NY Post right-wing cartoonist Sean Delonas has a scurrilous cartoon this morning.

NY Post right-wing cartoonist Sean Delonas has a scurrilous cartoon this morning.
It has NYC mayor candidate Weiner interviewing Monica Lewinsky for an internship.
Cartoonists have a right to draw anything they want, as long as someone agrees to publish it.
http://www.nypost.com/opinion/cartoons/delonas.htm

A letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tested positive for the poison ricin. (NYT

(A letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tested positive for the poison ricin. (NYT))
**********
You’re a redneck if you dwell in rural Louisiana; believe background
checks will lead to gun confiscation of legal gun owners; and believe
the 2ndA has any relevance to the realities of the 21st century.
The alleged sender of the ricin dwells in the swamp of the Louisiana bayou.
As this alleged ricin sender rides through the crocodile swamps, the
crocs. gather on the shores and declare “there goes the neighborhood.”

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You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face

 

" You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes, you will
That you're beautiful as you feel

Waiting at the station with a workday wind a-blowing
I've got nothing to do but watch the passers-by
Mirrored in their faces I see frustration growing
And they don't see it showing, why do I?

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes, you will
That you're beautiful as you feel

I have often asked myself the reason for THE sadness
In a world where tears are just a lullaby
If there's any answer, maybe love can end the madness
Maybe not, oh, but we can only try

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart.."
Carole King, Beautiful lyrics
************************
Carole King was honored with the Gershwin Prize for Music at the White House last week; and she opened her appearance with Beautiful.

The show will be shown on PBS on Tues. night, May 28th.

The millennials, or near millennials, reading this will exclaim "Who is Carole King? and who is her friend, James Taylor?"

As a member of the silent generation, or the almost baby boomer generation, Carole King's Tapestry album still resonates.

And her Beautiful tune is relevant today, when the days are filled with bridges collapsing, tornadoes, hs students planning Columbine massacres, toxic Congressional politicians, yada, yada, yada.

Everyone wake up with a smile; and have a good holiday weekend.

Arias Jury Gives Up After No Consensus)

(Arias Jury Gives Up After No Consensus)
http://www.huffingtonpostdotcom/2013/05/24/arias-jury_n_3330897.html
*******************
I carry no water for Jodi Arias, in the bizarre Arizona murder trial.
She has been found guilty; and the same jury was hung on whether to impose the death penalty or life. The jury has been dismissed.
I'm opposed to the death penalty, period. There is no wobbling on this.
And because of this, I would never have been chosen to be on the jury.
The two alternatives now are to 1) appoint a new jury and conduct a mini-trial before it goes to decide on the penalty (which could take months); or 2)the judge could get the prosecutors to agree to forgo the death penalty; and the judge could unilaterally impose life w/o parole or life, with parole after 25 yrs.
I favor the second option.
I know the wackjob HLN Nancy Grace will oppose the second option.
Like the Casey Anthony trial, Grace wants the death penalty for Arias; and would like to broadcast her death on her show.
Some will joke that Arias already has had a death penalty, being under the control of Sheriff Joe Arpaio for over 4 years.

The NY Post’s cartoonist Sean Delonas usually draws scurrilous, right-wing cartoons.

Cartoonists have a right to do that.
With Delonas, you can often lift a heavy rock and you will find samples of his dark humor.
Today’s cartoon (linked below) juxtaposes the Okl. twister with the GOP-inspired faux Obama scandals.
One can initially laugh, but the point of the cartoon is to further the Joe McCarthyite GOP attacks against Obama.
The Benghazi issue is, as Obama said, “there is no there there.”
And it now appears that then CIA director David H. Petraeus had the major role in revising, developing the original talking points.
The Benghazi affair was a bureaucratic turf war between CIA and State; and the goal of any bureaucracy is survival and protection of its’ image.
The hypocrisy here is that the Bush 2 administration had at least 13 US embassy attacks throughout the world.
http://www.nypost.com/opinion/cartoons/delonas.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/petraeuss-role-in-drafting-benghazi-talking-points-raises-questions/2013/05/21/db19f352-c165-11e2-ab60-67bba7be7813_story.html?hpid=z1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/13-benghazis-that-occurre_b_3246847.html

