Finally, Joe Bruno Indicted For Corruption!

After years of meticulously investigating the now-former Majority Leader of the New York State Senate, Joe Bruno has been indicted on eight counts of public corruption. It has been a long time coming for this day, but despite many denials from Mr. Bruno of wrongdoing, his time in court is soon at hand.

From The Times-Union:

ALBANY - A federal grand jury today indicted former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno on felony charges alleging he used his position to extract $3.2 million in private consulting fees from clients who sought to purchase his influence.

An 8-count indictment handed up today charges the 79-year-old Republican with corruption charges that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Bruno pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Albany and released without bail.

Bruno had spending thousands on lawyers in the last month, so he probably knew this was coming. Whether he knows shame from this, I sincerely doubt it. However, it is a great day for those of us that wish to clean up the filth in Albany and across our state. Bruno may have resigned his position last year, but it does not absolve him of the crimes he will be tried for. Further, I hope it serves as a warning to all current and future legislators that there is a price to be paid when you take the trust of the electorate and spit in their faces in the name of tainted influence and greed.

Of course, the possibility of him serving 20 years is probably nil. Forfeiting his assets and spending a few months or years behind bars is a little more likely.

Where Does The Progressive Grassroots Go From Here?

David Plouffe and Mitch Stewart have some ideas, and new program, Organizing for America, so that we, the "little people," can still have a big impact during the Obama Administration. It isn't just about getting one man elected, it is about changing our country in this new century so that the people are put first before corporations.

Obama Signals A New Way Between Israel And Gaza

The cease-fire is holding thus far between Israel and Gaza, but for how long can it last? Certainly not much if things remain the way they are. Thankfully, with Bush gone and Obama as President, the United States will do things differently, at least that is the new plan. For eight years, we have made empty promises of helping the region find peace, yet doing nothing for it. While Gaza remains closed off to the world, it will forever breed the endless cycle of violence between the people there and the Israelis outside. If Barack Obama has his way, we just might be able to break the cycle.

From The Financial Times:

“The outline for a durable ceasefire is clear: Hamas must end its rocket fire: Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza: the US and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot re-arm,” the US president said.

“As part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority participating.”

It may not be a panacea to the problems over there, but it is certainly a start. Simply giving arms and aid is not enough. You can not simply throw money and the might of the military-industrial complex and think that high-tech bloodshed will solve anything. Decades have passed and by the looks of the latest mini-war, we obviously had not learned the lesson shown to us over and over again. Both sides must now try something different. Perhaps it can be Obama's plan that will be a new beginning.

A Bailout For The MTA

The dire news from the MTA in the last few months has been nothing short of frightening for straphangers. Not only would we have to pay more for a fare, but we'd get less for it. Less service, more nastiness in subway stations, less money in our pockets and more aggravation when waiting for packed subway cars. Well, if Albany lawmakers follow through with their current sentiments, a large chunk of that money will coming out of a payroll tax instead of our checkbooks.

From The NY Daily News:

Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who previously opposed imposing new taxes, said Democrats would support the proposed tax if the business community agrees to it.

"It's really the last thing we want to take a look at, however, this is a classic example, I think, of shared sacrifice," Smith said Thursday.

The tax of one-third of 1% is a key component of the financial bailout plan crafted by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch. It would affect payrolls in New York City and the other counties the MTA serves.

Smith noted that most business groups, including the Partnership for New York City, have expressed support for the tax. Ravitch's plan, which has the support of Gov. Paterson, is intended to plug the MTA's $1.2 billion budget gap and head off draconian fare hikes and service cuts.

Even business groups have to realize that at these times, if they want to keep their workers happy, or at least complacent, they have to be able to commute to work without much of their wages going to their subway fare. A 0.33% payroll tax is a lot less of a burden to a business than $22 a month more (for the 30-Day Metrocard) to someone just trying to get by.

I know bailouts have gotten overplayed in the last couple of months, but this one that is sorely needed.

Rachel Maddow Goes Over Obama's Second Day

Just like the first day....oh, what a day it was:

NY Unemployment Outpaces The Nation

It is only by two-tenths of a percent, but New York's unemployment numbers were broken down and found to be higher than the national average (U3 numbers that is). I guess it isn't too surprising, especially with that infamous street downtown that's been hemorrhaging jobs but still full of greed. Like all previous news on NY's economy since September, it's just bad out there.

