WFP Challenges Bloomberg To Debate

Now that the courts have all but given the final go-ahead to Bloomberg for his re-election run, it is time for the candidates to make their case to the people on why they should be, or continue to be Mayor of New York City. So far media mogul turned mayor has spent more money on advertising than most people make in a lifetime. $7.5 million in ads, yet no debate. So the Working Families Party is calling him out on it.

From The Working Families Party:

In times like these, we need a real race for Mayor.

The NYC mayoral contest is already overloaded with 30-second TV ads and 15-second sound bites. Mayor Bloomberg alone has spent more than $7.5 million on advertising.

If it's not too soon to spend that kind of money, then it's not too soon to start engaging directly with the people of New York City on the issues that matter to us.

Candidates Bill Thompson and Tony Avella have accepted our invitation to the Amsterdam News / El Diario-La Prensa / Working Families Party debate. Mayor Bloomberg is the only one we're waiting on.

Go on and sign the petition so that Mayor Bloomberg realizes that the city is not going to just re-elect him because of his wealth. New Yorkers need to hear concrete ideas and a discussion between the people that seek to implement those ideas. At this critical time in our city, we must have a real discussion, not an ad war.

Obama Mocks Teabaggers And Their Cheerleaders At Fox News

I couldn't even imagine an elected Democrat do this to fringe conservative protest group five or ten years ago. Yet the President of the United States has no qualms about calling these teabaggers out for the loons that they are:

Developers Cry Money In Trendy, Expensive Meatpacking District

In these tough times, people have to pull together, help one another in need. Perhaps a neighbor or a friend across town can't make rent or put food on the table. These are actual, real-life examples of living in a recession, or even a society that has a large gap between rich and poor. However in New York City, even the wealthy developers try put their hand in the cookie jar of the city's sympathies.

From The NY Times:

Then there are the hardships of city real estate developers. At a Tuesday meeting at the Board of Standards and Appeals, a lawyer, Gary R. Tarnoff, argued that his client, the Romanoff family, would face hardship if it could not get special permission to build a bigger office tower on its site next to the High Line, the long-awaited elevated park that has helped drive up real estate values in the meatpacking district.

At a meeting that ran more than two hours, Mr. Tarnoff argued that because the High Line cut through a section of the Romanoffs’ site, it was more costly to build a tower there — and, he said, lead contamination, poor soil conditions and a high water table had already added to the developer’s construction bill. So he proposed building a 12-story, 117,000-square-foot tower rather than a building at less than the 75,000 square feet that the city’s current zoning rules allow.

“We’re not saying we wish the High Line wasn’t there,” Mr. Tarnoff said. “But it makes it more expensive to build.”

Yeah I know, I can feel the tears streaming down your face. I'm ready to bawl myself. Seriously though, how ridiculous is it that the Romanoff company is even trying to argue about the costs of building on the high line. The benefits of being on an elevated park more than make up for construction costs.

With zoning laws under attack across the city, this is a case where the community must stand up and reject the Romanoff's bid to build yet another glass and steel edifice that is too big for the area it is being built in. Bloomberg and his allies have had too many victories in the last several years for their development and real estate industry friends. If Community Board 2 has any sense, they'll keep the Romanoffs in check and leave the development as is.

Sen. Duane Claims He Has Votes To Spare For Same-Sex Marriage

Yesterday's ESPA advocacy-extravaganza made quite the impact on Albany. Thousands of LGBT allies went up to the capitol to demand equal rights. The focus was on the Senate of course, since the Assembly's passage of a same-sex marriage bill is practically guaranteed. The body's chief proponent of the legislation, Senator Tom Duane was certainly feeling the enthusiasm and expressed quite a bit of confidence in getting the bill passed this year.

From PolitickerNY:

The bill's passage in the Senate is, not surprisingly, less certain, but State Senator Tom Duane said he believes it will pass this year.

"We'll have enough votes to pass it, and I'll get a few extra to spare," Duane told me after a rally this morning. He did not name names.

I for one would love to know those names, besides that of Senator Alesi. Duane is going to need at least one or two other votes from the Republican caucus as Diaz Sr. and several other Dems have already gone on record as being against the bill.

Maddow Reminds Everyone Specter's Switch Isn't The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

Like Rachel says, the last thing the Democratic party needs is another Joe Liebermanesque conservadem. The media has been repeating verbatim that with 60 seats in the Senate, Dems can be filibuster-proof, yet that isn't how the Senate works. All you have to do is listen to Arlen's words after having switched.