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a plan to put tax free zones on upstate SUNY campuses, where new businesses and those poached from out of state can set up without paying property, sales or franchise taxes for a decade

(..Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a plan to put tax free zones on upstate SUNY campuses, where new businesses and those poached from out of state can set up without paying property, sales or franchise taxes for a decade. (TU/BN))
*********************
What is the projected revenue loss on this program over the 10 year period?
These conservative free enterprise zone-type programs were not that successful in the state, except that the last name given to the zones, empowerment zones, was a good pr nomenclature.
The results of this program was mostly empowerment for primary sector, large corporations that moved into the zones, got many tax breaks, and provided few good paying jobs.
These free enterprise, tax free, zones were an idea copied from Britain’s iron lady Margaret Thatcher…a very conservative lady.
Jack Kemp tried to make the idea take hold in the US, but the real result is a large level of loss revenue for the local/state governments.
A more progressive alternative is down-up development, with the focus on local community development organizations.

Anthony Weiner’s Bar Mitzvah photo is here. (Atlantic)) **************

(Anthony Weiner’s Bar Mitzvah photo is here. (Atlantic))
**************
Without opening the Atlantic link, let us all have courage to believe the photo is , what do we say, “clean”.
Mr. Weiner, unfortunately, is not a recovering politico; obviously did not graduate from the politico addiction 12-step program.
The city’s voters are a tough crowd, but Weiner is polling second in the Dem primary lineup. It could be that the NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn is not a shoe-in.
Weiner reminds me of Chicago Mayor, former high staffer to Bill Clinton and POTUS Obama, Rahm Emanuel.
Both are type A, hard charging personalities.
The difference is that Rahm did not send obscene photos. to ladies.
Best of  luck to Weiner.
If I lived in the city, I would encourage his lovely wife,Huma Abedin, to enter the Dem. primary race.
Her husband displays, as the saying goes, “unbelievable chutzpah.”

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RANDI WEINGARTEN AND KERRY KENNEDY have a good op.ed. in this morning’s Albany Times-Union..

RANDI WEINGARTEN AND KERRY KENNEDY have a good op.ed. in this morning’s Albany Times-Union..
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Justice-for-labor-on-the-farm-4523828.php#ixzz2TYe4cQD2
**********
They are asking for support for the New York to pass”the Farm
Workers’ Fair Labor Practices Act, a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman
Catherine Nolan and State Sen. Adriano Espaillat currently under
consideration by the state Legislature.”
The issue is clear that farm worker’s have very little labor law
protections; and this law should be supported by the legislature and
Gov. Cuomo.
It also should be given support in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of RFK’s assassination.
Next month is the 45th anniversary of RFK’s assassination.
Would he have gotten the nomination, taking it from Hubert Humphrey?
Likely, as Mayor Daley would have likely moved to RFK and brought along other big state Dem. leaders.
Would he have won in the contest between Nixon, and Wallace?
More than likely!
He would have taken a good percentage of the Wallace white working class vote, enough to beat Nixon.
Would he have been a good President?
This is the great historical conundrum!
He surely would have been an active Pres.; what political scientist James Barber labeled an active-postive President.
The Nam war would have ended at least 4 years sooner than it did under Nixon, through negotiations with the North Vietnamese.
To speculate further on a RFK Presidency is academic; good armchair ruminating on what might have been.
There would not have been Watergate, which was in reality a
continuation of the cover-up of the JFK assassination…..many of the same
actors (anti-Castro renegades; CIA spooks (i.e. E.Howard Hunt), and the
Lamar Waldron thesis that Nixon was searching the Watergate for the
files on the Bay of Pigs, CIA Castro assassination history, and the JFK
murder.
RFK would also have persued the conspirators in his brother’s murder.
All this is speculative ruminating.
This has been very little discussion of the RFK murder and the coming 45th anniversary.
And that is likely what Kerry Kennedy, and the Kennedy family desires.
But the RFK assassination was a conspiracy in the Ambassador.
And Sirhan, still alive in prison, should be granted a new trial.

