December 2011
1 post
First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Taxes →
How legalization of same-sex marriage in New York creates tax problems for married couples, as long as DOMA is in place.
July 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Attachment Theories
Eliot Spitzer’s In the Arena was cancelled on CNN last week. Chris Rovzar at Daily Intel sums up why we begin to feel bad for him. I’d always thought it was just time and the elements, but the ex-boyfriend (girlfriend) theory makes sense.
Our relationships with the people we vote for are by necessity romances, about which I subscribe to a theory: It’s impossible to be friends with ...
1 tag
3 tags
Wedding Crashers
Will voters says “no” to Republicans who said “yes”?
When New York’s state Senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage last week, the number of gay Americans legally allowed to marry in the country doubled, from 16 million to 32 million. The Empire State Building lit up like a rainbow, there was dancing in the streets and the bill became an excuse for pundits to speculate about the possibility of...
June 2011
4 posts
Trivial Pursuits
What senators passed before same-sex marriage
By LAURA NAHMIAS
While the Senate stalled on momentous issues like rent regulations, property taxes and gay marriage last week, it still pursued the people’s business. Here are some of the bills senators passed instead:
—Thinking of buying that Edsel? Get ready to pony up an extra Benjamin. The Senate voted on a bill to require an additional $100...
4 tags
Foiled Again: Senate Adjourns Without Debate On...
The longest night of the legislative year ended up being abruptly cut short – leaving New York hanging not just on the open question of gay marriage, but also on questions that were thought to have been settled long ago.
The Senate adjourned after 10 p.m., despite senators’ repeated assertions they intended to debate into the wee hours of the morning. But it was clear by 9:30 p.m. that there...
4 tags
For Capitol's Marriage Throng, Hurrying Up and...
“You haven’t got any whistles in there, have you?” a security guard at the Capitol entrance asked three same-sex marriage advocates as they emptied their pockets to walk through the metal detectors.
“No, we’re very quiet,” said one, who was carrying both ChapStick and posterboard signs.
If they kept their word, they were in the minority, as Wednesday marked the eighth working day of debate on...
4 tags
Thin Line Between Church and State
The fate of same-sex marriage in New York hinges on the fate of negotiations between Senate Republicans and Gov. Andrew Cuomo over protections for religious institutions – after similar changes were able to win three “yes” votes from former opponents in the Assembly.
Assemblyman Nelson Castro was one of three religious Democrats who changed their position last week as the Assembly passed a gay...
May 2011
2 posts
Anonymous asked: Hey Shorty how you look so good
1 tag
Course Correction
Course Correction
With prison closures, Cuomo confronts economic challenges, and his father’s legacy
Laura Nahmias April 25, 2011
Crime used to be a formidable political force in New York State. In the ’80s and ’90s, the prison population boomed from 21,000 inmates to 71,000, filling gymnasiums and rented spaces faster than the state could build prisons to house them.
But in the last 15...
April 2011
13 posts
1 tag
From The Distraction Dept.
Zadie Smith’s Writing Rules
…….6 Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
…….7 Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
1 tag
1 tag
These Horrid Trend Cupcakes
Well Said Slate Writer! I feel like traitor to my sex speaking out against these namby pamby super-sugared crap confections. Much prefer the normal pink frosting from big-box grocery store back in Memphis, sold in packages of six.
This thing being sold as a cupcake stands 2 1/4 inches tall. Of that, at least 3/4 inch is a giant wad of frosting. In the middle of the cupcake, where the cake...
1 tag
From The Mixed-Up Files of Sen. Greg Ball, Ctd.
Received Email from source today, subject hed: “Dead Goat Redux???”
After receiving a threatening package in the mail today, Sen. Greg Ball announced the date of his next Homeland Security Committee hearing on post-9/11 preparedness.
“Law enforcement is investigating this incident and I am confident this is in good hands,” the Hudson Valley Republican said.
“I will continue my...
2 tags
Paper Trail (In push to go paperless, total cost...
“This is like Area 51,” says Assembly staffer Adam Kramer, waving his arm toward the floor-to-ceiling stacks of gray metal cubbies that hold every bill printed by the New York Assembly this year. “You may not find any aliens in there, but you may find some pretty bad legislation.”
