Albany, NY -- "Arrested" Goes Out With a Bang

I just finished watching the (series?/season?) finale of Arrested Development. It was terrific, at its self-referential best.

Given the way it ended, it's probably over for good, and I guess I'm OK with that -- it was quite the run. A pretty awesome three seasons.

But if it continues, whether on Showtime or another network, I hope it does well enough to make the Fox execs exclaim, "I've made a huge mistake!"

It was Arrested Development... :(

Tags: Arrested Development, Fox

posted by jbrzoska @ 11:50 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- More on the Long War

From yesterday's International Herald Tribune (Thanks, Ted):

What was originally to be a matter of quick and exemplary revenge, with lightning attacks and acclaimed victories, has now become, we are told, the long war whose end cannot be foreseen. The citizen is implicitly told to expect the current suspension of constitutional norms, disregard for justice, and defiance of limits on presidential power as traditionally construed, to continue indefinitely. We are in a new age, America's leaders say. The Democratic opposition seems to agree.

Which is why, of course, we need some new Democrats, and one of the reason I'm behind Jonathan Tasini, who is unequivocally against the war and the machinations of the Bush administration. Too many Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, are not.

What started as the war against terror, proclaimed by the president to Congress in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks, has undergone a metamorphosis. The initial interpretation was that the people responsible for the World Trade Center attacks and other terrorist outrages against Americans and their interests would be discovered, defeated and killed or brought to justice.

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There is an insurrection in Iraq, which had nothing to do with Al Qaeda when it started, but from which Al Qaeda and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi now draw global publicity.

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"In almost all years, the total number of people worldwide who die at the hands of international terrorists is not much more than the number who drown in bathtubs in the United States" wrote John Mueller of Ohio State University in last autumn's issue of the authoritative American journal Terrorism and Political Violence.

And yet, there's no global war on bathtubs! Well, if I were President, I'd monitor all bathtub activity, let me tell you...

As Mueller concedes, there is a definitional issue: Few insurgents in Iraq are internationals; most are homegrown. And if aspirant terrorists in London or Paris had nuclear bombs, the numbers would become rather different.

Nonetheless, a phenomenon that is scattered, limited and under control, and inevitably transient, has been conflated by Washington with something that is huge and very serious: the desperation among the Muslim masses that is directed indiscriminately against Western nations, which are held responsible for Islamic society's backwardness, poverty and exploitation.

An extremely important point -- I've heard several people using the Muslim anti-cartoon riots as yet another reason to attack Syria or Iran. This sort of sentiment is pathological, but deeply ingrained in large segments of our population.

Al Qaeda and individual international terrorists are the object of worldwide intelligence and police operations. They are a marginal phenomenon. The Bush administration's conflation of them with the social upheaval in their world is exploited to perpetuate changes in American society that provide a much more sinister threat to democracy than anything ever dreamed by Osama bin Laden.

Tags: Terror, Jonathan Tasini, Hillary Clinton

posted by jbrzoska @ 10:48 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- AOL and Yahoo Plan to Charge Companies to Send E-mail

If you haven't heard already, it looks likely that AOL and Yahoo will begin charging ISPs to send large mailings to their users. This, of course, will screw over smaller ISPs and businesses, at the expense of larger ones. And, of course, it will create added costs that didn't exist before, which will likely get passed on to consumers. And while the measure ostensibly is aimed to stop spam, according to the Wall Street Journal:

...privacy expert Ray Everett-Church says he believes the new service unfairly penalizes legitimate companies.

"Unless the major ISPs are going to require postage for 'every' email coming into their system, they will still need to accept, sort and deliver unpaid email from the rest of the world," Everett-Church says. "At that point, they'll still be dealing with massive volumes of unwanted email. The only difference is that they'll be able to offset those costs by taxing legitimate sources of email. Doesn't sound fair to me, but the world of spam is filled with inequities and bad decisions."

posted by jbrzoska @ 11:03 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Jonathan Tasini Update

This post is a bit late, but hey, I've been busy with work and Season 2 of 24.
Bauer power!

On Jonathan Tasini's site, his campaign manager, Liese Schneider discusses Saturday's Working Family's Party event (though I think I did it more justice):

The loudest applause I heard during his speech came when he clarified that the issues we stand for in this campaign are not a challenge from the left but what hard working and regular Americans believe in; health care for all, our troops out of Iraq and the end to corporate welfare - all things our opponent claims to have taken the lead on but has only disappointed.

On Huffington Post, Jonathan expands on one of Hillary's shortfalls, her relationship with big corporations, specifically Wal-Mart:

For those not in the know, Clinton served on Wal-Mart's board for six years prior to her husband's run for the presidency. She recently received $5,000 from Wal-Mart. I've raised the Wal-Mart relationship repeatedly in my current race against Clinton and it causes deep unease among voters. I believe it speaks to the incumbent's close ties to abusive corporate power: her large corporate financial contributions, her support for so-called "free trade" (which is simply trade to benefit corporations) and her unwillingness to confront corporate power that denies every American, among other things, universal health insurance.

