Chimps Are Not Pets

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY ISSUES STATEMENT
ON CAPTIVE PRIMATE SAFETY ACT AND TRAGIC CHIMPANZEE
ATTACK IN CONNECTICUT

NEW YORK, NY, February 19, 2009 -- The following statement was released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today concerning the Captive Primate Safety Act and the tragic story surrounding the chimpanzee attack in Connecticut this week:

The news of Travis, the chimpanzee, emerging out of Stamford, CT, is a sad and tragic story for a family, a community and an endangered great ape. At the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), we are hopeful that this tragedy will impart a greater understanding of the serious risks assumed when a private individual decides to keep a primate as a pet. WCS opposes the private ownership of primates as pets, as they pose a great potential risk to public health and safety through communicable diseases and through injuries inflicted during unpredictable episodes of aggressive behavior.

At WCS, we continue to advocate for the enactment of the Captive Primate Safety Act which would impose additional safeguards against private ownership of primates as pets, as well as prohibit the sale and purchase of live great apes (including chimpanzees) in interstate or foreign commerce. This would help curb the illegal pet trade while reducing human-wildlife disease transmission.

We are grateful for the leadership of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, for her leadership and vision ensuring a sensible approach for both the humane issues and public health problems related to the business of producing and selling primates for the exotic pet trade. Recently, U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) reintroduced this bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. WCS is working closely with Members of Congress to ensure the speedy passage of this legislation in the 111th Congress.

We encourage you to call your House and Senate members in Washington at 202-224-3121 and ask that this legislation get signed into law, and to visit http://www.wcs.org/ to see how you can take additional action on this issue.

New York Post offers

half-hearted apology for

chimpanzee cartoon

BY Christina Boyle, Larry Mcshane and Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Friday, February 20th 2009, 1:40 AM

Savulich/News

Protesters demonstrate against the New York Post chimpanzee stimulus cartoon.

AP

This New York Post cartoon has drawn criticisms and protests agains the newspaper.

Articles

• Daly: Post has gotta apologize for chimp toon
• Post facing boycott over cartoon controversy
• NY Post chimpanzee stimulus cartoon draws cops' ire

It was a sorry excuse for an apology, but the New York Post finally caved in to outrage over a racially charged cartoon that some believed insulted President Obama - then went on the attack.

After demonstrators marched outside the fact-challenged tabloid and urged that it be boycotted, the Post relented on its Web site Thursday night with a "We're sorry" disguised as opinion and buried inside the homepage.

Here's what the beleaguered editorial team said of the controversial cartoon:

"It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

"Period.

"But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

"This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

"However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

"To them, no apology is due.

"Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else."

The "opportunist" crack was clearly a shot at the Rev. Al Sharpton, who criticized the cartoon and organized Thursday's protest.

Thursday night, Sharpton wasn't buying the apology.

"They made what could have been a noble gesture ignoble by trying to attack people at the same time they're trying to apologize to them. It's not opportunistic to say 'I've been offended.' This makes it hard to take them seriously."

Sharpton scoffed at suggestions the protest was payback for past Post attacks.

"They've done a number of cartoons on me over the years, and I've never marched on them. They just don't get it."

Sharpton said dollars and cents rather than sincerity prompted the apology.

"They brought the rhetoric down and got a little more civil after we raised the question of challenging their FCC waiver," which allows Rupert Murdoch to own multiple media outlets in the city.

He said the protest would be renewed today at 5 p.m.

Thursday an angry crowd called for the head of longtime Post cartoonist Sean Delonas, whose cartoon showed the bullet-riddled body of a chimp, shot by two cops, a reference to Monday's brutal chimp attack in Connecticut.

"They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one of the cops said.

Protestors chanted, "Shut down the Post!" and "We are not monkeys!" outside the paper's midtown offices.

An assortment of elected officials also blasted the Post, with City Councilman Charles Barron calling it "a racist rag."

"It is inappropriate, offensive, and I think the Post should have apologized," said city Controller Bill Thompson.

In addition to having Delonas fired, protesters - who filled the block outside the News Corp. building - were calling for any editors who signed off on the cartoon to be canned.

cboyle@nydailynews.com

NYPD PIX THE WRONG GUY

2/18/2009
Former New York Post Photojournalist Rick Dembow was successful in his lawsuit against the City of New York and the NYPD. The City of New York agreed to pay Rick Dembow the sum of $45,000 to drop his lawsuit prior to the beginning of the January 12th trial. The suit stemmed from claims by the well known photographer that two New York City police officers were negligent in their duties causing a permanent injury, false arrest, first amendment rights violations and numerous other charges.

Rick Dembow with 20 years experience on the job with the NY Post and the NY Daily News responded to a routine hit and run incident on a city street in June 2004. The veteran news photographer was attempting to photograph the driver of the vehicle and the victim at the scene. He noticed news photographer Peter Foley being arrested a short distance away for taking pictures of the same accident scene. As Rick Dembow attempted to photograph the arrest of Peter Foley, an officer was instructed to arrest and handcuff Dembow. The unlawful arrest resulted in an emergency room treatment and injury to Dembow due to the inappropriate actions of the officers involved.

