Organizers of the National September 11 Memorial Museum’s unveiling have
had to handle the expectations and sensitivities of various groups who
all feel a special connection to Sept. 11.
The city plans to announce on Monday a construction project that will
transform A. Philip Randolph Houses into a mixed-income development of
public and private housing.
A provision in the state budget agreement will protect consumers by
requiring that they be given notice when an out-of-network doctor is
involved in their care.
Drew Dzwonkowski/New York Daily News
Daily News editorial cartoon featuring embattled New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
I own a summer house in Beesley’s Point, New Jersey. Chris Christie haunts it.
Beesley is a speck on Route 9, just off the bay opposite Ocean City.
It’s a cozy enclave of a few hundred year-round residents and a handful
of getaway homeowners like us. The cedar siding gives our house more of a
country aura than a beach look, bordered by thick foliage and wind-bent
trees.
This is a story about a power plant just beyond the trees: the
450-megawatt B. L. England generating station, owned by a firm called
Rockland Capital, the only coal-fired polluter in the state still firing
away without a full complement of scrubbers to catch sulfur and other
emissions before they hit the air. Its property line runs within 30 feet
of our back porch.
The fact that the plant keeps on churning speaks volumes about the way
Christie makes decisions, especially when friends like just-resigned
Port Authority chair David Samson and Christie mentor Rudy Giuliani —
both of whose law firms represent Rockland — are pitted against the
residents of Beesley and Ocean City.
Wolf Skacel, the recently retired head of compliance and enforcement
for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, told me that
B.L. England is the state’s “dirtiest” plant. That’s why Skacel forced
its owners to sign a preliminary agreement to upgrade in 2004 and an
administrative consent order in 2006, both imposed by the Democratic
governors that preceded Christie.
Though the original agreement gave the plant until December 31, 2007 to
begin to either retrofit or convert to natural gas, in 2012 the
Christie administration’s Department of Environmental Protection signed
an amendment giving Rockland until May 2015 to start the conversion or
upgrade.
The Christie reprieve occurred despite a 2010 Clean Air Task Force per
capita mortality report that ranked Ocean City the 14th
most-contaminated metropolitan area of the 500 across America that still
host coal-fired plants, trailing only cities in coal-worshipping
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Virginia.
The
fact that the plant keeps on churning speaks volumes about the way
Christie makes decisions, especially when friends like just-resigned
Port Authority chair David Samson and Christie mentor Rudy Giuliani —
both of whose law firms represent Rockland — are pitted against the
residents of Beesley and Ocean City.
Over the past year-and-a-half, the Christie administration has
converted the plant’s abysmal record into an argument to build a
22-mile, 24-inch pipeline to supply the plant with Marcellus shale oil
and facilitate its conversion from coal to cleaner-burning fracked gas.
Quite a change in strategy: Instead of the punishing, pre-Christie
promise to shutter the plant if it didn’t clean up, the Christie team
would reward it with a $400 million pipeline by pointing out how bad it
still is.
The amendment was executed within weeks of the plant’s retention of
Wolff & Samson, the lobbying firm at the center of many recent
Christie scandals. Samson is now a headlined name in his own right,
having apparently championed and even voted for Authority projects that
benefit his clients, as if what’s good for his booming law firm must be
good for Jersey. Prosecutors recently subpoenaed firm records.
Partners at Samson’s firm were the ones who lobbied for the extensions
that gave the plant more breathing room than the people who live near
it. One of the partners was the ex chief of staff at the agency he now
lobbies. Another was selected by Christie’s DEP enforcement division to
act as a “stakeholder” in their internal policy discussions. The third
is vice-chair of the nonprofit led by Christie’s wife that maintains the
state mansion.
It’s not only Samson, however, who looms just beyond the Anderson
windows of our A-frame house. The Manhattan office of Bracewell
Giuliani, run by the former mayor, handles Rockland’s mergers and
acquisitions. Giuliani has been the governor’s public face, making the
national appearances Christie mostly stopped doing after his January,
two-hour Bridgegate press conference.
A Giuliani friend and former deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, just finished a
million-dollar, Christie-induced probe of Bridgegate and cleared him of
all charges. Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien, the two Christie aides
dismissed by the governor because of the scandal, used to work for Rudy.
Giuliani threw a Hamptons fundraiser for Christie last summer, and his
law firm is representing another top Christie campaign operative in the
current investigations.
But our backyard is, like Samson’s two-state Port Authority, overrun
not only with Christie underbrush, but with connections to that other
master of the multi-billion-dollar Authority, New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo. Rockland’s chairman is Michael Del Giudice. He oversaw Andrew
Cuomo’s transition committee in 2010, just as Samson chaired Christie’s
in 2009.
Del Giudice, the lead independent director at Con Ed, was
chief-of-staff to Andrew’s father, former governor Mario Cuomo, and more
recently, the elder Cuomo has been an investor in and chairman of a Del
Giudice banking company. Rockland is run out of the same Carnegie Hall
Tower office as a state scholarship fund that Andrew Cuomo named Del
Giudice to lead. Rockland’s vice-chair is Jerry Crotty, who once was
counsel and secretary to Mario Cuomo and is now the president of an
investment firm that owns more of Rockland than any other investor.
When Rockland acquired the plant for a $12 million pittance in 2006, it
promised DEP it would complete the mandated expensive,
pollution-reducing retrofitting that prompted the prior owners to sell.
