Lyndon LaRouche's Campus Cult

by Luis Alfredo Garcia


He' has been a presidential candidate 8 times. He was an adviser to President Ronald Regan and Norman Bailey. A former senior staffer of the National Security Council once described his Youth Movement as "one of the best private intelligence services in the world." His name is Lyndon H. LaRouche and his representatives have been recruiting on college campuses for years. Recently, they have been recruiting on an anti-war anti-Bush Administration platform while national public support for both has steadily declined

. His books such as Children of Satan, are handed out to college students on and around campuses. Students who may be drawn in by an organized anti war movement are picked up and taken to group meetings where they are told of a global economic collapse in the coming weeks and that Lyndon LaRouche has the only viable solution to that collapse.

That solution is to drop out of college. Students at Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington were informed by a sign outside their Library to start working for Lyndon LaRouche to stop the "Evil" Babyboomers and the "Evil" Bush Administration and the "Evil" Bankers. According to Jorye Fugate of the Seattle Branch of the Youth Movement "This is our mission. Anything else, is less moral, and therefore less fulfilling (in) life." Jorye has been with the Lydon LaRouche Youth PAC for ten years and explained using constructive geometry, ancient philosophy, Bach and volumes of LaRouche approved international news briefings that the world economy was going to collapse in a matter of weeks.

He contended at the time that Mr. LaRouche who he sometimes called "The General" or simply "Lyn" has never been wrong on any of his economic forecast and that Mr. LaRouche and the actions of the Youth Movement were "responsible for the Democratic wins" during the Nov. 7th 2006 elections.

According to David Benjamin, the former President of the Georgetown University College Republicans, "Asking a college student these days if he or she is against the Iraq war and the Bush Administration is like asking a college student if he or she likes beer and since LaRouche has been recruiting that way as of late it puts a lot of passionate well meaning young people in the dangerous position of wanting to believe his crazy ideas about good and evil.

CHRISTINE BLOOMQUINN FOR RENT

Councilwoman Christine Quinn has evolved from a humble gay rights activist to a political powerhouse. Under the tutelage of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Quinn is inseparable from the mayor. Her aspirations for higher office have already began in association with well defined political circles.

The City Council Speaker once stood with the angry masses against the West Side stadium and the Stuy Town sale. Now, she cuts back-room deals and collects hefty campaign checks from developers.

CHRISTINE QUINN, REAL ESTATE INSIDER

A rough tally by The Observer of her latest campaign filings show that Ms. Quinn has raised at least $262,745 from the real estate industry since last October, about 20 percent of the $1.4 million she’s received in private contributions. By comparison, just $5,760 out of the total $138,717 that Ms. Quinn reported for her 2003 council re-election appears to have come from real estate professionals.

What is next.....a change in hair color?

DOCTOROFF FADES IN

As Dan Doctoroff continues to channel Robert Moses, the back room deals just keep on coming. Last week, Doctoroff, Elliot Spitzer, and other notables announced a grand plan for the West Side rail yards. Doctoroff waxed eloquent in regards to the wonderful building legacy the development would mean to New York City. What he committed was the wonderful monetary legacy the development would mean to him.

450 W. 33rd St

Juan Gonzalez, a columnist at the Daily News, has done an extensive report on the personal profiteering by Daniel Doctoroff and his various business partners as a
result of the West Side Stadium deal with the Jets and seeming special treatment by the Department of City Planning, a department under Doctoroff's supervision. Below some of the story is digested and broken into component parts, but you can still read the two part original report in its entirety.
The original columns are at the Daily News:

Description

Two-block pyramid office building that sits directly across Tenth Avenue from the West Side railyard

THE DEAL

Decemebr 2003, refinanced (who?) a 16-story office building in the Hudson Yards area through $330 million in loans and equity.
The deal closed two months after top staff at the Department of City Planning - an agency supervised by Doctoroff - gave initial approval to an unusual rezoning proposal that was tailored for the building.
(how did DD and partners profit?)

Doctoroff was one of the investors in the building when its managing partners began their negotiations with the city for the change.

THE PERSONAL BENEFIT

The rezoning permits the building's current owners to demolish the structure and replace it with a commercial and residential complex larger than Time Warner's mammoth 2.8 million-square-foot building at Columbus Circle.

DOCTOROFF's INTEREST

Doctoroff has said he held a minor, noncontrolling stake of "less than 2%" in one of the partnerships that bought the building jointly with three other real estate groups in 1999 for $220 million. But, Texas billionaire Robert Bass, the deputy mayor's former employer and longtime business partner, was the main investor in the real estate group. The investment group is a limited liability company named after the address of the property: FW 450 West 33rd St. LLC.

