Lauder Falls In Line For Bloomberg's Attempt At 3rd Term

Ron Lauder, who's family name is better known for make-up, decided to flip sides on the issue of term limits. He had donated his time and money towards the cause of keeping term limits they way they are for most of this month. Now that Wall Street is in a panic and we are in a new year (L' Shanah Tovah everyone) the wealthy Upper East Side billionaire is backing another wealthy Upper East Side billionaire that also happens to be the current Mayor.

From The NY Post:

Mayor Bloomberg geared up to seek a third term after the path to four more years was cleared yesterday when billionaire term-limits advocate Ron Lauder vowed to support a change in the law that would allow Hizzoner to run again, The Post has learned.

In a surprise move, Lauder said in an exclusive interview with The Post that he would back a one-time extension from eight years to 12 years because he feels the city needs Bloomberg to help steer it through these perilous fiscal times.

Lauder's stunning move comes at a time when Bloomberg, according to sources, has told top aides he intends to seek a third term.

"I've been reading that Mayor Bloomberg might be interested in serving a third term," the cosmetics heir said.

"Because of the unprecedented times, this is welcome news. To me, Mayor Bloomberg's brilliance in the financial sector, particularly Wall Street, would be invaluable."

Invaluable to whom Mr. Lauder? Seriously, spare me the excuses of turning your back on the will of the voters in NYC that put these limits in place. Just like when people like you recommended that Rudy stay in past his term because of 9/11, it is ridiculous that we circumvent the rule of law simply because Wall Street screwed up. On top of that, it is people of Bloomberg's ilk that put us in this mess to begin with. What New York needs is a leader, not more of this media manager that favors corporatism over the people of the city.

A Song To Sarah: "I Can See Russia From Alaska"

Matthew Brookshire picks up the Ukelele and plays an ode to Sarah Palin:



Absolutely brilliant! I wonder if those animals in the music video live in ANWR? Hmmm...

Oh and on a side note, the New Yorker seems to think it would take a powerful set of binoculars to even catch a glimpse.

Bailing Out Rich Financial Firms Doesn't Make Sense, So Follow The Money

"Follow the money" has almost become a cliché in Washington and for how business is done in our capitol. The reason is because like most clichés, there is a fundamental truth between money and politics and the outcome of legislation when the two are added together. Take yesterday's bailout bill for example, it was a close vote and not political party had little to do with whether one Congresscritter voted for it or didn't. If anything, it was the leadership of both majority and minority that were for it and the legislators lower down the totem poll voted nay.

Answering why that may be, OpenSecrets has an idea:

WASHINGTON -- Members of the House of Representatives who supported bailing out the financial sector with $700 billion in taxpayer money have received 51 percent more in campaign contributions from the finance, insurance and real estate sector in their congressional careers than those who opposed the emergency legislation, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics calculated following the 228-205 vote on Monday that defeated the House bill.

Examining campaign contributions from the industries that were most eager to see the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 passed, the Center found that the gap between lawmakers who supported the bailout and those who successfully opposed it was especially wide among House Democrats.

In this election cycle, Democrats backing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's proposal have collected 78 percent more from the finance, insurance and real estate (or FIRE) sector than those in their caucus who opposed it and, over time, 88 percent more. In dollar figures, the 140 Democrats who supported the bailout proposal have received $792,744 over their careers from the FIRE sector and $188,572 in this cycle, on average. The 95 Democrats who voted against the bill have received $420,686 over their careers and $105,878 in the 2007-2008 cycle. (CRP's campaign finance data goes back to the 1990 election cycle, or the calendar year 1989.)

The 65 Republicans who backed the bill have collected $1,078,533 from the finance sector in their careers and an average of $185,461 toward this election. The 133 Republicans who led the opposition to the bailout have collected, on average, $705,297 over their careers in Congress and $150,381 in this election cycle alone. That translates into a difference of about 23 percent in this cycle and 53 percent over time.

If you head over there to the full article, the nifty graphs show that Republicans got more whether they voted yea or nay based on the natural affinity for Wall Street over in the GOP. Yet the strongest correlation is the money, not partisan identification. The true problem in Washington is the money, hands down. The Center for Responsive Politics does an excellent job of highlighting the discrepancies and should elicit the public to question their representatives on their vote and why they received so much money from the financial sector.