It also hired Tony Burgos as its lobbyist. Burgos is another former top
Mario Cuomo assistant whose installation years ago as Port Authority
vice-chair positioned him to become the connected bi-state lobbyist he
is today. Burgos, Crotty and Del Giudice are major Andrew Cuomo donors
and fundraisers, accounting for hundreds of thousands in contributions
over the years (they do not give to Christie). There is no indication
that the Cuomo administration has done anything to benefit Rockland,
which does have New York operations.
Christie, on the other hand, was so eager to help Rockland that his DEP
and Board of Public Utilities (BPU) decided to support the pipeline,
paid for by rate increases, despite that the fact that between its Cape
May starting point and Beesley destination, it would run underground
through 15 miles of the million-acre Pinelands, the country’s first
natural preserve and a United Nations Biosphere Reserve.
Four prior Jersey governors, including Republicans Tom Kean and
Christie Whitman, signed a letter opposing the pipeline because of its
threat to the Pinelands, a stretch of pine-oak forests, dark tea-colored
streams, a 17-trillion-gallon aquifer, large farms and small towns that
cuts across a quarter of the state.
An interesting side-note: Christie, in his usual swashbuckling style,
was extending Rockland’s deadlines, and exempting them from taxes paid
by most Jersey energy companies, at the same as he was suing
Pennsylvania and other states for allowing coal-fired soot to infect
Jersey air.
But, even after DEP and BPU approvals in 2013, the pipeline still faced
one more hurdle: the 15-member Pinelands Commission, which was
established decades ago to safeguard the preserve.
BPU made itself the pipeline applicant at the commission, rather than
Rockland or South Jersey Gas, the company that was to build and operate
it. That unusual substitution, with one state body petitioning another,
gave the project an unmistakable edge. The commission vote was scheduled
for Jan. 10, but that turned out to be two days after Bridgegate’s
“time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” emails surfaced, making it
the first implicit test of Christie’s post-scandal powers.
Four days before the slated vote, the Christie-appointed Pinelands
Commission executive director had already issued a 42-page report
recommending approval, and, in December, its counsel had pushed a likely
board opponent of the pipeline — a Columbia professor named Ed Lloyd —
into recusing himself.
The counsel cited an alleged conflict of interest so inconsequential it
wouldn’t even register on a Samson meter. The attorney, Lloyd claimed,
told him that she’d contacted the State Ethics Commission “on orders
from the governor’s office,” and that ethics officials had “ordered you
to recuse yourself,” a charge the counsel denies.
The Pinelands reserve covers seven counties. Each county government
appoints a member of the commission, matching the seven appointed by the
governor (the U.S. Department of Interior names one). One of the county
appointees died just before the scheduled pipeline vote, prompting
Christie allies to fill the vacancy in such a rush that a new
pro-pipeline member was named before the departed one was buried.
Wikimedia Commons
Beesley's Point Power Generating Plant near Beesley's Point, New Jersey.
Despite the forced recusal and rushed replacement, four Christie
appointees joined two county-selected members and the Interior appointee
to deadlock the vote and stall the project.
The local state senator, Jeffrey Van Drew, a Democrat long allied with
Christie and the recipient of thousands in Rockland donations, is trying
now to find a way to circumvent or redo the vote. Christie announced
that he is supporting the Van Drew efforts, and the three-year terms of
some of the commission opponents end this summer, giving the governor an
opportunity to change its vote.
So, what now for this plant and my town?
Both sides agree that the plant is unnecessary most of the time, but
its champions argue that it’s a vital emergency backup. Opponents point
out that it’s virtually at sea level and is as likely to crash in a
storm as it is to fill a gap.
I’ve spent a lifetime investigating just these kinds of deals, yet
missed one so close to me I ran by the plant’s 175-foot smokestack
whenever I jogged across the Beesley’s Point Bridge. We were often
awakened by the 90-car trains hauling in the coal associated with 13
premature deaths a year, according to the Clean Air Task Force national
study. We swam in the bay so contaminated by 360-degree water discharged
by the plant that the Sierra Club sued to block it from killing
“billions” of fish.
I live with questions about whether its fine-particle soot — high in
sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides — has anything to do with why a
lifelong nonsmoker and runner like me wound up with a lung affliction
that has me on oxygen today, after making it through lung-cancer surgery
last year.
But it’s the deal, not the plant, that makes me sick. Connections
compromised public safety once again — this time where I live and,
unfortunately, breathe. Barrett is an investigative reporter who has covered New York and
national politics for four decades, mostly at the Village Voice. His
wife is a special adviser to Gov. Cuomo.
By THOMAS KAPLAN and JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ 7 minutes ago
The agreement will finance the expansion of prekindergarten in New York
City without the tax increase on high-earning residents sought by Mayor
Bill de Blasio.
Dr. David Brownstein, M.D., is a board-certified family physician and one of the nation’s foremost practitioners of holistic medicine. He is editor of Dr. David Brownstein’s Natural Way to Health newsletter.
Dr. Brownstein has lectured internationally to physicians and others
about his success with natural hormones and nutritional therapies in
his practice. His books include Drugs That Don’t Workand Natural Therapies That Do!; Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It; Salt Your Way To Health; The Miracle of Natural Hormones; Overcoming Arthritis, Overcoming Thyroid Disorders; The Guide to a Gluten-Free Diet; and The Guide to Healthy Eating.
He is the medical director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West
Bloomfield, Mich., where he lives with his wife, Allison, and their
teenage daughters, Hailey and Jessica.
There
is no doubt in my mind that good hydration can have very positive
effects for those with asthma. One of the hallmarks of asthma is mucous
production that clogs the airways. What is the best known mucolytic
agent, something that breaks down mucous? The answer is easy — water. At
the first sign of wheezing, I tell my patients to drink an eight-ounce
glass of water mixed with ¼ teaspoon of unrefined salt.