Doctoroff's personal lawyer, David Lakhdhir, has said that the deputy mayor's original equity interest in the building was worth "approximately $71,000." Lakhdhir declined to disclose precisely when the deputy mayor divested from the building, except to say that it was sometime in "late 2003." He also refused to say how much he profited. "It was not a material amount," Lakhdhir said.

What's "material" for Doctoroff might be quite different than for you and me.
- Juan Gonzalez http://nydailynews.com/front/story/294120p-251827c.html

At Doctoroff's request, one of his trusts - the one that manages his numerous private investments with Bass - sold off Doctoroff's shares in the 33rd St. building, as well as a half-dozen other mid-Manhattan office buildings, after he joined the Bloomberg administration. But again a date was not disclosed.

OTHER DETAIL:

Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, does report directly to Doctoroff, but Burden's staff handles rezoning matters. There is a record of an email exchange from May 14th, 2004 between Doctoroff's office and CPC regarding 450 West 33rd Street. (see Gonzalez article too), although the contents of that email the city claims are party of interagency deliberations thus exempt from public disclosure.

Other CPC staff E-mails indicates that a month after the May 14 E-mail exchange with Doctoroff's office, department staff added a second, more lucrative enhancement to the proposed rezoning for the 33rd St. building.

DOCTOROFF FADES OUT

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff often touted as the new Robert Moses has hit strike three.
Often seen at the Mayor's side, he is a major player in economic decisions of the Bloomberg administration. However, Doctoroff's grandiosity does not seem to sit well with the masses. To date, he has lost the bid for the West Side Stadium, The 2012 Olympics and the Congestion Tax proposal. Many Doctoroff detractors have predicted a rough road from the beginning of his alliance with Bloomberg.

DEPUTY DAN DOCTOROFF
We have never been shy about expressing our distaste for the highhanded methods of Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. We were first exposed to his arrogant disdain for those less exalted when only a month and a half in office, he unceremoniously slam dunked Dominican developer Mauricio Fernandez and instead subsidized the installation of his friend Steve Ross into the Bradhurst development at 145th Street in Harlem.

As a result, it should be no surprise to find that the demise of the West Side Stadium and the finger pointing at Deputy Dan only makes us smile. It gives us a certain measure of satisfaction to see others (although mostly quoted anonymously), find out what we had been telling people for a while: Doctoroff exudes a smug haughtiness that has no use for anyone’s opinion but his own.

Ben Smith’s story in this week’s Observer really nails this. He clearly underscores how Dan’s arrogance poisoned the atmosphere and, what’s probably even worse, how his political naiveté led the Bloomberg team directly into an ambush. Politics, unlike investment banking where the monetary clubs are trump (no pun intended), requires some degree of deference to the sensibilities of tenured elected leaders. Clearly, when it comes to tact and deference the Doctoroff budget is full of deficit spending.

Smith Follows Bowles into Overestimation

Ben does, however, fall short in one area. He uncritically cites the outer borough developments as true breakthroughs (“a remarkably dynamic period in city government”). Before we grant the kudos it is important to evaluate the quality of the aforementioned projects and the methods used to achieve them. Bowles, to his credit, offers the nascent critique (top-down cronyism) and Ben needed to pursue this particular line of thinking.

In the end, however, the stadium’s demise may not only have the rebound effect of helping Bloomberg get reelected, it might also lead to the one major reason the mayor’s reelection may be palatable: a second term absent Dan Doctoroff.

# posted by Neighborhood Retail Alliance @ 9:06 AM Comments | Trackback

GOOD GOLLY MISS MALI

The saga of the yet to be renewed press card for Rafael Martínez Alequín continues unresolved. And although he is granted access to the blue room in City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg will not take questions from him. As his hand waves perpetually in the air, Bloomberg gazes elsewhere. As City Hall continues to "script" the questions asked by reporters, one can compare them to the following crack down on the press.


"MALI LOCKS UP 5 OVER “INSULTING” SCHOOL ESSAY

Jun. 27 (GIN) - Five Malian journalists have been convicted of insulting President Amadou Toumani Touri when they wrote about a local high school essay assignment. The teacher was also convicted. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the incident stemmed from a classroom exercise about an imaginary presidential sex scandal. They called for the convictions to be reversed on appeal.

“These spurious charges … spoil Mali’s record of upholding democracy and press freedom,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Literature teacher Bassirou Kassim Minta told journalist Seydine Oumar Diarra he assigned the essay to help his students explore moral issues. Diarra was sentenced to the 13 days in prison. Publisher Sambi Toure received an eight-month suspended sentence and was fined $400. The teacher was sentenced to a two-month prison term and fined $200.

After Diarra was arrested, three publications reprinted the story as a protest—prompting authorities to arrest the director of each publication – and on Monday, most newspapers refused to print in protest of the case.

