Maybe the third time will be the charm: on Tuesday, New York City voters approved, again overwhelmingly, term limits for City elected officials.

The vote became necessary after not one but two prior referenda - in 1993 and 1996 - had been overturned by a vote of the City Council, goaded along by gentle prodding from the mayor's office. Conveniently enough, the law was changed just in time to allow said mayor to run for a third term.

It really was as if the political class had said to the voters 'yes, we know you wanted that thing, but are you sure you still want that thing?'

So, just to be clear: yes, we do want that thing.

Of all the well known black leaders in this country, Al Sharpton has been one of the most enigmatic. Who else could have worn an FBI wire and still maintain a certain level of credibility in black nationalistic circles? Who else could be so flawed in character -over his years of activism- and still have candidates such as Hilary Clinton (and now Andrew Cuomo) kissing his ring? How the hell he has managed to stay out of prison is in itself a mystery: but then mysterious too have been all those fires that seem to have sprung up around him over the years; especially when the FEC, IRS, or some other governmental regulatory agency was on his back, or on the back of one of his organizations.  read more »

Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys on the City Council overturned the will of the voters when they overturned term limits. And this was a widely unpopular move. Poll after polls showed dissatisfaction. Many talked of a backlash from the voters. What was this backlash? In the end, 24/29 City Council members who voted for the Bloomberg Putsch against the will of the voters won re-election, many overwhelmingly, some unopposed. Add to that Bloomberg's win and you have 25/30 of the people who overturned the decision of millions of New York voters handily won re-election. Really shows you the strength of NYC voters. You can do anything to them and they don't do anything back. Which empowers Bloomberg and his allies, empowers the local party machines and developers (the number one source of political contributions in the city). These are the power brokers: Bloomberg, the machines and developer money.  read more »

After the 2000 fiasco and the refusal of many Green Party members to recognize their abysmal mistake that year, most liberal Democrats I knew turned against the Green Party. I for one couldn't vote Green for years.

Well, once the Greens refused to follow Nader, the architect of the 2000 fiasco whose ego only grew even more giganormous after that fiasco, into further oblivion, some of us started to watch the Greens with some renewed interest. Even many former Greens I know won't vote Green in any race where there is a close race between a Republican and a Democrat. Eight years of Bush is a high price to pay for a protest vote.

But there are some cases where voting Green starts to make sense, particularly in NYC where lousy, corrupt or right-wing Democrats coast to victory because they have machine backing and the Republican Party in NYC is about as pathetic as you can find.  read more »

Okay, so many of you are going to say this is a stretch, but it isn’t: come next month, and let’s say Michael Bloomberg is elected to a third term as mayor (although I hope not), what is going to prevent him from overturning the term limits law again, and legislating himself a chance at being a four-term mayor? And furthermore, who is going to stop him? Pray tell.

The initial answer is as obvious as my handsome face: nothing. The secondary answer is even more obvious than my charm and wit: no one. Nothing and no one can stop Michael Bloomberg from going for a fourth term if he were to win again next month. Well, maybe the courts can (maybe).  read more »