This
combination of water and salt helps break down mucous and relax the
airways. Water helps break down and thin the mucous of the airways. Salt
(and only unrefined salt) contains minerals such as magnesium that are
very relaxing to the smooth muscles of the airways. When I start
wheezing the first thing I do is reach for the water-salt combination. I
have found that, if I ingest this combination early, I often overcome
the wheezing.
It
is very important, too, to be hydrated before participating in sporting
events. Many people with asthma experience wheezing with exertion. My
patients have had success drinking the saltwater mixture before
beginning an exercise regimen. Those who have to use an inhaler before
exercise often find they don’t need to use their inhaler as long as they
maintain good hydration. I play tennis every week and drinking the
saltwater mixture has removed my need for using an inhaler before I
play. In fact, I don’t even carry an inhaler with me.
Jay
is a 12-year-old soccer player. His mother started to notice that he
was having trouble keeping up during games. When she asked him what was
wrong, he told her his chest felt heavy. Jay went to an allergist, who
performed a pulmonary function test that diagnosed Jay with asthma. He
was prescribed a combination of inhalers and medications to help control
the symptoms. When Jay used the inhalers they caused his heart rate to
increase.
When I saw Jay, I asked him how much water he drank, and he replied, “I don’t like water. Maybe I drink one glass per day.”
I
told Jay that he would not get better unless drank more water. Since
Jay was interested in soccer, he agreed to try to drink more water. I
had him drink half his body weight (in ounces) of water per day and put ¼
teaspoon of unrefined salt in the bottle of water he took to soccer
practice.
The
first day, Jay felt the difference. “My chest did not hurt and I felt
like I could run all day,” he said. Jay now uses a rescue inhaler
infrequently and is doing well.Children are notoriously dehydrated. They
drink too much soda and juices and not enough water. I encourage all of
my pediatric patients to drink water as their primary source of
liquids.
Soda and juices dehydrate the body, and drinking them can promote asthma symptoms in those predisposed to it.
A report that held Gov. Chris Christie blameless for the Fort Lee bridge
lane scandal depicted the ex-aide, Bridget Anne Kelly, as duplicitous,
weepy and dependent on men for approval and stability.
The
former two-term mayor told WNYM radio host John Catsimatidis Bill de
Blasio has created an 'emphasis on dependency' and on 'big city
government,' while putting 'less emphasis on very well-managed
government.' He also slammed de Blasio on charter schools.
Jacquelyn Martin/APFormer
Mayor Rudy Giuliani (pictured) criticized the job current Mayor Bill
de Blasio is doing running New York City. He’s ‘moving it in the wrong
direction,’ he said.
After holding his tongue for months, Rudy Giuliani made clear Sunday
that he's no fan of Mayor de Blasio, declaring that in many ways the
city is moving "in the wrong direction."
"The city was on a very good course, and that needs to be maintained
and improved on, and he's kind of turned it around," Giuliani
complained.
As recently as last week, Giuliani declined to comment on de Blasio's
performance in office, but the two-term former mayor, a Republican, held
little back during an interview on WNYM-AM.
De Blasio, a liberal Democrat who took office Jan. 1, is "going in the
direction of emphasis on dependency, emphasis on big city government,
less emphasis on a very well and very efficiently managed city,"
Giuliani said.
"All of that seems to be moving the city in the wrong direction,"
Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis, the grocery store magnate who
waged an unsuccessful campaign for mayor last year.
Giuliani dismissed as "foolishness" the proposed ban on carriage horses
championed by de Blasio, saying the horse-drawn rides are "one of the
reasons" why tourists visit the city.
"I passed the horses the other day. I stopped and waved to them and wished them luck," Giuliani said.
The former mayor said that when he was in office he looked into the
issue and found that the horses were well-treated. And, he added, "I
hate to get into the psychology of horses, but the horses like to work."
Giuliani also took aim at de Blasio's emphasis on embracing public schools over charter schools.
"I helped to start the (charter) movement and then Mike Bloomberg really expanded it," Giuliani said.
The city was on a very good course ... and he's kind of turned it around.
"What I support are alternatives to a public education system in New York City that is failing our children," he added.
"The idea that the mayor is at war with the charter schools ... he
should be expanding charter schools, not trying to close them down."
Asked about Giuliani's blast, de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell said
"we're proud of the agenda we’ve set on public safety, education and
income inequality. Those are priorities that will benefit everyone, Rudy
Giuliani included."
Giuliani and de Blasio have been on opposite sides of the fence for
more than two decades, beginning when de Blasio was a staffer in Mayor
David Dinkins' administration and Giuliani won office with a fierce
attack on Dinkins' policies.
BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERSMayor de Blasio emphasizes ‘dependency’ and ‘big city government,’ according to former Mayor Rudy Guiliani.
In last year's mayoral campaign, de Blasio repeatedly denounced Giuliani as divisive.
In Sunday's interview, Giuliani declared common ground with de Blasio
on one point — de Blasio's selection of William Bratton as police
commissioner.
Giuliani named Bratton his first police commissioner, but eventually
forced him out in a dispute over who deserved credit for the dramatic
decline in crime.
"I think he made a very good choice," Giuliani said of de Blasio. "He's an excellent commissioner." jsiegel@nydailynews.com
An inquiry by lawyers for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey found that
he did not recall the conversation with the Port Authority official who
oversaw the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge and found no
evidence that he was involved in the scheme.