Giuliani Gets Exposed As Fraud by Firefighters

Firemen FLAME Giuliani

FIREMEN FLAME RUDY

John McCain's campaign continues to falter. Like rats leaving a sinking ship, friends and staffers are deserting. The Giuliani team sniffing the carnage, scours for McCain supporters to defect to the Rudy G. camp. This increases his chances of winning. However, there is the issue of disgruntled NYC Firemen and also who would reap the rewards of a President Rudolph Giuliani cabinet membership. The following is a list of names of Rudy G. associates—HALL OF SHAME. Google them for further info.
1. Bernard Kerik
2. David Vitter
3. Alan Placa
4. Russell Harding
5. Seymon Kislin
6. Anne Compoccia
7. Arthur and Thomas Ravenel
8. Lou Carbonetti

A portion of the NYC Fire Department does not want to be associated with Giuliani.
Click on the following link to see their "Swiftboat" video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaCYEEO-58I

BRUCE ON THE LOOSE

In an article titled "Hijacking Asthma",YFP details those members of a Partnership for New York City who would gain from congestion pricing tax. One of those members is Bruce Ratner of the Atlantic Yards development project. So connected is Bruce, that he has managed a multi million dollar gift from state pol, Vito Lopez.Thu Jun 21,2007 at 14:07:38 PM EDT by Phillip Anderson Earlier today I wrote about how the end of the session usually brings us all manner of truly bad legislation, amendments so narrowly written so as to benefit only certain interests, industries or individuals, language so precise they are literally referred to as "contracts."Well here is a perfect illustration of that shameful phenomena, an illustration showing how we give sweet deals to those with enough money to buy a couple legislators to slip this stuff in. In an ironic twist, we are giving tax breaks to a billionaire real estate developer, and him alone, in a bill to eliminate tax breaks to billionaire real estate developers.

"Nice work if you can get it...

Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Project Would Be The Only Project to Receive Tax Breaks for Luxury Condos Under Bill 421-a. Bruce Ratner is about to join his own exclusive developer's club, once again at taxpayer expense. Forest City Ratner has often claimed that it's not getting anything that any other developer can't get. That was never the case, but now the development firm has positioned itself to get something that no other developer is getting. Albany is creating a special loophole exclusively for Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project as part of its bill "reforming" the 421-a tax breaks for development originally enacted in 1971.

With this special legislation Forest City Ratner's market-rate luxury condominiums will be the only such units in the entire reform zone receiving the 421-a tax break, saving the developer untold millions. "This is the cherry on top of all of the special treatment and sweetheart deals Forest City Ratner has been gifted for its Atlantic Yards project. This exclusive clause in the 421-a reform bill, benefiting Bruce Ratner alone, is an astounding example of absolute governmental favoritism, at odds with the very principles for which the reform bill is supposed to stand," said Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) spokesman, Daniel Goldstein. "There is no valid justification for this favoritism, and clearly there has been an utter lack of transparency in the decision to award one developer a special corporate-welfare package.

Is there any end to the favoritism and backroom dealing that consistently benefits Bruce Ratner? Will Governor Spitzer choose to allow passage of such backroom special dealing? " The special clause within the reform bill does not specifically name the Atlantic Yards project but rather describes "a multi-phase project that includes at least 2,500 dwelling units and (i) being implemented pursuant to a General Project Plan adopted by the New York State Urban Development Corporation and approved by Public Authorities Control Board." There is only one such project in the state fitting that description, and that's Atlantic Yards. Forest City Ratner is also seeking an extraordinary $1.4 billion in government backed, tax-exempt housing bonus.

Councilman Dennis Gallagher Probed

YFP looks far and wide for news. It also researches other blogs. Here is an interesting post regarding Queens pol, Dennis Gallagher. YFP cannot guarantee it's authenticity.

Monday, July 9, 2007

BREAKING NEWS: Cops search Pinky's office
Rumor has it that a felony was committed in Pinky's office last night and the cops were there this afternoon collecting evidence. Sources say there will be an announce- ment tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Posted by Queens Crapper at 8:57 PM 21 comments Links to this post

HIJACKING ASTHMA (part 2)

There are few in the Partnership for New York City who ride the subway. For those that have, it is a distant memory obscured by chauffeur driven cars and taxi expense accounts. Therefore, it is simple to dismiss the plight of working class people who ride those trains. The trains are crowded and stuffy. In many instances, workers live in a two fare zone and it is cheaper to car pool than pay the expense. One has a seat and the companionship of the familiar. And although they arrive in Manhattan in a dented Chevy, they arrive unstressed.

The alleged pollution caused by their vehicle is no more pervasive than that from alternative transportation such as the ferry boats from New Jersey and Staten Island. Congestion comes in many forms. While the chauffeured members of the Partnership for New York City complain about being late for their luncheons from the back seat, they need only to look out the window for the answer. Taxi cabs that stop in mid traffic to pick up a fare. Delivery trucks that double park and pedestrians that cross at green lights instead of red. The laws to enforce these violations are on the books but not enforced. It is easier to blame it on the average motorist.

