Yes, yes, it is important to elect some new State Senators who favor the right of same sex couples to get married. I’ve written several columns explaining why.
As I’ve also explained, the way to pass same sex marriage is to pick up eight more votes in the State [...]
From a blogger’s perspective, the one good result in the wake of the defeat of marital equality is the wealth of opportunity. There are so many possible angles just begging to be explored.
Some gay activists are now busy outing an allegedly gay State Senator who voted against marital equality. [...]
Where was George Michaels when we needed him today?
George Michaels, not George Michael.
From THE NEW YORK TIMES (12/5/1992): Former Assemblyman George M. Michaels, who cast the deciding vote to liberalize New York's abortion law in 1970, thereby ending his political career, died on Thursday at his home in [...]
GATEMOUTH (4/14/06): In the end, I want a member of Congress who’s wrestled with, and lost sleep over the question of under which circumstances the deployment of American forces in battle is justified. “Just say no” is not an adequate answer...
GATEMOUTH (1/20/09): I am thankful to those on the left, [...]
It's been rough and rocky travelin',
But I'm finally standin' upright on the ground.
After takin' several readings,
I'm surprised to find my mind`s still fairly sound -- Willie Nelson
It started simply enough.
I was a geeky junior high school smart ass; by contrast, Paul was a popular junior high [...]
During this year’s final mayoral debate, Bill Thompson was said by the local commentariat to have made two grievous errors, which were only not said to be fatal in and of themselves because his candidacy was pronounced by the same wise-men to be in a state of extremis, for which [...]
Now it can be told.
Last year, I used my Election Day vacation in an effort to help make Malcolm Smith the State Senate Majority Leader;
Having seen how that worked out, this year I used my day off to take care of my sick son Dybbuk and his new [...]
In the film “Chariots of Fire” a rich man of Jewish origins sets out with a goal in mind and proceeds to dedicate all of his considerable resources, both material and from within, to its achievement.
Any resemblance to the current Mayor of the City of New York are unintentional, [...]
I recently argued in this space that New York State has no real political parties (with the possible exception of the Conservative). I saw nothing last night to make me re-evaluate that conclusion, but that is a talk for another time.
Unlike in New York State, there is something [...]
10:26 PM
76% of precincts reporting
Bloomberg 50%
Thompson 47%
“There is a out there a great seething resentment, not all of it rational, but much of it quite on the mark, for the sort of clueless lack of concern over this legitimate frustration. And for many, Bloomberg is its personification. In fact, the [...]
The time: 1965.
The place: Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Somewhere around 1949, the 40,000 strong Jewish community of the Silk City, Paterson, New Jersey (where my maternal great-grandfather ran a textile mill in partnership with noted designer Boris Kroll, and where my paternal grandfather lived between bankruptcies by hustling [...]KURT VONNEGUT: If you wish to study a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon.
In Part One, entitled “Cats Cradle“, I sadly put forth the proposition that all of New York’s ballot status parties, save the Conservatives, were granfalloons. The creator of that term, Kurt Vonnegut, defined [...]KURT VONNEGUT: A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings.
I have not for decades felt the need to cite a quotation from the master of making the whimsical seem profound; not at least since the day long ago when I made the adolescent-switch away from airplane [...]
JUSTICE WILLIAM ERLBAUM: The American verdict of 'not guilty' can indicate one of two things,…Innocence, or the case is not proven. In the case of these [felony assault counts], the case has not been proven.
Agree with the verdict or not, Justice Erlbaum’s words, with their implicit acknowledgment of what he [...]
The Atlantic Antic had been a triumph for six year old Dybbuk.
Already having persuaded Domestic Partner to buy him $50 worth of toy MTA trains, he climaxed the afternoon by sneaking behind the Police barriers in front of the Waterfront Alehouse, treating those watching the second set by the [...]
I happen to like Bill Thompson just fine; he’s a smart and thoughtful guy who has served our city well at the Board of Education and as Comptroller.
To the extent that Mike Bloomberg’s educational policies have been about unclogging the deteriorated arteries of 110 Livingston to do an emergency [...]