Last
year I was invited to march with friends who are members of the
Brooklyn's Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. We started here at the family
mass at St. Saviours R.C. Church.
There is an excess of successful
Italian American politicians in the New York Metropolitan Area and as
I’ve spent too much time on NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio, I shall turn my
attention to the personal qualities and ethnic ties of Westchester
County Executive and Empire State Gubernatorial wannabe, Robert
Astorino, Empire State Governor and Presidential wannabe, Andrew Cuomo,
and Garden State Governor and Presidential wannabe, Chris Christie.
Everyone seems to agree that there is an excess of successful Italian American politicians in the New York Metropolitan Area.
Since I’ve already spent too much time on Big Apple Mayor
Bill De Blasio, I shall turn my attention to the personal qualities and
ethnic ties of Westchester County Executive and Empire State
Gubernatorial wannabe, Robert Astorino, Empire State Governor and
Presidential wannabe, Andrew Cuomo, and Garden State Governor and
Presidential wannabe, Chris Christie.
Astorino, Christie, and Cuomo have recently garnered much good and, even
more, bad press. Their antics are best explained by comedian David
Steinberg’s “Three Stooges Theory of Politics,” which he presented in 1976 on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
Of the three (Moe, Larry, and Curly) the leader Moe and
second-in-command Larry are most relevant because Moe is in charge and
Larry wants his job. Christie and Cuomo want to be President and
Astorino wants to be governor. According to Men’s Health Senior Editor Ron Geraci, psychologists
think all men are variations of Moe, Larry or Curly. “If you're a Moe,
you're a hot-tempered guy who intimidates people with "verbal slaps and
managerial eye pokes." Temperamental, bossy, paternalistic and
hard-driving at work, Moes aren't any smarter than other folks but bang
through life being furious at everyone, Geraci writes. But it's good to
be Moe, at least in the office; many Moes end up as bosses.” Larry’s
(Rob, Chris and Andy) are Moe wannabes.
It would be unkind to connect specific Three Stooges traits to
individuals, but some more and less unkind direct comparisons can be
made between the Italian American Moes and Larrys as to their positions
on issues that are important to me.
Affordable Care Act: Astorino and Christie (Obamacare) no;
Cuomo Si.The Dream Act: Christie no; Cuomo si; Astorino si and no.
Living Wages: Christie no; Cuomo no; Astorino no.
Women’s Right to Choose and Gay Marriage: Christie no, no; Cuomo yes, yes; Astorino hell no, hell no.
On most issues, such as fracking, Andrew Cuomo is on the right wing
of the Democratic Party, just to the left of Christie who, after hugging
Obama after Hurricane Sandy, has positioned himself in the middle of
the Republican Party. Astorino is on the right of the middle wing of the
Republican Party on most of the few issues he is willing to talk about.
As to public appearances Astorino has the best voice, is fluent in
Spanish and has the least hair. Cuomo is the sexiest but screeches
nasally whereas Christie tends to snarl, and despite bariatric surgery,
is the heaviest. As a Catholic radio host and program director, Astorino
is the most Catholic and Cuomo is the least. Sometimes Christie is a
better Catholic than Cuomo but not often. As to mental problems,
Christie suffers from a rare form of amnesia, and even though he and
Andy are co-equals as heads of the Port Authority, Andy remembers even
less about who caused the George Washington Bridge traffic jams and,
according to the Nation,
“The two governors allowed aides to float a proposal for a much higher
toll increase, after which the governors stepped in like knights on
white horses to propose a smaller increase—even though that had been the
original level they wanted all along.”
It is important to consider what it is about Italian Americans that
appeals to non-Italian Americans as they don’t seem to appeal to Italian
Americans, at least for their Italianita.
Leading Italian American scholars have agreed on several accounts.
Richard Gambino (author of Blood of My Blood) remarked that beyond the
extended family and close friends “all other social institutions were
seen within a spectrum of attitudes ranging from indifference to scorn.”
Fred Gardaphe’s “Signs of Italianita” are omerta (secrecy) and bella
figura (good appearance). Combining their insights it seems that Italian
Americans don’t trust much but want to look good at it. Although
Italian American politicians run the gamut of ideologies they fall
increasingly on the right -- like Italian American voters. When I asked
people why people vote for Italian Americans, one non-Italian woman,
seeing the good side of bullying, said she likes Chris Christie because
“he tells people where to get off.” The most common of Astorino’s,
Christie’s, and Cuomo’s “positive” qualities were being down to earth,
tough, and passionate. Finally, both tactically, and because none are
the sharpest tacks in the box, neither Astorino, Christie, nor Cuomo are
perceived as fuzzy-headed intellectuals or policy wonks.
I wrote this piece on Saint Patrick’s Day; or should I say Il Giorno
di San Patrizio given that Paddy was a Roman monk. Last week MSNBC’s
Chris Matthews was kwelling about the phenomenal climb of the Irish from
peasantry to aristocracy in American politics. For Daniel Patrick
Moynihan the keys to their success were “indifference to Yankee
proprieties,” “regarding the formal government as illegitimate,” and
“alive to the possibilities of politics” and “effective technique(s) of
political bureaucracy.” Italian Americans have done pretty well with
only the first two. The third, which translates as “working together for
the common good,” is as Italian as Irish soda bread.
According to Azi Paybarah in Capital New York at the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick’s annual bash Cardinal Timothy Dolan joked:
“…I’m happy to see Rob Astorino, the county executive. Rob, you think
the odds are against you? You should have been in my place in the
conclave in the Sistine Chapel this time last year, when folks thought I
had a chance. You think you have trouble with name recognition? When I
was going through the entrance way coming here somebody yelled out ‘Look
honey, Governor Christie!”
