I was gonna take a vacation this week, but then I strolled into Target and saw this shit on the rack, the front rack no less…Seriously, isn’t getting dragged kicking and screaming into Target bad enough? Why do I have to endure their racist Sambo tee shirt, available in all sizes and 2 different colors I might add, the minute I walk into the place? Just show me where the blenders are and save your racist social comments for the bargain bin.NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS
You know, 2 weeks ago I thought those calling for Charlie Rangel’s
head were jumping the gun a bit, but after that ill advised speech on the House floor on Tuesday where he practically dared the Ethics Committee to come after him, and that gawdy 80th Birthday party he threw at the Plaza last night, I’m beginning to think that maybe he is asking for it. Old dude, you are under investigation, shouldn’t you be laying low? There were some high points to the evening though: It was interesting to see the lamest of all lame ducks, Governor David Paterson have to introduce the man who maneuvered him out of the democratic party’s gubernatorial nomination, Andrew Cuomo. And it was also interesting to see former mayor of New York City David Dinkins actually do something that after 20 years I can finally remember him for: Giving the finger to protesters outside the Plaza, all while former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. and the raccoon he wears on his head as a hairpiece looked on. Look, I’ve always liked Charlie Rangel, but I am beginning to think that he is knowingly digging his own political grave. Maybe he is set in his ways because he's very old, but unless he wants to lose his legacy and maybe even his job, he needs to listen to his advisors a bit more closely.SPORTS
Joe Girardi needs to stop micro-managing his pitching staff and let some guys actually throw the ball before he takes them out of a game. Wanna tweak something? How about the offense? Begin at the beginning: Right now you have Derek Jeter, who is having a decent year, batting lead off. How about a faster, slightly better hitting, with a better OBP (That’s On Base Percentage) like Brett Gardner leading off? You have no one to fill that two hole with Nick Johnson out and Lance Berkman not exactly lighting it up, move Jeter there where he has traditionally done well. And how about rewarding your best offensive producer by moving him up in the line-up? Robinson Cano leads the everyday players in batting average, at-bats, and is third in homeruns and RBIs. He is better than 5th, and moving him will shake up a line up that has been a bit stale, with Mark Teixeira getting off to a slow start, even by his standards, and Alex Rodriguez not hitting well for average this year. And how about the quiet star-making season that Nick Swisher is having?As for The Mets, well…I will say one thing, they certainly do seem to come up with creative and magnificent ways to implode every year. Nice going K-Rod!
THIS WEEK’S REASON WHY TERRORISTS WANNA KILL US
Why exactly does Bill O’Reilly think that Jennifer Aniston is “destructive to society?” I don’t really know, I just read the headline and thought it was funny. I do know however, that it can’t be that serious given that fact that Bill O’Reilly is a complete fucking maniac, or was that Glenn Beck? Shit now I’m confused…
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I think Rep. Rangel has gone into fuck-this-I'm-80-years-old-let-them-try-something mode. I don't necessarily agree with his stance, but it sure has been fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteYou can remember Dinkins for actually doing something that after 20 years is all around us: implementing measures that brought about the drop in crime that his successor single-handedly took credit for. Dinkins is the Showalter to Giuliani's Torre.
Speaking of the Bombers, if the Captain weren't such a batting-into-double-plays machine these days (the reason why Damon was inserted into the no.2 slot instead of lead-off) you could have Gardner lead off, especially w/the latter's speed on the bases. But he's having trouble getting on base--his second half has been dreadful offensively--and has taken to "studying" pitchers way too long to effectively steal when he does get on.
I don't agree. Dinkins was one of the most clearly ineffective mayors this city has ever seen, and there is absolutely no objective documented proof anywhere that the quality of life issues that Giuliani implemented were Dinkins' idea, much less the drop in crime which took place well into Giuliani's tenure. I did my Gov 400 Thesis on New York City Government.
ReplyDeleteDid crime decrease rapidly during the years after Giuliani entered City Hall on Jan. 1, 1993? As is well known, the number of homicides and other serious crimes fell throughout the decade, and continued to decline after he left office in 2002. Less well known is the indisputable fact that New York's crime rate started to fall almost three years before Giuliani took office.
ReplyDeleteWhy crime suddenly dropped in New York as well as other cities across the country around 1991, and continued to fall, remains a hotly disputed question among police experts and academics. As economist and "Freakonomics" coauthor Steven Levitt pointed out in a lucid paper on urban crime rates, every large city in America enjoyed decreases in homicides and other major crimes almost simultaneously. While New York topped the list for some indicators, other cities like San Diego, Seattle and Austin, Texas, ranked close behind, and by some measures surpassed New York.
