Pat Buchanan Claims Left-Wing Witchhunt Hounded Him Off MSNBC!!

Dear Commons Community,

Pundit and commentator Pat Buchanan went to Fox News on Friday for his first television appearance since his stormy departure from MSNBC last week.  Speaking to Sean Hannity, Buchanan lashed out at his critics and staunchly defended the book that got him kicked off of the network he had called home for ten years.

The book, Suicide of a Superpower, was published in October.  Buchanan was criticized for writing chapters such as the one entitled “The End of White America,” and for appearing on a white nationalist radio show to promote the book. MSNBC president Phil Griffin said that sections of the book were not “appropriate for the national dialogue” and kept Buchanan off the air for months until letting him go.  The Huffington Post reported: 

“Buchanan repeated an argument he’d made in a Thursday column: that a left-wing witch hunt had hounded him off the air.

“I think they’re engaged in… a blacklist of conservative and traditionalist thought,” he said.

“There are elements in our society and they are predominantly on the hard left that say it’s no longer enough to challenge and contradict or defeat or fight these fellas in arguments,” Buchanan said. “We’ve got to smear them, stigmatize them as racists or homophobic and then we’ve gotta silence and censor them and the way we do it is go after the media outlets that put them on the air…this is un-American what is going on right now.”

This is rough language for someone who has been on the television talk circuit as long as Buchanan has.  He has never backed away from his conservative views and I am not sure that what he is saying in his book is much different than positions he has taken and articulated in the past.

Tony

 

 

Governor Christie Vetoes Same-Sex Marriage Bill in New Jersey!

Dear Commons Community,

As expected, Governor Chris Christie vetoed the same-sex marriage bill passed by the New Jersey Legislature earlier this week.    A New York Times editorial  rightfully characterizes his veto as “misguided and intolerant” .  The editorial goes on to say that:

“Mr. Christie compounded the insult when he dismissed the Legislature’s support for the rights of gay people as merely “an exercise in theater.” The only one who deserves that accusation is Governor Christie, who is clearly pandering to his own conservative base. “

Seven states in the nation have approved same-sex marriage, including, most recently, Washington.

It is possible that the New Jersey Legislature might overturn Christie’s veto but this would require a two-thirds vote of both houses which will not be easy.

Tony

 

Capital Bombing Suspect Arrested!

Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is reporting that authorities have arrested a man who intended to commit a suicide attack at the U.S. Capitol.   The man, in his 30s and of Moroccan descent, was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, and initiated after he expressed interest in conducting an attack.  The article mentions that:

“The man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda…When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying with him a vest supposedly packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous…

U.S. Capitol Police spokesperson Sergeant Kimberly Schneider issued a statement on Friday stating that the arrest came after a “lengthy and extensive operation” involving the Capitol Police and the FBI.”

Tony

Gay Marriage Bill Passes New Jersey Assembly – Likely to be Vetoed by Governor Christie!

Dear Commons Community,

The New Jersey Assembly approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage yesterday, setting up a confrontation with Gov. Chris Christie, who promised to veto it and challenged the Legislature to put the issue before voters instead.  The New York Times reported that:

“In two hours of passionate debate, Democrats supporting the measure urged their colleagues to make history, comparing the fight for legalization of same-sex marriage to battles for women’s suffrage and against racism.

“We can make a giant leap forward today in the fight against one of the last legalized barriers to equal rights,” said Sheila Y. Oliver, the Assembly speaker, whose voice broke at several points as she exhorted her colleagues to support the bill.

The State Senate passed a similar bill on Monday; the Assembly vote was the first time the Legislature united in endorsing same-sex marriage.

And the vote, passing 42 to 33, underscored how much opinion has shifted since two years ago, when the Senate rejected a similar bill. New York State legalized same-sex marriage last year, and this month Washington State did so. The bill passed on Thursday would make New Jersey the eighth state that allows gay and lesbian couples to marry.