Some of these privileged policy makers actually stand to benefit from congestion pricing. Bruce Ratner of Forest Ratner is a member of the Partnership. Ratner's Atlantic Yards project sits above the Atlantic-Pacific street subway station. the largest train station in Brooklyn and the 3rd largest transit hub in New York City serving 11 different subway lines. His Brooklyn development will increase the population by approximately 15,000. The subway will expand and Ratner's property bought from the MTA at a bargain price will soar in value.

And there is Tischman Construction which also is a member of the group pushing congestion pricing. Tischman is the lucky recipient of a contract for construction manager of the new Whitehall Ferry terminal in downtown Manhattan. If congestion pricing becomes law, more people will be riding the ferries and more ferry facilities will be built.

Now with all of this news, someone has to handle the public relations. Howard Rubenstein and Associates, members of the partnership, "assist" with the publicity of advocating congestion pricing. Just connect the dots folks......just connect the dots.

MIKES BIKES SUPPORT

Who's behind congestion pricing proposals? The powerful bike lobby:
Once the domain of traffic nerds, congestion pricing has taken hold here recently like never before. Both the Partnership for New York City, a prominent group of business executives, and the Manhattan Institute, the conservative think tank, endorsed or re-endorsed it in December, joining a list of longstanding proponents such as the Regional Plan Association.

[Transportation Alternatives executive director] Mr. [Paul Steely] White represents the left flank, then, of a set of strange bedfellows. Founded by radical bicyclists in the 1970's, Transportation Alternatives comes across as a sort of alterna-elite group of forward-thinking urban planners.

About half of its 5,500 members are from Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn, and its 18 full- and part-time employees are generally white, well-educated twentysomethings who ride their bikes to work. Many of its largest donors are Wall Street types, and its largest individual funder is Mark Gorton, the high-tech entrepreneur who founded LimeWire. To them, Mr. White says, "Biking is the new golf."

But T.A., as it's called, has long tried to project itself as a generally pro-person, anti-traffic group. The city Department of Transportation ended up copying Safe Routes to Schools, a program established by Mr. White's predecessor, John Kaehny, which seeks improvements to streets near schools. A similar program, Safe Routes for Seniors, is next in line for adoption, Mr. White hopes.

And the group regularly submits suggestions for traffic improvements throughout the city, sponsors bike rides, and gives away helmets in poor neighborhoods.
The potential constituency for this tiny, million-dollar-a-year organization headquartered in a Chelsea loft is quite large. Everybody has a gripe about traffic, after all, and it's only going to get worse.

Posted by Scott at 09:35 AM in Architecture & Infrastructure
January 30, 2007

HIJACKING ASTHMA

The Partnership for New York City, sent out 350,000 flyers last week advocating for congestion pricing. The focus of the flyer was how traffic pollution contributes to asthma. This powerful organization composed of large business groups and bankers sits at Michael Bloomberg's throne. Along with Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg economic development czar, it is the engine driving the plan.

Asthma has been the scourge of poor communities such as the Bronx for years. It is with suspicion that the Partnership has hijacked this cause. They were loudly silent when community activist groups called for a reduction of trucks and waste transfer facilities added to an already burdened community. The Bronx has the highest asthma rate in the country. The Partnership for New York has spent $1 million to advocate Bloomberg's campaign for congestion pricing.

Some business leaders feel that congestion pricing is good for business. It will help restaurants, taxi and ferry service and the folks who maintain and manufacture the scanning devices necessary to enforce the congestion charge. But the Partnership has failed in policing it's own members environmental faux pas. We begin with the Alcoa Corporation, a member of the board of directors.

Environmental record according to the University of Massachusetts' Political Economy Research Institute. Alcoa is one of the top ten most toxic companies in the country, producing 9,884,267 pounds of toxic chemicals in 2002 alone.

[1] Since 1987, state and federal regulators have cited Alcoa for more than forty-seven pollution violations.

[2] In 2002, Alcoa paid half a million dollars in fines at its Indiana plant in order to settle lawsuits charging it evaded water pollution regulations.

[3] Under the controversial grandfather provisions of the Texas Clean Air Act, Alcoa has been exempt from installing up to date pollution control devices and submitting to health-impact studies.

[4] President Bush appointed former Alcoa Chair and CEO Paul O'Neill Treasury Secretary of the United States in his first administration.

Then there is Energy Nuclear Northeast, the folks who are responsible for the Indian Point Nuclear Reactor. Aka Entergy that sits on the board of directors.