http://www.amazon.com/Watergate-Hidden-History-Nixon-Mafia/dp/1619021625/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368797904&sr=1-1&keywords=lamar+waldron
http://www.amazon.com/Presidential-Character-Predicting-Performance-Political/dp/020565259X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368799101&sr=1-3&keywords=james+barber

 

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith critiques the White House evesdropping on AP phones; and includes a photo of Obama morphing into Nixon.

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith critiques the White House evesdropping on AP phones; and includes a photo of Obama morphing into Nixon.
The House GOP radical Darrell Issa appeared on CBS Morning News; and immediately after the lead-in of Obama dismissing the Benghazi attack investigation as one of there is no there there, Issa smiled and declared the POTUS is spinning.
The right-wing onslaught is increasing in intensity.
The morphing of Obama into Nixon; the claim that these scrapes are Nixonian in their import, are laying the groundwork for a move by the House GOP to impeach Obama.
But the hidden , deep politics behind this is operating above the Issa level.
The power elite in the US are moving to render Obama politically impotent; to make the progressive rhetoric Obama outlined in his inaugural and SOTU addresses mute.
Many of us lived through the Nixon years.
And Obama is no Nixon.
Nixon had a fertile active mind; but he was a very flawed person...a bitter partisan, paranoid in the dark, overpowering dark centers of his brain; and he really was a crook.
We are heading toward a very difficult crisis , more severe than mere deadlock in DC .
For many reasons, Obama seems to locked in epic struggle with the most powerful forces in our country.

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/the-panopticon-president

 

Hillary Clinton and the right-wing attack squads.

Hillary Clinton and the right-wing attack squads.
****************************
The loudmouth US Sen. Rand Paul took to the Senate floor last week and declared that Hillary Clinton is unqualified to be POTUS because of the Benghazi affair.
Karl Rove is already running anti-Hillary 2016 ads in Nevada.
The right-wing attack squads have their poisonous weapons poised to attack Hillary from now through 2015.
The supermarket scandal rag National Enquirer apparently has an anti-Hilllary and anti-Clinton agenda.
Week after week the rag has a cover story on Bill’s immanent death; and Hillary’s personal secrets.
It’s as though the publishers are the Koch brothers…perhaps they do own the rag.
This week’s Enquirer has the cover story of Hillary’s $25 million “tell-all” book scheduled for next year.
And the rag tells us that Hillary will reveal her “lesbian lovers.”
I was at the supermarket checkout; picked up this rag; and skimmed the story.
Hillary will reveal her lesbian affairs!!!
Hellzapoppin!!!
I dropped the rag; fell to the floor in convulsive laughter; and lost my place in the checkout.
Hillary will reveal her lesbian affairs???
Right, and I have that bridge in Brooklyn I’ll sell you at a fabulous cut rate price.

(…The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.

(…The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere,
carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported
Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of
years.
Scientific instruments showed that the gas had reached an average daily
level above 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one
sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring
human-produced emissions under control are faltering….)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
***************************
And it is likely too late to reverse the damage that this CO2 concentration has done, and will do, to the Earth’s ecosystem.
Al Gore,Bill McKibben et. al. can sound the alarm; but who among us is going to give up our affluent lifestyle.
Who is going to give up our cars, tech. toys, consumer desires to deal with the record CO2 level?
While our national political class dithers , and dabbles in inane political toxic fights, the Earth’s ecosystem is telling us, in so many ways every day, that our consumer, wasteful way of life is dangerous.

The white smoke emanating from the White House west wing Friday may signal the Obama administration is burning documents in anticipation of coming impeachment proceedings.