But advocates for the bill in New Jersey face a new fight: trying to win enough votes to override the governor’s expected veto.”

Tony

 

Good News on the Economy – Weekly Jobless Claims Lowest in Four Years!

Dear Commons Community,

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week.  Weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000.  It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008 – six months before Lehman Brothers collapsed and only a few months into the Great Recession.  The Huffington Post is also reporting that:

“The four-week average for unemployment claims fell for the fifth straight week to 365,250. The average has fallen nearly 13 percent in the past year.

The consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring is likely picking up further. When applications drop consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate…

In January, the economy added a net 243,000 jobs, the most in nine months. And the unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent. The economy has added an average of 201,000 jobs per month for the past three months.

Faster economic growth is spurring the additional hiring. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year – a full percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.  Factory output also got off to a robust start this year, and it ended 2011 with the fastest growth in five years, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.”

This is all very good news and a sign that the economy is improving and people can find jobs to support themselves and their families.

Tony

 

Teachers and City to Agree on an Evaluation System??

Dear Commons Community,

A much debated issue involving teacher evaluations in New York State appears headed for a settlement.  The New York Daily News is reporting that an agreement has been reached by the NYS Education Department and the state teachers’ unions that compromises on the controversial issue of using standardized test scores for evaluating teacher performance.  Specifically:

“the latest deal-making zeroed in on basing 20% of a teacher’s rating on student growth on standardized tests.

The same standardized tests could account for another 20% of a teacher’s grade — or be based on criteria other than student growth, such as academic progress made by specific groups like minority-group students or the poor. That component would be negotiated by local districts and teachers unions.”

The teachers unions especially here in New York City have been the target of all types of criticism for their unwillingness to compromise on how teachers are evaluated and whether they can be dismissed for poor performance.  Most of the media as well as the political “right” have sided against the teachers and have engaged in “teacher bashing”.  The Daily News article mentions that Governor Andrew Cuomo has been threatening to join the deliberations because of the “toxic” environment between the New York City Department of Education and the teachers’ union.  Toxic indeed and part of the blame has to be laid on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former chancellor Joel Klein, both of whom engaged in teacher bashing.  It is my opinion that the current chancellor, Dennis Walcott has been much more civil in his relations with the teacher union.

For the sake of the children of New York City, let’s hope that an agreement has been reached.

Tony

P.S.  Nicholas Kristoph has an excellent opinion piece in today’s New York Times on a “breakthrough experiment” in New Haven, Connecticut involving cooperation between the city and its teachers’ union.

 

 

Jeremy Lin Craze!!!!

Dear Commons Community,

I have resisted commenting on the Jeremy Lin craze taking over the city, the country and beyond.  For New York Knick fans the past week has been a soaring delight as we watched a completely unknown point guard who had been cut by two other NBA teams become an overnight sensation.  Jeremy Lin, a Harvard graduate, Asian-American, and religious young man has taken what looked to be another dismal Knick season and completely turned it around.  He has scored more points in his first four games than the likes of Michael Jordan, Shaq Oneal, and Kobe Bryant.  Last night against the Toronto Raptors, he made a three –pointer with just .5 seconds left to give the Knicks a win 90-87 and continue a five-game winning streak.

The Knick-Toronto Rapto game was sold out mainly because of the interest in Lin.  Across the globe in China, people from all walks of life want to know more about Lin who they see as one of their own.  As an example of his far-reaching appeal, the New York Times had this description of Lin’s impact:

“The clearest sign that Jeremy Lin’s appeal has spanned the Pacific to mainland China may lie not in the 1.4 million Chinese microblog messages mentioning him in recent days, but in a rare failure to meet demand here in the heart of one of the world’s largest centers of pirated garment manufacturing [Hangzhou].

Yan Ronghui, a professor at the Zhejiang Theological Seminary, plans to use Jeremy Lin’s successes as a model for a course.