Additionally, New York State Workers Compensation Judge Nance Kaplan ruled that the York Post must pay the photographer $20,000 in lost wages due to the assignment injury. The Post initially protested the compensation claiming the photojournalist was a freelancer and not entitled to any benefits. News Corp. sent Photo Editor David Boyle to testify against any compensation, but Judge Kaplan found Boyle’s argument to be not credible and unsupportive. “This is a great day for all the working press photographers and videographers in the city. Any credentialed photographer that is threatened, falsely arrested, deprived of their first amendment rights or injured while on assignment, has every legal right to initiate a lawsuit against the NYPD.”

The NYPD has a long history of media abuse. Officers on the street rarely adhere to the strict guidelines layed out in the Patrolman’s Guide, as as to proper procedure for media incidents. Despite numerous memorandums from the Police Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information notifying the rank and file not to obstruct news photographers while on a news assignment, the guidelines are frequently ignored or never disemminated. Most photographers that have had their rights abused by the NYPD rarely seek legal advice, more than likely due to an unfounded fear that its pointless in fighting the system. This could not be further from the truth. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what fabricated excuse the NYPD uses to interfere with a photographers news gathering rights. It only matters what a jury of your peers feels is just and the reality is, there are not very many reasons at all a police officer has to legally arrest, detain, obstruct, injure or threaten a working press photographer that is not trespassing on his, or her assignment.

The City of New York knows this and ultimately will lose most suits brought against them by any press photographer willing to go the distance. As far as freelancers claims for lost wages and medical reimbursement from their respective papers, there is more good news. The major papers in New York would have their freelancers believe they are not entitled to any benefits beyond their day rate. This also could not be further from the truth. The reality is that if you work 30+ hours weekly for the same publication year in and year out, they give you your assignments, tell you where to go and when to finish, more than likely you have met the New York State criteria for “Dominion and Control,” which puts the responsibility of compensation benefits squarely on your employer. The newspapers love to perpetuate this lie to their freelance staffs that you are not entitled to anything, but more than likely a compensation judge will force them to pay up. It’s the law.

Currently Rick Dembow is the president of Tabloid City Picture Agency, an international celebrity photo agency he formed 8 years ago servicing the tabloid industry. If you’re a credentialed photographer and would like any advice on initiating a claim against the NYPD, or your newspaper for lost wages due to an incident or injury while on assignment, feel free to contact Rick Dembow at: photo@tabloidcity.com

Michael Barbaro notes: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has denounced political parties as a “swamp of dysfunction,” has bankrolled a campaign to eliminate them from the New York City elections and has dismissively cast off his own party affiliations like ill-fitting garments.

News Blog Seeking: yourfreepress.blogspot.com Seeking Fed Tarp Too.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

News Blog Seeking

FED TARP and Bailout Help

By Gary Tilzer

With a deep sense of grief the owners, writers and production staff of the Citi News Daily Blog, due to the economic crisis currently affecting the media industry, have agreed to allow our blog to be named after a corporate sponsor. True News is in the process of calling Congressman Grayson to contact Citigroup CEO Harry Hanbury about a deal to change the name "True News" to "Citi True News" Daily Blog. We have also contacted Congressman Barney Frank to obtain Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's permission to use Citi Group TARP funds to sponsor True News. Geithner has already given Frank and Citi the ok to keep the $40 million name sponsorship with the Mets for their new taxpayer subsidized stadium, Citi Field.

We want Citi's CEO to know that True News has been doing the job, in the spirit of Thomas Paine, of informing the pubic about what is really going on. If True News had been around years ago it might have warned the SEC and congress of the dangers of subprime mortgages to your bank Mr. Hanbury – think of it: Thanks to us, your bank could have avoided being nationalized. Your Bank and other Wall Street greed whores destroyed an independent American bankings system begun in New York and which made our city into the greatest in the world.

We want Mr. Geithner to be fully aware of the real public service that True News provides in spoon-feeding stories to the other news media outlets. On Tuesday True News wrote about Ballot Control by Political Party County Leaders in NYC: NY's Falling Voter Participation. Secretary Geithner, lo and behold today both the New York Times and the New York Post had stories about ballot access and the mayor’s race: MAYOR EYES DEM LINE (NYP), In Reversal, Mayor Now Woos Political Parties (Times). We feel that True News did a better job of informing the public of what it needs to know about the mayor's race and ballot access. Only our blog wrote about the dangers to our democracy of political parties with declining memberships being controlled by an inner circle which uses it for personal gain, disconnected and unconcerned about the needs of the voters of their own parties.