The white smoke emanating from the White House west wing Friday may signal the Obama administration is burning documents in anticipation of coming impeachment proceedings.
***********************
The conservative attack dogs are snarling, with sharpened teeth, as the clamor for possible impeachment of Obama gains steam.
In his regular role on ABC’s Sunday Morning, the venerable Dr. George Will had a small note card, outlining the Nixon impeachment charge of using the IRS for political skullduggery.
Will was implying, even stating directly, that Obama’s IRS caper in auditing tea party, conservative pacs can easily become an impeachment charge.
The very conservative Utah Mormon US Sen. Orrin Hatch says the IRS caper is Nixonian!!*
Sen. Lindsey Graham says the Benghazi episode is “every bit as damaging as Watergate.”
Okie US Senator James Inhofe says the Benghazi affair is worse than Watergate.**
Many of the House GOP radicals seem to be itching for an impeachment move.
Nobody should be surprised if this scenario transpires in the next year.
It will signal the depths of the political toxic cesspool that is DC in our modern age.
It could also trigger a violent civil war in our country.
**********
*Nixonian is cool sounding….taking a personal name and converting it into a conjugated noun.
A google search found this:
Washingtonian Adamsonian Jeffersonian
Madisonian Monrovian Jacksonian
Burenian Harrisonian Tylerian
Polkian Taylorian Filmorian
Pierceian Buchananian Lincolnian
Johnsonian Grantonian Hayesian
Garfieldian Arthurian Clevelandian
Harrisonian McKinleyan Rooseveltian
Howardian Wilsonian Hardingian
Coolidgean Hooverian Trumanian
Eisenhoweran (can’t find a cite for this, but maybe “Ikeian”?)
Kennedian Nixonian Fordian
Carterian Reaganian Bushonian
Clintonian Obamaian
**The extreme right-wing wackjobs took to the airwaves this weekend and declared that the IRS caper is worse than Watergate.
Me thinks they are engaged in hyper-hyperbole.
Watergate was the culmination of a long White House operation, a cesspool of illegalities, commandeered by Nixon and his venerable plumbers.
Investigator Lamar Waldron has perhaps finally determined why Nixon wanted the Dem. Committee Watergate offices burglarized.
It was to find the secret files on the CIA, White House executive actions, assassination program against Casro; and its’ relationship to the murder of JFK.
http://www.amazon.com/Watergate-Hidden-History-Nixon-Mafia/dp/1619021625/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368453466&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=larmar+waldron

Sen. Lindsey Graham, of the GOP foreign policy trifecta, McCain to Graham to Kelly Ayotte, proclaimed to all that the Benghazi episode is comparable to Watergate.