He also quipped:
“You got to admit a little nostalgia, don’tcha? Remember when the
Irish ran all the politics in New York City, remember that? What do we
got now? We got Astorino. We got Cuomo. We got de Blasio. We’ve gone
from Tammany Hall to Mama Leone’s. Good lord, we Irish used to argue
about jobs and rent and immigration and these three guys argue about
whose mom’s lasagna recipe is the best.”
The Cardinal neglected to mention Astorino, Christie and Cuomo’s
Irish connections. Both Astorino and Christie claim Irish heritage on
their father’s side, and all three of them married Irish women. Chris
married Mary Pat Foster. Rob married Sheila McCloskey, and Andy’s
ex-wife is Kerry Kennedy. Even De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray could
have distant Irish roots. Given their rather unremarkable personal
attributes and charisma, perhaps part of their success is due to
“marrying up.”
Gov. Cuomo vowed Wednesday to reach a deal with Mayor de Blasio
that would let the city use state funds to move more homeless New
Yorkers from shelters into apartments.
“The governor is trying to actively resolve the homeless issue,” a Cuomo administration source said.
Current law bars the city from using state funds to revive a
rent-subsidy program to help homeless adults pay for housing. Those
homeless people held jobs but didn’t make enough to afford their own
place.
De Blasio asked the governor to give the city flexibility to create
the program from existing state funds. He did not ask for additional
state aid.
Cuomo initially said that de Blasio made the request too late to
insert into the state budget. The mayor and the governor previously have
clashed over pre-K funding and charter schools.
Some New York legislators, now negotiating the state budget, have been
accused of taking advantage of their per diem to pad their paychecks and
fund extracurricular activities.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told Mayor Bill de Blasio it is “too late” to
restore a rent subsidy to the state budget to help homeless families
stay out of shelters.
Sen. Joe McCarthy makes a point, circa 1950. (photo: Corbis)
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
23 March 14
elcome
back to our weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states
where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where
they say sing while you slave and I just get bored.
Let's begin in Alabama, where the fish are very big, the barrels very small, and one brave man has stood up to
defend Joe McCarthy against the depredations of Arthur Miller, even
though they're both dead. Miller and McCarthy, that is, not the brave
soul from Alabama.
The Crucible is one of many texts included in a high school
literature textbook, "American Experience 1900 to Present," that Beason
and others have pilloried in their fight against Common Core standards
in Alabama schools. Beason, who is running for Congress in Alabama's 6th
District, has said that Common Core attempts to infuse the minds of
school children with socialism, and he believes that Alabama curriculum
should emphasize traditional conservative values. He has sponsored a
bill in the Alabama Legislature to repeal the standards in Alabama
schools. "I want a conservative, honest, traditional, American values
worldview, yes," he said in an interview in January. "Education has
always been about worldview. I don't think anyone can disagree with
that. Always has been. I think the left understands the power of
education far more than the right."
As for Mr. Beason's honest, traditional, American
worldview, well, let's just say it's not About Race, because nothing is
ever About Race.
Beason first gained national attention when, while
cooperating with a federal corruption investigation in Montgomery, hea
[sic] recorded himself joking about African-Americans in Greene County
with another lawmaker and referring to them as "aborigines."
And, luckily, he has smart friends to join him in his battle.
Talladega County Republican Party Chairman Danny Hubbard,
also said McCarthy was right. While Hubbard objected to many texts
offered as "exemplars" by Common Core, he did not take issue with one
written by an Alabama native. "I don't think anybody's opposed to 'To
Kill a Mockingbird,'" Hubbard said. "It's a classic. I believe it's
written by a fellow from Montgomery." In fact, the book was written by
Nelle Harper Lee. She's from Monroeville.
(Earlier this week, my pal Dave Weigel tut-tutted a little about the media's nutpicking
as regards "GOP lawmakers." The reason we've made the Labs a
semi-regular weekly survey are twofold: one, because it is at the state
level where most of the real mischief is being done at the moment, and
b) because these people represent the farm team. This is your next
generation in the gerrymandered House. Beason is running for Congress now, and he's got something of a shot. Conclusion of the foregoing.)
Let us take a hop, skip, and an airplane out to Wyoming, where a guy named Troy Mader is standing by somethinghe wrote a few years back, because changing your mind requires that you possess one in the first place.
Mader said in an interview with the Star-Tribune the
research featured in the book may be a little outdated, since it was
written when HIV and AIDS were still relatively new to the medical
community. But he still maintains gays are more likely to be promiscuous
that heterosexuals, contributing to the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases. "If you want to participate in that particular lifestyle,
that's your choice," he said during a telephone interview. "But I
reserve the right to say, ‘Hey, there's risk involved.'"
Mader has other political hobbies as well, such as
defending you and your home against wolves and mountain lions, as well
as against Teh Gay.
Mader, 58, published the book when he was in his early 30s.
He now ranches in an area north of Gillette, recorded a CD of country
rock and gospel music, and is research director of the Abundant Wildlife
Society of North America, which criticizes the Endangered Species Act
and details wolf and mountain lion attacks on humans.
Thank you, Troy. Especially for your dedication to making wildlife less abundant.
Oh, look, over there in South Dakota. Someone has successfull dodged Teh Gay and the wolves and the mountain lions to stick up for the rights of the owners of the Nathan Bedford Forrest Bar, Grille, and Playhouse.
