How Will it Affect State Senate?
Can Sophomore Spitzer Recover?
The first of the month is a good time to look around, review what happened last month and what is likely to happen in the next four weeks.
America in general, and the political community in particular, are preoccupied with the national election. Every four years they change the rules, and the innovation in 2008 is an early Super Tuesday, coming just two days after the Super Bowl. We go in for superlatives, in sports and politics as well as in business and life.
Dozens of pundits and prophets describe the action each day, and it would be superfluous for us to join them. We can be helpful by pointing out to you a column which we think is particularly good, and giving you the opportunity to link to it at your convenience.
Today we were intrigued by Charles Krauthammer's article in the Daily News. We do not necessarily agree with him, but he is making a point. It relates, in a way, to Jacob Weisberg's book, The Bush Tragedy, reviewed on E33 of today's Times by Michiko Kakutani.
Few people have heard of the National Journal. It is published by Atlantic Media, and its office is in the Watergate. By examining Senate roll calls, they conclude that, on the basis of 99 votes, Barack Obama is the most liberal member of the Senate. In their survey, Hillary Rodham Clinton comes out No. 16. Check it out if you are curious.
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Dear Henry - As you must know by now, I have been an avid supporter of your work - way back since you were parks commissioner. I very much respect your venue for sharing your insights and concerns about our city and our society. Please consider writing about these recent draconian bidget cuts to the NYC public schools - whcih came about in a horrific manner last Thursday. As you probably know by now - the mayor (someone else I hold in high regard for very many of his actions) informed school principals that their budget would be cut by 1.7 percent - effective immediately. By Friday morning, for example, the budget of Louis D. Brandeis High School, (where I am employed) was cut by more than 210,000 dollars. As pretty much everyone in the city must know - public schools are not organizations where there is a lot of "fat" to trim. That money is not easily found - and the consequences of not having it will be taken right out of our students' schooling. Where is the opposition? What is the reason? Why our NYC public school students? Why has this gone through with only a whimper? Believe you me, if we could cut out our champagne working lunches, or remove some of our more extravagant hall decorations, and downgrade the quality of the bathroom soap we use, we would. We are already operating with just necessities. Thank you for your help in bringing this matter to our public. We LIKE our mayor - what can his motivation be?
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