Contact: Lisa Rainwater van Suntum 914-478-4501 x 221 Darcy Casteleiro 914-478-4501 x 239
For Immediate Release 4-18-2006

RIVERKEEPER NOTIFIES ENTERGY NUCLEAR NORTHEAST OF INTENT TO SUE FOR VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL TOXIC WASTE LAW AT INDIAN POINT
***
Environmental Watchdog Group Takes Action As Radioactive Cocktail Continues to Leach into Hudson River and Groundwater, Violating Federal Environmental Law

Tarrytown, N.Y. Today Riverkeeper, the Tarrytown-based environmental organization, celebrating its 40th year of protecting the Hudson River and the watershed from polluters, announced its intent to sue Entergy Nuclear Northeast for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

This federal statute requires operators of industrial facilities to notify the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when they discover a leak of hazardous substances, such as radioactive isotopes, from their facility and to remediate the environmental damage in a timely manner. Entergy Nuclear failed to notify EPA when they discovered the leak of contaminated water from the Indian Point 2 spent fuel pool, thereby avoiding the involvement of EPA in the leak investigation and remediation process.

Croton residents Gary Shaw and Charlie Kane are co-plaintiffs in this pending litigation. Under the citizen suit provisions of RCRA, Riverkeeper must notify the defendant sixty days prior to filing suit.

Let us not forget Keyspan that is also on the board of directors of the Partnership

July 26, 2005American Lung Association of New York State Environmental Advocates of New York Hudson River Sloop Clearwater New York Climate Rescue New York Public Interest Research Group Renewable Energy Long Island:

NORTHEASTERN POWER COMPANIES TARGETED FOR DISPROPORTIONATE GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION NRG Energy, Dynegy Top Two Polluting Companies in the Northeast, Report Shows

Albany, NY - A new report More Heat than Light: Global Warming Pollution from the Northeast’s Dirtiest Power Producers released today by environmental groups found that a small number of the northeast’s dirtiest power companies are responsible for a disproportionate amount of power sector global warming pollution. The report also found that a majority, six of the top ten biggest emitting power plants are in New York.
The region’s ten dirtiest power companies emitted 64 percent of the global warming pollution while producing only 33 percent of the region’s energy.

While Keyspan is fourth among the ten worst polluting companies in the report, its Boston office signed a letter to Massachusetts Governor Romney supporting the regional global warming pollution cap on power plants. Groups stated that this generally put them a bit ahead of the curve of other power plant owners and encourages them to reduce the emissions at their New York plants. The Northport plan on Long Island and the Ravenswood facility in Queens were among the regions top ten emitters of global warming pollution.

“There’s no time to lose in tackling global warming, and the biggest polluters must clean up.” said Christine Vanderlan, global warming program director with Environmental Advocates of New York. “Governor Pataki needs to require them to cut carbon dioxide emissions now.”
The report also analyzed plant-by-plant data and found that the 50 dirtiest power plants in the region emitted 80 percent of the sector’s global warming pollution while only producing 45 percent of the region’s energy. There are 188 facilities that contributed to the region’s electricity pool in 2004. Twenty-two of the 50 dirtiest plants, or 44% were located in New York. Six of those facilities were in the top ten.

"With New York City facing deteriorating air quality (3rd worst in the nation) with over 200 deaths per year related to asthma, 840 heat-related deaths and 1,300 ozone-related deaths, the fight against global warming pollution is a key provision in guaranteeing the health of New Yorkers," said Marc Brammer, executive director of New York Climate Rescue.

Con Ed's Kevin Burke also sits on the prestigious board of directors. In the past, the company has been assailed for contributing to pollution in the Bronx. And although it has facilities there, it recently unveiled an "environmentally friendly" substation in the Mott Haven section. It is too early to determine it's effect on the already burdened community. But given it's past performance, one must remain skeptical.

In part two of HIJACKING ASTHMA, we will discuss the economic effect on those who would pay the price of congestion tax.

CHARLES BARRON BARKS

City Councilman Charles Barron publicly defied City Council speaker, Christine Quinn this week on the steps of City Hall. Barron defended his staff member, Viola Plummer, who Quinn accused of improper behaviour when Plummer called for the assassination of another city councilman, Leroy Comrie. Quinn docked Plummer's pay and demanded a statement from Plummer that she would refrain from future display of such conduct. Barron argued that Plummer works for him as opposed to Quinn and that Quinn overstepped her authority through her demands.

The fourth of July began early this week. Sparks continue to fly between Barron and Quinn without an end in sight. Barron is determined to reinvent the sixties while Quinn pumped with power from Bloomberg slowly swells into a political creature that is a cross between the mayor and his red headed protege, known as BloomQuinn.

