Newsflash! Chaos Continues In Albany!

I popped my head up from my plethora of work today to find that with more than two months after the deadline to pass a state budget had gone by, hardly anything has been done since. Unless of course you count backbiting, grandstanding and empty promises as tangible legislative goods. Instead of taking care of business, the legislature has passed budget extenders several times over, each with a way to cut spending and reduce the multi-billion dollar deficit. Today lame duck Governor Paterson went to a "leaders" meeting and again, nothing of much significance came of it.

From The Daily Politics:

Faced with a revolt from two “rogue” Democrats who say they will no longer vote for emergency spending bills that contain deep cuts, Paterson said it is up to the Senate Republicans to offer enough votes to keep government running.

The entire Republican conference has voted in recent weeks against the extenders, meaning the Democrats have had to muster all their members to supply the necessary 32 votes to pass them.

Paterson this morning dismissed the two renegade Democrats, Majority Leader Pedro Espada and Ruben Diaz, both of the Bronx, as “reckless and very sui generis.”

“I’m not going to respond to any threats, any thug activity,” Paterson said without mentioning Espada and Diaz by name. “I’m not going respond to any blackmail in that respect.

With such a slim majority of Democrats and a few within that are Democrats in name only, Paterson has frequently appealed to the Republican caucus to plea his cases. There's no doubt about it, Espada and Diaz have to go (their buddy Monserrate has already been taken care of!) and their day of reckoning is fast approaching.

Until then, the inept Governor will try in vain to get Skelos to make him look semi-competent, and Skelos will laugh in his face. Skelos' only concern is to win back the majority in November. He could care less about the fate of New York's fiscal situation and has repeatedly proven that, both as leader of his caucus and back when he was one of Joe Bruno's underlings.

For now, the hope of a passable budget looks bleak at best. As long as the cast of characters remain the same, doing the people's business takes a backseat to certain individuals' unethical whims.

M.P. Gets It Exactly Right About B.P.

Mike Papantonio is a master at tapping into the people's discontent and rage about the companies and politicians that exert control over their lives. When it comes to British Petroleum, the subject of offshore drilling and the catastrophe that is still ongoing in the Gulf, Mike rips everyone and anyone responsible for this mess.

On Net Neutrality, Too Many Dems Look Like Republicans

When it comes to Net Neutrality, the battle for a freer internet has been a tough slog to say the least. For the most part, it had been endorsed on the left and right so that information was able to course through the vast networks that make up the internet. Ideas, despite the Republicans picking up the moniker of "the party of No," are not partisan. They may be downright kooky in the tea party crowd, but they are still free to express their views (although their racism is just downright disgusting). Anyways, in Congress, this has not been a partisan issue, it is more about who is in who's pocket.

From The Agonist:

74 Democrats signed a joint letter to the FCC supporting internet throttling by Verizon, ATT and Comcast. Throttling lets carriers slow or block internet traffic. This is a clear attack on net neutrality.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just endorsed net neutrality. But The Money Party is busy buying votes. Here's a Top Ten list of the biggest rake-offs by the 74 Democrats. They had a total take of $2.8 million with an average of $37,000 a piece from industry sources and lobbyists. No telling how many jobs, trips, and other favors were provided. The Money Party is nothing, if not thorough.

Let your member of Congress know how you feel. Complaint letter to Congress

The business community has wished Net Neutrality dead for several years now, but it is still a pertinent issue. The telecoms have been busy fighting the public so that they can control the flow of information in order to increase their profits. They'll buy off Democrats and Republicans alike.

That is why we must follow in the footsteps of the Agonist and protest....and make ourselves heard, because when it comes to ideas and the future of our American democracy, the internet must be a wide open venue for all of us to communicate. Whether we talk to like-minded folk, organize around issues or just plain yell at each other in caps on the Huffington Post or the New York Post, making sure we can without restriction is nothing short of essential.

Clean Elections For California?

Several states have already joined in on the idea of clean elections, including the notorious Arizona, scenic Maine, nutmeggy Connecticut to name a few. To add the nation's largest state to the list though would be an impressive victory against special interest politics. California has it's shot to do just that this coming Tuesday.

From Calitics:

Proposition 15, the California Fair Elections Act, is widely known as the proposal to have the Secretary of State elected by a clean money system beginning in 2014 as a way to demonstrate the viability of the concept to Californians. But that's not all Prop 15 does, and not the only way it can expand clean money to the rest of the state. Prop 15 also removes a 20-year old restriction on local governments adopting clean money, and makes it easier to expand the system in the future by not requiring a follow-up vote to create public financing for other statewide races. [...]

If Prop 15 passes, local governments will be able to create their own publicly funded elections systems, though they'll have to also create the funding source. The state legislature could also expand public funding to other statewide offices as well, including governor, but they too would have to create a new funding source.

Now that is a tough bill. Californians, for the few that read this NY blog should remember to vote yes, and all those in New York would do well by telling their west coast friends to clean California's electoral system by voting yes on 15!