(...A top State Department official pressed the CIA
and the White House to delete any mention of terrorism in public
statements on the Benghazi attack to prevent critics from blaming lax
security at the consulate....)
**********
Sen. Lindsey Graham, of the GOP foreign policy trifecta, McCain to Graham to Kelly Ayotte, proclaimed to all that the Benghazi episode is comparable to Watergate.
Speaker John Boehner is allowing the House GOP extremists, like Darrell Issa, to weaken the Obama administration through anti-administration hearings.
Boehner, a prisoner of the House GOP radicals, will allow another House vote on repealing Obamacare, the 39th House vote on this.
The picture is becoming clear; the GOP's strategy has emerged from the fog of the Nov. elections. The goal is to move to impeachment of Obama.
I'm convinced from the actions, communicating to some staffers in DC, that this is the goal of the GOP.
By controlling the House, the GOP radicals have the power to initiate impeachment proceedings.
If this reaches the Senate for a trial on trumped-up impeachment charges, the Dem. Senate will vote against it.
Regarding the Benghazi tragedy, there is hypocrisy aplenty.
Blogger Bob Cesca lists at least 13 Benghazi-like attacks that took place under Bush 2:
"January 22, 2002. Calcutta, India. Gunmen associated with Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami attack the U.S. Consulate. Five people are killed.
June 14, 2002. Karachi, Pakistan. Suicide bomber connected with al Qaeda attacks the U.S. Consulate, killing 12 and injuring 51.
October 12, 2002. Denpasar, Indonesia. U.S. diplomatic offices bombed as part of a string of "Bali Bombings." No fatalities.
February 28, 2003. Islamabad, Pakistan. Several gunmen fire upon the U.S. Embassy. Two people are killed.
May 12, 2003. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Armed al Qaeda
terrorists storm the diplomatic compound, killing 36 people including
nine Americans. The assailants committed suicide by detonating a truck
bomb.
July 30, 2004. Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A suicide bomber from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan attacks the U.S. Embassy, killing two people.
December 6, 2004. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda terrorists storm the U.S. Consulate and occupy the perimeter wall. Nine people are killed.
March 2, 2006. Karachi, Pakistan again. Suicide
bomber attacks the U.S. Consulate killing four people, including U.S.
diplomat David Foy who was directly targeted by the attackers. (I wonder
if Lindsey Graham or Fox News would even recognize the name "David
Foy." This is the third Karachi terrorist attack in four years on what's
considered American soil.)
July 9, 2008. Istanbul, Turkey. Four armed terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate. Six people are killed.
September 17, 2008. Sana'a, Yemen. Terrorists
dressed as military officials attack the U.S. Embassy with an arsenal of
weapons including RPGs and detonate two car bombs. Sixteen people are
killed, including an American student and her husband (they had been married for three weeks when the attack occurred). This is the second attack on this embassy in seven months...."
http://www.huffingtonpost. com/bob-cesca/13-benghazis-that-occurre_b_3246847.html

 

(New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had his stomach stapled. (NYP))

(New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had his stomach stapled. (NYP))
******************
Although some late night comic likely has already said this, how about getting his mouth stapled?
Gov. Chris first has to win reelection, which is likely; and then the
serious speculation among the chattering class about the POTUS 2016
race can begin.
Don’t believe he will market, sell, well outside NJ.

 

(The Post says the New York GOP was right to invite Sen. Ted Cruz to speak. (NYP)) ************************

(The Post says the New York GOP was right to invite Sen. Ted Cruz to speak. (NYP))
************************
Sen. Cruz will help the NY tea partiers increase their clout within the NY GOP.
He will help to marginalize the GOP in this state. As a independent-type Dem., I say go for it.
Cruz is a Joe McCarthy clone; displays a bullying persona in his short time in the US Senate.
He represents the decline of the Senate as a traditionalist institution.
The traditional Senate norms would have someone like Cruz marginalized;
and would allow him to make radical speeches and insult fellow Senators
only after he learns where the Senate bathrooms are located.
Former Senator, Dr. Gary Hart, has a good recent blog describing the sorry decline of the traditional Senate.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/weep-for-the-senate_1_b_3219840.html

How about the FBI and US Attorneys providing all the Capital legislators with a Google Glass present?

How about the FBI and US Attorneys providing all the Capital legislators with a Google Glass present?
*****************************
Forget about wiring suspect legislators.
The FBI, in its ongoing stings of Albany politicos, should provide all legislators with a pair of Google Glasses.
The Google Glass, still undergoing field testing, is a small computer that attaches to the eyeglasses.
The early prototypes are activated with gestures or voice commands.
With the command by the wearer, the computer would take pics. or record conservations.
As the Google Glass evolves, it will be possible to activate the computer with just a wink of an eye.
This device could be the prosecutors and FBI legal wet dream.
As the legislature conferences meet, all the members would be found wearing the Google Glasses.
Can you imagine Victor Lopez winking at all the female members of the Assembly Dem. conference and on the Assembly floor; and for the first time the female legislators, equal in rank to Lopez, winking back.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/technology/personaltech/google-glass-picks-up-early-signal-keep-out.html?_r=0

NY Assembly-member Jim Tedisco et.al. have renewed their call for a recall petition; and a recall option for voters….a so-called democratic recall revolution.

