I have to admit that I wasn’t worried in the days leading up to the election. I was so confident in the common sense and basic decency of families like ours that I truly believed Trump would lose in the largest landslide our nation has ever seen. Common sense would rule the day, obviously I was wrong.More Info >
Statement on Moreland Commission Preliminary Report and Federal Appeals Court "Super PAC" Ruling
Systemic Reforms and Fair Elections System Will End Era of Pay To Play Politics in Albany
Yesterday the Moreland Commission released it's preliminary report on public corruption in New York. The commission has indicated that it has "discovered criminality", but that the real crime is that much of the corruption they have discovered is completely legal. More Info >
Benjamin Franklin And Marty Golden Couldn’t Disagree More
Why The Brooklyn DA Race Matters As Much As Any This November
To summarize Senator Golden's argument, the recent incident on the West Side highway where a motorcycle gang terrorized Alexian Lien and his family is the reason to support Joe Hynes. The subtext here is be afraid, scary things happen in this city. Mr. Golden seeks to leverage that fear as the reason to support stop-and-frisk in it's current form and therefore Charles Hynes.More Info >
The Golden Egg Is Not For You
How Money In Politics Drives Politicians To Do Strange Things In Far Away Places
If you haven’t heard or seen the coverage, State Senator Marty Golden is involved in another corruption scandal. In exchange for generous contributions to upstate GOP campaigns, Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden inserted some language into an affordable housing bill that gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to five Manhattan developers. More Info >
Ending Government Dependent Upon Special Interests Alone
Why We Need A Fair Elections System To Get Big Money Out Of Politics
In the Federalist Papers one can find that the Founding Fathers, when creating our more perfect union, intended to create a government that was dependent upon the people alone. Yet our current system is one that has become almost entirely dependent upon special interests, lobbyists and the .01%. We even have a term for it, we call it "pay to play."More Info >
The Elephant In The Room
Why the Deficit, the Debt Ceiling and the Fiscal Cliff are Just Elaborate Distractions
If you are like me you are growing increasingly frustrated with our ongoing national distraction from the core issue facing our nation. In the midst of the Great Recession, we find ourselves in a 3 year GOP inspired series of purposeful crises. How we can be focused on taxes, the deficit, and the debt ceiling in the face of such great need for job creation is virtually impossible for me to fathom.More Info >
Money-Out/Voters-In Day of Action
We Demand Democracy!
There is no greater issue facing us than that of big money in politics. If you need to be convinced please take a look at the very grim reality of American politics and why this is the issue of our time.
If you believe that something must be done, change can only happen when we demand change. This means we need you. Please get involved, and consider starting this Saturday and help us get money out and voters in.More Info >
Hurricane Sandy: A Christmas Appeal For Help
1,000 Miles Wide and 51 Days Long and Counting
Christmas is coming and we need help NOW...we will not be able to put out food in the coming days as we approach Christmas, and in the weeks and perhaps months to come without help. If you can donate money, supplies, or your time please do. if you know of food venders, grocery stores, bakeries, butcher shops, or anyone who can donate please reach out to them. We are counting on you because so many families impacted by Sandy are counting on us.More Info >
Hurricane Sandy
One Thousand Miles Wide, 18 Days Long…And Counting
Last weekend I had the opportunity to help with the cleanup on Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy. Not until you find yourself on the ground, in the middle of the aftermath, can you really get a sense of what this storm was like and how it has affected people's lives. House after house, family after family we helped them clean up and continue their own personal recovery process. More Info >
Is That All That Is Left Of The American Dream?
More Than Failed Policy, It’s Failed Vision
When you look into the faces of your children and grandchildren do you dream of a future of tax cuts and deregulation? Is this really the cause behind which all Americans are to align themselves as we march towards the next great chapter of American history?More Info >
Money In Politics
The Case For Why It Is The Issue of Our Time
We don't need to see facts to convince us, we know, deep in our core, that our system is out of control. We know that there is too much money. We know that there are very powerful forces at work influencing decisions. We know that often the best decisions are being killed in favor of no decision or worse yet the wrong decision.
Will we choose to paddle hard back to shore or will we be carried away by the raging torrent of money that is flooding our political system?More Info >
The Grimm Reality of American Politics
Influence Trumps Ideas
If you hadn't heard, our Congressman, Michael Grimm had yet another scandal break this weekend. The allegations are many but can be summarized into illegally raising money for his 2010 campaign. Yes, it's what you might expect, or at the very least what you might fear.
Yesterday Eric Cantor when speaking about the Payroll Tax Cut Extension said "People across America are scratching their heads, wondering what Washington is doing." This is just the latest example of what is arguably the historically greatest do nothing congress we have ever seen. In the middle of the greatest economic downturn since the great depression the GOP / Tea Party response has been to do nothing. Their response time and again has simply been "no". More Info >
Please Think: The "People’s Candidate" At Odds With The People Again.
Soap And A Good Scrubbing Are Definitely In Order
Our very Grimm Congressman was at it again yesterday, spouting shear nonsense and vitriol among the rhetorical right wing talking points he dutifully delivered. If you are going to speak with such force, it's helpful to have the weight of the facts on your side. Yet again our representative failed to follow this simple rule.More Info >
Better Ways To Occupy Our Time
Why We Should Be Doing More Than Police Crackdowns
Much has been made and said about the Occupy movement in the last two months, but not much has been done. Our media and our government have largely feigned ignorance as to the source or cause of the Occupy movement. Increasingly we find a more determined dialog, but the real question is why has it taken so long and why did it have to come to occupation to start the conversation?More Info >
Occupy Wall Street, Act On Your Street
Opportunities To Take Action On The 1%
As much as I support the efforts of the Occupy movement, I firmly believe that we must do more than Occupy, we must Act. Ultimately we will need to do more than express our frustration, we will have to do something about it. We will need to change our government, our elected officials, our communities, and ultimately ourselves.More Info >
Bank Transfer Day: A Guide to Moving Your Account
The description and goal of Bank Transfer Day is straightforward: If you currently have checking and savings accounts (deposit accounts) with a big bank, the organizers encourage you to remove all of your funds, close your accounts, and place your money in a new deposit account with a not-for-profit credit union or local bank.More Info >
Welcome to the Republican JobTopia
With Life So Good, Who Needs the American Jobs Act?
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal today, "From 2000 to 2010, median income in the U.S. declined 7% after adjusting for inflation, according to Census data. That marks the worst 10-year performance in records going back to 1967." The Walt Street Journal goes on to say that they don't expect incomes to recover until 2021, even then only about 5% will be regained. This announcement comes on top of our 9.1% unemployment with actual unemployment more like 20%. Welcome to the Republican JobTopia. More Info >
180 Alert: AAN Launches “Thank Republicans For Protecting Medicare” Campaign
Staten Island Advance Joins Hundreds of Newspapers Nationwide In Launching New Grimm Humor Section
A new campaign by the American Action Network seeks to get seniors to call in support of their Republican congressman and senators to thank them for "fighting to protect medicare." The Staten Island Advance contained an ad from AAN in what is apparently a new Grimm Humor section for the paper. It must be a new humor section because the idea that Congressman Grimm is fighting for Medicare is hilarious.More Info >
Please Think: This Isn’t The Kind of Exceptionalism We Need
This installation of please think is focused on how exceptional the modern republican party has become. The party that values exceptionalism has truly become exceptional, exceptionally hypocritical. More Info >
