-visits-white-a4152
What did we learn about Mort Zuckerman from these 2 minutes -
1 - Mort doesn't do so well without his ghostwriters. As Ben Smith pointed out a few weeks ago when Mort was taking his turn among the millions who will be mentioned as an opponent to Senator Gillibrand –
Zuckerman a public voice; his column runs in U.S. News, and he appears regularly on Sunday TV talk shows such as “The McLaughlin Group,” often identified merely as a U.S. News columnist.
The production of his column, in fact, has been the subject of a great deal of lore in the magazine world. The New Yorker reported in 2007 that the process begins when he calls a secretary to dictate his ideas. The secretary sends her rough copy to legendary British editor Harry Evans in New York, and Evans’s copy then appears on the desk of the U.S. News editor of the moment.
2 - Mort was almost certainly lying about his conversation with Stern. If Stern has never stayed over at the White House, a joke about naming a room after him makes no sense.
3 - Mort was smart enough to know running for public office was dumb idea.
Today’s New York Times reports on the latest candidate who thinks he can beat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Today’s New York Times reports on the latest candidate who thinks he can beat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
It’s Dan Senor, whose main claims to fame is his service as the Bush administrator’s chief liar in Iraq and that he is very lucky in love.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/fashion/weddings/09vows.html
I don’t think we have a Senator Senor in our future but one sentence in the story stood out as it either reflects on either how lazy the Times has become in reporting on politicians or gives us a rather loose definition of a social moderate..
He is known as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, a combination that eventually defined Alfonse M. D’Amato’s time in the United States Senate from New York.
If Michael Barbaro, the Times reporter who wrote those words took a minute to Google the words Al D’Amato Right to Life, he could have the following FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES!
Mr. D'Amato has voted with the Right to Life Party 100 percent of the time on abortion-related legislation during his 18 years in the Senate.
The abortion rights league's scorecard shows that in 18 years, Mr. D'Amato opposed the league's position in 92 out of 101 votes, or 91 percent of the time. Those included votes for a constitutional amendment to allow states to ban abortion, for a ban on a procedure that opponents call partial birth abortion, against legislation protecting abortion clinics from blockades and against financing abortion and other family planning services in foreign countries.
Here’s some of what they wrote –
With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century...
The majority is deeply wrong on the law. Most wrongheaded of all is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights.
It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.
Here’s some of what they wrote –
With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century...
The majority is deeply wrong on the law. Most wrongheaded of all is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights.
It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.
The Times suggested Congress & President Obama respond in a number of ways, including –
It should also enact a law requiring publicly traded corporations to get the approval of their shareholders before spending on political campaigns.
Today, the Times, which is a corporation and therefore, according to the Times, not entitled to the same First Amendment rights as people, gave away ¼ of their Op-Ed page to Harold Ford to announce he was wasn’t going to run for Senator.
This free advertisement for Ford (worth over $100,000 if he bought an ad) allowed him to explain what a great job he would have done in the Senate and did not include any announcement that he would never run for office in the future.
In case you forgot, last year the Times did the same favor for Congressman Anthony Weiner, who announced that he wasn’t running for Mayor in 2009 and in 2008 for Mike Bloomberg, who used the Times valuable space to say he wasn’t running for President that year.
Everybody I know thinks Weiner is running for Mayor in 2013 and most think Mike is, at least, thinking about running for President in 2012.
To the best of my knowledge, the Times did not get the approval of their shareholders before making these in-kind contributions to Ford, Weiner or Bloomberg.
But since Mr. Sulzberger doesn’t think he’s like a 19th century robber baron, I guess it’s OK.