Here's the infamous, ghoulish video that ran during the Republican National Convention. This is republicans ripping the remains of the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks from their graves and rubbing them in the faces of the electorate in their desperate plea to stay relevant.

Dead Americans, dead New Yorkers, used, dishonored, exploited. It's shameful. Republicans think they died to give them dramatic footage.

They weren't murdered in their thousands, on the watch of a republican administration, to be a tool of sleazy republican operatives. On 9/11 itself, it didn't matter what your party affiliation was; not to the hijackers of the planes, not to the victims in the towers, not to the police officers and firemen who died trying to save lives.

It shouldn't matter now. So what to do?

The best way to stop republicans from dishonoring our dead is to hold them to account. Call them, and demand that they repudiate their nominee's sickeningly cynical exploitation of dead Americans. Contact info for New York City republican Senators and Majority Leader Skelos is over the fold.  read more »

Once again let me remind people that judicial races are at least as important as any other local election. Judges determine the fates of citizens more directly than any other elected position. We need good judges and we need judges we can trust.

This is a follow-up diary to one I wrote earlier about the 1st Civil Court District in Brooklyn. This year a friend of mine (Devin Cohen) is running. His opponent is Roger Adler. Both are good, smart lawyers who are fully qualified to be judge. Adler has been practicing law longer than Devin, but Devin Cohen has more actual civil court experience. So it comes down to a question of temperment and trustworthiness. In my earlier article I addressed both issues. But I have found out more about Roger Adler, who claims to be a Democrat with progressive values, yet I discover that by far his largest contributions are to some of the most conservaitve organizations and politicians in NY State.  read more »