If this NY Times column seems like a familiar read Congressman Frank, it's because readers linked to almost the same exact commentary from "True News from ChangeNYC.org" a week before the Times columnist's article appeared. For too long Congressman Frank, bloggers have been treated like second class citizens. This is what they write about us: "What’s cheap is some self-absorbed nitwit sitting in front of a computer in his bathrobe, stealing the facts that some hard-working, low-paid newspaper drone just spent hours collecting." - Ellis Henican, writing about bloggers. Just curious Congressman... What is it called when the opposite happens? Tapping a source? Journalists and bloggers can have a symbiotic relationship. Tell the mainstream media that it is time to quit yer bitchin' and get with the times. Maybe if journalists were to question those in power instead of kissing their asses, there wouldn't be a demand for information from other sources. It was done once upon a time, ya know!

One more thing Congressman Frank, we think it is more in the spirit of the American Constitution and Bill of Rights to use federal funds to bail out True News, whose mission is to keep alive the dream of a free and independent press, than private developer Ratner who wants to use tax-payer money to build a stadium for a basketball team at Atlantic Yards, or the MTA who wants half a billion to build a single train station whose costs have skyrocketed.

To True News' loyal readership we humbly await Citi Group's reply for corporate sponsorship of a name change to CITI NEWS DAILY BLOG helping us to avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the dangers of yet another media company going out of business.

Very Truly Yours,
True News

NYPOST cartoon Compares Obama to a Monkey

Cartoon seems to link Obama to dead chimp
New York Post is standing behind cartoon some consider racist

Sean Delonas / AP
This cartoon image provided by the New York Post appeared in the Post's Page Six on Wednesday. The cartoon, which refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn. on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner, drew criticism.

NY's Falling Voter Participation

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

NY's Falling Voter Participation

NY's Falling Voter Participation

+++
Ballot Control by Party Leaders

BY GARY TILZER

Toxic Democracy

The City's election results from a half-century ago look like misprints. 3.46 million out of the City's 3.53 million registered voters, a staggering 98%, cast ballots in the 1952 Presidential election. One year later, 93% of registered New Yorkers voted in the Mayoral election. Today, the bottom has fallen out for the City's electorate. Only 27% of the City's registered voters cast their ballots in the last mayoral election in 2005. 39% of registered voters took part in the Mayoral election of 1997. Voter turnout was less than 20% for City Council elections in 1999.

Party Leaders Only Card: Ballot Access – cannot deliver any vote

Last week True News exposed how GOP party leaders have used Tammany Hall ballot control to fight for patronage and power with mayors and governors over the years. According to news reports this year Bloomberg is going after the endorsement of the Republican, Independent and Working Families lines. By examining the vote and registration numbers of these three parties it is clear that it is not the vote on the line the mayor seeks but the line itself. In the 2006 general election the Republican line only got 11% in the city. The Independent line got 2.7%. The Working Families line got 5.5%. The Conservative line only got 1.5%. The registration figures of these parties in the city are even smaller. The Republicans have 474,579 registered voters out of 4,614,932 registered voters in the city or 10.3%. The Independent Party has 92,602 - .02%; Conservative Party 19108 - .004%; Working Families Party 11,980 - .002%.

Party Leaders Have Become Dictators

Many say today's political system is more undemocratic and corrupt than Tammany Hall. When Tammany Hall ruled NY the pols rewarded the party leaders for delivering the vote to them. Parties function from the bottom up. To deliver the vote Tammany leaders needed the pols to deliver services to the voters. Today the party works from the top down. Controlling ballot access and delivering jobs and power to their friends. The public is cut out. The public need for services is no longer connected to the party delivering those services. It is easy to see why voter turnout is so low in recent times. Those in power today have built a system on low turnout elections where incumbents are protected. The elected officials have taken over the City's parties to make sure that the sole mission is to reelect them to office.

New York's Sinking Vote 1. 337,110 more New Yorkers voted in 2004 than 2008. 2. New York Ranked 42 of 50 in Voting Age Turnout 50.7% 2008. 3. In 1944 NY had 6,291,885 votes for president and 47 Electoral votes. 4. In 1944 Florida had 482,592 votes for president and 8 Electoral votes. 5. In 2008 Florida had 1,204,479 more votes for president than NY. 6. In 1944 New York had 3,423,467 more votes than California. 7. In 2008 California had 6,291,885 more votes than NY. 8. In 1944 New York cast 13.1% of the Nation's vote. 9. In 2008 New York cast 5.5% of the Nation's vote.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: I keep 2 guns under my bed

BY TOM BRUNE |tom.brune@newsday.com

10:46 PM EST, February 15, 2009

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., (Left), shakes hands with Vice President Joe Biden, while her husband, Jonathan Gillibrand, stands in the center. (AP Photo / January 27, 2009)

WASHINGTON - - New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who argues her pro-gun stance aims to protect hunters' rights and the Second Amendment, last week said she and her husband, Jonathan, keep two rifles under their bed to protect their upstate home.