But it’s not the content that Kramer’s boss, Republican Assembly Member Jim Tedisco, is crusading against,...
1 tag
Don't Sell Yourself Short
Andy: don't sell yourself short. how many of those bimbos can game out a post wood?
me: probably very few
Andy: None, to be exact.
2 tags
Will Marty Golden Be Next Year’s Frank Padavan?...
By Laura Nahmias
Over a year in advance of the 2012 races, Democrats are already plotting a robust challenge to State Sen. Marty Golden, and the man at the top of the list of possible candidates is Carlo Scissura, chief of staff to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Brooklyn politicians said Scissura has the name recognition and relationships in the borough necessary to mount a...
2 tags
Sweet Corn vs. Onion (Work-based humor)
Reid: sweet corn or black onion?
black dirt onion or whatever it's called
me: well, by taste?
sweet corn, obvi
Reid: ha
me: "I like an onion cause it's got layers"
"sort of like a parfait"
"nobody doesn't like a parfait"
I cant even believe we've been talking about this tho
I think albany bureaus are bored
I'm going to address this the next time i get up there
we should be sitting around making jokes with each other when we're bored, not tweeting silently from our separate corners
Reid: you tell em
me: Im gonna do it, just you wait
and then
I'm gonna buy the world a coke!
2 tags
Work-based Humor
me: this weird lawyer is reading the constitution to me over the phone
James: weird me too!!!
News is When Man Bites Dog.
News is Also When...
March 2011
4 posts
Senate Democrats Blast Surprise Rules Changes as...
State Government Leaders Came to An Agreement on the Budget, and Then They Got Nuts Again: Live From Albany.
Alas, the brief harmony that descended on Albany following Sunday afternoon’s budget agreement was to be short-lived. Hours after the joint conference committee hearing put a cap on the budget agreement, Senate Republicans sprang a surprise rules change on their Democratic...
1 tag
Rhyming
Daniel: sup buns
me: nuns
Daniel: :)
2 tags
Piling On Carl Kruger, Convicted Already In Court...
Technically, being accused of corruption does not make you guilty.
But in the Court of Public Opinion, State Sen. Carl Kruger has already been tried, convicted, and sentenced, at least according to a group of prominent politicians, officials and government watchdogs.
“Sinful,” declared Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
“Toxic,” wrote Working Families Party executive director Dan Cantor.
“Tawdry,”...
2 tags
Corruption! Graft! Soap-Box Derby! Doll Museum!
As groups prepare for another year without member items, appeals, reforms and desperate hope underway
Laura Nahmias March 10, 2011
Maybe a few years ago legislators would have been approving earmarks for a third cheese museum in the state, to add to the ones in Rome and the town of Cuba they have funded in the past.
Not this year.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo followed David Paterson’s lead in...
July 2010
1 post
1 tag
“And when I walk out into the bricky warp of these American cities,
that is...”
– Richard Ford - The Sportswriter
March 2010
1 post
Big Star
“Years ago, I used to loiter around in a Memphis record store staring at a double LP by the band Big Star that was hanging on the wall. It cost $75. Thanks to my meager summer lifeguard salary, I certainly couldn’t afford it, but I came in to the store so often, pretending to look at the other records while clearly mooning over that Big Star one, that the clerk cut me a deal one day and...
February 2010
1 post
5 tags
The Hunger Doctor
(The Long-Forgotten Tale of the Anti-Hunger Crusader)
Before the War on Terror and the War on Drugs, Beaufort County waged a War on Hunger. The man who fired the first shot was Dr. Donald Gatch.
While practicing medicine in Beaufort County in the 1960s and ’70s, Gatch exposed staggering levels of malnutrition and hunger in the coastal South Carolina area — hunger few people knew...
September 2009
0 posts
2 tags
Bad Disney
I wish it were fiction.
“You aren’t really scared of me right now, are you?” he asked.
Nothing.
“I didn’t mean it!”
And then he sulked off toward the living room of their suite, and she locked the double doors behind him, pumping the handle up and down to make sure, but she knew that wouldn’t keep him out if he really wanted back in. Listening in by the pine doors,...