Posts tagged as New York State
Secession and the City: Let's Get Out of This State!
If it weren't for slavery, New York City wouldn't be in the mess we're in today—that is to say, the mess of New York State. After a detour during the mid-late 1700s, when the country's founding fathers were drafting the United States Constitution in the sweltering provisional capital of Philadelphia, Alexander Hamilton lobbied fiercely for his second home, New York City, to become the official capital of the new union. Had compromises not been necessary to satisfy the slave states—namely, a capital a little closer to home—New York City could be a federal district today. And maybe it should be anyway. READ MORE
Candlepower
In the lower reaches of the Hudson Valley, daytime hours now are well fastened with fall's rust. Red-yellow patches freckle hillsides, leaf pilings assemble curbside. But lately it's nightfall here in our semirural surround that has us most absorbed. READ MORE
Old Men Yelling at Each Other: The Carl Paladino Campaign is Awesome
Good times in New York State politics. Republican nutter Carl Paladino is making Buffalo proud this morning. The relevant quote being, to a reporter: "You send another goon to my daughter's house and I'll take you out, buddy!" (And this is the definition of stalking horse, for you young people who weren't around in the Boss Tweed days.) His other relevant quote being: "Has anybody asked Andrew Cuomo about his paramours?"
Pop Quiz: Did Carl Paladino Say This?
Buffalo is buzzing over native son Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for governor of the State of New York. Given Buffalo's losing streak generally, Carl probably does not have a great shot at the statehouse come November. But recent polls do indicate that in today's Republican primary, Carl is virtually tied with Rick Lazio. You may remember Rick as the guy who wagged his finger at First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on her march to the Foggy Bottom. READ MORE
Andrew Cuomo Is Ready To Be Your Emperor Already
The New York Times magazine moves from narcissist to narcissist! Now that horrible photo on this coming Sunday's mag is of a frightening-looking Andrew Cuomo. There's this gambit early on in the profile: "When you spend time with Andrew Cuomo, it can be easy to forget that a little more than two election cycles ago his personal life was in shambles and his political career appeared to be over." Not that easy, apparently! And it's littered with nuggets like this. "When HUD's inspector general, Susan Gaffney, criticized some of Cuomo's management decisions, his office, according to a departmental-harassment claim she filed, started a smear campaign to destroy her credibility. 'The question isn't just has Andrew Cuomo learned the lessons of Eliot Spitzer?' as one state assemblyman put it to me. 'It's also has he tamed his inner beast?'" Who knows! All I walk away remembering pretty much is that Andrew Mark Cuomo used to drive a Jaguar with the license plate "AMC ESQ."
Pedro Espada: Down For The Count?
It resonated richly, bouncing off the walls on Bainbridge Avenue: "Mierrrrrrrrrrrrrrrda." Pedro Espada, Jr., his squat frame gone tense, just received word of a massive lawsuit filed against him by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. It was April 20th. A day later, the FBI came. At least that's how I imagine his response. The endless saga of the Bronx politico's corruption and malfeasance is so farcical, so theatrical, that it easily could be scripted by David Simon. For a moment, it appeared that Espada would evade his ethical conundrums, scot-free, just like another Democratic State Senator, Clay Davis from Maryland. But now the state's Democratic party is trying to purge him from their ranks. It's a weak tea, a belated, symbolic gesture that might just make its target stronger. Pedro's a boxer. READ MORE
Straight Marriage To Be Just a Voluntary Contract in New York
New York State may at last join the rest of the country in no-fault divorce-a bill has passed the state Senate, and the Assembly is dealing with two bills on the matter. There's a very helpful series of contributions, largely from actual people who know things, in the Times: an economist, a law professor, a sociologist... and then two policy people/lobbyists. Surprisingly, the most distressing of these contributions is from the president the New York chapter of NOW. READ MORE
Domestic Slave System Being Slowly Dismantled
A strange thing is happening in corners of America: over the course of the next few years, the rightsless, sometimes near-slavery system of "undocumented" and other household workers will be chipped away. Well.... somewhat. And slowly. Now that both the New York Assembly and Senate have passed bills that give a very few workplace rights to domestic employees, full-time household "help" becomes less disposable, very slightly regulated and also less likely to be coerced into working overtime without pay. These bills address the "full-time" employed, however-not the vast majority of part-time workers, like people who do household cleaning. Still, New York's Republicans largely remain opposed to the bills! Their rationale: it makes employers afraid to fire nannies that abuse their children. Isn't that fun when people make things up? Vacation days for nannies = beaten children.
Cuomo's Goes For #2 In Upstate Play/Ploy
Mega-shock! New York goooobernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has picked a mayor of one of them there upstate cities as his running mate, in an appeal to the 8 million or so New York residents not residing in New York City, Westchester or Long Island. Running with Rochester's top cop turned mayor should go some way in keeping people from thinking of him as just a big-city, party machine-friendly, slick-haired, Clinton-loving, overly ethnic operator.
New York Is Sad
New York is the least happy state in the nation, according to some new study. In fact, the Tri-State area takes the bottom three slots on the list. Six of the ten happiest states are in the South. And what of Pennsylvania, thought by some to be our greatest state? A melancholy 41. Cheer up, everyone, it could be worse. Oh, right, it will be.