Gillibrand said neither she nor her husband is a hunter, and in a general discussion of gun control said, "If I want to protect my family, if I want to have a weapon in the home, that should be my right."

The mother of two young children has taken "gun safety procedures to ensure family safety," an aide later said, but declined to say what steps.

Gillibrand's guns are rifles, her chief of staff Jess Fassler said in an e-mail, and she won one of them in a raffle at a county fair while campaigning. He said New York does not require anyone to register rifles.

Related links

• Kirsten Gillibrand Photos

• Gillibrand wary of Geithner's financial plan

Africa Network

Our highly successful Africa Roundtable: Setting an African Agenda for the Obama administration - Suggestions from the Diaspora - will be shown Monday, Feb. 16 at 9:30 a.m. on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, channel 34.

You can stream it on the web from www.mnn.org - click on channel 34 on the lower left hand side of the page.

The speakers - Milton Allimadi, Rosalind McLymont, Sowore Omoyele - offered three solid perspectives and a lively exchange followed with the audience.

We hope to get DVDs of this evening duplicated soon. In the meantime, hope to see everyone at our film screening of "Throw Down Your Heart" - Bela Fleck, an American musician, crosses Africa to record with some of the top musical artists in Tanzania, Uganda, Mali and The Gambia. The footage is glorious and the music unforgetable. See Malian diva Oumou Sangare informally at home and in the studio. Join us for this special screening on Mar. 11 at Global Information Network.


Lisa VivesExecutive DirectorGlobal Information Network146 West 29th Street Suite 7ENew York, NY 10001www.globalinfo.org212-244-3123 (voice)212-244-3522 (fax)AA

Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again

Friday, February 13, 2009

GOP Leaders Use Ballot Access to Fight for Patronage and Power

Tammany’s Ballot Control Again and Again

bOld Republican Guard vs. Old Republican Guard

by Gary Tilzer

c

It not only challengers to local offices, even billionaire mayors are held hostage by Tammany Hall’s control of New York Ballot Box. The dance in the media about some Republican county leaders not happy with the mayor is really caused by a behind the scenes closed door battle on who gets to be Number 1 with the current mayor -Giuliani, Pataki or them. What the Republican county leaders are saying is we don’t want the former mayor and governor acting as our middle men with the mayor. The buzz is that Bloomberg is demanding that Pataki and Giuliani deliver the Republican leaders before their meeting on February 25th.

Even A Dead Party Has Power in NYC
Fight over who the big dog with the mayor is not quite a civil war, for that you need troops. There are no elected Republican official in Manhattan Bronx and Queens and only one in Brooklyn. This year the Republican lost their only congressmember in the city when it was discovered he had two families. There is no GOP vote to deliver in the city. It is all about controlling the ballot line.

But A Powerful Last Card to Play
What the GOP has over the mayor is ballot access in the name of a Wilson-Pakula law that requires Bloomberg who registered as an independent (not independent party) when he was running for president to obtain the written permission of three of the city’s five Republican county leaders to run for re-election on the Republican ballot line.

It not just the four council candidates knock off the ballot in the Staten Island special election who are victim of Tammany Hall ballot access system designed over a 100 years ago give those in power total control of the city’s politics and government. Even the billionaire mayor is caught in Boss Tweed 130 years old corrupt scheme of control. Today’s machine made of party leaders and elected officials have perfected Tammany’s system to compensate for their loss of control to deliver votes. hhhhHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Even Obama Cannot Change New York
Tammany's system prevents change. Even if the newspapers editorial and good government groups continue for the next 100 years to speak out against New York’s corrupt politicians $$$, dysfunctional government, lobbyists, increase taxes and services cut these problems will never be solved until we end control of elections in New York and return democracy to its citizens. Change occurs when elected official believe they can lose elections.

ESPADA'S ERROR: AGAIN?

Espada's Error

February 13, 2009

Running afoul of campaign finance rules seems to be something of a habit for Bronx Sen. Pedro Espada Jr.

The senator, who missed five state Board of Elections deadlines for filing campaign disclosure reports and also owed (as of November) $61,750 worth of penalties to the CFB in connection with his 2001 City Council run, has stumbled yet again - this time sending out a fundraising invite emblazoned with his official state Senate seal.

(Espada has since filed all of his reports for 2008, although the Jan. 15, 2009 filing has yet to appear on the board's Web site).

Using one's public office for political purposes is a big no-no.

Andrew Yong, Espada's chief of staff, immediately acknowledged the error when it was brought to his attention and said it will be fixed ASAP. He suggested the mistake was made by a new staffer who isn't yet aware of the campaign finance rules.

But Yong also suggested that this misstep is part of a broader issue that the entire Democratic conference is experiencing as members try to get used to their newfound majority status.

"We're staffing up fast, but things just need to be ironed out," Yong said. "Unfortunately, things like things slip through the cracks."

