... but NYC is fortunate to have a great guy handling the swine flu problem: Health commissioner Tom Frieden. He sounds exactly like the kind of person who should be handling a problem like this.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
New York Radio Guide
Mr NYC strives to be a public service whenever possible. Thus I direct all New York City radio fans to the New York Radio Guide.
It lists all the stations in the city along with radio news and ratings info, etc.
Interesting factoid: did you know NYC has nine college radio stations?
It lists all the stations in the city along with radio news and ratings info, etc.
Interesting factoid: did you know NYC has nine college radio stations?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Home is wherever you want it to be
Native New Yorkers are kind of cheated. Growing up here, many of us take the city completely for granted. For me, it wasn't until I was older that I began to understand that this was a particularly special place, a place that people who live far away from NYC view not only as a city but also as the end of the rainbow, a kind of mythic place, an Oz if you will.
A state of mind. Make it here, etc.
I feel cheated because I'll never know what it's like to come to New York for the first time. The city was already here when I bumbled my way onto planet Earth.
So what is it like to move here from middle America? What's the transition like? And how does this affect the transplant's relationship with their place of origin?
I direct you to this short but insight column from the New York Press by a recent Michigan emigree who addresses these very questions: My Own Private Michigan.
As the column's title suggests, even when you move to NYC, you never entirely leave home behind. It transforms into another place, a place that stays with you.
P.S. I've met a number of Michigan transplants and they really are some of nicest people I've ever met.
A state of mind. Make it here, etc.
I feel cheated because I'll never know what it's like to come to New York for the first time. The city was already here when I bumbled my way onto planet Earth.
So what is it like to move here from middle America? What's the transition like? And how does this affect the transplant's relationship with their place of origin?
I direct you to this short but insight column from the New York Press by a recent Michigan emigree who addresses these very questions: My Own Private Michigan.
As the column's title suggests, even when you move to NYC, you never entirely leave home behind. It transforms into another place, a place that stays with you.
P.S. I've met a number of Michigan transplants and they really are some of nicest people I've ever met.
Monday, April 27, 2009
John J. Marchi, RIP
A State Senator for almost 50 years, John J. Marchi was the King of Staten Island, representing his beloved borough with absolute dedication. And even though he said that he wanted Staten Island to secede from NYC, he was one of the people who helped save the city from bankruptcy in the 1970s.
He also ran for Mayor twice, beating John Lindsay in the 1969 Republican primary but losing to him in the general election (Lindsay ran as an independent/Liberal instead). He ran again in 1973 but lost to Abe Beame. That said, he never lost his love of public service and continued on until 2006.
One of the old timers, a real New York legend (although he'd probably disagree), and he will be missed.
He also ran for Mayor twice, beating John Lindsay in the 1969 Republican primary but losing to him in the general election (Lindsay ran as an independent/Liberal instead). He ran again in 1973 but lost to Abe Beame. That said, he never lost his love of public service and continued on until 2006.
One of the old timers, a real New York legend (although he'd probably disagree), and he will be missed.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Condolences to New York's Greatest Reporter
Jimmy Breslin's daughter, Kelly, dies at 44
Apparently she was having dinner with friends last week when she suddenly collapsed. Last night, after almost a week in critical condition, she passed away.
I can only imagine the grief and acute feelings of loss that Jimmy Breslin and his wife, former City Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, must be feeling right now. Losing a child must be the hardest, most excruciating experience in the world. Kelly was one of Jimmy Breslin's six children. He had another daughter who passed away in 2004 so to go through this twice must be unbearable. My heart and greatest sympathies go out to them.
Kelly's father, of course, is a legend in the New York news world. He's written for almost every paper in town, a real shoe-leather, on the beat reporter. He covered the Mob and literally has the scars to the prove it (apparently Henry Hill, he of Goodfellas fame, beat him up at the same bar where they also killed Billy Bats in the movie. Of course Henry Hill eventually went into witness protection and Jimmy got the Pulitzer Prize). Most famously Jimmy Breslin broke open the Son of Sam case back in 1977.
