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Gatemouth's blogPutting "The Gateway" in Perspective, and Exhuming its Prehistory
A few months ago I began an experiment, by changing the format of this department. As I noted then, I spend too much time on Facebook, and it displaced my time on Room 8 as my #1 time waster, but while Facebook displaced Room 8 in my life, Room 8, in its own way displaced Facebook. I started my Facebook life making somewhat edgier versions of David Barry-like observations, combined with opining about Rock and Roll’s roots and branches; and except for posting links to my Gate pieces, barely let politics include, even during the primary season.
But somehow, in a manner resembling my current obsession with the Young Men’s Islamic Association proposed for The Holy Mother Coat Factory, I became obsessed with passing health care reform, and specifically with the idiotic left wing efforts to sabotage it because the achievable was not good enough. The Gateway (Putting My Caveats in a Row Edition)
Young Men’s Islamic Association developer Sharif El-Gamal seems to enjoy the gamier side of life a bit too much to be a Wahabbist, and seems too angry to be a Sufi; he bears a far greater resemblance to a US Senator from Louisiana crossed with a State Senator from Flatbush.
Nonetheless, it is worth remembering that if NYC barred the sleazy from the development of real estate projects, our skyline would resemble that of Dayton, Ohio, but with more open spaces. Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal has a history of run-ins with the law www.nydailynews.com
The Gateway (You Say Sharia and I Say Halacha--Shabat Salaam Edition)
"A singer who performed in front of a “mixed audience” of men and women was lashed 39 times to make him 'repent.'" Shabbat Shalom everyone! FailedMessiah.com: Rabbinic Court Gives "Sinning" Singer 39 Lashes failedmessiah.typepad.com The State Senate Primaries (Part Two): Basil "Faulty" and the Charter School Boys Choir
GATEMOUTH: And while I share the DLC’s willingness not to invariably come down on the sides of the unions or other traditional liberal allies (say, on charter schools), I find that, on many of these issues (like charter schools), I end up skeptical about the new ideas in actual practice. LEON WIESELTIER: …The New York Times published a warming story about the rage for charter schools among hedge-fund managers. It appeared in "Sunday Styles," and was a fine glimpse into the current fashion of "social entrepreneurship" and "philanthrocapitalism“….But what irked me… was the usurpation of the moral prestige of the public sector by the social prestige of the private sector…one of the most effective methods for the delegitimation of government in our day has been the notion that charity may do the work of public policy, that private wealth is the answer to social crisis.
The Gateway (Thinking of Changing the Name to "The Daily Chutzpah" Edition)
Chutzpah of the day: Barron calls Fidler a racist without cause, and then says Fidler is the one who needs to apologize. Councilman Lew Fidler Abandons Challenge To Freedom Party Petitions: Updated www.nydailynews.com
The Gateway (Oh Tannenbaum Edition)
Chutzpah Award of the Day The Gateway (Reshma Saujani Learns Yiddish Edition)
I don't know if one could call it ethnic pandering, but Congressional candidate Reshma Saujani has gone out of her way to show she knows the meaning of the word "chutzpah," by criticizing her opponent, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, for being insufficiently supportive of the Young Men's Islamic Association proposed to be located at the Holy mother Coat Factory. The State Senate Primaries (Part One): Play it in the Key of Be Sharp
For Democrats, liberals, “progressives” and reformers, this year’s elections for New York State Senate usually are thought to involve achievement of three goals: 1) keeping the Democratic Majority 2) Actually making the Democratic Majority Democratic (with a large “D,” though small “d” would be nice too). 3) Ensuring the passage of same-sex marriage. There are surely other aims as well, but (4) general liberal public policy goals (provided we can agree what they are, and (5) process reforms, get talked about far far less, though they are usually thought to go part and parcel with goals (1) and (2).
The Gateway (Soap and Fertilizer Edition)
Carl Paladino wants to send the poor to prison to learn personal hygiene.
Query: will there be soap on a rope? Carl Paladino Will Teach Poor People to Stop Being So Dirty nymag.com Maybe Espada didn't report the cost of the food he gives away because he grows it himself; he certainly has an ample supply of fertilizer. Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada runs afoul of state Board of Elections over food giveaways - NYP www.nypost.com
The Gateway (Rauf Going Edition) [slightly revised]
Fox is giving aid and comfort to the enemy; don't we call that treason? Op-Ed Columnist - How Fox Betrayed Petraeus - NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com A devastating column which kills, burns and scatters the ashes at sea of any idea that there can be another site in Lower Manhattan for the Young Men's Islamic Association. Money quotes: "'There are a lot of developers and a lot of agencies that know a lot about downtown,' said Paterson, who indicated he was looking for 'surplus property or land transfers or title changes that would ameliorate this situation.' It's an interesting idea, except for one problem - there aren't any properties like that. A half-dozen sources who make their living worrying about downtown real estate - in government and in the private sector - say they know of no other suitable space. More telling is that none of them has heard even a whisper of a rumor that Paterson, or anyone on his behalf, has started looking. 'I don't think there's anything there,' said one of them. 'I think this is just an idea of the governor's. Nothing more.'" AND "Still, let's imagine the governor could find another spot, one he could have some influence over. For example, the MTA owns the cash-cow parking garage over the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but has in the past been curious about building a tower over the site. Since Albany regularly has its way with the MTA, suppose it master-planned a new office or apartment building there, setting aside space for Park51 as a community benefit. Suppose it found a lender willing to build a tower in a still-shaky market. Suppose it even won approval from multiple layers of government. Suppose Park51 decided to bow to the pressure to move, despite their constitutional right to stay there. That pipe dream would end up with an Islamic community center five blocks from Ground Zero. Does Paterson really think that would be enough to satisfy the critics?" Gov. Paterson's 'plan' for new site for mosque near ground zero not anchored in reality www.nydailynews.com Michael Goodwin, winner of the Coney Island Whitefish Award: A Little Luna and a Big Lunatic
“Historic district regulations sometimes don’t make a lot of sense,” said the article in a Brownstone Brooklyn weekly, quoting a gadfly on a local Community Board. The gadfly was me. I was reminded of this recently when someone pointed out to me that, despite my recent nasty, vicious, and obsessive crusade against the NY Post’s prime purveyor of anti-Islamic hatred, Andrea Peyser, Peyser and I shared a common bond: our aggressive but Quixotic crusades against two of Brownstone Brooklyn’s sacred cows, bicyclists and landmarks’ preservation.