Neil Young on Gatemouth: 'You're all just pissin' in the wind, You don't know it but you are."
Actually, I knew it all along. Two weeks ago, I said:
"this day is bound to be repeated shortly in Citywide form as Mark Green spends the next two weeks of his [...]
“And some (like, it seems to me, our friend Gatemouth) simply think all candidates are pretty much the same and despair of finding excitement in supporting a candidate...in fact they seem disdainful of anyone who actually shows some enthusiasm for a candidate.” --MOLE333
Although I once made the observation above [...]With our pension system operating like a runaway bus which might explode if it slows down, what is called for is a City Comptroller with a reputation for honesty and integrity so shining that we are blinded by the bright light of their integrity.
Instead, we are facing a choice [...]
Dateline: 7/8/09 Washington DC
Patrick giggled as he read the words of praise for the new Lieutenant Governor published on “Room Eight”“The man…had brought the MTA into the 20th Century and just last year endeavored to bring it into the 21st;….
Today, in a stunning act of audacity, [...]
A DAILY GOTHAM WRITER (7/25/08): I don't go out of my way to trash people to my left. I don't do that, despite the occasional temptation to do so, for the simple reason that I don't consider it strategically wise, and because I'm more interested in beating republicans. This is [...]
Our Parent, Our Ruler; I have sinned before thee.
For the sin of endorsing worthy candidates, who seemed to have been jinxed as a result.
For the sin of failing to endorse and write on behalf of candidates I should have, because it was the path of least resistance.
For [...]
The first is that our outrage has inconveniently coincided with Republican outrage mostly focused on ACORN [...]
Earlier in the year, it became clear that personal circumstances were going to keep me from endorsing in the 33rd Councilmanic District, where I happen to live.
But nothing is going to stop me from saying who you shouldn’t vote for.
There are SEVEN candidates in this race. Only three [...]
Dybbuk, shortly to enter the first grade, had just finished a week of drama camp, and was now set to return to the spa for children founded years before by a front group for the Communist Party.
“Bubbe” he asked his maternal grandmother, “did you go to camp?”
“No,” she [...]
Back in the 1970s, Jerry Brown swept to power in California with a new-agey challenge to traditional Democratic liberalism that repackaged fiscal moderation with environmentalism and some “small is beautiful” rhetoric, and then sold it as innovative, even radical change.
San Francisco punk rockers The Dead Kennedys saw right through the [...]
I wanted to write more about endorsements, but time is getting short and family obligations intruded. Paradoxically, this led to a far longer Rock piece than I intended to write, as I just extracted it from a chapter of my unfinished book.
As such, I probably will not have the [...]
“Now Get on outta here, because I gotta get back to this screenplay. It’s about a pair of tough talking 1970s cops who don't take nuthin' from nobody. I call it ‘Hackshaw and Gatemouth.’ Kinda like ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ but with less sex.” --Long Forgotten Room 8 Video Blogger Adam [...]
The fact that my house, practically on the shores of the Gowanus Canal, shares a councilman with Greenpoint is not, in and of itself, proof that the lines for Brooklyn City Council districts are preposterous. Districts have to end somewhere and, even under the fairest of plans, some neighborhood is [...]
Much has been written by more knowledgeable writers about the efforts of the Working Families Party to game the campaign finance laws for fun and profit, in an effort to win friends and influence people and policy.
As I’ve noted previously, the WFP’s shenanagins, whether barely legal, or transgressive [...]Is it just me, or is does the Working Families Party (WFP) only endorse candidates whose pants are on fire?
This may be appropriate for a political institution whose departing treasurer, when called upon to explain his exit (amidst accusations of violating campaign finance laws and very conveniently [...]When one sticks ones neck out, and says the candidate has no clothes, vindication is very sweet.
TABLET MAGAZINE: “The editor of Der Blatt, Alexander Deutsch, told Tablet—via our columnist Eddy Portnoy, a professor of Yiddish at Rutgers University—that, after being contacted by Lander’s Satmar-community liaison Rabbi Yitzhok Fleischer, he “received [...]ONLY THE BLOG KNOWS BROOKLYN: ‘Sadly, it seems pretty clear that someone associated with one of the other campaigns or some kind of political entity is working pretty hard to attack Brad Lander (candidate for City Council in the 39th district) with a wild and crazy fake ad in a [...]