Now if only New York could do the same, it would help to sweep away much of the mess that is fueled by special interests in Albany.

Scary

It really is amazing how technology has advanced to track our destruction of the planet:

It's Official! "For Governor" Slapped On Cuomo's Website

It's on the website (not literally though but it's made clear enough) and all over the media, Andrew Cuomo has officially announced he's running for Governor! The big event occurred over the weekend, and I barely caught wind of it as I was moving my life and possessions from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Of course, it isn't like this news was coming down the pike for a year or more. The important thing is that now his critics can hush about him not being 100% out there and move on to more important things, such as his policy positions.

Those can be found here, btw.

The New York Times does a quick rundown here:

He plans to challenge incumbent lawmakers to join him during the campaign, when they are still vulnerable, rather than afterward, when they are safely ensconced in their seats. Borrowing a page from Barack Obama —and a consultant in new media, Stephen Geer, from Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign — Mr. Cuomo wants to create a cadre of grass-roots activists to pressure lawmakers from the bottom up, backed by an advertising campaign that aides said would focus more on Mr. Cuomo’s platform than his already well-known biography.

And after months of refusing even to acknowledge his interest in the governor’s office, Mr. Cuomo is leaving little doubt about what he plans to do if he occupies it. On Sunday, his campaign released a 224-page platform explaining, in sometimes excruciating detail, his agenda on issues including ethics oversight, shrinking government and job creation. Over the coming months, Mr. Cuomo will urge New Yorkers to sign a pledge promising to vote for candidates who back his platform.

Cuomo means business, and granted he doesn't completely screw this up on some grand level, he'll beat Levy, Paladino or whomever the GOP manages to nominate. The Attorney General will need some serious mojo if he wants to break through the morass that has enveloped Albany for years and years. Spitzer thought he had the answer, but even he had troubles....before we found he was Client #9.

Now before you accuse me of being an out and out Cuomo cheerleader, let me say this: I generally frown on political dynasties, they permeate New York politics and can be a part of the problem that our state is in. Cuomo himself needs to be further scrutinized and questioned on everything in that platform and then some. However, granted that the political landscape for this gubernatorial race is what it is, Cuomo is the best shot we have at getting any kind of reasonable reform...and a proactive agenda that can bring realistic budgets through the Legislature on time.

There has been enough horsing around in our capitol and if Cuomo has corralling skills, then by all means let's see if he can get something done.

Rand Paul Said What??

Ron Paul may have faded from the political limelight since his Presidential quest went down in flames but his son's star is on the up and up. Rand Paul is now the Republican nominee for the Senate seat in Kentucky, besting the local party's pick to replace Senator Jim Bunning. Paul's victory is a testament to the nascent power the teabaggers are beginning to hold in various conservative strongholds around the country. However, his views and recent statements are showing the mainstream just how far out there Paul and others like him are.

From Crooks and Liars:

Presidential bashing of corporate crime, corruption and greed is as American as apple pie. While Republican Teddy Roosevelt decried "malefactors of great wealth," his distant Democratic cousin FDR announced, "I welcome their hatred." But now just days after insisting the federal government had no right to bar racial discrimination in public accommodations, Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul again reversed victim and villain in calling President Obama's criticism of BP, "un-American."

In the face of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, Paul rushed to the defense of BP on Good Morning America. When George Stephanopolous asked, "But you don't want to get rid of the EPA?" Dr. Paul's diagnosis was that the Obama administration was persecuting the oil giant and the American free enterprise system. Accidents, he insisted, "happen".

Paul's assertions may reside upon libertarian values, but they certainly are not American values. Accidents do not always just "happen," oil spills like that of which we are dealing with now must have consequences when the companies at fault did not take adequate precautions to prevent millions of barrels of oil from polluting the Gulf of Mexico. The same goes for enforcing anti-discrimination laws so that commercial establishments do not keep black people from sitting at the lunch counter as Woolworth's did not fifty years ago.

Mr. Paul, we have government for a reason, and that is to make people behave civilly and to respect each other's liberties. BP does not have the liberty to destroy an ecosystem that millions of people depend upon, let alone the myriad species that live in the waters and surrounding shorelines. The fact that someone with such horrifying views has made it a general election is both shocking and depressing. This year, it is the responsibility of the Kentucky Democratic party to take this seat back not only for politics, but for the common good.

Only In New York City....

Via The Daily Politics

I have to say, this idea has crossed my mind once or twice whenever I have to walk through Midtown, Times Square, SoHo or any street within a quarter mile of WTC. To the tourists' credit, they are here to spend money in the city. They're also generally from areas of the country and the world where walking as a mode of transit is discouraged by a widespread sprawl mentality. Nevertheless, 8.3 million of us live and do business here, and practically speaking, drawing lanes might not be such a bad move. Of course, the tourists are too busy looking up to see how big the buildings are, so it probably wouldn't even matter.