If Barron loses this round, he will continue to agitate and berate Quinn until his rhetoric is used up. In the interim, Quinn has the power to add or remove funding to his district. And as Barron continues to fan the flames, one can only wonder how the heat will affect an already simmering cauldron of disaffected youth in the inner city. Watch Barron bark at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8966037998397118739&pr=goog-sl

MOUSE DOUSED

Mickey Mouse was killed this week by an Israeli
according to HAMAS TV. If this were not so absurd, it would be comical. In a bid to win the hearts and minds of Palestinian youth, HAMAS produces a children's show. featuring Mickey Mouse. Great concept, bad script.
In a week where the media has placed Muslim popularity at an all time low, it would be wise for HAMAS to reconsider it's public relations strategy. Something like "The Tale of the Friendly Falafel" or "Life With Happy Humus". Dialogue not diatribe. That is what both Israelis and Palestinians need now.

A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death by an Israeli "terrorist" in the show's final episode Friday. Translation courtesy of The Middle East Media Research Institute.

COMMENTS

Source: Al-Aqsa TV/MEMRI
RELATED LINKS
•
AP: Hamas TV Kills Off Mickey Mouse Double
•
MEMRI TV: Read Transcript
•
VIDEO: CNN Yanks Hamas ‘Militant Mouse’ Video in Translation Furor
•
VIDEO: The Episode That Started It All...
•
EXTENDED VERSION: Hamas ‘Mickey Mouse’ Killed by ‘Terrorist’ Jews

A TAXING ISSUE

Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to propose a congestion tax on cars coming into Manhattan.
However, opponents have strong arguments against it. In addition, one should note that the building boom in New York City spearheaded by Bloomberg, has only increased the problem. Construction vehicles clog arteries and inhibit pedestrian traffic. Increased occupancy will only burden a subway system that the mayor insists that we all should use.

“THE SUBWAYS ARE OVERTAXED AND SO ARE NEW YORKERS. DON'T STAND FOR IT!"
"ANTI-CONGESTION PRICING PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS SCHEME FLAWS"

► To date no supporter of the Congestion Tax disputes Congressman Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, who advised no Congressionally authorized program exists to provide federal funds. The money at best remains a request from USDOT to Congress. [see http://www.dot.gov/bib2008/pdf/bib2008.pdf (page 16). And the Federal budget fiscal year does not begin until October 1, 2007.

► No real deadline exists to qualify for the funding that apparently does not yet exist. The USDOT's online Federal Register notice makes clear its deadline to qualify for funding is anything but firm and clearly malleable.

► The Congestion Tax Scheme offers no tradeoff in immediate or near-term mass transit improvements for city commuters. The MTA admits its system lacks capacity to handle the projected 90,000 riders the congestion tax scheme envisions diverting to rail, subways and buses. New York City Transit's analysis indicates many subway lines simply maxed out and lacking capacity; straphangers will face jamming together like a can of sardines. NYCT president Howard H. Roberts Jr. said, “This is scary in the sense that right now, on a lot of these lines, we’re several years and a big capital construction project away from being able to provide what I consider adequate service. We’re constrained....There’s no room at the inn.” (New York Time, June 26, 2006)

► The morning rush overcrowding on the 4, 5, 6 and L lines exceeds NYCT’s loading guidelines. The 4 and 5 Lexington express trains run at full capacity - 27 trains an hour - during morning peak. Only 83.2% of 4 and 87.2% of 5 trains run on time.

► Solutions, such as increasing capacity 20% by running 12-car trains instead of 10-car trains, the Second Avenue subway and expansion of a computerized signal system to allow more trains running closer together on the same tracks, remain several years away.

► If congestion pricing becomes a reality, planners also cannot rely any time soon on additional buses to meet any increased capacity.

► The City's Congestion Tax relies on one of the most extraordinarily inefficient revenue streams ever devised to generate new revenues for mass transit: $2 of every $5 collected would support the program, not to improve transit and clean our air. The NYC Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability estimates that the proposed system’s annual operating costs would total $240 million annually – 39 percent of estimated gross revenues. People who live, work, do business in and visit New York would be paying $620 million each year to generate only $380 million for regional transit improvements.

► By incessantly and misleadingly linking their proposal to the projected $31 billion shortfall in capital funding through 2030, and the prospect of a 20% fare hike, congestion tax supporters have sought to create the impression that it is the key to solving the region’s transportation capital financing problems.

If charges are set at the proposed levels, revenues from this congestion tax on businesses and people driving into or within Midtown and Lower Manhattan would finance only a fraction of the projected shortfall. The Independent Budget Office projects a $799 million MTA fiscal year 2008 operating deficit, exceeding $1.45 billion in FY2009. If the Legislature were to approve the congestion tax tomorrow, it would produce nothing in FY2008, perhaps $200 million in FY2009, and net but $380 million in FY2010 – when the congestion tax would be fully operational – but the MTA’s deficit will reach $1.78 billion. Congestion tax revenues simply aren’t enough – and would arrive too late – to avert significant fare increases during the next two years. And this tax scheme got linked to the fare in an effort to diffuse opposition to the tax.