Now while persuadable politicians are a problem, they are merely a symptom of the much larger systemic ailment we endure. If we were able to clean up the system so that money were given from a public account, politicians would be held more accountable by the people and not the industries that fuel their campaigns and cushy retirement gigs. If you live in Arizona or Maine you know what I'm talking about at the state and local level, imagine how much better things would get if we could develop a similar system nation-wide. There are plans in development to go Federal, but they need all of our support, if we do not push our legislators to action, it'll never happen, because it is in their interest to stay elected and ultimately an informed citizenry (with clean elections) wrests power from corporate America and gives it back to the people.

Palin Shows Ignorance Of The Supreme Court

Except for the Supreme Court ruling legalizing a woman's right to choose, Sarah Palin knows nothing about what the Court has done. That's right, nothing, nada, zip. She wasn't asked if she knew there were nine justices currently sitting, so perhaps she knew what most grade school children are taught. Of course, kids in high school are instructed on Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and dozens of other influential cases throughout our history that have helped define us as a nation. One would think and hope a woman that wants to be a heartbeat from the Presidency would know this stuff but sadly, you'd be wrong.

From Politico:

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

That silence was most likely deafening to Couric and most certainly will be to the American people. We as a nation demand more of our leaders. When those that wish to ascertain power from the consent of the governed can not even recall what it is one of the three co-equal branches of government does is a sad statement for that candidate. Meanwhile on the Democratic ticket, we have Joe Biden, who is well-versed on the Court, including an incredible display of insight and tact that led to the defeat of Robert Bork's nomination to the Court. That contest made Republicans red in the face but no one could deny his commanding presence when it came to fulfilling the Senate's duty to scrutinize the President's pick for the Supreme Court. I seriously wonder if Sarah Palin is aware of that time in our recent history.

McCain And Palin Attack The Media In First Interview

There are plenty of reasons to criticize the media, but when they ask valid questions of candidates the people have a right to their honest answers. With John McCain and Sarah Palin, instead of being forthright with voters they blame the media for daring to act as defenders of our democracy.

While McCain Was Busy Gimmicking, Congress Derails Bailout For Time Being

While most of the candidates were out campaigning, John McCain stayed behind at his Arlington headquarters so he could pretend he was in Congress being a bi-partisan maverick, or something like that. In fact, he had his whole brigade claiming that he was there to bring the bill in and get passed, when in reality we saw a majority of Republicans and some Democrats opposing it. The defeated bill then caused the largest drop in the Dow ever recorded, nearly a seven percent loss of the total value. There were many reasons to vote against it for Democrats and Republicans and in the end the American people were saved from the largest legit robbery of the poor to pay the rich. And to top it off, the media is now blaming McCain for coming in and screwing everything up.

From Crooks and Liars:

Chris Matthews cuts through the spin and pins the blame squarely where it should be: On House Republicans and John McCain who promised to deliver their vote.

“McCain said he was going to lead the Republican charge, he was going to make sure that this was a bipartisan success. He called charge, and the Republican retreated. That’s what happened here. “

Politico’s Mike Allen writes:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder that will prolong the McCain’s campaign’s difficulty in finding a winning message on the economy.

Think about how bad this is for McCain. He “suspended” his campaign last week and promised to get the House GOP on board. The bill failed today because those very same Republicans bailed once Pelosi hurt their feelings. McCain put his leadership credentials on the line and failed. Not a little fail, but an Epic Fail. And the worst part about it is he and his campaign have been claiming for the past 48 hours that it was McCain’s leadership that got the bill passed.

So John, when will we see the humble side of you and admit that your intervention helped make this mess even larger? Oh, that's right, never. McCain's leadership skills are in the gutter, proven by his inability to rein in his party after saying repeatedly that he would. John may have acted heroic in Vietnam, but as a Senator and Presidential nominee, he is clearly anything but.

Palin Lied To Couric About "Trade Missions"

Even though we haven't seen all of the footage from the Katie Couric interview of Sarah Palin, so far it has been quite painful to listen to her answers. On Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey used the responses verbatim, no need to tweak something for the audience when it is already laugh out loud funny (tragically so I might add). We also know she is a pathological liar and not unexpectedly, there was a whopper in there about Alaska and Russia.

