Dear Commons Community,

Earlier this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked for proposals to build a new college of engineering and applied science here in New York City.  The purpose of such a school would be to develop a first-class engineering research facility that would compete with Silicon Valley in high-technology development .   Yesterday, it was reported the Mayor has upped the ante a bit by pledging $100 million dollars in start-up funds from the City as well as free use of land on either Roosevelt Island or Governor’s Island.  Proposals are due by October 2011.  Major schools throughout the country such as Stanford and Cornell as well as NYU and Columbia are said to be submitting proposals.

Congratulations to the Mayor for this initiative and looking forward to the City’s future.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In  lore of the sea, the captain always goes down with his ship.  As noble as this sounds, it is not always true.  Maureen Dowd uses this metaphor  in her column today to describe Rupert Murdoch, his son, James and Rebekah Brooks, who gave testimony before the British House of Commons.  These “captains” absolved themselves of any responsibility for the scandals that have racked the News Corporation.  It was always others, people who were hired but not them who engaged in low-life journalism.  Here is a  sample from Dowd’s column:

“Mistakes were made, but not by the captains of the ship. We deeply regret these things we were in no way involved in. We’re transparent, even though we’re still paying off former employees to keep their mouths shut.

Playing the ruthless mogul reduced to helpless victim, Rupert came across better than his 38-year-old son James, with the Haldeman buzz cut, the American Harvard dropout accent, the “Mad Men” skinny blue tie, and the ingratiating over-articulateness hiding the arrogant entitlement.

Rebekah Brooks, the 43-year-old former editor of The News of the World and daughter-figure to Rupert, was a prideful pre-Raphaelite Medusa, with a sweet face and soft voice spinning tales of innocence that didn’t quite gel…

Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids pandered to the lowest common denominator, but, in the end, his sleazy henchmen were lower than the people they pandered to. People had a limit, as it turned out. Citizen Murdoch was brought low, his grip loosened and his myth deflated”

Worth a read!

Tony