http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Let-voters-fire-the-bad-guys-4492337.php
*******************
Assembly-member Jim Tedisco et.al. have renewed their call for a recall petition; and a recall option for voters….a so-called democratic recall revolution.
It’s rather cosmetic; but would do no harm.
The Facebook page to sign up for the recall revolution is http://recallpetition.net/
What should be remembered is that Sampson alleged crimes were only indirectly related to his power and actions within the Legislature/Senate.
The charges are related to the mortgage crisis; foreclosures; sub-prime mortgages et. al…..mostly private sector shenanigans.
The scary part is that Sampson had ambitions to become Brooklyn DA.
Last night,Liz Benjamin had a good interview with Senate Dem. leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
The Dem. leader said all the appropriate words to separate her and her caucus from Sampson.
She is a decent lady, with a long, distinguished career in public service.
Her Wikipedia entry describes her as strong on the values of empathy, empowerment and service.
The problem here is that she may be too nice; too gentle.
Rumors of Sampson’s ethically-challenged persona have been floating around for years.
Andrea should have marginalized this man long ago.
Recall option can be a cosmetic remedy , but it is really marginal to the more systemic problems.
Perhaps all state legislatures should be barred from outside employment.
A “full-time” legislator would have a priority of ethical public service rather than serving to benefit their outside employers or businesses.
Term-limits seem appropriate.
There are also too many lawyers in the legislature. But how this can be dealt with is rather complex.
Perhaps the Senate should be eliminated; and the legislature converted in a uni-camera house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Stewart-Cousins

Mary Matalin spews her sludge, her venom.

(...MATALIN: No absolutely. Yes here's what changed, it exploded the NRA
membership, it exploded gun purchasing. I became a lifetime member this
week. Bought a pistol, can't find ammo anywhere --

ROBERTS: Good.

MATALIN: This is, the intensity gap, I did manage to find some because I live in --

(CROSSTALK)

MATALIN: The intensity gap for the people who support the Second
Amendment, this is bigger than guns. And the despicable exploition
(sic) of the grief of these victims with legislation that would not have
stopped or thwarted any of these tragedies is a real commentary on our ..."
http://abcnews.godotcom/Politics/week-transcript-warren-buffett-powerhouse-roundtable/story?id=19109741#.UYaRk0pcGKI

**********

This is Mary Matalin, the GOP guru and wife of Dem. guru James Carville on this morning's This Week with George Steph.

First, George Steph. refers to the weekly panel as the "powerhouse roundtable".

Power is a misnomer here.

Power is hard to define; it is elusive; ephemeral; and should be applied to those who really have the ability to make other people do certain things; take certain actions.

The jibber jabbers on this show have media power for a few minutes once a week; are watched by the political cognoscenti; but otherwise have no grassroots mass following that translates into real power.

Matalin spewed her sludge this morning, stating that the Newtown parents who lost a child are being exploited.

Exploited????

They have lost a child, and are active in trying to prevent a Newtown from happening again.

Nobody is exploiting them; no one is forcing any of them to do anything against their will.

Matalin said she became a lifelong member of the NRA; bought a handgun; and couldn't find ammunition for the gun.

If Carville spouts his Dem. yada yada too much at home, he should be grateful that Matalin couldn't buy ammo.

Matalin's comments this morning "brought new depth to the meaning of shallow."

She apparently acted quickly to buy a handgun in order to avoid a state or federal background check.

She likely would not pass this check, for mental health reasons.

Matalin's comments re the Newtown parents were shameful.

Yes, a background check would not have prevented Lanza's rampage....he used his mother's arsenal.

But other safeguards could have deterred this tragedy:

:A tech. gun lock that would have locked the mother's guns; and would have to be used if she was to be able to purchase and use her guns.

:A limit on how many rounds can be fired in a quick, short period of time...in short, smaller mag. capacity.

You can watch Matalin spew her venom; and be afraid that this woman has any type of influence or power.

The you can watch the so called exploited Newtown parents, especially the articulate Francine and David Wheeler who lost their 6 yr. old Danny in the shooting.

They appeared on Bill Moyers and Co. this weekend.

This show is what the power of love is all about.