“His jerseys have sold out, even including the counterfeit ones,” said Zheng Xiaojun, a 24-year-old clerk here in the capital of Zhejiang province, near Shanghai.

Lin’s stunning success with the Knicks over the last week and a half has captured the imagination of the Chinese, from Communist Party bosses to the often-persecuted Christian minority. He has been particularly popular here in northern Zhejiang province, from which his maternal grandmother fled to Taiwan in the last days of China’s civil war in the late 1940s.”

The sportswriters and pro basketball players are all beginning to see him as the real thing who will have a long stay in the NBA.  We wish him well and wait to see if he can make his mark in the rough and tumble world of professional basketball.

Tony

 

You Can Own a Piece of the Empire State Building!

Dear Commons Community,

The company that runs the Empire State Building is planning to go public in a stock offering that could raise $1 billion, according to documents filed with regulators Monday.

That means that if you have a few extra dollars to spare, you can buy a stake in perhaps the nation’s most well-known office building.

The New York Times is reporting that:

“The planned IPO comes about 10 years after real estate investor Peter Malkin bought the 102-story Art Deco landmark from Donald Trump and a business partner for $57.5 million.

It’s the latest chapter in a saga that dates to 1931, when the building was completed, establishing it as the city’s tallest skyscraper. It regained that standing after the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers in the Sept. 11 attacks.”

King Kong is not included in the IPO!

Tony

 

 

Romney and Santorum in Virtual Tie Among Republicans in National Polls!

Dear Commons Community,

Two new polls released Monday show Mitt Romney fighting to keep his lead among Republicans nationally and struggling to win favor from the conservative base.

A new Pew Research Center poll found Rick Santorum and Romney neck-and-neck, with Santorum winning 30 percent of the support among Republican registered voters to Romney’s 28 percent — a difference that falls well within the poll’s five percentage point margin of error. Separately, Gallup’s latest tracking survey of the Republican race found Romney with 32 percent support and Santorum right on his heels with 30 percent.

The Huffington Post is reporting that:

“Of concern for Romney, the Pew poll shows him struggling among the conservative groups that make up the Republican base. Among self-identified conservatives, Santorum leads Romney by an 11 percent margin, 36 percent to 25 percent. Among Tea Party supporters, Santorum leads 42 percent to 23 percent.

Romney’s support among Tea Party supporters is essentially unchanged from last month, when he received 26 percent support from Tea Party supporters to 24 percent each for Santorum and Newt Gingrich. But Santorum’s lead among the group may be a sign that they have begun to see him as the alternative to Romney.”

It appears that the Republican presidential primary has become the never-ending story for 2012.

Tony

House Transportation Bill ‘Technical Correction’ Would Strip Workers of Pay Protections!

Dear Commons Community,

A few additional words in a House transportation bill would strip several thousand workers of a minimum wage and overtime protection.  The Huffington Post is reporting that:

“Listed in the bill under the heading “Technical Correction,” provision 6602 would exempt several companies who transport rail workers from their obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the 1938 law that guarantees basic worker rights. The carve-out would allow a handful of boutique contractors to pay no overtime to their drivers who haul rail workers between worksites, often driving long distances of 300 miles or more…

It’s outrageous that House Republicans are trying to take away overtime protections for a class of workers at the behest of a special interest,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said of the provision in a statement to HuffPost. “These workers deserve the right to overtime pay. It’s not only a matter of fairness, but also a matter of public safety.”

Earnings for rail-crew drivers often work out to little more than minimum wage, and many drivers must remain on-call for long stretches…

Jim Stem, legislative director at the United Transportation Union, said he just recently became aware of the provision’s implications, given that the bill would merely tweak a few words in existing law. He called the provision a giveway to contractors in the rail industry. “This is an earmark for a handful of wealthy people who own these companies. This is a windfall.”

This is why we have the Occupy Wall Street movement.  It is not a protest against rich people and corporations but a protest against those who use their wealth to corrupt the political system for their own benefit.

Tony