"It's a bill that protects the constitutional right to free
association, the right to free speech and private property rights," he
said. Jensen goes so far as to say that businesses should have the right
to deny service based on a customer's race or religion - whether that's
right or wrong, he says, can be fairly addressed by the free market,
not the government. "If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and
they were running a little bakery for instance, the majority of us would
find it detestable that they refuse to serve blacks, and guess what? In
a matter of weeks or so that business would shut down because no one is
going to patronize them," he said.
Someone should explain the meaning of "public
accommodations" to ol' Phil here, although the concept of a KKK bakery
is an intriguing one, especially the mysterious eyeholes cut in all the
napkins.
As long as we're cruising the byways of the Deeply
Caucasian Belt, something was stirring in Idaho, where the legislature
declined to go the full Calhoun on the Environmental Protection Agency.
Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, proposed the bill after
hearing concerns from suction dredge miners in his area who have been
required to get a new EPA permit since last spring. The agency said it
didn't want to ban the practice in Idaho, as has happened in Oregon and
California, and instead sought to regulate it to comply with the federal
Clean Water Act. More than 80 of the new five-year permits have been
issued. But the new EPA permit system doesn't allow suction dredge
mining in areas that include critical habitat for endangered fish,
including formerly popular stretches of the Salmon River near Riggins.
Shepherd told the House on Tuesday, "I was warned I better be prepared
about the legal problems with this bill, because if we're going to try
and have state authority over federal authority, we've run into problems
with that before."
Can't stay here for long, though. (Look out for wolves
and mountain lions on the way out of town. Troy Mader can't be
everywhere.) The Georgia legislature had its final session last night,
and it differed from the Saturday night hooley at Murphy' Select Bar
only in the conspicuous Christian charity that marked the elevated level
of debate. There was anti-choice wingnuttery, and there was gun-fondling wingnuttery.
According to language added by the Senate, someone caught
with a gun in a church that didn't allow it would face the equivalent of
a jaywalking ticket: a misdemeanor and a $100 fine. The changes to HB
60 also seek to tighten permission to carry a gun at unsecured areas of
Georgia airports, including Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport. They do not address language in the House version that would
appear to allow convicted felons to avoid prosecution for the use of
deadly force by invoking Georgia's "stand your ground" self-defense
laws.
Me? I think I'd "address" that language. Hello, language. (pace
Ed Norton). You're really bad there, language. You should stop being so
damn silly. But that's nothing compared to the language dropped by
Georgia state rep Jason Spencer earlier in the debate over the anti-choice bill.
"That eleventh hour betrayal effectively killed the bill,
but it could still be brought back to life by amendment of companion
legislation," said Rep. Spencer. "Tomorrow, I will identify the
Republican Benedict Arnolds, the King George the Third and his myrmidons
who ship wrecked my path breaking, patriotic bill (HB 707) to prevent
the federal Leviathan from commandeering the machinery of state
government or resources to enforce ill-conceived federal health
insurance mandates. A patriot saves his country from his government. HB
707 would have been the first occasion in a century to draw a
constitutional line against state complicity in endless federal
encroachments."
OK, first of all, George III didn't have myrmidons.
(He had Hessians, who are not the same thing.) Achilles had myrmidons,
and they were not traitors. They were, in fact, fanatically loyal.
(Myrmidons?)
(Forget it. He's rolling.)
Let us leave Rep. Spencer, his pile of Classics
Illustrated comics on the floor around his feet, and move along to Iowa,
which again will play a vital role in selecting our next president despite being something of a political fruitcake.
An investigation by The Des Moines Register found that the
state of Iowa has paid more than $282,000 over the past three years in
secret settlement deals with the six former employees. All were asked to
sign confidentiality agreements that would have kept the settlements
out of public view, according to documents obtained by the Register and
interviews with the ex-state workers. The state denies that the workers'
positions were cut as political moves, saying the jobs were eliminated
as part of a reorganization that saves the state about $730,000 a year.
But in grievance complaints filed before the Iowa Public Employment
Relations Board and interviews with the Register, the former employees
say their complaints and settlements show evidence of systematic efforts
by Branstad's administration to embrace Republican cronyism.
Maybe Chris Christie has a shot out there after all.
And we conclude our tour, as we always do, in
Oklahoma, where Blog Special Prairie Chicken neuterer Friedman Of The
Plains reports that Governor Mary (We Built Oklahoma, If You Don't Count
The Homestead Act And All The Indians The Army Killed For Us.) Fallin got a new andiron for the mansion's mantelpiece.
The Tulsa World reportedly waited 15 months for the
governor's office to release more than 8,000 records related to prison
reforms. This is the second year in a row that Gov. Fallin has received
the recognition for failing to release records to the public. Two new
lawsuits have been filed because of her office's slow relase [sic] of
public records, and today another organization joined the list. The
American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma Foundation filed a motion for
summary judgement and a supporting legal brief today in Oklahoma County
District Court on behalf of Vandelay Entertainment, the publisher of
TheLostOgle.com, in its suit against Gov. Fallin. According to a
release, the suit seeks a court order compelling Gov. Fallin to release
100 pages of public records she has refused to turn over regarding her
decision to reject medicaid expansion.
MOSCOW
(The Borowitz Report) — Russian President Vladimir Putin made history
today by scheduling the first-ever summit of the newly formed group of
nations called the G-1.
The summit, which Putin has set for June in Sochi, is expected to be attended by the G-1 member nation Russia.
Putin pronounced himself delighted by Russia’s
attendance, telling reporters, “It is an auspicious start for the G-1 to
have the participation of all its member nations.”