Vito Strikes Back!

In New York we certainly have our fair share of politicians who have fallen from grace due to their loins, though very few ever come back. Even those that do don't really come back all the way. Former Congressman Vito Fossella however, is looking to break through that mold (created from the scummy, hiding-a-second-family-on-the-side plaster). His friends over on Staten Island went to bat for him in a big way last night and Vito is looking for a grand re-entrance.

From Staten Island Live:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --- In a bombshell announcement, the Staten Island Republican Party executive committee last night endorsed former GOP Rep. Vito Fossella to run against Rep. Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) this fall.[...]

Party chairman John Friscia said Fossella was the best candidate to beat McMahon. However, he acknowledged that he has no information Fossella would run.

"It is my firm belief that he [Fossella] is the strongest candidate we can field," Friscia said after the executive committee interviewed candidates for Congress and other races at the Road House in Sunnyside.

If Friscia has the opinion that a two-timing, DUI-collecting ex-Congressman is the best candidate to take back the Staten Island seat, their chances of success are rather grim to say the least. While this news isn't exactly out of left field, it has to be troubling for the folks at the NRCC who are looking to win seats this fall. As for my opinion, I have to defer to NY Dems Executive Director Charlie King, who facetiously called on Vito to go all the way and run for governor.

Specters Beware!

So I'm back here writing, this time post-election and looking at the changing Senate. Arlen Specter has now been retired by the Democratic voters within the state of Pennsylvania and not at the time that best suits him. Down in Arkansas Senator Lincoln was dealt a devastating blow by Bill Halter, but she still has a run-off to try and prevent a liberal from taking her place after years of serving at the behest of corporation instead of her constituency. North from there, Rand Paul, son of Ron, beat the Republican party's favorite to succeed Senator Bunning for the Republican nomination.

What does this all mean? Do we have a revolt against long-term politicians? Is everyone that's in bed with Wall Street and the rolodex of the Fortune 500 on their way out? Well one thing that is for sure, the faces, they are a changin'.

From RawStory:

Insurgent US Republican voters in Kentucky routed their party's establishment candidate and selected iconoclastic political outsider Rand Paul on Tuesday night, a clear show of anger at Washington ahead of November elections to decide control of the US Congress.

Similarly, Democrats in Pennsylvania appeared to have ended the political career of Sen. Arlen Specter, one of the state's best known politicians who became a Democrat after Obama's election in an effort to prolong his time in Congress.

Democrats also managed to hold onto the Pennsylvania congressional seat formerly held by deceased Rep. John Murtha with the victory of Mark Critz. The race was heavily watched and hyped as a predictor of voter mood in the lead-up to November's elections.

What it says, and to concur with what I mentioned yesterday morning, is that a small but dedicated bloc of voters can precipitate major changes. Reports of low voter turnout were a plenty and definitely not surprising. So in a nutshell, Americans have become extremely apathetic (even with the already low voter turnout rates from years past) and those that aren't have tremendous influence with their votes. And that is why the teabaggers get to celebrate a nominee they helped choose in Rand Paul. That is why liberals are enthused (myself among them) that Halter and Sestak did so well last night.

It just goes to show, if people wake up and participate in their government, their ability to effect change and use power is mind boggling.

NASA Joins The Global Warming Conspiracy

Not only does the Federal space agency agree with the fact that global warming exists, they have these things called facts to back the assertion up.

From Crooks and Liars:

Anti-Incumbency Fever Set To Hit PA, AR, KY

It's a cool, rainy and most likely uneventful political day in New York. All eyes will likely be fixed on the primary elections in nearby Pennsylvania, and Arkansas and Kentucky as well. Two incumbents are looking at serious challengers and after Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) was booted by a more right-wing Republican, the situation has become quite serious. Two of today's races are contests on the left, while the other in Kentucky pits a teabag backed candidate versus the Republican party's choice to take over for resident loon Jim Bunning (who has spurned the establishment and backed the teabag-friendly Rand Paul).

From The Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is not on the ballot in this week's primaries, nor is Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Senate leader.

But both have a stake in intensely competitive Senate races in three states, contests testing the strength of the tea party among Kentucky Republicans and the durability of incumbent Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas and Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania.

In a fourth race of national significance, Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz battled to fill out the term of the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha in a congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania. Both political parties reported spending roughly $1 million to sway the race, turning it into a laboratory for the fall campaign, when all 435 House seats will be on the ballot.

Laboratories aside, the biggest issue here that isn't mentioned in the article is that turnout will likely be extremely low. Any kind of defining moment, or partisan revolution, will come from a small minority of voters who are either fearful of new blood or sick of the same old politician and wish to make a change. Of course, there'll be a big headline on every paper tomorrow morning proclaiming a mandate has been stated by the American people (living in PA, AR and KY) regardless. The truth of the matter though, is that most people simply do not care about these contests and do not see a point in bothering to make it to the ballot box.