By Elizabeth Benjamin on February 13, 2009 11:57 AM

Friends of fat cats? Suddenly, 3 Dem pols look like they may be protecting rich from taxes

Juan Gonzalez [News]

Friday, February 13th 2009, 4:48 AM

Why won't Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and two top Senate Democrats ask New York's landlords and wealthiest residents to share the pain of these tough times with the rest of us?

Smith and Bronx Sens. Pedro Espada Jr. and Jeff Klein have suddenly emerged as key obstacles to two of the most important reforms the Legislature's Democratic majority wants to achieve this year.

The first measure would rewrite state rent laws and keep nearly a million rent-stabilized apartments - most of them located within the five boroughs - affordable to working and middle-class families.

It would do this by eliminating vacancy decontrol, which former Gov. George Pataki and the Republicans instituted back in 1997.

Early this month, Assembly Democrats overwhelmingly approved several versions of rent reform. One of those versions would eliminate the $2,000 threshold for vacancy decontrol and reestablish tenant protections for apartments with a monthly rent of up to $5,000.

The other piece of legislation, the Fair Share Tax Reform Act, has been rapidly gaining support. Better known as the "millionaires tax," it would generate $6 billion to help plug a record deficit in the state budget. In its latest form, the proposal would raise tax rates for households making over $250,000 in taxable income.

Landlords and other powerful interest groups are gearing up for a titantic battle in Albany.

Several private-equity firms are worried about rent reform. They spent billions in recent years gobbling up rent-stabilized apartment buildings - even in the city's worst neighborhoods.

Prices for real estate skyrocketed as speculators promised huge windfalls once they got rid of old tenants and jacked up rents.

Many of those plans are in shambles, and investors in highly leveraged buildings fear rent reform will make things worse.

Enter Smith, who represents a solid middle-class area of southeast Queens. Until last year, he backed more tenant protection.

But the new Smith is talking more like a Republican. He has refused to back either the reform proposals or the millionaires tax. Same for Klein, the deputy majority leader, and Espada, head of the Senate's powerful Housing Committee.

"If you raise taxes, the potential is that someone who has the income of a million or more will have the ability to be mobile [and leave the city]," Smith said.

"We cannot simply raise taxes on the wealthy to fill a budget gap, without putting money back in the pockets of middle-class people," Klein said.

"I'm a little hesitant about the millionaires tax," Espada said. He said he favors "some kind of a hybrid progressive income tax," but would not give specifics.

What Smith, Klein and Espada won't acknowledge is the tiny percentage of households in the city that earn $1 million a year, or even $250,000, after taxes.

State records show a mere 393 households in Smith's Queens senatorial district reported incomes above $250,000 in 2005. More than 93,000, or 99.6%, were below that figure.

Virtually the same is true of Pedro Espada's west Bronx district. Some 81,000 households had incomes below $250,000, and only 391 above that.

Even in Sen. Liz Krueger's district on the upper East Side, the richest in the city, only 15% of taxpayers (22,000 households) reported incomes over $250,000.

New York once boasted a "progressive" income tax system, said Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a prime sponsor of the Fair Share proposal. The more a person earned, the higher the percentage he or she paid in taxes.

TODAY, A person earning $40,000 a year is in the same top tax bracket of 6.85% as someone making $40 million. Schneiderman wants higher brackets. He wants to start at 8.25% for those over $250,000, and higher for those over $1million.

The answer to this crisis, Schneiderman and other Democrats say, is getting the few at the top who benefited in the boom years to share the pain of the bust years with the rest of us.

The new majority leader needs to get with his majority.

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

The Real Campaign is to Suppress Challengers

By Gary Tilzer

The Real Campaign is to Suppress Challengers

Using the Courts and the CFB Rules to Win Elections
Every year in an annual ritual, scores of candidates, many running for the first time are denied a chance to compete in the electoral process or have their campaign efforts severely harmed by the obstacles of ballot access. New York’s election law is among the most stringent in the nation. It poisons the democratic process and is kept in place by incumbents and a political machine which gain advantage by those that it harms. Sometimes more than half of a challenger’s time and resources (for those that make it through the petitioning process), are used up to get through the obstacles put in place to deny them ballot access. Many races are decided in the courts or by Campaign Finance Board (CFB) rules, not the ballot box. It not just the petitions system that machine-backed candidates use to block ballot access, the CFB rule which allows a candidate who challenges his opponent(s) petitions to receive matching funds, but not the candidate(s) he is challenging, has become a weapon to gravely weaken ones challenge(s).

A great example how the insiders used the CFB rules to their advantage is the special election to fill the council seat of Congressman McMann. Kenneth Mitchell a machine backed candidate in this month's special election to fill a Staten Island council seat challenged almost all of the other candidates in the race. As of Tuesday morning the strongest challenger to Mitchell, John Tabacco was still tied up at the Board of Elections with the special election less than two weeks away. He was put on the ballot that afternoon but has lost valuable campaign time. The Mitchell campaign, war chest full of the city’s matching funds, has been doing mailings and hiring workers to GOTV all along. The Tabacco campaign was stalled by Mitchell's creative use of the CFB rules and now has to dump mailings made possible by the matching funds just becoming available on a public that has already tired of having their mailboxes full of promises to spend more money the city does not have.

