“We have to win,” said Senator Charles Schumer, banging a table with his fist at a diner close to his Park Slope home on Monday morning. “You have got to be strong and focused. If you get thrown off course, you lose.”
Like Atlas with a drab tie and a Brooklyn accent, Mr. Schumer Read More
After Congress passed a set of weak lobbying reforms following the Jack Abramoff scandal, Senator John McCain said, “The good news is there will be more indictments, and we will be revisiting the issue.” Meanwhile, the best way to rein in the army of 34,000 lobbyists in Washington was urged by John Edwards and Dick Read More
Well, today’s McCain story has generated quite a lot of letter writing from addresses we usually don’t see here at the li’l old Observer. Most of the e-mails coming in are from conservatives west of the Hudson River, and they argue that McCain’s moderate stance on domestic issues does not represent their values. Many Read More
Forget immigration, global warning, Donald Rumsfeld and abortion rights.
The hot issues of today will quickly fade away if the current surge in gasoline prices and home-mortgage rates continues unabated. And all indications are that both the price of gas and the cost of borrowing are moving in one direction only: north.
In Read More
Forget immigration, global warning, Donald Rumsfeld and abortion rights.
The hot issues of today will quickly fade away if the current surge in gasoline prices and home-mortgage rates continues unabated. And all indications are that both the price of gas and the cost of borrowing are moving in one direction only: north.
In fact, the Read More
I experienced a little frisson of excitement this morning when a quick crawl through the Federal Election Commission website turned up a presidential fund-raising committee for one Hillary Rodham Clinton. Was this the smoking gun? The proof that reporters have been looking for?
As I suspected — and an FEC spokesperson confirmed — it Read More
It’s been a bad year for movies, especially summer blockbusters, and most fans probably look toward the upcoming rental season thinking: “I didn’t want to see it then, I don’t want to see it now.” But sure enough, the silliest of flicks start to look tempting once you eliminate the $10.50 ticket price … even Read More
No worse example exists of the moral cowardice of the federal government-implicating all three branches-than the continuing prohibition of marijuana for medical therapy.
Despite copious evidence that pot has helped to ameliorate the lives of thousands of patients suffering from cancer and AIDS-and despite burgeoning voter support for legal reform-Washington officialdom persists in its Read More
When George W. Bush reluctantly signs the campaign-finance reform legislation that bears the name of his most bitter Republican rival, it will be easy to celebrate John McCain’s moment of triumph. After so many years of struggle against autocratic Congressional leaders, after so many cases of transparent bribery at the highest levels of politics and Read More
The monumental gnarliness of 2001 was brought to a hideous crescendo on Dec. 22 with the sad passing of that gayest of nelly icons, Lance Loud, lending new meaning to the phrase annus horribilis .
The most tragic aspect is that Lance died–according to his musings in the January Advocate –laboring under the misapprehension that Read More