► According to data published by the City, the total volume of greenhouse gases generated in New York City by on-road vehicles declined by 5.6% between 1995 and 2005, while those generated by all other sources rose by 12.8%. The city scheme proposes no measures that address asthma where it impacts mosts: air pollution hot spots including The South Bronx, East Harlem, South Jamaica, and Bed-Stuy.

► The City’s own figures suggest its congestion tax scheme will produce only a modest reduction in traffic congestion – the benefits of which have been wildly oversold.

► Better measures exist to relieve congestion and traffic. These include inducements to use mass transit – lower fares, lower express bus fares, reduced intra-city commuter railroad fares, and better bus connections to commuter rails. Traffic abatement measures include the posting of more traffic enforcement agents to avoid “box-blocking” to ensure traffic flow, and changing “blocking the box” from a moving to a parking violation which allows the use of cameras and fines to discourage that traffic-congesting activity.

► No other applicant proposed a congestion pricing to USDOT; the others involve drivers paying additional tolls to drive roads ("hot lanes") with less traffic.
The public ought to question the claims of deadlines and available funding that proponents of the Congestion Tax assert in their haste to pressure the State Legislature to adopt this inefficient and unfair scheme by July 16.

.........something smells fishy and it's not the New Yorkers stuffed liked sardines in subway cars!

COREY B. BEARAK, Esq.Government & Public AffairsCommunity & Media RelationsP.O. Box 135Glen Oaks, NY 11004(718) 343-6779facsimile (718) 343-5761Bearak@aol.comCoreyBearak.com

See video at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4097111213341599519&pr=goog-sl

IRELAND'S NIGERIAN MAYOR

The immigration bill struggles along. A victim of debate and political opportunism. But elsewhere in the world, people are resolving their differences.

O’Bama’s Irish Roots?

DUBLIN, Ireland, June 29, 2007

Ireland elected its first black mayor Thursday, the latest sign of how rapid immigration is changing this once all-white nation. Rotimi Adebari, a Nigerian who arrived in Ireland seven years ago as an asylum-seeker, was elected unopposed to lead the council of Portlaoise, a bustling commuter town west of Dublin. Adebari, 43, who has been an independent politician on Portlaoise Town Council since 2004, was backed by both the right-wing Fine Gael party and left-wing Sinn Fein. Adebari, who planned a post-election party Friday at the new parish hall in Portlaoise, called it "a great honour to become the No. 1 citizen of the town."

Less than a decade ago, a black person in Ireland risked being stared at, so rare was the sight of visitors from different racial backgrounds. But Ireland has absorbed more than 30,000 asylum seekers - particularly from Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria - since the mid-1990s, a wave attracted by Ireland's booming economy and its relatively lax immigration rules. These days, West African entrepreneurs run shops in urban Dublin and other Irish towns and cities, and social activists like Adebari are encouraging the newcomers to integrate into their communities.

"I got involved in the community and I volunteered. It gave me the opportunity to meet people firsthand and they got to know me," Adebari said. "We all have to make an effort to reach out to one another." Adebari traveled to Ireland with his wife and two boys in 2000 and claimed asylum on the basis of religious persecution, citing bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims in his homeland. His application was rejected because of insufficient evidence he had personally suffered persecution, but he gained residency because his third child, another boy, was born in Ireland.

Asylum-seekers flocked to Ireland in part to gain European Union citizenship on the basis of having a child born in the country. Ireland in 2004 stopped granting citizenship to foreign parents of an Irish-born child, a law that had been unique in Europe. Adebari said he had trouble finding work at first - in part because of an Irish law that bars people from working while they are seeking asylum. So he volunteered at a local tennis club, helped found a lobbying group for unemployed people in Portlaoise and ran for office, winning a council seat on his first try in 2004.

Since then he's finished a master's degree in intercultural studies at Dublin City University, founded a consultancy advising authorities and immigrant groups on how to work together, and hosts a weekly radio show on his local station, Midlands FM. "I want to encourage immigrants to be a force in their communities, to engage with their communities," he said. "People will get to know you. Their perception of you will change just like that. That's what happened to me."

BLOOMIES BLIMPMOBILES

A previous YFP post entitled Bloomberg's Gas Congestion, was misleading. The car in the video is that of City Council speaker, Christine Quinn. Readers attributed it to Mayor Bloomberg. YFP apologizes for the misunderstanding.

However, that does not let Mayor Bloomberg off the hook. He travels in a small fleet of large blimp mobile style suvs. And for all of his accolades regarding energy efficiency and a more "green" conscious NYC, his motorcade doesn't do much for the ozone layer.