Only the Rich and Insiders Can Beat Tammany’s Rule
Tammany Hall designed the petition scheme which is at the heart of New York’s arcane and complex ballot system, to keep machine candidates in office. The Board of Elections (BOE) also designed by Tammany, reviews petitions and rules candidate on and off the ballot, and consists of the appointees of the democratic and republican political machines. Despite generations of poor management and efforts by several mayors and newspaper editorial boards to reform it, the board continues its Tammany Hall Mission as a Gatekeeper to ballot access, knocking off challengers.

Those who support the petitions system say it prevents candidates without community support from running. What it really does is prevent challengers who cannot afford to pay for petitions, a good election lawyer and court costs - from running for office. Challengers must also have an insider on their campaign team to make it past the petitioning process. To win at the BOE you must bring a court procedure challenging the ruling of the board even before the Board has ruled. Unschooled insurgents chasing after the democratic dream of free and open elections fail to grasp the element of this logic. The machine and incumbents even use government to pay for their candidate’s petitioning by giving out election inspector jobs in exchange for collecting petitions for their candidates. It is a system that Boss Tweed is proud of to this day. It has also robbed us of our democracy and the protections the Founding Fathers designed for us.

Millions of New York’s voters are denied by Tammany’s petition racket, the chance to choose among the best of the potential candidates, who can solve their city’s critical problems. What this system leaves us with is a gang of insiders who have mastered the election process or have family or political connections to the machine and the City’s establishment.

Most incumbents have no challengers in the primary which are the real elections in NYC. Only one incumbent councilmember was defeated in both the 2003 and 2005 elections. More than half of the polling stations in NYC were closed in the last election. In Manhattan in 2008 only two of the eleven Assembly incumbents were challenged, none of the state senate or congressional candidates had an opponent in the primary. Brooklyn has 49 elected officials – 16 councilmembers, 8 State Senators, 19 Assemblymen and 6 Congress members. Only one, Senator Martin Golden, is a Republican. And that one will be gone in 2012 when his gerrymandered district is redrawn by a Democratic majority redistricting team.

Lack of competitive elections has also denied the City real debates on the issues that affect and hurt its residents. The press and campaign issues in the Incumbent Protection Society tend toward political spin designed to empower those already in power. Freedom of the ballot lies at the root of the American Political System. The Founding Fathers believed that decent opposition would not only be necessary to represent the voters, but would also reduce corruption and inefficiencies in government by getting the public educated and behind the true fixes to their problems. According to the intent of the framework of our democracy, today’s Incumbency Protection System has blocked opposition candidates who could have developed public awareness of potential government policies that might help keep the middle class in the City, build the City’s tax base beyond Wall Street and fix our city's schools.

The press and good government groups have been MIA on ballot access. Good Government groups have ignored ballot reform in favor of regulation of campaign financial practices, and the press has been going after the Board of Elections on its management screw-ups, not how it destroys the campaigns of challengers. By corrupting the CFB which was created to increase political competition, with payout delaying tactics, the machine and IPS has shown the newspaper editorial boards and good government groups that they must fight for increased political competition in New York City’s elections, not quick fixes. The Incumbent Protection Society has destroyed democracy in New York and created dysfunctional government in its destructive path, while enriching itself and its friends. Even the rich and established are its victims. Will those who can fix the system be able to fix the city? ….Will they wake up or learn how to? … The Future of New York City depends on it.

The Accidental Ballot Access Reforms
The only reform in ballot access in the last 20 years occurred because the Bush campaign tried to keep John McCain off the New York Primary Ballot in 2000. A Federal Judge ruled after the McCain campaign took the Republican Party to court, to eliminate the need for ADs, EDs and totals on nominating petitions cover sheets. Judge Edward Korman who also ruled that candidates can correct their petitions cover sheets for defects after they are submitted to the Board of Elections, did more then any Good Government group to make a very restrictive ballot access system a little bit easier for challengers.

FIRE DOWN UNDER

AUSTRALIAN HEAT WAVE AND DEADLY FIRES

By Eric K. Williams(

Special to YOUR FREE PRESS)Melbourne, Australia -

The death toll stands at 181 but, police in Victoria are expecting that number to rise significantly upwards, with scores of people still unaccounted for and, among the missing. What's more, while many of the fires were started because of the hot and dry conditions, there is the assumption on the part of police and, the Prime Minister, Kevin Ruud, that a number of the fires were set deliberately. There is video tape evidence to back this up. Two suspects are in custody as investigations continue. 30 fires are STILL burning around Victoria as of this writing. No rain in the forecast.