Please Disregard.
This space was previously used to solicit a copy of recording of Saturday night's Dov Hikind radio program to check out whether an email report of the show's contents was accurate. When soliciting the info, I posted my own suspicions that the assertions made within were unlikely to [...]
Sitting down to write about the recent outbreaks of hate speech embroiling Brad Lander’s City Council race, I suddenly was reminded of Mark Green and included within that article a relevant digression about Mr. Green’s travails during his 2001 campaign for Mayor.
During Mr. Green’s 2006 race [...]
The intended beneficiary of [...]
He was undoubtedly a lion but, troubled by the unreserved lionization being displayed upon my Facebook page, I posted not a dissent, but a partial concurrence:
“ A young man of seemingly little promise, thrust into the spotlight on the money and accomplishments of others, he grew up in public to [...]
CHRIS ROCK: “But the question remains the same: Can white people say “nigger”? And the answer’s the same: not really. But wait a minute, there’s one exception. There’s one exception. There’s one instance where white people can say nigger. And I’ma let it out tonight…The one time that white people [...]
AZI PAYBARAH: Scott Stringer’s long-shot Republican opponent is trying, at least.
David Casavis, a locally well-known Republican personality on the East Side and a foreign service buff, emailed friends and reporters the layout of a flier he plans to hand out shortly, which includes a New York Post editorial [...]ROCK HACKSHAW: Look, I have always felt that the hard-core readers of the Daily Gotham blog are latte-drinking Park-slopers, who balance their lap-tops on their knees, as they sip on sidewalk cafes. My hard-core readers (not the same as readers of other contributors here on R8) are probably people who [...]
“I tried so hard to be true, like I promised I'd do…
Hey Jimmy, Jimmy, oh Jimmy Mack” --- MARTHA REEVES (now a Detroit City Councilwoman, she understood politics even then ) AND THE VANDELLAS
THE BROOKLYN PAPER: Borough President Markowitz’s campaign now says that it must kick the Beep’s sole Democratic primary challenger off the ballot to ensure the “integrity” of the balloting process.
On Monday, three Markowitz allies filed objections against nominating signatures collected by political newcomer Eugene Myrick, who handed in roughly [...]Gatemouth and Domestic Partner had met Major Publishing Couple four years ago when Dybbuk first started pre-school. While Gate and DP maintained a fierce competition to see which of them could more effectively squander their considerable talents, the two halves of MPC each ran a major national magazine that had [...]
SD 33: Spare yourself the worry about who’s under indictment; if Pedro Espada is currently free from such worries, it is only a matter of time before he faces them again. It can be argued, in fact, that the legal process is the only option which may improve the quality [...]
Back in 1989, disgusted with Ed Koch’s divisive administration, I sought an alternative.
Michael Kharfen, later to be Director of David Dinkins’ Community Assistance Unit (and my boss therein) told me, “If you don’t vote for David Dinkins, there will be racial discord, riots in the street and the days [...]
GOVERNOR SANFORD: “I have been doing a lot of soul searching on that front. What I find interesting is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily, he fell in very very significant ways. But then picked up the pieces and built from there.”
Maria is my [...]
I really want to like Kevin Parker. Really.
There’s good reason why I should. Of the five Democratic State Senators who‘ve ever been indicted, Kevin is the only who has neither made common cause with the Republicans, nor has even threatened to.
Unlike the other members of that illustrious crew [...]"...A short while ago, there was a little confab in the middle of the chamber floor between Shelly Mayer, counsel to the Senate Democrats, Sen. Malcolm Smith and former Minority Leader Marty Connor.
There's something really ironic about the [...]
“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any [...]
My alarm rang at 5:30 AM. I tried to remember why. It was primary day.
By a little after 6:00 AM, I was at a poll site on Bedford Avenue. A van pulled up and Rabbi Leib Glanz got out with a group of young men, who he proceeded to [...]It is now the ninth day of Albany’s Time of Troubles and we’ve entered the game show phase.