Airport TSA Coming To A Subway Station Near You

Get ready to take your shoes off when getting on the subway. Well not really, but the TSA employees that demand it of travelers at airports will be coming to New York's subway stations to replace some of the NYPD officers that make random bag searches. It's bad enough that the cops are allowed to randomly (and ineffectually) stop straphangers without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

Now it'll be even worse:

MYFOXNY.COM - EXCLUSIVE: The New York Police Department is shrinking, and the department can't hire the number of cops it would like to. Fox 5 News has learned that help is coming from security screeners at the area airports. They'll be replacing some police officers in the subway who do bag searches. But some critics say this is just another clear example that the economy has affected security.

Within the next two months, Transportation Security Administration bag screeners from Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports will be replacing most NYPD cops in the subway that screen bags for explosives.[...]

This is how it would work: About 30 TSA screeners a day will be pulled from the three area airports Monday through Friday to inspect bags at various subway locations throughout the city. At each location they'll be teamed up with one police officer instead of the two or three officers you currently see at inspection sites.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association is blasting the plan, saying despite the city's financial crisis the city needs to hire more cops. According to the PBA, the city has 4,000 fewer cops on the street than it did in 2001.

Hiring more cops is another issue but the idea of putting the TSA at subway entrances is a terrible idea. They're bad enough at the airport, at worst abusing travelers and at the least acting as if they really made the airports secure. There is no way thirty of these people can keep the M.T.A. secure. Their presence, like that of the NYPD's current bag searchers is an act that either makes people think they're safe or simply that they have to trade their liberties so that it appears law enforcement is doing something to combat terrorism.

Seriously, leave the TSAers at the airport and put the cops on the trains where they can actually be of some assistance.

Eric Cantor's Hypocritical Tracks

Eric Cantor has been one of a few younger GOP officials that have been trying to assert themselves into a leadership role for the faltering Republican party. If tales of hypocrisy were the main criteria to be a leader, Cantor would certainly be on or near the top of the list. He may not be a secessionist who turns around the next week clamoring for specific kinds of federal assistance, but this is too good not to mention.

From The Huffington Post:

While the stimulus was being debated in January, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor called a group of reporters into his office to outline the GOP's objections. As we filed in, we walked past a giant poster ridiculing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for allegedly pushing for high-speed rail connecting Disneyland and Las Vegas.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cantor called that project an example of "waste and pork-barrel spending."

Yet one man's pork is another man's prudent investment in transit -- and sometimes the same man's.

Asked about high-speed rail at a recent local event in Virginia, Cantor was all thumbs up. "If there is one thing that I think all of us here on both sides of the political aisle from all parts of the region agree with, it's that we need to do all we can to promote jobs here in the Richmond area," Cantor said of the high-speed rail.

Even though the Disneyland to Vegas high speed rail story was a complete fabrication, Cantor went with it anyway. After being thoroughly disproved the Congressman continued to repeat the lie for the sake of cheap political points among his base. Now that the bill has passed and his vote was recorded as a no, he is trying to claim credit and hype the stimulus money that is coming Virginia's way. It really is amazing to watch Cantor tout the jobs Obama and Democrats in Congress helped create, fighting off people like him to make it happen.

"Do as I say, not as I do," seems to be this politician's creed.

DNC Tells Coleman To Do The Right Thing

Like Jim Tedisco did last week, the DNC is calling on Norm Coleman to concede the race he lost to Al Franken and let Minnesota have their second senator in office. It's been more than six months since the election and most Minnesotans think it is far beyond the time for Norm to let go of the outcome and surrender to the inevitable.

LGBT Advocacy Group Swarms Albany And Its Legislators

As anyone who's been to Albany for the sake of a particular cause, Tuesday is lobbying day (for the regular folk). The LGBT community and its supporters took head and took action by going 2,000 people strong up there to advocate for equal rights and same-sex marriage. With important legislation in committees now deciding the fate of equal rights in New York, their presence was timely to say the least.

From The Times-Union:

This year the event sold out and calls were pouring in of people trying to get tickets. “It was bigger than a Madonna concert,” said ESPA Executive Director Alan Van Capelle in an interview before he took the stage.