The current heat wave has subsided at the moment but, is expected to return early next week. Forecasts call for more 40-plus degree Celsius temperatures starting on Monday. Last Saturday, the temperature hit 48.7 degrees Celsius in much of Victoria. It was 46 in Melbourne city, proper. The highest temps EVER recorded in this state. Translated that is about 120 degrees Fahrenheit in U.S. measurements. What is odd is that while Victoria burns, there is heavy rain and flooding in the Australian state of Queensland to the north. Streets are flooded and, rescue teams are present there now.

This follows mass flooding in the Pacific Island nation of Fiji, north and east of Australia, from mid-January. There are brush fires underway now in New Zealand but, not on the scale of what has taken place in Australia. On Friday, the 13th of February, (Thursday in the U.S. and Europe,) there will be a national day of mourning called by the Prime Minister, Kevin Ruud. Large gatherings are expected at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne, where I will be this morning. Similar events are scheduled in most of the rest of the country. Nearly everyone I have spoken to and, know here in Melbourne, has been touched by this spate of heat and, brush fires. That is, they either have a friend or relative who has been touched by this event, or know someone who has.

One friend, whose elderly 80 plus year old father was in a nursing home just north of Melbourne, died last Saturday. Much of the U.S. media has not paid close attention to this story and, regard it as being 'too far away' from the Americas for U.S. audiences to care. In truth, the story warrants wide and detailed coverage because, this is the clearest case yet of Global Warming, having a major impact on a fellow industrialized nation. This could happen in the United States and, besides, there are American ex-patriots I know personally, who were directly touched by this phenomena.

What makes this scary is that even the occasional high winds offer no relief. The air, blowing down from northern Australia, is as hot as a furnace and, further dries already dry conditions. Complicating matters even further is the drought. Victorian government officials, for example, had been airing 'save water' public service announcements on local television stations in recent weeks. In Melbourne less than three weeks ago, a water main broke in the Northcote district of this city, as millions of gallons of water shot over 20 meters high into the air and, spewed down sewers and was lost. Politically there is a debate among federal lawmakers in Canberra, the national capital, over the stimulus package and, spending on infrastructure.

The measure, advanced and supported by the Labor party led government, was defeated days after the height of the heat wave and brush fire emergency. This story is changing by the hour as I write this but, the Summer season is at mid-point. That means, the very likelihood of this current emergency repeating itself is not only possible but, scientists believe, probable.

Fox News Channel Producer Busted for Porn

Tuesday, Feb 10
FNC Producer Aaron Bruns Arrested
A TVNewser tipster tells us Aaron Bruns, a producer in the Fox News Channel Washington, D.C. bureau, has been arrested and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. A Fox News spokesperson confirms, telling TVNewser, "We are aware of the arrest and he is currently suspended without pay."
Bruns is in federal court in Washington, D.C. this afternoon appearing on the felony charge.
Bruns has been with FNC for more than six years. He was an embed producer with the Hillary Clinton campaign last year.
Developing...
> Update: FishbowlDC reports this is not Bruns' first run-in with the law. He dropped out of the University of Michigan in 1999 after being arrested on charges of distributing child pornography. So why wasn't Bruns checked out by Fox News? A network spokesperson tells TVNewser criminal background checks were not instituted until 2003. Bruns was hired in 2002.
> Update (2): The Smoking Gun has obtained the arrest affidavit. A warning that it is graphic in its detail.

Stressful Times

As the economy continues to deteriorate, stress levels are on the rise. That means more hospital visits and doctor appointments also. Here are a few tips:

Record all necessary information
Keep a short medical history tucked into your wallet or purse, says Dr. Virgie Bright-Ellington, M.D., Internal Medicine and author of What Your Doctor Wants You to Know But Doesn't have Time to Tell You (Hilton Publishing, 2009). It should include your allergies, a complete list of your medications and dosages as well as any over-the-counter supplements and vitamins you're taking. Keeping it in your wallet or purse will make your list easily accessible (and easy to maintain and update) when you need it.

Do a quick double-check before you head out: do you have your health care numbers and information with you?3. Make the most of the visitBe on time for your appointment. While it's true your appointment might be delayed because of unanticipated emergencies your doctor runs into during the course of her appointment day, don't start the appointment off on the wrong foot by showing up late. If you're scheduled for a 15-minute appointment and you're five minutes late, the doctor will be pressed to catch up.

If you think you might have paperwork or forms to fill out, show up early and get the paperwork done before the start time of your scheduled appointment.Unforeseen emergencies are the mainstay of a doctor's life. If your appointment is unavoidably delayed, make the most of the wait time by bringing something along to work on while you wait.

Crossword puzzles, a good book or a little project from the office will make the wait time pass quickly and efficiently.Take notes -- your doctor knows you won't remember everything she says, especially if you're in uncharted medical territory. Jotting down key points during the course of the appointment will help you recall the details later and help set you up for follow-up appointments.

