State G.O.P. Chair on the Road to Albany

I just ran into New York State Republican Party Chairman Joe Mondello at the Malden rest stop on the Thruway, just outside the Catskills. He, like me, was on his way to Albany. But unlike me, Mondello didn’t seem like he had been surprised by the announcement that Bruno will not seek reelection.

“I’ve been Read More

Smoke-Filled Casinos

If the extra $1 billion surplus announced by the state Senate weren’t a big enough hurdle to Eliot Spitzer’s plan to reduce health care spending, how about this letter from the American Cancer Society and other groups who concerned over a loophole that’ll allow smoking in the casinos built in the Catskills. Read More

Get Smart, Get Barbara! Ms. Feldon Purred

By the mid-60’s, the standard that had been established for sitcoms in the previous decade—portraits of nuclear-family coziness—had largely given way to gimmickry and weirdness. The shows were about hillbillies transplanted to L.A., a Martian posing as a bachelor’s uncle, a talking horse, a genie in a bottle and a man whose mother is reincarnated Read More

A Story for the Jews

Responding, perhaps, to the low literacy rates among Jews, the Bloomberg campaign provided the Jewish press a pre-written article on his trip to the Catskills.

The Forward’s Eve Kessler reprints the story, and takes offense:

“In case we in the ‘Jewish media’ don’t write our own stories, the Bloomberg campaign helpfully has sent Read More

Mayor’s Big Dig: Money Drains Out, Water Flows In

At a time of budget cuts and work-force reductions, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has committed billions of dollars to an enormous new capital project that rivals, in scope and complexity, the great public works of Robert Moses, the legendary builder of parks, highways and beaches.

The Observer has learned that the Bloomberg administration has decided to Read More

Whacking Away The Pain

At trying times like these, some people turn to vodka, drugs or end-of-the-world sex for solace. I cut brush. I’m certainly not immune to the charms of controlled substances. It’s just that nothing seems to involve me quite as fully as whacking a trail through the woods.

I’m well aware this is a middle-aged Read More

Hillary’s Jersey Guy Dumps on New York

It is bad enough that Senator Robert Torricelli of New Jersey is among those responsible for persuading Hillary Clinton to use New York as a vehicle for her personal ambitions. But now the Garden State’s junior Senator is butting in on policy issues that are none of his business. He is trying to block a Read More

An Affair With Stay-at-Home-Dad

I met him at the coffee store. He would have instantly become my prey except for one small glitch: another female, blonde-haired, blue eyes moist with devotion. If she hadn’t been so cute in her sunsuit with the daisies, I might have resented her. But who could resist her pterodactyl squeals when he tossed her Read More