From RawStory:

Research doesn't show a single Alaska-Russia trade mission since former Democratic governor Tony Knowles visited Siberia in 1997, when Palin was running Wasilla, according to Salon.com.

When the reporter asked gubernatorial spokeswoman Kate Morgan about this issue, she refused to answer. Morgan claimed she couldn't legally discuss the matter because she is a state employee and the reporter had learned about the trade missions through the Couric interview, which stems from her bid for the Oval Office.

Spokespeople for the McCain/Palin campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Palin has never visited Russia and had never traveled outside of North America until last year, the Associated Press reported. The vice presidential candidate had never met a foreign leader until a trip to New York this week.

Another day, another lie care of Sarah Palin. Now how exactly do Republicans say with any credibility that she's trustworthy? Oh yeah thats right, they don't.

Obama Aide Calls Out Right Wing Tools On Fox

Obama aide Robert Gibbs went on Fox and Friends this morning (why he bothered, I don't know) to talk politics. At one point Steve Doocy decided to bring up the right wing's latest whining fest over a bracelet Obama wears for a Gold Star mother. McCain's cheerleaders have complained that he shouldn't wear it because the father of the fallen soldier did not want his son to be used for political gain. Of course their gripe was debunked as soon as his mother applauded Barack Obama for mentioning his son during the debate and berating anyone that criticized him for it.

Watch as Gibbs puts an immediate end to their unsubstantiated and false gossip, while Fox and Tools go on the defensive:

How Not To Win Over The Latino Vote

Across the country and specifically in the Southwest, capturing the Latino vote is increasingly important for any politician. Listening to and offering solutions that meet their needs is essential to gaining the trust of the fastest growing ethnic groups in America. Over on the GOP side, that advice doesn't seem to be taken to heart. Of course, if you are working to elect Republicans, make sure to not expose your true feelings on the matter, or you could find yourself out of a job.

From USA Today:

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The spokeswoman for the Republican Party in Nevada's most populous county was removed from her post Saturday, after she said the Democratic Party made black people "dependent on the government."

Didi Lima, the Clark County GOP communications director, also was removed from her volunteer role as a Hispanic community liaison for Republican John McCain's presidential campaign over the remarks made earlier in the day while working at a McCain campaign booth.

"We don't want (Hispanics) to become the new African-American community," Lima told The Associated Press. "And that's what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps and checks for this and checks for that. We don't want that."

"I'm very much afraid that the Democratic Party is going to do the same thing that they did with the African-American culture and make them all dependent on the government and we don't want that," she said.

First some advice for Didi Lima, if I were you I'd avoid black people at all costs. That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard and if you said it in front of the group you are addressing, you should start running and move fast. Now that you are out of a job, perhaps you could help these guys out and start selling waffles.

As for Hispanics, I believe as a group people would rather vote for the party that wants to give them a hand up and a fair society to live in just like the rest of us. For some odd reason, people generally do not vote for the party that likes to take away their civil liberties, including the one that gives all Americans the right to vote.

How Sweet Will This New Year (5769) Be?

In my culture/tradition/religion that is Judaism, we mark the turn of the Jewish (lunar) calendar with High Holiday services, well-wishings for a sweet new year and symbolize it by eating apples dipped in honey. Well I have my apples ready but a sweet new year is going to take much more than a bunch of carbohydrates in my system.

For those that know me (and the thousands that have walked by me in front of coffeeshops with wireless internet here in NYC) I have a 'controversial' bumper sticker on the front of my laptop that reads " Spiritual People Inspire Me -- Religious People Frighten Me." To say the least, it turns heads, amusing me when I look up to see people's reactions, or lack there of. Every once in a while I get some positive responses, people that come up to me and commend me for it. I've never received negative feedback but rarely have I opened this Macbook outside of New York or some other liberal city. In my opinion, I think a lot of people understand it to mean that I'm atheist, agnostic or something of the kind. The reason I put it up though is more of a critique of organized religion and the hate that fostered by too many religious "leaders" no matter what faith they ascribe to. I believe that one can be both religious and spiritual but there are plenty out there that only go with the former.

Over recent millenia, millions upon millions have died while believing that "God was on their side." Leaders, or potential leaders that talk in that manner have no business leading anything but their own narrow minds out the door and far away from public service. The only thing that comes from that divisive language is fear, violence and death.