Democrats have put forth a power-sharing agreement, while Republicans are insisting on the bigger share. If they do not decide who is in charge among themselves, a judge may decide it for [...]
Tom Friedman: The Times’s Robert Mackey reported that in Tehran “chants of ‘Death to America’ ” at rallies for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week were answered by chants of “Death to the Taliban — in Kabul and Tehran” at a rally for his opponent, Mir Hussein Moussavi.
Encouraging, yes. And to [...]
As was once again proven this week, there is nothing more destructive to the New York State political process than a billionaire scorned. In fact, this may be the single best argument for Mike Bloomberg’s re-election.
In 1989, for reasons too petty to be worth discussing, Al D’Amato filled his [...]
Efforts for the Democrats to hang onto the 32 votes [...]
Paul Newell thinks the only sane person in Albany may be Sheldon Silver. And this frightens him.
On his Facebook Page 6/9/09
The Senate Republican majority is [...]
In my two previous pieces detailing the intrigues afoot in the New York State Senate, I was puzzled by the vehemence of the State Senate Democrats in mindlessly and repeatedly chanting their mantra insisting that the Republican attempt to stage a coup had failed, because the vote had been [...]
As the great sportswriter Jimmy Cannon used to say, nobody asked me but…
Immediately after posting my piece yesterday concerning the antics of Pedro “The Mamaroneck Bomber” Espada and Hiram "The Sultan of Swat Monserrate", collectively known as "The Aztec Two-Step", I was besieged with email, most of which came [...]Well, despite the best efforts of Malcolm Smith to bring about Republican control of the State Senate sooner, it took Republican an entire six months to get the deed done, courtesy of their signing the team of Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, who shall from now on be referred to [...]
The Gate/Domestic Partner clan solemnly remembered Memorial Day by helping six-year old Dybbuk construct a diorama memorializing his early childhood walk to the Kane Street Synagogue pre-school, and then drinking far too much at a barbeque attended mostly by natives and foreign stock from Poland, Israel, Sweden, Japan, Korea and [...]
Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND), the local political Club in my area, is currently forming a circular firing squad as it puts itself into civil war footing. At the center of the war is a gregarious but somewhat annoying man I’ve rarely found common cause with who has sometimes behaved despicably, [...]
OBAMA (5/17/09): What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website -- an entry that said I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor said he had assumed I was a reasonable person, he [...]
Since the answer is not immediately apparent, everyone jumps to the [...]
TOM HAGEN: Senator Cauly apologized for not coming personally -- he said you'd understand.
-- The Consiglieri reporting (to the protagonist of Rudy Giuliani's favorite film) a dear friend's expedient absence from a wedding.
Congratulations are in order to Jon Cooper, the Majority Leader of the Legislature of Suffolk County, New York, upon his [...]
Back in September 2006, I published an analysis of the Republican primary in the 24th Senate District, which said, in part:
“The retiring incumbent is named John Marchi, and he was a giant. Marchi was elected to the Senate in 1956, before most of us were born; he was the [...]
The blame lies with Brooklyn Sen. Carl Kruger, who led the charge against tolling the East River and Harlem [...]
When this department last looked in upon Jonathan Tasini, he had just lost a Democratic Primary campaign for US Senate run on the premise that Hillary Clinton was insufficiently liberal (and that Ned Lamont was barely an improvement). As I’d predicted back then, the punch line of his joke [...]
In listening to the Mayor's potential opponents, I've yet to find many issues where I think they are right and the Mayor [...]
“Blue State MODERATE [emphasis added] Michael Steele beat four MORE HARDLINE [emphasis added] GOP candidates to become the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee."---NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 1/31/09
FROM THE MARYLAND DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S “MARYLAND LT. GOVERNOR MICHAEL STEELE RESEARCH BOOK”: While speaking to the Baltimore Jewish Council, Michael [...]
"But unlike Kennedy or Cuomo, she isn't saddled with all that dynastic baggage. Perfect!" ---Eve Fairbanks on Slate
Enough talk about the world of the Schlossberg wing of the Family Kennedy, it is time to talk about the world of a different Kennedy.