Van Capelle noted that most of the buses that brought supporters up were paid for by labor unions. “Organized labor recognizes that you can’t support economic justice without social justice,” he said.

The convention center is filled with cheering supporters, sitting by Senate District, who will meet with individual legislators. It is a concertedly organized affair — Empire State Pride Agenda has arranged for trained “meeting facilitators” to sit in on every meeting between advocates and Senate members and staff. Not every meeting with the Assembly will have similar facilitators. The Assembly passed the gay marriage bill in 2007 and is expected to pass again this year.

Van Capelle said that they have targeted particular Senate districts — Republican and Democrat. They have been polling in the district, organizing residents to talk with particular Senators and advocate.

More and more New Yorkers, whether gay or straight want equal rights across the board. The enthusiasm for the bill cannot be denied and the Republican leadership in the Senate's decision to let Senators vote their conscience was an affirmation of that. Now let's see if all those ESPA supporters can change the minds of just a few Republicans to join the majority of Dems in passing same-sex marriage rights.

Arlen Specter Converts....To A Democrat

It is now being reported that sometime later today, the five-term Republican Senator from Pennsylvania is going to switch parties and run as a Democrat. The consequences of this action are huge. Whether it be the 60 seat "filibuster-proof" majority for the Democratic caucus, the stinging blow to an increasingly fringe Republican party or Pennsylvania's final affirmation that it is no longer a swing state but one that is solid blue, this is monumental news.

From The Washington Post:

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

That has to hurt if you are Mitch McConnell or one of his forty thirty-nine caucus members. Then again, it should have been expected, because there was no other way for Specter to have gone unless he purposefully wanted to lose next year's primary election. The Republican party in PA, like the rest of it nation wide is moving far to the right and away from not only Arlen's political philosophy, but many other Americans as well.

Politically speaking, this gives the Republican nomination to Club for Growth's Pat Toomey on a platter and wipes out any Democrat who was thinking of going in to the race. Toomey's victory though will be short-lived, because come November of 2010, Specter will be looking ahead to his sixth term, only this time with a (D) at the end of his name.

Though as Kos notes, he stays anti-EFCA, a very odd way to start off as a Dem representing Pennsylvania.

The more I think about this, while it sounds good as a story for a story's sake, having Specter stay in and not be replaced by a more liberal, actual Democrat is overall a bad thing for PA. Pennsylvania needs someone that isn't like Joe Lieberman. Progressives down there need to come up with a quick plan if they are going to get someone in the race that will actually stand up for the unions, not just a senator that (after several months) had the wherewithall to switch parties so that he'd remain a senator.

Kaptur Asks Why AIG Gets Special Treatment Auto Workers Do Not

The government has been super strict and harsh on an auto companies that has been behind on the curve in the world market of cars. While they need to get their act together, the fact that AIG got a slight slap on the wrist for their fiscal atrocities is just a bit of a double standard. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur makes a point of it on the House floor:

Unnatural Carbon Dioxide

While idiots like Michelle Bachmann make claims about how great and natural CO2 is, back in the real world the scientific data on rising carbon dioxide levels is becoming more and more dire. Far away from the right-wing nuts in America, monitors in Norway are finding that carbon dioxide levels are rising at a rate they never thought possible.

From The Guardian:

Levels of the gas at the Zeppelin research station on Svalbard, northern Norway, last week peaked at over 397 parts per million (ppm), an increase of more than 2.5ppm on 2008. They have since begun to reduce and today stand at 393.7ppm. Prior to the industrial revolution, CO2 levels were around 280ppm.

CO2 levels recorded in Svalbard tend to be higher than the global average, but scientists said the CO2 level they had measured was unprecedented even for that location. "These are the highest figures collected in 50m years," said Johan Strom, professor of atmospheric physics at the government-funded Norwegian Polar Institute, which collected the data.

"It is not the level of CO2 that is the problem, because the earth will adapt. What is very worrying is the speed of change. Levels [here] are now increasing 2-3ppm a year.

Two to three parts per million does not sound like a lot to the lay person, but to scientists it is quite alarming. And as the rate of increase also rises, the future of our planet and the way we live in it is in peril. The Earth will eventually balance itself out, but as for the society we live in, adapting to a warmer planet has more in store for us than we currently realize. As for climate change deniers like Michelle Bachman, the carbon dioxide that comes out of our noses is not cause for concern but the particles released from our factories, buildings and cars is.