Francine is a beautiful woman, inside and out.

Wouldn't be super to have George Steph have both Francine and Mary Matalin side by side at his roundtable?

The links below can be used to watch the Wheelers, and Peter Yarrow, on Bill Moyers.

And the second link is a youtube of Francine and Dar Williams singing Family at the Feb. memorial concert in Newtown.

http://billmoyersdotcom/segment/francine-wheeler-and-peter-yarrow-on-musics-power-in-social-movements/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc1PZCw83-k

NY State Capital corruption

Shirley Huntley was wired, as the NYT story details.

http://www.nytimesdotcom/2013/05/04/nyregion/ex-senator-shirley-huntley-recorded-elected-officials.html?_r=0

***********************

This story broke on Friday.

In Karen DeWitt's otherwise good interview with Dean Skelos on NYNow, she didn't ask about Huntley's being wired; and the alleged implication of Sen. John Sampson.

In the NYT's story, an Albany Senator was quoted:

("...Senator Tony Avella, a Queens Democrat, said the cases that came out
recently represented, in his mind, “just the tip of the iceberg.” Mr.
Avella said he was not shocked to hear that Ms. Huntley had been making
secret recordings. “I’m so jaded at this point that I’m not surprised,”
he said. “And from my perspective, let them all wear wires. Let’s catch
everybody. Maybe if we clean out the whole system, we can move forward.”)

*********************

Allow this tattered nonentity blogger to differ on this.

The problem with the Southern US attorneys office use of wiretaps; secret tapes accrued through "wiring" of Albany politicos is the danger of undermining all confidence in politics and government.

There are rotten apples that dwell in the bottom of the political barrel; barnacles that attach to ship of state; scum that floats in the political pond.

So why not wire all Albany state politicos?

Because the politicos who are non-corrupt; and rather as honest as politicians can be are tainted with this broad prosecutors brush.

The right-wing, tea partiers enjoy the Albany scandals because it confirms their hard-wired anti-government ideology.

The wiring of state politicos can lead to pervasive paranoia.

The Assembly and Senate could easily replicate the physical brawl that broke out in the Venezuelan National Assembly .

http://article.wndotcom/view/2013/05/02/Political_Chaos_Grips_Venezuela_After_Legislative_Brawl_and_/#/related_ne

The Tower, at the Twin Towers site, will be 1776 ft. high, a symbolic tip of the hat to our nation's revolutionary beginnings.

"...Once installed, the spire — weighing more than 700 tons — will crown the
Freedom Tower at 1,776 feet, making it the tallest building in the
Western Hemisphere, according to the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey. The building currently tops out at 1,368 feet.''

http://usnews.nbcnewsdotcom/_news/2013/05/02/18018285-nycs-new-look-one-world-trade-center-spire-scrapes-sky?lite
*********

The Tower, at the Twin Towers site, will be 1776 ft. high, a symbolic tip of the hat to our nation's revolutionary beginnings.

I'm not a NYC real estate operator; or a Bloomberg staffer.

Obviously, there was much planning, and political conflict, that produced this idea of a high Freedom Tower.

But I say the idea is ridiculous; produced from the limited brain capacity of the planners and realtors.

Our brains, the 3 pound limitless marvel, have constantly growing, dying, and renewal of neurons, dendrites, synapses.

This idea of a high Freedom Tower was concocted by those with misfiring neurons; by those whose brains at lodged in their wallets or in their lower rear anatomy.

Who is going to agree to work in the top floors of this Freedom Tower?

Even Oprah or Ellen DeGeneres couldn't give away free rent to businesses urged to occupy the top floors.

The state Democratic Party called Texas Sen. Ted Cruz the most “anti-New York” US senator, and slammed the GOP for having him headline their annual fundraising gala this month.)

(The state Democratic Party called
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz the most “anti-New York” US senator, and slammed
the GOP for having him headline their annual fundraising gala this
month.)