Fear is what guides Danny Funderburk, the Mayor of Fort Mill when he sent a chain email along questioning if Obama is the anti-Christ. His excuse for peddling these lies was that he was curious about scripture relating to current events. That is the kind of news that makes me pray for the safety and sanity of Fort Mill's residents. The anti-Christ crap was disproved as fast as it was sprung, but the real issue here is the ignorance and hatred for blacks, Muslims and anyone that does not fit the norm of those that hold the majority of power in this country, that was what propagated the email in the first place.

So it's an email, just a bunch of 1's and 0's that come together to form a "question" about a candidate running for office. No big deal right? Wrong. Emails that show people's ignorance is just the beginning, just as Germans were taught to loathe the Jews amongst them in the 1920s. No one back then thought the ideas in the punditry and press of the time would manifest itself into violence, but hindsight shows us the horrific reality that ensued in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Yeah, the holocaust was the most gruesome events of the 20th century but that would never happen in America. We accept all cultures and religions, it even says so in our Constitution. There is no need to worry and no reason to compare the holocaust to the United States in 2008, right?

My answer to that question....is to use that reasoning of "it'll never happen here" to the Muslim community in Dayton, Ohio. On Friday night someone took it upon themselves to spray a toxic gas into a mosque full of congregants celebrating Ramadan. Young and old alike were coughing, wheezing and falling short of breath. Imagine if that happened at your church, synagogue or other house of worship. The pain of the irritant, the fear, the panic of the crowd and the feeling of helpness caused by fellow human beings that were propelled to act in this manner.

That was a religiously-motivated act. It was the result of a deluge of propaganda that tells Americans we are in a holy war against Islam. Listening to Rush, Hannity, Malkin, Prager and other right wing bigots for years on end has the ability to cause events like these. Messages of religion do not just come from priests, ministers, rabbis and Imams. In a country where there are a powerful few that wish to make us into a Christian nation, you do not have to hear the "word of the Lord" by stepping foot in a Church. Sure, you can find spiritual messages, but here in America today, they are drowned out by the cacophony of hate and ignorance that can be found on Fox News, some other cable shows and a multitude of Op-Ed pages around the country. It makes Muslims feel like an oppressed minority of our land of the free.

When I attend services tonight, at an interfaith service with my Protestant girlfriend, my laptop will be staying at home along with the bumper sticker. However, when I bite into that crisp, honey-dipped apple, my thoughts will be with the congregants of that mosque. There should be nothing controversial about that, yet for some strange reason far too many people in the religious right, people of my own faith and the right-wing pundits on TV disagree. So my prayers of a sweet new year will be directed at those who either directly or indirectly perpetrated the attack on them last Friday so that perhaps in the coming year we can reduce the ignorance that exists in our country and our world.

What Sarah Palin Dreams Of At Night

From Daily Kos:



Scary stuff, ain't it?

McCain Confesses To Plan Taxing Your Health Care

At the debate on Friday, Barack Obama called out John McCain for wanting to tax people's health care plans they had at their job. Up on stage in front of nearly 60 million people, he dodged Obama's charge. The maverick socialist corporatism believer knows that this will result in many employers' choosing to drop costly plans altogether. Meanwhile the greedy health care industry continues to take in more money. McCain may not have wanted to come clean on Friday, but he admitted to it yesterday on This Week with Stephanopolous.

From Think Progress:

Today, during an interview on ABC’s This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finally admitted that his health care tax credits would not cover the costs of a comprehensive health insurance plan:

Actually, my position is that it will be, it will give people actually more money to go out and purchase tax - health insurance on their own and only those with the Cadillac gold-plated health insurance policies today are the ones who might suffer from it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So they would see their taxes go up potentially.

MCCAIN: It depends on, on, on what plan they have. But that’s usually the wealthiest people. Ordinary working Americans have the kind of - or an overwhelming majority have the health insurance plans that this tax credit, refundable tax credit, will actually put more money in their pockets for the purchase of health care than what they had before.

Of course, that is also a lie but when a politician like McCain spews tremendous amounts bullshit on a daily basis, a few nuggets of truth may fall through the cracks. Far from wealthy Cadillac owners, this plan would be a huge burden to the middle class. It would undoubtly serve to reduce the amount of workers that can obtain health insurance while allowing for premiums to stay high for the insurance companies that relentlessly raise their rates every year.