Notes taken during the appointment should include any prescription details and medical advice related to your doctor's diagnosis. If a follow-up visit seems indicated, make note of anything the doctor will want you to bring or to talk about at the next visit. Medical appointments can be stressful. If you're worried about how well you're going to absorb and retain the information your doctor gives you, think about having an advocate -- a spouse, a sibling, or a friend -- go into the appointment with you.

FDA: Ga. Plant Knowingly Sent Tainted Goods

Peanut Corp. Of America Denies Any Wrongdoing

Friday, February 6, 2009 – updated: 5:02 pm EST February 6, 2009

Federal health officials said the Georgia peanut plant at the center of the salmonella outbreak knowingly shipped tainted products.

Salmonella Q&A | Reduce Risk

Previously, the Food and Drug Administration had said Peanut Corp. of America retested products after getting an initial positive result for salmonella. The agency said the company shipped the goods after follow-up tests came back negative. But Friday, the FDA said the company sent out peanut butter, chopped peanuts and peanut meal that had tested positive even before it got back any negative findings. Peanut Corp. denies any wrongdoing. The government has opened a criminal investigation.Federal inspectors found that the peanut plant exposed some of its equipment to insecticides in 2001. In a report based on that visit nearly eight years ago, inspectors said that workers at the Peanut Corp. of America's plant used an insecticide fogger not suitable for food areas and didn't wash its equipment. Food and Drug Administration inspectors also found dirty duct tape on broken equipment, dead insects around peanuts, and gaps in doors that allowed rodents to enter the plant. Those findings in 2001 are similar to problems discovered last month after the company shipped salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut butter linked to at least eight deaths and 575 illnesses in 43 states. On Friday, the Department of Agriculture said the federal government sent potentially contaminated peanut products to schools in three states for a free lunch program in 2007. Officials said peanut butter and roasted peanuts processed by the Peanut Corp. of America were sent to schools in California, Minnesota and Idaho.More than 1,300 foods that used ingredients from the company's processing plant in Blakely, Ga., have been recalled.While the outbreak appears to be slowing down, new illnesses are still being reported.Also on Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is going to ship 660,000 new meals to storm-damaged Arkansas and Kentucky after finding some of the packages contained recalled peanut butter. The news came a day after the agency identified meals distributed in Kentucky had packets of peanut butter recalled in the nationwide salmonella outbreak. The meals had not yet been distributed in Arkansas. FEMA said it has not received any complaints about illnesses from the peanut butter. FEMA said it is shipping Meals Ready to Eat, designed for use by the military, to the two states to replace the commercial meal kits previously sent.

POOR KIDS GET TAINTED FOOD

updated 5:01 a.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 6, 2009

WASHINGTON - Peanut Corporation of America sold 32 truckloads of roasted peanuts and peanut butter to the federal government for a free-lunch program for poor children even as the company's internal tests showed that its products were contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture abruptly suspended its contract with the company, which is at the center of an outbreak of salmonella illness that has killed eight people, sickened 575 and triggered one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.

The fact that a federal agency that shares responsibility for keeping food safe was among the thousands of customers that may have received tainted food from the Blakely, Ga., plant is the latest revelation in a scandal that has exposed an array of failures in the government's systems for keeping deadly pathogens out of the food supply.

Wildlife Conservation Society Issues Statement On Proposed State Budget Cuts

December 23, 2008 – The following statement was issued by the Wildlife Conservation Society Executive Vice President for Public Affairs John Calvelli:

"Governor Paterson’s proposed state budget cuts this year and the complete elimination of state funding in fiscal year 2010 for zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums mean the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium face devastating cuts. The governor’s proposal is disproportionate and severe.

This year alone, living museums, like the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium, are singled out for the largest reduction -- 55 percent -- very disproportionate to others -- for no strategic reason. Next year, 76 zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums are zeroed out of the budget. This proposal from the governor comes as our nation experiences an economic crisis, which means the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium are facing further financial challenges by funding cuts from the city. It is clear: We can't fire our bears or furlough our sea lions. All options are on the table, including cutting staff and services.

For more than 113 years, we have offered an education experience and access to wildlife from around the world to millions of New Yorkers and tourists. We generate significant dollars each year for the state in tourism and economic development. The funding for Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums (ZBGA), a 25-year-old funding program, within the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), has helped to educate the current and next generation of environmental stewards. These institutions are the economic drivers that spark jobs and a tremendous amount of stimulus to our state’s economy with 10 million visitors annually. The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium, alone, generated more than $289.6 million in economic activity in FY 2008.

According to a 2008 national public opinion survey, 79 percent of Americans believe that zoos and aquariums are good for their local economy, and an impressive 80 percent believe that zoos and aquariums are important enough to local communities to be supported by government funding.

We know we need to be a part of a budget solution and that is all we are asking. Don't cut with an ax, but with a strategic scalpel. All of us need to contact our state officials ASAP. We need to have a united voice: Please don't unfairly cut the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium. Go to www.wcs.org to take action and save the zoo and aquarium."

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.

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