Our local news station, NY1, has regular "The World Outside New York," segments. Well, every now and then, with your permission, I will post issues having to do with the world outside NY. This particular one deals with an issue that I consider particularly critical: the impending extinction of our closest relatives, the Great Apes. No the fate of the Great Apes is not something that will win us an election or save our jobs or get us out of Iraq. But there are moral and practical reasons for being concerned about our closest cousins. The reason I am highlighting this issue right now is that two species of Great Apes are literally on the verge of extinction (see below). So timing is CRITICAL. Two species of our closest relatives could be extinct within 5-10 years.

As a molecular biologist, I am very familiar with the field of genetics. It is in this context that I first became interested in the plight of the Great Apes when I learned that humans differ from Chimps and Bonobos by only 1.6% of our DNA. That means we are more than 98% identical to these animals in our DNA. This is an extraordinary similarity and it means that in an evolutionary sense, Chimps and Bonobos are in a very real sense our brothers. When I learned this I felt as if some of our distant ancestors such as the Neanderthals still lived with us today. Gorillas are like us in more than 97% of our DNA, making them, if not our brothers, at least our cousins.  read more »

Interesting diary posted at Daily Kos :: New York City to Propose Lower Voting Age Wednesday- Hillary May Attend :

New York City council member Gale Brewer will
introduce a bill to LOWER the voting age to 16 in
America's largest city!

A news conference on the steps of City Hall is planned for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to announce the bill. Later, at about 1 p.m., the bill will be formally proposed to the council.

Among those who may attend is U.S. Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton!

Leading the movement to lower the voting age in New York City is the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA), a youth-led civil rights organization of over 5,000 members nationwide.

The assumption being that if 16 year-olds have to pay taxes, they should have a say as to how the government spends its money, especially concerning education.

The diary is provocative. From the stand-point of an old fogey, I get that knee-jerk reaction that kids don't know any better. Then I have to remind myself that 51% of adult voters in this country voted Shrub in for a second term. And if they can be enlisted to go to war, they should be able to have full voting rights as early as possible.

The thought of "freedom fighters" spreading democracy yet not having ever been involved themselves in the democratic process is, well, scary.  read more »

If you have lived in NYC for a few years, watching the way real estate deals are cut here, by both city agencies and state agencies, you can become very frustrated by the way business is run, prompting an intrepid blogger such as myself to forget all other responsibilities and write the mother of all articles that will finally reveal the great truths and set the people free. Fortunately it has already been writen and I can go back to focusing on something more mundane like bicyclists civil rights. City Journal in an article How Not to Develop the Far West Side, covers most everything that is wrong with Bloomberg's plans for the West Side Railyards and more broadly the overall backward management of NYC development policy. I do have to put a caveat here: City Journal is very free market oriented, so some of their solutions must be considered with a critical ear, for example they praise the current development of Times Square; and anyone who has even been to the new Times Square would question such an assessment; and they clearly are anti-union and pro-developer first, not necessarily pro-average person. Never the less, City Journal's overall critique speaks volumes to the way properties are being gift wrapped as Secret-Santa exchanges with developers and how executive ego is running roughshod over development opportunities for the city.

Complete Article here  read more »

Summer, Sex and Spirits! Wednesday, June 29th 6-9 p.m. Slainte, 304 Bowery(at 1st Avenue) Tickets are only $20! And what do you get:

¤ A free drink ticket!
¤ Great drink specials!
¤ A fabulous raffle with amazing prizes!

Please join us for this happy hour benefit to help raise important funds for Planned Parenthood of New York City's (PPNYC) vital mission of clinical services, education and advocacy. When you buy tickets to this event, you are helping us to continue to help the thousands of New Yorkers who count on us each year. Let's celebrate the summer together with a toast, all the while supporting a great cause!

Sign up at: http://www.ppaction.org/ppnyc/events/summer/details.tcl

The battle against Republican corruption continues. Generally I focus my efforts on several particularly corrupt Republicans, like Mike Oxley (OH), Roy and Matt Blunt (MO) and Conrad Burns (MT). But most people are focusing on that most scandal ridden and nastiest of Republicans, Tom DeLay. So I want to push several efforts that represent a renewed attack on DeLay's corruption.

You can get the latest information on Tom "Corruption" DeLay from the Daily DeLay.

The Public Campaign Action Fund is conducting a phone call campaign to urge two ranking members of the House Ethics Committee to investigate DeLay's scandals.

Please take a minute and make two telephone calls today to these members to respectfully request that they act without delay. Recent news coverage, historical precedent, and the fact that DeLay's PAC has made donations to 226 or the 232 Republican members of the House all call for an outside counsel to be appointed in a matter such as this. There is no impartial jury pool of members of Congress from which to launch an investigation. Period.

Call Ethics Chairman Doc Hastings in his district office in Pasco, WA at 509-543-9396, or his Washington, DC office at 202-225-5816.

Call Ranking Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan at his district office in Wheeling, WV at 304-232-5390, or his Washington, DC office at 202-225-4172.  read more »