Apparently she was having dinner with friends last week when she suddenly collapsed. Last night, after almost a week in critical condition, she passed away.
I can only imagine the grief and acute feelings of loss that Jimmy Breslin and his wife, former City Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, must be feeling right now. Losing a child must be the hardest, most excruciating experience in the world. Kelly was one of Jimmy Breslin's six children. He had another daughter who passed away in 2004 so to go through this twice must be unbearable. My heart and greatest sympathies go out to them.
Kelly's father, of course, is a legend in the New York news world. He's written for almost every paper in town, a real shoe-leather, on the beat reporter. He covered the Mob and literally has the scars to the prove it (apparently Henry Hill, he of Goodfellas fame, beat him up at the same bar where they also killed Billy Bats in the movie. Of course Henry Hill eventually went into witness protection and Jimmy got the Pulitzer Prize). Most famously Jimmy Breslin broke open the Son of Sam case back in 1977.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Memo from NYC
Why is Dick Cheney such a giant, raging prick?
When our beloved former VP isn't busy having heart attacks or shooting people in the face, he's out there kvetching about the brand new Obama administration, criticizing its every move. As was Cheney's vice-presidency unprecedented in its power and secrecy, so now is his former VEEPiness unprecedented in its utter lack of class.
According to custom and unwritten rules of decorum, when Presidents and Vice-Presidents leave office, they clear out of DC and stay out of the news for about a year or so. Even if they do pop up in the media every now and then, at least for the first couple of years, they don't criticize their successors. They shut the hell up and let the new people do their job.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore extended Bush and Cheney this courtesy in 2001. Bush Sr. and Dan Quayle did so as well to Clinton and Gore in 1993. And to his credit, Bush Jr. has thus far been quite respectful of Obama and Biden.
Not Cheney.
Oh no.
This creep, just weeks out of office, was giving interviews saying that Obama was weakening America. Oh yes, according to his Dickiness, Obama is making us vulnerable to terrorist attacks and dragging us on the road to serfdom. We're in a lot of trouble! (so cries Dick).
Why? Because apparently Barack Obama doesn't think we should run the country and influence the world the same way Dick Cheney would. Obama thinks that the Bush/Cheney years were a miserable failure and America should go in a less reactionary, more progressive direction. And apparently, as the last election showed and the current polls show, THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS AGREE!
But what's really gotten Dick mad, what's really gotten him all angry, is that President Obama doesn't think the USA should torture people. Obama has this crazy notion that torture is morally wrong, illegal, degrades America's image in the world, and undermines our great moral authority. Not only that but experts agree that torture doesn't really work in getting info from prisoners that helps protect America. Actually, torture makes it more difficult to get good information because you can't rely on the info tortured prisoners give!
Try telling Dick that. He thinks we should torture early and often. Torture really gets Dick hard.
I have a new name for Vice-President Cheney: Torture Boy.
What a miserable, bitter, rejected, pitiable man Torture Boy is. Approaching seventy, after forty years in public life, he can't accept that America has rejected him, his party, and his worldview. Obviously it's driving him crazy and so now he's just venting, "warning" us. Consider ourselves warned Dick. Now go away.
I seriously think Dick Cheney -- out of time, out of power, out of step with America -- actually wants there to be another terrorist attack on America. I'm sure that deep down in his artificial heart, he probably prays every night that we'll get hit again. "That'll show 'em that I'm right!"
Egads.
Of course, this is a free country (despite Dick Cheney's best efforts) and our former VP has the right to say whatever the hell he wants to whoever cares to listen. After all, it's his freedom along with more than 300 million Americans that Obama works every day to secure -- even if Dick Cheney doesn't believe it.
But, as I mentioned before, he's still violating previously held rules of decorum that take place after transitions of power. Like the whiny, petulant child that he is, Cheney is showing no respect, meddling where he's doesn't belong. And like he did to our laws on torture and the office of the Vice-Presidency, it looks like Torture Boy is re-writing these other old rules as well.