Many believe that one of the most important factors in New York's crime drop was the addition of thousands of new officers to the NYPD -- a policy decision costing a billion dollars that was made by David Dinkins, the predecessor whose mayoral record Giuliani often derides. While Giuliani kept hiring more cops, nearly half of those added to the force during his first term were financed by a tax surcharge that Dinkins demanded and won. But [Dinkins] is usually blamed for a crime wave that rose well before he took office and rarely wins any plaudits for his role in stemming the criminal tide.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2007/11/16/giuliani_kerik
Philip Kafinitz, professor of sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center, notes that the drop in the crime rate began under Giuliani's Democratic predecessor, David Dinkins, and has continued under Bloomberg, who has adopted "a kindler, gentler approach" than Giuliani. The present head of the NYPD, Raymond Kelly, served in the same post under Dinkins.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/rudy_the_crime_buster.html
In the final days of the administration of David Dinkins, we had 36 consecutive months of decline in the crime statistics across the board, in the seven index crimes...Those last 36 months under Dinkins reversed trends that were a decade old. Who should get the credit, the mayor who reversed the trend or the mayor who deepened the trend?
Obviously, we know who's gotten the credit. The New York Times has done, by my latest count, twelve front-page articles about the decline in the crime rate under Rudy Giuliani. It did one article about the decline in the crime rate under David Dinkins -- and in that 55-paragraph story, it never mentioned the name of David Dinkins.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/commentary/91.barrett.shtml
This is very very far from an objective source. All periodicals that endorsed Dinkins. And crime is not the only political issue in New York City. Sorry but this man was a flake and a weak mayor, just ask the residents of Crown Heights.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI gave you various sources including one that cites a CUNY study; endorsing Dinkins does not immediately male any of these respected sources the work of charlatans. Dinkins may not have been a great mayor or perhaps not even a good one, but let's not shortchange him in terms of his efforts towards lowering crime. (Which is the sole point I'm trying to make here.) Especially to glorify the resume of a man who has the gall to state he kept NYC safe from terrorists attacks during his tenure; as if 1993 and 2001 had been erased Men in Black-like from our collective memories.
ReplyDeleteI'm flattered that you went through all this research to prove a point on what was ultimately a collateral matter, but I don't really care who said what, Dinkins was a forgettable, weak mayor and that really was my only point. If I wanted to take the time to quote other people's work that agreed with that I certainly could, but I'll just stick to what I actually experienced and wrote about.
ReplyDeleteI never read anywhere that Giulani himself was quoted as saying that he kept the city safe before the attacks, he took alot of credit for dealing with the aftermath, but I don't think anyone could have done much better, certainly not a weakling like Dinkins.
You should be flattered; I did the research b/c you are a smart guy. And as such, it's those of you that worry me when you choose to look the other way on a particular topic such as this. The ignorant dumbassess are another story. But hey, you've got your mind made up and don't care to budge. Fine. At least that weakling Dinkins never had mobs of off-duty cops and firemen yelling racial slurs at Giuliani.
ReplyDeleteAs for not reading anywhere that Giuliani credited himself w/keeping NYC safe from terrorists attacks, well, he actually campaigned on it! Plus, Giuliani--and the talking nubs on Fox News--have actually taken their revisionism one step further by stating that no terrorist attacks occurred under George W. Bush's administration.
Surely, you've seen/heard that. No? How 'bout you hear it from the man himself? It's at the 0:30 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If0PVzsZMqg
How 'bout former WH press secretary Dana Perino stating the same? It's at the 1:50 mark:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/34214150#34214150
I guess that for a man who attempts such blatant revisionism taking credit for someone else's measures is a walk in the park, so...
Once again, he did not campaign on it. Your own quote proves my point. SINCE is a much different word than "Never on my watch has this happened," which he never claimed. And once again, my point was about Dinkins being a weak mayor, not that Giuliani was the second coming of Christ. Actually, my comment never even mentioned anyone other than Dinkins.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, NOWHERE in those clips does either one of them say the word "since" except to say that we've had terrorist attacks since Obama's been in office. In BOTH clips Giuliani and Perino, respectively, CLEARLY state no attacks happened under W. As a matter of fact, Giulaini caught so much flack for making this statement he later claimed to have misspoken, and not engaging in the revisionist history making he has actively pursued for years.
ReplyDeleteAlright, enough already...
Well no one has to say the actual word to make the same point, so this is just nit picking at this point. I really didn't care enough to disect a statement that had nothing to do with my point to begin with sorry.
ReplyDelete