So, I had to chuckle when I read that Clinton, having never said a bad word about the company in the past, recently said that Wal-Mart should pay more for its workers' health benefits. And, to boot, she returned the $5,000 she had received from the company. But, when asked what she did about the company's benefits for workers when she served on the board, she replied, "Well, you know, I, that was a long time ago ... have to remember..."

You can't have it both ways. You can't promote an image of being an intelligent woman who has a pile of facts at her fingertips but, at the same time, you suffer a sudden bout of amnesia when asked to answer for your record. And it would be an inconvenient record to defend.

I'm convinced that if it weren't for the Hillary factor, Jonathan would be a more than legitimate candidate. But why should Hillary Clinton stand in his way, other than her money, power and connections? If it weren't for her husband's background, she'd have nothing to stand on politically. She's not charismatic, she doesn't have any clear platforms, and she's just kind of grating. Besides, as Jon Stewart says, her face is "where boners go to die."

Jonathan's a great candidate -- I can't stress this enough, and I'm going to put whatever I can behind his campaign -- will you?

Who wants to volunteer for Jonathan? We're having a volunteer meeting in Manhattan on Monday, February 13th. For more information, send an e-mail to Lea Kiefer at lea@tasinifornewyork.org.

By the way, I think I may have gotten Jonathan time with Dr. Alan Chartock on WAMC's Capitol Connection. I'll keep you posted.

posted by jbrzoska @ 11:53 PM Trackback Link 1 comments links to this post

Binghamton, NY -- Budget Talk

Yesterday, President Bush unveiled his plan for the 2007 Federal Budget, and continued to promise that the deficit would be cut in half by 2009 (of course, by doubling the size of the deficit in the last few years (the White House expects the deficit for 2006 to be $423 billion), that's not really saying much). CNN reports that Bush plans to cut or outright eliminate 141 government programs that he says are not performing up to his standards.

The first step to that was the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 which cut funding to education, health care, child support, and housing, among others, by $39 billion. The AP reported the details of the cuts. Money quote:

Almost one-third of the targeted programs are in education including ones that provide money to support the arts, vocational education, parent resource centers and drug-free schools.
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"These are not cuts," [White House Budget Director Joshua] Bolten said of Bush's Medicare plans. "These are modest reductions in the rate of growth."
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"It explodes deficits, but then conceals them by providing only five years of numbers and leaving out large costs," said Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. "The result will be more debt passed on to our children."

Take a look a this link to see all the programs that are being cut. From Federal Perkins loans to school lunches, no education programs are safe unless they relate to the military. And believe it or not, we're also cutting the flood damage reduction program.

Meanwhile, his record-high $2.77 trillion budget includes substantial increases to military, homeland security, and 'nucular' expenditures. In addition, if approved, the budget would also make Bush's tax cuts permanent, at a total cost of $1.4 trillion. The administration expects the budget deficit to shrink to $354 billion in 2007, but that also only accounts for $50 billion in spending for the Iraq War -- so the deficit is clearly understated.

posted by Ari @ 10:55 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- In It for the Long Haul?

To the surprise of basically no one, the rhetoric about the war is beginning to shift towards a very long-term outlook, perhaps an endless one:

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, suggested at the weekend that western democracies must acknowledge they are locked in a life or death struggle comparable to those against fascism and communism. "The enemy have designed and distributed a map where national borders are erased and replaced by a global extremist Islamic empire."

Mr Rumsfeld denied the Iraq invasion had proved a catalyst for terrorist recruiting - but said al-Qaida and its allies wanted to use Iraq as a central front in the longer struggle. "A war has been declared on all of our nations [whose] futures depend on determination and unity," he said. "As during the cold war, the struggle ahead promises to be a long war."

If the administration had been talking like that in 2002, would this country have supported going into Iraq? Of course not.

Tags: Iraq

posted by jbrzoska @ 6:55 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Happy Anniversary To Meeeeeee....

Today, it's been six months since I started this site.

And they said it wouldn't last. Oh wait, they didn't say anything, 'cause no one gives a crap about this blog.

Well, I guess some people do. January was my second month in a row well over 3,000 visits for the month. Good stuff.

So, who are all you people? Drop a post and let me know. I'm always wondering.

posted by jbrzoska @ 12:02 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Darksyde on America

I mentioned him last week, and I have to say that the addition of DarkSyde to Daily Kos has somehow significantly improved one of the best political blogs on the Web. He's been doing a lot of longform blogging, which is pretty unorthodox, but somehow it works. Here's a sample of DarkSyde's latest:


In that bloody light of conflicts past and won, as a son of parents who grew up in a Depression and the ensuing World War, and as a child of the Cold War, let me make this crystal clear: If you think you're going to scare me or my nation into reversing two hundred years of history, becoming a Police State, and subjecting ourselves to a tyrannical Overlord in the form of the President of the United States, then you damn well better come up with a significantly greater threat than that posed by a handful of religious maniacs armed with explosive belts and boxcutters.

posted by jbrzoska @ 11:51 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Puppies, Puppies Everywhere!