When our beloved former VP isn't busy having heart attacks or shooting people in the face, he's out there kvetching about the brand new Obama administration, criticizing its every move. As was Cheney's vice-presidency unprecedented in its power and secrecy, so now is his former VEEPiness unprecedented in its utter lack of class.
According to custom and unwritten rules of decorum, when Presidents and Vice-Presidents leave office, they clear out of DC and stay out of the news for about a year or so. Even if they do pop up in the media every now and then, at least for the first couple of years, they don't criticize their successors. They shut the hell up and let the new people do their job.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore extended Bush and Cheney this courtesy in 2001. Bush Sr. and Dan Quayle did so as well to Clinton and Gore in 1993. And to his credit, Bush Jr. has thus far been quite respectful of Obama and Biden.
Not Cheney.
Oh no.
This creep, just weeks out of office, was giving interviews saying that Obama was weakening America. Oh yes, according to his Dickiness, Obama is making us vulnerable to terrorist attacks and dragging us on the road to serfdom. We're in a lot of trouble! (so cries Dick).
Why? Because apparently Barack Obama doesn't think we should run the country and influence the world the same way Dick Cheney would. Obama thinks that the Bush/Cheney years were a miserable failure and America should go in a less reactionary, more progressive direction. And apparently, as the last election showed and the current polls show, THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS AGREE!
But what's really gotten Dick mad, what's really gotten him all angry, is that President Obama doesn't think the USA should torture people. Obama has this crazy notion that torture is morally wrong, illegal, degrades America's image in the world, and undermines our great moral authority. Not only that but experts agree that torture doesn't really work in getting info from prisoners that helps protect America. Actually, torture makes it more difficult to get good information because you can't rely on the info tortured prisoners give!
Try telling Dick that. He thinks we should torture early and often. Torture really gets Dick hard.
I have a new name for Vice-President Cheney: Torture Boy.
What a miserable, bitter, rejected, pitiable man Torture Boy is. Approaching seventy, after forty years in public life, he can't accept that America has rejected him, his party, and his worldview. Obviously it's driving him crazy and so now he's just venting, "warning" us. Consider ourselves warned Dick. Now go away.
I seriously think Dick Cheney -- out of time, out of power, out of step with America -- actually wants there to be another terrorist attack on America. I'm sure that deep down in his artificial heart, he probably prays every night that we'll get hit again. "That'll show 'em that I'm right!"
Egads.
Of course, this is a free country (despite Dick Cheney's best efforts) and our former VP has the right to say whatever the hell he wants to whoever cares to listen. After all, it's his freedom along with more than 300 million Americans that Obama works every day to secure -- even if Dick Cheney doesn't believe it.
But, as I mentioned before, he's still violating previously held rules of decorum that take place after transitions of power. Like the whiny, petulant child that he is, Cheney is showing no respect, meddling where he's doesn't belong. And like he did to our laws on torture and the office of the Vice-Presidency, it looks like Torture Boy is re-writing these other old rules as well.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Mayor Bloomberg gets uppity during gay marriage press conference
Little delayed in posting this but it is funny.
Why Is this Man Smiling?
Pirate Suspect, Now in New York, Charged as Adult
Wonder if he'll be housed next to Bernie Madoff?
Seriously, if you think about it, even though he'll be in jail, this pirate probably never thought he'd go to NYC in his life -- thus the smile. Hope he got a good view of the city from the airplane because he ain't exactly gonna be taken on a tour. Maybe his cell will have a window but I doubt it.
Wonder if he'll be housed next to Bernie Madoff?
Seriously, if you think about it, even though he'll be in jail, this pirate probably never thought he'd go to NYC in his life -- thus the smile. Hope he got a good view of the city from the airplane because he ain't exactly gonna be taken on a tour. Maybe his cell will have a window but I doubt it.
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