From The Gothamist:

Guess NY State will be borrowing unemployment funds for a while: New York City's unemployment rate rose to 7.4% in December, up from 6.3% in November. According to Crain's, this is the highest in almost five years and it's over the national unemployment rate, which is 7.2%. The NY State unemployment rate grew from 6% to 7% in December, with the state losing 49,300 jobs last month in December. The NY State Labor Department said, "In just the last three months, the state has lost more than 100,000 private sector jobs, including 49,300 in December 2008. This is the steepest one-month drop since October 2001 in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks." Another NYC stat from the NYS Labor Dept.: "Since December 2007, the number of nonfarm jobs has decreased by 53,600, or 1.4 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 49,100, or 1.5 percent."

And what makes all those big numbers worse is how we've handled the crisis so far. Thanks to Congress' unwillingness to put strings attached to the TARP money, Bushies allowed $4 billion of it to be paid out as bonuses to Merrill Lynch execs before Bank of America bought them out. That is four billion dollars gone to those that do not need it, four billion that could have helped families with nothing, or gone into this state right here with a $15 billion dollar budget gap. So many good uses are gone because the wealthy financial sector was able to feed their greed with money meant to help restart the economy.

I know President Obama has been making a lot of changes so far, but I hope this dynamic between the rich and poor gets metted out sooner than later.

Not Congresswoman Gillibrand, But Senator Gillibrand

So much for waiting till Saturday, or even Friday for that matter. Sources are confirming that Congresswoman Kristen Gillibrand will be appointed to fill the Junior Senator position for New York. She had been a top choice of the Governor lately and in the running for quite some time. The Empire State will now have a Senator from both upstate and downstate, unless you considered Chappaqua upstate.

From WPIX:

PIX NEWS is being told that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the reported choice of Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Two Congressional sources say members of the New York delegation have been invited to join Governor Paterson for the announcement in Albany at noon tomorrow.

Two members of that delegation, agreeing to speak without attribution, confirmed to reporter Marvin Scott that the Governor has telephoned New York's Democratic members of Congress for their views after Caroline Kennedy withdrew herself from consideration. One of the contenders, longterm Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney canceled a scheduled appearance on "PIX News Closeup" tomorrow because of a "conflict," which she did not disclose. She too will be in Albany. According to the sources, Gillibrand, now in her second congressional term, was favored by Secretary of State Clinton herself. Paterson has been under pressure to select a woman.

Now this second-term upstate and not-so-liberal Democratic Congresswoman will be representing all of New York. It does not matter that she is a woman, nor that her current district stretches north of Albany. What matters is...will she represent all of New York. Many on the left are worried about her positions on gun rights and whatnot. Yet from what the initial research shows, meaning a quick look at Progressive Punch, is not that shabby, with an 87.56 score. Sure, 165 members do better than her there, but she is still coming from an upstate NY district, one that was held by John Sweeney, yes, that John Sweeney.

Of course, this doesn't change my view that Paterson should have gone with a caretaker. And due to that bad decision, his appointee is already looking at primary challenges, even before being formally announced as the newest Senator. So if Gillibrand continues to be a blue dog in the Senate, as my Senator, she can rest assure that I will help in anyway possible to put a better Democrat in that seat next year.

Howard Dean At The DNC Winter Meeting

Thank you Howard for your four years of service at the DNC, the wonders you've helped foster in Washington have been some of the best for our party in a long, long time. You will definitely be missed.

When It Comes To Racism, We Still Have A Long Way To Go

While Rush Limbaugh leads his rabid wingnut followers further down the dark path into political obscurity, we here in reality still have to confront the horrors of racism. Tuesday was a great day for the country, to see an African American sworn in as our President is truly incredible. Yet not all is well and Obama is but a step on the right path. Just ask Pam Graf, who had her house burned down while traveling to Washington, because she was an Obama supporter.

From NorthFulton.com:

CUMMING - In the unseasonable cold of a clear January morning, Forsyth County mother of three and ardent Barack Obama supporter Pam Graf was sifting through the charred, hellish remains of what was once her home on Lanier Drive.

