Yeah, normally I categorize this sort of thing as ‘cutting and running,’ but the man just fought off colon cancer. That stuff is nasty and even I have limits to my dearth of sympathy towards Democratic legislators. Anyway… NY-22 is currently D+6, but who knows what will happen after the next redistricting? …Actually, according to Ed Koch this is a – his words, not mine – ‘ godsend :’ Koch, who is leading the charge for an independent redistricting process, said he’s OK with nixing Hinchey’s seat, because “you’re not manufacturing the seat. You’re just taking advantage of the fact that you don’t have to eliminate another member who is resigning.” “In a way it’s a godsend to the legislature not to have to fight as to who is going to be eliminated,” he said. “God eliminated him.” Yikes, Ed. Yes, I know that New York has to lose two seats – and that one has to be upstate and the other downstate, lest there be open warfare in Albany – but surely you could have come up with a better description of the man’s colon cancer than (effectively) ‘God’s will?’ I’d avoid saying that, and I’m from the other party. Anyway, if they do eviscerate the seat then speculating on it is futile. And every district bordering it is probably going to have significant changes to them, too. Moe Lane ( crosspost )
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Maurice Hinchey (D, NY-22) …to retire.
Focusing particularly on the voters within audible (and olfactory) range of Zuccotti Park, which is currently the somewhat squalid epicenter for the protesters: I am given to understand that increasing numbers of them are tired of the noise , the disruption of local business and residential life , and, of course, the defecation *. I am also given to understand that those voters are not really getting any sort of real response to their concerns, mostly because the authorities tacitly accept the notion that a bunch of squatters get to have a say in this discussion: “We really, really want to be good neighbors. We want to be involved with the community here,” said Tyler Combelic, an “Occupy Wall Street” protester. Let me just drill down on this: the Occupy Wall Street movement has no right to the term ‘neighbor’ in this context. The movement does not own any real estate in the area. It does not rent any real estate in the area. It certainly does not pay municipal taxes in the area. Occupy Wall Street protesters are squatters . The best upgrade to that status that they can hope to achieve would be that of guests . And for the record: when a host asks a guest to keep it down, the polite – and prudent – guest does not give his or her host an argument about it. The guest instead keeps it down . Moving along: the city is probably not going to be all that helpful, and as for the Democratic party (NY-08 is a D+22 district )… well, the national party stands with the protesters ; and as for their local Congressman Jerry Nadler? He just loves himself some Occupy Wall Street . His constituents who are actually stuck with having to hearing the drum circles and smell the urine? Well… I didn’t see a letter on Nadler’s site complaining about that . Guess that gives a good idea of his priority list. So… if the city won’t help, and the current political party in charge won’t help, what’s a NY-08 voter to do? Vote Republican ? …You know, that might actually work . Certainly the New York Republican Party would agree. Moe Lane ( crosspost ) *H/T Jammie Wearing Fool and The Transom .
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An #OWS PSA for the voters in NY-08.
The New York Times descends even deeper into self-parody with its ongoing crusade against natural gas development . Thursday’s installment: Rush to Drill for Natural Gas Creates Conflicts With Mortgages It seems that some mortgage lenders are beginning to balk at lending money secured by real estate if said real estate is under development for natural gas. A credit union in upstate New York has started requiring gas companies to promise to pay for any damage caused by drilling that may lead to devaluation of its mortgaged properties. Another will make home loans only to people who expressly agree not to sign a gas lease as long as they hold the mortgage. … However, the banking industry is only starting to appreciate the complexity and possible consequences, they added. “ It’s truly Pandora’s box ,” said Cosimo Manzo, a vice president of First Heritage Financial, a mortgage services company in Philadelphia, during a presentation to Pennsylvania lenders posted online in July by a state credit union association. He also compared getting leases to comply with mortgage rules to solving a Rubik’s Cube. [Emphasis added.] That seems odd to me, a Louisianian, because around here mortgage lenders tend to view it as a positive if landowners have oil and gas wells on their property. Landowners are paid quite handsomely for lease rights, compensated for land and crop damages, and paid a generous share of production on any oil and gas removed from their property. Oil and gas development makes property more valuable, not less. Its owners more likely to repay their obligations with all that free cash flow. So here’s a little free advice for my New York friends: Take a look at drilling best practices in areas like Ft. Worth, TX and Shreveport, LA. Better technology means the industry can do more on a smaller footprint than ever before. You might want to get some advice from industry professionals on how to bring New York’s regulatory practices from the 1930s into the 21st Century. My services are available for a fee, but they are not cheap. You know you’re really in trouble when you’re taking advice from Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY). On anything. Cross-posted at Stevemaley.com . Follow @VladimirRS
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NY Times on Natural Gas: Ponzi Scheme, Pandora’s Box, or Rubik’s Cube?
Mean of me to note the bad spelling in this let’s-just-screenshot-this-now Craigslist post from NY’s Working Families Party advertising for… well, it’s actually a bit hard to figure out just what open job position WFP is advertising for. Many people are assuming (or at least speculating ) that it’s for warm bodies for the Occupy Wall Street protests themselves, but I’m not buying that: when you can get people to defecate on police cars for free , why pay them? No, what’s actually happening here is just another example of the Democratic establishment* working to consolidate its control over the OWS leadership in order to keep pushing it in more acceptable directions (i.e., directions more in line with the desires of the Democratic establishment). In other words, it’s in line with the DCCC doing fundraising off of OWS, or former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s bid for regaining relevance in a world where she’s routinely (and deservedly) ignored. And it’ll probably work, at that: by all accounts, the movement is trapped in precisely the sort of free-falling organizational nightmare that can be easily exploited by well-heeled outsiders who at least look like they know what they’re doing. And, honestly? If the OWS organizational model is sufficiently confused as to exclude hearing from Rep. John Lewis , and include hearing from accused terrorist Tarek Mehanna , you can see why the (barely more) adult contingent of the Left wants so badly to get the leash back on… Moe Lane ( crosspost ) * It’s not exactly a secret that the WFP is designed to give progressives a socially-acceptable reason to vote for Democratic candidates (while telling said progressives that they’re actually ‘pushing the party to the left,’ or some other plausible-sounding nonsense). As this look at the 2010 NY state Assembly elections shows , the WFP routinely echoes the Democratic line.
Continue reading here:
WFP wants you to “MAKE A DIFFERNENCE” for #OWS?
Maybe : Several influential New York state lawmakers have received threatening mails saying it is “time to kill the wealthy” if they don’t renew the state’s tax surcharge on millionaires, according to reports. [snip] The email references terminology that has been used in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement — that the1 percent, the super rich, are exploiting the remaining 99 percent of Americans. The angry message demanded that Albany politicians “stop shoveling wealth from the lower 99 percent into the top 1 percent” and “set aside your ‘no new taxes on anybody’ pledge.” By ‘maybe,’ of course, I mean ‘Of course they are, unless it’s a hoax.’ Which possibility you’re expected to always have to take into account, in these cases… at least, if you’re expected to if you’re a conservative or a Republican. If somebody sent a death threat that referenced Tea Party rhetoric the media and other Democrats would fall all over themselves in their haste to be the first one to call for scalps. In a metaphorical and nonviolent way, of course. (Via Hot Air Headlines ) Moe Lane ( crosspost )
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Are these the first #occupywallstreet -inspired death threats?