The Gateway (The First Brooklyn and Then The World--If You Think The World's Manhattan--Edition)
The problem is Parker got the thing by beating up the ram. And Now For Something COMPLETELY Different: State Sen. Kevin Parker Blasts The Shofar www.nydailynews.com
The Gateway (All the Mosque Stuff Buried at the End Edition)
Senate candidate Randy Credico on his ballot access problem:
"I'm still a bit mystified by the manner in which I was kicked off. At the end I only had 13,350 out of the necessary 15,000 signatures. I thought I was well over the top when I turned those suckers in with your pals at the Board of Elections. However, I knew ...something weird was going on when I walked in and noticed half the people sitting in the lobby were waiting for me to drop off my share of the multi-candidate joint petition. The two others candidates on the petition had earlier submitted their "volumes" containing what I thought were 2/3rds of the 30,000 signatures we had agreed upon. Little did I know the two gentlemen who I was convinced were working with me were actually working against me. They turned in a wagonload of blank pages and then left Albany in brand new automobiles. The joke was on me as I was soon to discover. How I allowed those jack-offs to insinuate their sorry asses into my campaign is beyond my knowledge. But I hope they enjoy their new wheels. I am sure neither you, Senor Schumer, nor your campaign, had anything to do with this bizarre caper. No, not you guys!" Put a sock in it Randy, you have no one to blame but yourself. Not being particularly crazy about Senator Schumer, I actually signed Credico's petitions on one of the few sheets that was not a blank page. So while I'm not totally unsympathetic, I happen to know Credico had been warned by an election lawyer (who was also no fan of Schumer’s), that if Randy did business with Jimmy McMillan’s crazed anti-Semitic “rent is Too Damn High Party” he would get nothing but empty pages, and sure nuff Randy did business with Jimmy McMillan and blank pages was all that he got. If he'd only listened, or read Gatemouth's blog, all of this could have been avoided. Congratulations Chuck! You've Knocked Me Off the Democratic Primary Ballot www.huffingtonpost.com
The Catechism According to Monsignor Gatemouth
According to the N.Y. Times, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan has made a pronouncement that he would gladly help mediate between the proponents and critics of the Young Men’s Islamic Association proposed at the site of The Holy Mother Coat Factory.
Dolan said it was his “major prayer” that a compromise could be reached, and that while he had no strong feelings about the project, he might support finding a new location for the center. Archbishop Dolan invoked the example of Pope John Paul II, who in 1993 ordered Carmelite nuns to move from their convent at the former Auschwitz death camp after protests from Jewish leaders. “He’s the one who said, ‘Let’s keep the idea, and maybe move the address…It worked there; might work here.”The article goes on to note that Dolan defended the religious freedom of Muslims, but said the project’s leaders should heed the views of those who have criticized it as an affront to the memory of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. He added, “those who wonder about the wisdom of the situation of the mosque, near such a wounded site, ask what I think are some legitimate questions that I think deserve attention.” The Hendrik Hertzberg article I linked the other day details the ways in which the convent comparison is either untruthful or positively repugnant (e.g., in their fundraising appeal, the convent’s sponsors described the convent as “a spiritual fortress and a guarantee…as proof of our desire to erase outrages so often done to the Vicar of Christ,” which would seem to allude to the irrefutable documentation of Pope Pius XII’s inactivity in the area of trying to prevent the Holocaust), so I won't dwell upon that point. In fact, for the purpose of this article, I’ll stipulate that Dolan is correct in his analogy, and in his point that it is only the location that is objectionable, and not the mosque itself.
The Thing That Dr. Laura Spreads is Stripped Naked and Fully Exposed
SARAH PALIN (6/6/10): Helen Thomas press pals condone racist rant? Heaven forbid "esteemed" press corps represent society's enlightened elite; Rest of us choose truth SARAH PALIN (8/18/10): Dr. Laura don't retreat...reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend. rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence"isn't American, not fair") & SARAH PALIN (8/18/10): Dr. .Laura=even more powerful & effective w/out the shackles, so watch out Constitutional obstructionists. And b thankful 4 her voice, America!
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