Karen Finley explains over at the Huff Post what really happened to the West Side stadium:

Let me tell you the real reason the Olympic stadium didn’t go through. It’s pay back time. New York City is sick and tired of having the party in their house, providing the booze, food, the space and then everyone putting their cigarettes out on our rug. After last summer’s hosting of the Republican Convention, (even though 75 percent of Manhattan voted for Kerry) New Yorkers have had enough.

Who loves Karen? I do, I do!

On a side note, I got to see her give a lecture and have dinner with her this spring as part of the Study Abroad on the Bowery program I was helping to produce. If you've got some spare time this summer, I highly recommend it... you'll never take part in anything like it.

Seriously. We're rolling to DC on thursday. As you may have heard, Rep Sensenbrenner has pulled the plug on Rep Conyers' hearing in to the Downing Street Memo in hopes that he could keep a lid on this thing. He fucked up.  read more »

Just two friggin' beers and am like, totally hungover. Me, who used to drink Jack Daniels straight with no chaser. Me, who not only smoked but verily inhaled.

I hate being old.

Two beers. I swear it was the karma of that bunch of decadent pinko leftists. Rabble-rousing karma, a particularly potent kind coming from ... what's that guy's name ... Armando? I swear, he spiked the pints and turned me into a rabble-sousing mama.

So you can say, that Liza and all the NYCKossacks there did, indeed, drink from The Church of Armando's kool-aid.

Heh.

[ ED: Pictures yanked from the lovely "Time waits for no woman" at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/13/234856/859 ]

only in New York.

El Diario has a rather interesting editorial today about a pretty bizarre incident during sunday's Puerto Rican Day parade between the president of the parade and some folks from Fernando Ferrer's campaign.

Parades and politics: a NY tradition

In the middle of the parade, Ralph Morales stepped out onto Fifth Avenue and went nose to nose with Roberto Ramirez of the Ferrer campaign. Morales` objection? The Ferrer contingent was carrying a banner that read: "Fernando Ferrer. People`s choice for mayor." Morales said he didn`t want Ferrer politicizing the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

¿Que qué? Morales himself had walked the parade route with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running for re-election and had the banners and political placards to prove it.

Testy, testy. Then things got uglier.  read more »

This is something that has been on my mind for some time. I am not originally from NYC. One thing that has struck me about NYC is the way that no matter what you do, race matters in politics. I guess in the most diverse city in the nation, this is not surprising.

So it starts with a myth which is also partly true. Right wingers love ragging on liberals in general and DFA in particular, for being out of touch with minorities. I think this is partly a myth since the DFA meetings I have been to have had minorities represented and have been very aware of minority politics in NYC. And when you look at the DFA endorsements, they are a good mix of men and women, blacks and hispanics and whites. But it is also partly true since the demographics of DFA nationwide is largely white.

What DFA does succeed in doing is having a racially diverse list of endorsements despite a supposedly largely white demographics. That's good and in the long run will almost certainly give DFA more credibility among minority communities.

Then I look at the progressive groups in NYC. DFNYC (assuming that Stinger ultimately gets it) will start with a slate of three white guys: Miller, Siegel and Stringer. NDM is endorsing Wiener, Siegel and (for Brooklyn DA) Mark Peters. IND I think endorsed Miller, and, for Brooklyn DA, Hynes (the incumbent). CBID did endorse Ferrer (the only progressive mayoral endorsement for a minority) but otherwise has a pretty white slate.  read more »