Courtesy of Katrina Help Info, there's a "puppy boom" in Katrina's aftermath (note the text in bold -- I love news):

Puppies are popping up everywhere amid the rubble left by Hurricane Katrina — and animal welfare workers on the northern Gulf Coast fear it is only the start of a big boom in dog births. Workers have yet to see a spike in cat births, but there‘s no doubt about what dogs have been doing since the hurricane, said Tara High, executive director of a shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Tags: Katrina, Gulf Coast, Dogs, Pets, Puppies

posted by jbrzoska @ 5:11 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Trump Backs Spitzer

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, a Republican who recently rejected the idea of running for governor himself, is backing Eliot Spitzer in the New York gubernatorial (I said goober!) race:

"He's done an amazing job as attorney general, really set the standard. He's a friend of mine for many years, and I feel strongly about him," said Trump, who is friendly with Spitzer's father, Bernard, a Manhattan builder and developer.

Trump, in an extended interview in which he repeatedly described Spitzer as the all-but-certain winner of the November election, strongly defended the Democratic front-runner against charges that his crusade against corrupt business practices, especially on Wall Street, means he'd be hostile to business as New York's governor.

"I think he'll be great for the business community," Trump insisted.

"I think when he's governor, he'll be courting the business community, and earning its respect."

posted by jbrzoska @ 3:20 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- 24

It's 6 AM in California, and Jack Bauer is my new hero... I am going to be hooked on 24 for the next several weeks.

posted by jbrzoska @ 2:06 AM Trackback Link 2 comments links to this post

Albany, NY -- Tasini for Senate Now, Brzoska for Congress Later?

Yesterday, I actively worked on a political campaign for the first time. I joined Jonathan Tasini's small staff at a delegates' meeting for the Working Families Party. For those of you that aren't familiar with the party, it's a small, but influential, liberal-leaning party in New York whose goal "is to more forcefully inject the issues of working-class, middle-class, and poor people—like jobs, health care, education, and housing—into the public debate, and hold candidates and elected officials accountable on those issues." In Albany, they were instrumental in getting David Soares, Albany's District Attorney, elected in 2004 as a long-shot candidate.

Jonathan was a member of the WFP for a few years. The endorsement of the Party would give Jonathan's campaign a major boost. Originally, both Jonathan and the incumbent, Hillary Clinton, were to speak at the event, and then the delegates were going to vote on whom to endorse. Hillary, however, cancelled (no reason given that we know of), and the party's Executive Director decided that Jonathan couldn't speak, and that the endorsement would be postponed to another date. After some finagling, Jonathan's team got him back on the slate and the campaign got permission to hand out materials at the event.

I showed up at the Crowne Plaza yesterday at around 10:15. The campaign staff hadn't arrived yet, but Jonathan had, and I chatted with him for a couple of minutes. His campaign manager, Liese Schneider, and volunteer coordinator, Lea Kiefer, made it in from NYC at 10:45, and Lea and I immediately got to work on stapling flyers and just generally getting organized.

We spent most of the first two hours handing flyers, stickers, and pins to delegates and just generally schmoozing with them. I met several people who were very involved in politics, including Andrew Brockway, a 24-year old candidate for State Assembly in Plattsburgh. Meeting or hearing about other 20-somethings who are running for office really makes me envious; it's something that I think I want to do -- more on this later.

Jonathan spoke for 15 minutes to the crowd of about 250 about his involvment with the WFP, his stances against the Iraq war, health care, helping working families, and about his opponent's corporate ties. I caught the first 3 minutes of the speech on my camera, but the first three minutes were fairly flat. The second I turned off the camera, he gave his first applause line, and there were several others during the remainder of the speech. It went over quite well.

Though the party didn't choose a candidate to back yesterday, we did run a straw poll among the delegates to try to get an idea of Jonathan's chances for the endorsement. I'm not at liberty to give the results, but I can say that I met many supporters of Jonathan, and not a single person willing to support Hillary for any other reason than: her perceived likelihood to win, her ability to help their unions/organizations, or because their leadership said they had to. No real support for her platforms, and a LOT of resentment towards her rightward movement of the last several months.

All in all, the experience was encouraging, and I look forward to working more with the campaign.

For I while, I've been thinking about the possiblity of eventually running for Mike McNulty's (D-Green Island) House seat, but two things have stopped me from seriously considering. One, he's very difficult to beat because he's a nice guy and he's really good on the labor and economic issues that New Yorkers care about (though, as a devout Catholic, he's bad on abortion and other social issues), and two, I was under the impression that the starting Congressional salary was fairly low (around $80K). As it turns out, congressmen make almost double that. That's big news to me in itself, but what about McNulty's apparent invincibility? Well... I was chatting at the event yesterday with a local PEF activist, and he told me that McNulty has been having some health problems and his next term will likely be his last. If this is so, his seat will open up in 2008. As of this moment, I'm very interested in running for that seat if I'm still in Albany two years from now. I'll be 28 then, and 28 is certainly not an unheard-of age for a first-term congressman. That leaves two years to make connections, do a ton of research, and just be out and about. Jason Brzoska (D-NY)? Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

posted by jbrzoska @ 9:20 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Binghamton, NY -- Best commercial so far

Definitely the FedEx dinosaur commercial. That's going to be tough to beat.

GO STEELERS!

posted by Ari @ 6:50 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post