The picture on this page, above, shows perhaps what he should be driving if he wants status, safety and fuel efficiency. The video clip displaying Bloomberg's blimpmobiles speaks for itself.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3621855625063708579&pr=goog-sl

AMEN TO THAT!

Rudy Giuliani may have ducked the lightining around the CNN studios in a previous debate. But, he did not fare as well with the wrath of a Catholic bishop. The following article is from Catholic News.

CNA: Bishop replies to Giuliani solicitation with scathing letter criticizing Catholic candidate’sbortion stance
6/7/2007

Catholic News Agency (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNA) – Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence received an invitation in the mail recently from Rudy Giuliani, inviting the Catholic leaders to a fundraising dinner for his U.S. presidential campaign.

But Bishop Tobin did more than just politely decline. Instead of sending a non-descript RSVP to inform Giuliani that he would not attend, the prelate wrote him a scathing letter to turn down his offer. According to the official newspaper of the Providence Diocese, Rhode Island Catholic, Bishop Tobin was already greatly “distressed” before he received the invitation to the fundraiser and was planning on writing about the matter already.

“But then I received an invitation to attend a fundraising luncheon for presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, and that absolutely confirmed my decision,” he explained. Bishop Tobin said he felt he needed to write a response. “I have no idea why I received an invitation to Giuliani’s fundraiser. I don’t know the [former] mayor; I’ve never met him. I try to avoid partisan politics. But most of all, I would never support a candidate who supports legalized abortion.”

The bishop said the politician’s “public proclamations on abortion are pathetic and confusing. Even worse, they’re hypocritical.” Giuliani previously provided explanations of his position on abortion stating that he had two pillars of belief. “One is I believe abortion is wrong. I think it is morally wrong. … The second pillar that guides my thinking … where [people of good faith] come to different conclusions about this, about something so very, very personal, I believe you have to respect their viewpoint.”

Reacting to this statement, Bishop Tobin wrote, “Rudy’s explanation is a classic expression of the position on abortion we’ve heard from weak-kneed politicians so frequently in recent years: “I’m personally opposed to but don’t want to impose my views on other people.”
“The incongruity of that position has been exposed many times now. As I’ve asked previously, would we let any politician get away with the same pathetic cop-out on other issues: ‘I’m personally opposed to … racial discrimination, sexual abuse, prostitution, drug abuse, polygamy, incest … but don’t want to impose my beliefs on others?’”

Bishop Tobin also addressed the issue of how politicians’ decisions in the public sphere affect their relationship with the Catholic Church. “Rudy’s preposterous position is compounded by the fact that he professes to be a Catholic. As Catholics, we are called, indeed required, to be pro-life, to cherish and protect human life as a precious gift of God from the moment of conception until the time of natural death. As a leader, as a public official, Rudy Giuliani has a special obligation in that regard,” said Bishop Tobin. In the invitation for the event, mention was made of having a photo taken with Giuliani for $1,500.

Referring to this offer, Bishop Tobin told the organizers, “I won’t be attending the fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani. If Rudy wants to see me, he’ll have to arrange an appointment at my office. We’ll talk about his position on abortion. And if he wants a photo [of me], it will cost him $1,500 as a donation for the pro-life work of the church.”

Bishop Tobin’s letter was raised during the June 5 Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. Moderator Wolf Blitzer from CNN asked Giuliani about Bishop Tobin’s criticism of his position on abortion.

Just as Giuliani attempted to answer, lightning struck the building and caused problems to the sound system. When the former mayor tried to answer the question a second time, lightning struck the building again accompanied by a loud clap of thunder. When the other two candidates heard the thunder a second time they both slowly and quietly backed away from Giuliani. Making light of the situation, Giuliani quipped, "Look, for someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's happening right now."

MAYOR BLOOMBERG IN THE PINK

Mayor Michael Bloomberg marched in step to the annual Gay Parade in New York City. Bloomberg, a longtime supporter of gay rights sported a bright pink sweater matching the equally bright hue of city council speaker Christine Quinn. The speaker's name has become synonymous with Bloomberg's as of late. She is being groomed as his successor when his term expires. Bloomberg would not take any heat from the press or his sweater. He removed it, and his obligation to the fourth estate. The day was a time for walking, talking and gawking. Watch clips of this wonderful parade at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=186169852967708626&pr=goog-sl

BLOOMBITO BANDITOS

On June 22, (Friday), approximately a dozen people graced the steps of city hall to announce a drive to collect 15,000 signatures asking the mayor to run for president as an Independent. However, the coordinator for the petition drive, Frank Morano, forgot to tell the members of the media present that he is on the City Council payroll. He works for the newly minted Staten Island Republican Council Member , Vincent Ignizio. As far as one knows, Friday is a working day. Was Mr. Morano working for the mayor or for the City Council?

View the press conference at:

http://www.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7423055295120397166&pr=goog-sl