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.)

**********

(..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

see more

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/
**********

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
**********
(..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?

Reply

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))
**********
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.