“That year an ill wind blew over the city [...]
Gatemouth (7/24/08): But “Aggressive Isolationism” and our involuntary quarantine by our former allies, was not always our destiny. To cop from the dust jacket of Beinart’s “The Good Fight: Why Liberals – and Only Liberals – Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again”, we once had [...]
As some may recall, one of my political heroes is the late Arizona Congressman, Morris Udall, who ran a misbegotten Presidential campaign in 1976, logging a seemingly endless series of close-but-no-cigar losses, usually to Jimmy Carter (including a heartbreaking Dewey defeats Truman squeaker in Wisconsin), and sometimes to Scoop Jackson [...]
“I also want to say very directly for the British people why this matters so much directly to Britain.
First, let us not forget that the attacks of September 11 represented the worst terrorist outrage against British citizens in our history. The murder of British citizens, whether it happens overseas or [...]
Recently, Mole333 expressed to me his concern that I’ve spent more time bashing fellow Democrats that I have criticizing Republicans. I disagree, but the perception is surely not to be dismissed lightly, even if much of the commentary on TDG is also dedicated to fellow-Democrat bashing, and even if Rock’s [...]
Michael Goodwin’s Op-Ed in today’s Daily News “Keep Albany a two-party town”, presents a perfect way to end the legislative session with some mindless summer fun. Yes, the session must truly be over, and things must be slowing down, for only two parties makes for a very slow night indeed [...]
“The excitement underpinning Senator Barack Obama’s campaign rests considerably on his evocative vows to depart from self-interested politics. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has come up short of that standard with his decision to reject public spending limitations and opt instead for unlimited private financing in the general election.”
-New York Times [...]
Will Barack Obama please have the Democratic Party Rules Committee restore the four piddling delegates it took away from Hillary in Michigan?
I know winning these delegates was an important victory for him, because after all, without them it would have taken an additional three and one half minutes to [...]
“The Democratic party will indeed suffer the consequences of its actions. Republican women who crossed over for Hillary will go back to their own party, while others will either stay home or write in their votes for Hillary. Still others will leave the party that has no respect for the [...]
?I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers, even though I didn?t know it at the time. Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris.? ?Barack Obama
I?m trying not to picture [...]
The Cold Twenty Thousand
A Novel By James Gatemouth Ellroy
Chapter One
Roger Stone
They sent him to New York to kill a Jew Prosecutor named Eliot Spitzer. He was sure he could do it.
The Senate Republican Campaign Committee flew him. They supplied first class fare. They tapped their slush fund. They greased [...]
duplicate entry eliminated
[...]"This was a military-style ambush from start to finish . . .a coup d'etat with David Paterson waiting in the wings, and perhaps Joe Bruno queuing up behind him."
District Attorney James Gatemouth Garrison
I am normally one to dismiss each and every conspiracy theory out of hand. Did Dubya steal the [...]
NY 13 : One of only Six Republican from New York, and one of only two without a challenger, this district showed a bigger Bush swing than NY 3, but also went for Gore by a similar amount. Vito Fossella represents Staten Island and Brooklyn. Steve Harrison on an extremely [...]
I trust Bouldin to leave this piece unmolested about as much as a sensible person would trust Bernie Kerik to run the Police Department, so let's all save a lot of fuss an bother, and just go read it on "Room 8":
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/harrison_fraud_episode_iii_of_the_joe...
[...]Attorney Reg #: 2621670
Judge: No Current name:
NOACH DEAR
Status:
Currently registered Year admitted:
1994 Dept:
2
Continuing Legal Education
(as reported on registration forms)
Registration
Period Credit Hours
Completed Signature Date Carryover
Credits Exemption
Signature Date Waiver/Extension
Signature Date
1.
2000-2001 11/11/2000
[...]
The only practical way yet discovered by the world for curing its ills is to forget about them Ben Hecht
PREVIOUSLY ON THE JOE BRUNO DEMOCRATS:
(Room 8 link)
Republican Mob Boss Saratoga Joe Bruno was revealed to have seen Martin Scorseses The Departed, and contrived a secret [...]