Graf's home had been burned to the ground. No one was in the home at the time of the blaze. Graf said her three children had been sent to stay with their father while she driving to attend the presidential inauguration.

Could it have just been an innocent fire, caused by faulty electrical system or a carelessly left candle?

Graf's home burned down early Jan. 18 in what authorities are calling a "suspicious fire." Most shocking to Graf, and to some of the citizens of the county, state and nation at large, was graffiti the apparent arsonist left on scene.

Spray painted on the fence around the home it said, "Beware [expletive deleted] your black boy will die."

Rush Limbaugh said to Sean Hannity this week (see link above) that, "You know racism in this country is the exclusive province of the left." No Rush, it belongs to all of us, to those that burn down houses, to those that fight it, to those that don't...and to those that try to deny it.

Congress Trades Mass Transit Investment For Tax Cuts

Harry Reid was right when he claimed that lobbyists are people too, but the intentions of some may differ from what the country needs at the moment. Over in the House chamber, the effects of K Street can be seen in the tweaks made to the upcoming economic stimulus, valued at around $850 billion dollars. The additional tax cuts tucked in there aren't just being tacked on, they're taking away funds from the budget to repair our nation's infrastructure, especially mass transit. The chair of the House transportation panel, Jim Oberstar (D-MN) has the goods on what happened.

From TPM:

That is why we set forth this $85-billion initiative from our committee. It's been reduced in the final going. We expect that it'll come out somewhere around $63 billion, but $30 billion for highways.

The reason for the reduction in overall funding -- we took money out of Amtrak and out of aviation; we took money out of the Corps of Engineers, reduced the water infrastructure program, the drinking water and the wastewater treatment facilities and sewer lines, reduced that from $14 billion to roughly $9 billion -- was the tax cut initiative that had to be paid for in some way by keeping the entire package in the range of $850 billion.

But I'll say that our portion is the one that really creates the jobs. Our portion of it is the one that's going to put people to work because unlike anything else, these jobs can't be outsourced to Bangalore, India.

The money is coming out of all the wrong places and you can thank the House leadership for that. Kudos to Oberstar for saying something to someone about the matter, but this cannot be the end of the story. We desperately need investment in our nation's infrastructure, far more than just another tax cut. The dividends a job pays is so much more than what too many lobbyists in D.C. are advocating for.

Obama Publicly And Officially Signs The Order To Close Guantanamo

To those that oppose torture, remember that elections have consequences...and here is one o them:

NY Struggles To Help The Unemployed, Borrowing From Feds To Keep Going

Unless you're living in a cave (or an ivory tower) it is hard to escape knowing how bad things are in these times. The economy is suffering like no other, thanks to the greed and mismanagement of those in the elite, coupled with the outrageous lending practices that they encouraged among everyone else.

Here in New York, like all the other states of our union, Americans are joining the ranks of the unemployed at an alarming rate. The latest numbers showed a U3 rate above 7%, while the combined rate of the underemployed is way above 13%. The government only pays benefits to laid off workers for six months (and for some in these times, nearly a year) but the addition of so many pink-slip laden workers has overwhelmed New York.

From The NY Times:

New York State’s unemployment insurance system, besieged by claims from laid-off workers, ran out of money on the first business day of the year and is borrowing daily from the federal government to bridge a fast-growing and potentially huge deficit, state labor officials say.

Despite paying lower benefits to its jobless residents than other Northeastern states, the state’s unemployment fund has been borrowing about $90 million a week from the federal unemployment trust fund, state officials said. The deficit has already reached $212 million and is expected to exceed $2.5 billion by the end of 2010, they said.

State officials say that the deficit does not threaten the continued payment of benefits.

But the loans could wind up costing the state’s unemployment fund more than $100 million in interest and could result in a punitive tax on all employers across the state two years from now, state officials and experts on the unemployment insurance system said.

Not only are times troubling for those out of work, but the state's system to handle the problem as well. Legislators should see this failure as an opportunity to rebuild a process that will stand up to the challenges we face. For too long the burden of maintaining our society has been slowly shifted onto the middle class. While we all must share in getting through these times, it is only fair that the wealthy among us do the same. If we are to have corporate welfare, there must at least be an equal amount of welfare for the rest of us, or else, eventually something will have to give.