In addition to what he called “a free exchange of ideas on issues of
importance to the G-1,” the summit is expected to elect the first
president of the G-1, a position for which Putin is widely considered
the frontrunner.
Putin denied he was a candidate for the post, but added, “It’s an honor just to be in the mix.” Get news satire from The Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox. Photograph by Sasha Mordovets/Getty.
This week we all have a great opportunity to help impact the future
of films about Latinos. When César Chávez: An American Hero opens on
March 28th, done merely attend, please take several friends and family
with you. You will not be disappointed - and with the right success we
will guarantee more Latino biopics and Latino themed movies will get
made. Make history & see this film. See the articles below for more
information.
Today's quote - for your inspiration comes to us from Demi Lovato's very interesting new book: Staying Strong 365 days a year:
"The simple things are the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them." ~ Paulo Coelho
If
you find a quote you like let me know. I will be happy to send to our
10,200 plus Hispanic advertising and media executives and give you a
plug for sending it!
Our GoalLatino Print Network's goal with each issue is for you to say at least once "Glad I learned that".
Labor
leader César E. Chávez passed away in 1993 after a life's work of
fighting for farmworkers' rights. Not only is César Chávez Day
commemorated in several states and the César E. Chávez National Monument
stands in his honor, now there comes a film about this legendary
activist, Cesar Chavez, scheduled to hit movie screens on March 28.
Directed by Diego Luna, actor (Y tu mama también and Milk), director and producer (The Well), the movie stars Michael Peña (Walkout and American Hustle) in the leading role as Chávez; America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and TV's Ugly Betty) as Helen Chávez, the leader's wife; and Rosario Dawson (Alexander, Rent and Men in Black II) as Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union (UFW).
Filmmakers
focused on crucial periods of his life during the 1960's that included
the Delano march, the grape boycott, his first hunger strike and the
coming to the bargaining table with landowners. Peña brings those
moments to life with a sensitive portrayal of the labor leader that
allows us to feel the personal sacrifices he made in his life. Peña
shows us that Chávez had a quiet resolve and respect for all, even the
bad-guy growers.
He
also brings to life less-known incidences in the labor leader's fight.
One such episode takes place during the grape boycott when Chavez
travels to Europe to gain support for his cause and to block grape
shipments sanctioned by the U.S. government intended for the European
market. The scene in which he empties crate after crate of grapes off a
bridge is all about sweet victory.
Dolores
Huerta, as portrayed by Dawson, is ever present. Her important role in
the struggle may not be clearly defined in the movie, but it's clear
that she was by Chavez's side every step of the way. Dawson captures her
inner strength.
Ferrera's
portrayal of Chavez's wife gives us more insights into Chavez's
character. Through her we see how he struggled to be a good husband and
father and understand how his struggles were hers too.
Actual
footage and news clips of the time are seamlessly woven into the movie.
Even when paired with the scenery, costuming, props, and casting from
the film production, you believe you are back in the 1960's.
Yet,
the biggest sigh of relief comes not from the moment that news breaks
that growers are willing to meet with the UFW, but for a production that
is respectful of the great labor leader. That said, this dramatic
biopic of one great Latino leader reinforces the urgency for many more.
We need to all get out and support this movie because with its success
there will be more. And perhaps the next one will be about Dolores
Huerta, who continues the good fight.
Katharine A. Díaz is a freelance writer and author of the award-winning cookbook Sabores Yucatecos: A Culinary Tour of the Yucatán (WPR Books: Comida, 2012).
THE
PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House. We are here to celebrate the
life of an American hero. Cesar Chavez was a man who devoted this brief
time that we have on Earth to making sure that this country lived up to
some of its lofty ideals, the words of our founding, the idea that all
of us are created equal -- a man who organized others to widen the
circle of opportunity not just for the people he knew, but for future
generations.
And some of
those future generations are here today. Cesar's son, Paul, is here.
(Applause.) There he is. I was looking for him. Some of his children
-- some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are here. I did
not have the honor of knowing Mr. Chavez, but I'd imagine that he'd be
pretty proud to know that his granddaughter works in the White House.
(Applause.) And not only does she know how to deliver an outstanding
introduction -- (laughter) -- but she also does just an extraordinary
job carrying on his work organizing people, but now all across the
country, to engage on issues that are of importance to all Americans.
And Julie just does an extraordinary job. We're so proud of her. So,
thank you, Julie, for the great introduction. (Applause.)
A couple of
other acknowledgements -- I want to acknowledge an outstanding
Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
(Applause.) The great Dolores Huerta, our dear friend who co-founded
the United Farm Workers along with Cesar. (Applause.) Rosario told me
she was playing Dolores, and I thought I can see that -- there's the
same fire. I did have to say Rosario is a little taller. Just a little
bit. (Laughter.)
I want to
thank the UFW's current president, Arturo Rodriguez, a great friend of
ours. Thank you. (Applause.) And I want to thank Diego Luna and the
entire cast of "Cesar Chavez." (Applause.) I told him I loved "Y Tu
Mamá, También." But we can't screen that at the White House.
(Laughter.) It's a great movie, but this is a little more
family-friendly here. (Laughter.)
This movie,
this film tells the story of a man guided by an enormous faith -- faith
in a righteous cause and a loving God, and the dignity of every human
being. And it reminds us how throughout our history that faith has been
tested, and that it falls to ordinary Americans, ordinary people, to
fight and restore that faith.