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(..Is Sen. Ted Cruz the new Joseph McCarthy?.)

http://www.mediaitedotcom/online/is-sen-ted-cruz-the-new-mccarthy-report-says-he-accused-harvard-law-faculty-of-harboring-communists/

*****

I can imagine the ghost of Joe McCarthy proclaiming to Cruz,using the ol' pirate phrase " "I like the cut of your Jib, kid"

Cruz morphs liberals and communists.

He believed, in an earlier speech, that there were at least 12 communists on the Harvard Law faculty when he was there.

Ol' Gunner Joe would whisper in Ted's ear that he should carry a paper in his pocket, bring it out during his speech in NY, and declare this is a list of communists in the White House, the State Dept., as well as on the Harvard Law faculty. The paper, of course, would be blank.

If Cruz wants to see communists, he should walk down NYC's upper east side, and he can observe the few remaining ol' Stalists, 150 yrs. old, walking, talking to themselves, and wiping the spittle from their mouths

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Both houses of the Colorado legislature passed a major overhaul of state election law

(..Both houses of the Colorado legislature passed a major overhaul
of state election law that would implement same-day registration and
voting, automatically send mail-in ballots to every voter, and create a
real-time statewide voter database to prevent fraud. Proponents view the
bill, written by a bipartisan group of county clerks, as a national
model for other states....)

http://thinkprogressdotorg/justice/2013/05/02/1957431/colorado-legislature-passes-major-voting-rights-expansion-bill/
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On surface, the Colorado voting overhaul appears super.
NY should replicate this Colorado overhaul.

The late William Buckley’s National Review blog has a post on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz making early plans to enter the GOP 2016 POTUS race.

The late William Buckley’s National Review blog has a post on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz making early plans to enter the GOP 2016 POTUS race.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347052/cruz-2016
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(..For the moment, Cruz’s inner circle is small: mostly aides from his Senate campaign; his father, Rafael; and his wife, Heidi..)
If his volunteer list is made up of his father and wife, how can be fail?
(…Behind the scenes, there is a palpable fear on the right that the GOP will nominate a moderate Republican in 2016. There’s also growing unease with the field of likely contenders.
Enter Cruz. His supporters argue that he’d be a Barry Goldwater type — a nominee who would rattle the Republican establishment and reconnect the party with its base – but with better electoral results….)
A Barry Goldwater type???
Mr. Barry won all of 5 deep Southern states in 1964.
And if JFK was alive and running in ’64 against Goldwater, the results would have been the same.
(…Cruz isn’t worried that his birth certificate will be a problem. Though he was born in Canada, he and his advisers are confident that they could win any legal battle over his eligibility. Cruz’s mother was a U.S. citizen when he was born, and he considers himself to be a natural-born citizen….)
Will The Donald begin twittering about Cruz’s birth certificate…let’s see it, the long form not a truncated short form.
(..Earlier this year, Cruz gave the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he was greeted with a raucous reception and praised by Sarah Palin. She touted Cruz as a conservative who “chews barbed wire and spits out rust.”…”)
Chews barbed wire and spits out rust.
My daughter is a vegan, but she would say barbed wire and rust may be meatless, but caution is advised.
Will Cruz campaign by going to the Texas/Mex. border and chew on the border fence?

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Nelson Rockefeller broke no opposition on promoting his personal agenda

(There’s a trove of photographs detailing the neighborhood now occupied by the Empire State Plaza. (TU))
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This is a very good article; history brought to life.
Nelson Rockefeller broke no opposition on promoting his personal agenda.
His development, expansion of the SUNY system served the middle- and working-class in increasing mobility through higher ed.
But there are so many other examples of Rocky’s actions in promoting
the interests of his family, and its’ international wealthy network.
The Twin Towers were a Rockefeller project. In fact some wanted the two towers to be named Nelson and David.
The tragedy of 9/11 was facilitated by these skyscrapers that dwarfed human scale.
The Empire Mall, in all its’ building enormity, was a manifestation of Rocky’s inner elitist, anti-democratic soul.
The Mall’s buildings make humans seem like ants.