- Bloomberg’s “Kiss of Death” (9/7/2013) - Third-term disaster Michael Bloomberg is apparently so frustrated by every New Yorker's determination to ignore him in the waning days of his administration that he took to the pages of New York magazine to weigh in on the current electoral race to be Not Bloomberg. Most of the digital ink being spread on this piece is on Bloomberg's bizarre charge that current Democratic front-runner Bill deBlasio is being "racist" for, um, marrying a black woman… …
- A Response to McReynolds: ‘Romney’s Decline and Fall’ (8/13/2012) - David McReynolds threw out his two cents on Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as running mate. I respond below, followed below by his original post: I think John Nichols called it. Romney knows he will lose, and does not want the GOP hard right to blame his "centrism" for the defeat. So he picks Ryan so that the GOP can have a grand old debate on whose fault the loss of '12 was. Here's… …
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- The Sandpiper Serves as Lookout Against the Ferals. (6/15/2012) - I'm taking a mental health day; smoking a cigar on the fire escape. I bought my Padron at the Humidor, a neighborhood spot where the old men can smoke their stogies on the leather couches inside. They're watching coverage of the Greek elections like it's a soccer game. I'm not sure which side they're on. I take the opportunity to refill our bird feeders. Bay Ridge doesn't have a lot of bio-diversity. We get lots… …
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- A New Low in Social Media (5/20/2012) - In my never-ending quest to figure what the hell is going on in the social media world and how we can use it to organize for a better world, I've been kicking around on Tumblr. I first discovered this thanks to my 17-year-old cousin, whose tumblr (I won't link to it; you can't make me) is a mesmerizing mess of "will you date me?" quizzes, Megaman fan art, Topless Tuesday feminist critiques, Topless Tuesday reposts,… …
- Review: James P. Cannon and Origins of the American Revolutionary Left (2/20/2012) - Quitting the Socialist Party freed me to commit the twin heresies of reading V.I. Lenin and Michael Harrington. My political perspective hasn't changed very much, but my perspective has become more nuanced. This leaves me very familiar with American social democratic theory and with the twists and turns of the old Socialist Party, as well as its last major off-shoots, and, thanks to Si Gerson's library, with the external work and internal factionalism of the… …
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- Introducing… (2/7/2012) - I flew back from New Orleans yesterday feeling a little under the weather. Ordinarily, it's the sort of thing I would power through. But the prospect of also having to push my way through the teeming masses of Super Bowl celebrants (good game, that) just to get in the front door of my office left me with a very definite case of Blue Flu. On my day off, I helped a very talented local artist… …
- Get Your Ticket to the NYAAF 10th Anniversary Celebration (1/30/2012) - It's not too late to buy your tickets to the New York Abortion Access Fund's 10th Anniversary Celebration. I'm Co-Chairing the event, and would love to see you there. …
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- The Reds in the Bleachers (1/27/2012) - Bill Mardo, sportswriter for the Daily Worker newspaper, died last week. His NY Times obituary notes his column's crusading role in pressing for the racial integration of Major League Baseball in the 1940's. "In the years before the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson as the first black player in modern organized baseball, Mr. Mardo was a leading voice in a campaign by The Daily Worker against racism in the game, a battle it had begun… …
- Charter School Board Conundrum (1/22/2012) - A conundrum that charter schools face when recruiting prestigious one percenty-types (celebrities, politicians, stockbrokers and lawyers) to serve on their governing boards is that, yes, this may open the school up to more charitable giving. But, people with outrageous fortunes sometimes came to them through outrageous means. When a school board member is hoisted on his own petard, to what extent should that reflect on the school? Old-fashioned school district school boards - however incompetent,… …
- NYAAF’s 10th Anniversary Celebration (12/31/2011) - Since it seems my main venue of non-labor activism is charitable giving, I have signed on as a Co-Chair of the New York Abortion Access Fund's 10th Anniversary Celebration. This is a wonderful organization that directly addresses what may be the greatest threat to reproductive freedom today: the high cost of, and limited access to, abortion procedures. This is an entirely-volunteer grassroots organization that puts money directly in the service of women in need. They… …