Cesar himself
said that he spent his first 20 years working as an organizer without a
single major victory. But he never gave up. He kept on going, and the
world is a better place because he did. And that's one of the great
lessons of his life. You don't give up the fight no matter how long it
takes. No matter how long the odds, you keep going, fueled by a simple
creed -- sí, se puede.
Sometimes
people ask me -- in fact, while we were backstage, somebody said, oh,
you look pretty good. You look better than I expected. (Laughter.)
The implication being that there might be reason for me not to look
good. (Laughter.) But part of what sustains me and part of what I've
said in the past -- and some of you who have been in meetings with me
when we've experienced setbacks or frustrations on particular issues --
I've tried to remind people change is hard. It doesn't happen easily.
It doesn't happen smoothly or painlessly. It happens because you put
your shoulder behind the wheel and you keep on pushing. And then,
sometimes it's going to roll back a little bit on you. And then, you
got to dig in and you've got to push some more.
And Cesar
Chavez understood that. You have to push and you create this space.
And sometimes you won't even see all the victories that are achieved,
but you've invested that time and that effort, and you've inspired
others. And, eventually, things change, and you pass the baton and
future generations then continue this process.
So we've got a
lot of causes that are worth fighting for. We've got to keep fighting
to make sure that every American has access to quality, affordable
health care. We were very persistent about getting that website fixed.
It's fixed now. (Laughter and applause.) And we've got more than 5
million people signed up. But we've got two more weeks to sign them up.
(Applause.) So cuidadodesalud.gov -- (laughter) -- get on the website,
spread the word.
We've got to
keep fighting to make sure that our economy rewards the hard work of
every American with a fair and living wage and equal pay for equal
work. We've got to keep working to fix our broken immigration system.
This is an example of where this is hard, but we've made progress and we
are going to get this done. This is going to happen. It's not a
matter of if, just a matter of when. And I want it to happen now, so we
are going to keep on pushing. (Applause.)
Mr. Chavez
once said, "When you have people together who believe in something very
strongly -- whether it's religion or politics or unions -- things
happen." And today, we've got labor leaders and CEOs and faith leaders
and law enforcement, and they've come together and they've said it's
time to fix this broken immigration system. We've got Democrats and
Republicans who have now passed in the Senate a comprehensive bill. And
if we stay united, things will happen, things will get done.
None of us
can claim to know exactly what Cesar would have said about this fight,
or any other. But I do think he would want us to remember that the
debates we have are less about policy than they are about people.
They're about the lives of men and women, the young and not so young,
who want nothing more than the chance to work hard, support their
families, provide a future for their kids and their grandkids, earn
their place in our American story. That's what this is all about.
They're about our highest hopes and aspirations for this country that we
love -- and the country that we leave for future generations.
As this film
reminds us, that was the cause of Cesar Chavez's life, and I hope this
afternoon it's going to inspire all of us in the causes that we have to
fight as well.
The point is
I'm going to watch it this weekend. (Applause.) Michelle and the girls
are on their way to China. It's very lonely at home, so nothing better
than to see an inspiring film. And I'm really looking forward to seeing
a chronicled life of one of my heroes and one of the people who
inspired me to get into the work that I've gotten into. So thank you
for sharing it with us. (Applause.) God bless. (Applause.)
Twenty
years ago there was barely any book publishers in the USA targeting
topics of interest to the Latino market in either Spanish or English. A
lot has happened since then and now hundreds of publishers are targeting
books at and about Latinos. The Int'l Latino Book Awards have grown
along with the market and this year's 231 Award Honorees are a
reflection of that strength. Please see the article below on the growth
of this industry segment.
2014 is an amazing year for books for Latinos - and the market's
rapid growth is merely one reflection of how solid the market is.
Latinos in the USA will purchase over $500 million in books in both
English and Spanish. The bottom line is that books targeting Latinos are
a growing segment because of the rapid growth of the market and the
current gaps in relevant topics being presented.
The 2014 Finalists for the 16th Annual Int'l Latino Book Awards are
another reflection of the growing quality of books by and about Latinos.
This year's number of entries was 41% more than the previous record
year. In order to handle this large number of books, the Awards had 123
judges, nearly double the number from 2013. The vast majority of the
judges glowed about the quality of the entries. The Awards celebrates
books in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Amongst the 231 finalists are well known writers like Isabel Allende,
Alma Flor Ada, Edna Iturralde, and Rick Najera. Other honorees include
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and celebrities like TV chef Pati
Jinich, the late singer and actress Jenni Rivera, singer Linda Ronstadt
and TV personality Lilliana Vasquez. Finalists are from across the USA
and from 18 countries outside the USA.
In recognition of the quality and variety of books now available,
Latino Literacy Now, the organization that oversees the Awards, is
carrying out the 2014 Award Winning Author Tour. Displays of the
Finalists books and Award Winning Authors will be presented at events
like American Library Association Convention; CABE, the largest Latino
teacher conference in the USA; the Chicago Latino Book & Family
Festival; the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; the NCLR Annual
Conference; the San Bernardino Latino Book & Family Festival; and
other key events.
The Awards themselves will be held June 28th
in Las Vegas as part of the ALA Conference. The Awards are produced by
Latino Literacy Now, an organization co-founded by Edward James Olmos
and Kirk Whisler, and co-presented by Las Comadres de las Americas and
Reforma, the National Association to Promote Library and Information
Services to Latinos. Here's a complete list of the finalists.
BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS
Mayor de Blasio emphasizes ‘dependency’ and ‘big city government,’ according to former Mayor Rudy Guiliani.
elcome
back to our weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states
where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where
they say sing while you slave and I just get bored.
