United Liberty
New York
Two Democratic Candidates Talk Sense About Wall Street
Tue, 02/02/2010 - 12:06pm | posted by Michael Orion Powell
We live in weird times, and in these weird times, the truth cannot be relied on from predictable sources. Take for instance New York’s Democratic Governor David Paterson, who said:
But the candidates are couching their support in economic terms. Gov. Paterson, who is facing an uphill battle against likely rival Andrew M. Cuomo, told a group of bankers recently: “In New York, Wall Street is Main Street. … You don’t hear anybody in New England complaining about clam chowder. If you say anything about oil in Texas, they’ll string you up near the nearest tree. We need to stand behind the engine of our economy in New York, and that engine of economy is Wall Street.”
Paterson’s comments bring to my mind my experience growing up in Seattle, in which the public school system was effectively modernized with computers by Bill Gates and new stadiums and buildings, which brought in a host of new jobs and replaced the dangerous eyesore that was the Kingdome, were put into place by Gates’ fellow tech pioneer Paul Allen. Allen also turned radio station KCMU into the powerhouse that is today KEXP, a move that brought alot of early criticism, alleging that KEXP would be just another bland, commercial radio station.
Despite modernizing Seattle during the 1990s and 2000s, to the benefit of everyone living and working in the area, envy can be heard by many (but not all, of course) Seattleites simply because Gates and Allen have done well for themselves.
Can Your Twitter Account Get You Arrested?
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:30pm | posted by Brett Bittner
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my use of 140 or fewer characters could result in seeing the inside of a jail cell. For most users, use of Twitter will not result in a blemished criminal record. For those who would not know a “tweet” from a “twestival,” Twitter is a micro-blogging service that has been the subject of a lot of attention in the last 2 years, from tech-addicted geeks (like me) to the politically obsessed (again, like me) to popular culture (and, so long as it has nothing to do with reality TV, I’m into it). For some, however, relaying police location information publicly available via scanning equipment to fellow anarchists protesting the G-20 economic summit or refusing to “tweet” upon commanded has led, in my opinion, to some questionable arrests for two men in New York.
Property rights are dead in New York
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:39pm | posted by Jason Pye
The New York Court of Appeals ruled against a group of home and business owners yesterday who had sued to prevent a developer from working with political leaders in New York City to take private property to build a new arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team:
After enduring three years of delays, several lawsuits and the collapse of the real estate market, the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn took a major step forward on Tuesday when New York’s highest court ruled that the state can seize private property for the 22-acre development.
The Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 1 that the state could exercise eminent domain in claiming businesses, public property and private homes for economic development projects like Atlantic Yards. In doing so, the court backed the state’s assessment that the area in question — where some holdouts had refused to sell their property — fit the legal definition of being blighted.
The ruling also had broader implications — reaffirming New York’s use of eminent domain even as many state legislatures are seeking to curb government’s power to condemn private property.
The project’s opponents had argued that eminent domain on behalf of the private developer, Bruce C. Ratner, was improper and unconstitutional. They vowed to continue their battle, but there was no question that the cloud of uncertainty that has been hanging over Atlantic Yards for more than a year had been lifted.
NY-23: Conservatives at war over Republican nominee
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 10:31am | posted by Jason Pye
The special election for NY-23 is getting interesting. I touched on this race a couple weeks ago, noting the very unprincipled position of the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican National Committee for endorsing and spending money on Dede Scozzafava, who is easily the most statist candidate running in the race. She has been labeled as an ACORN-backing, tax-hiking, big spending liberal…and there is truth to much of that criticism. Even the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is coming to the aide of Bill Owens, is attacking her as a tax hiker and the Daily Kos is pulling for her to win.
On NY-23, The Tea Parties, And The Fact That All Politics Is Local
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 11:40am | posted by Doug Mataconis
Politico’s Alex Isenstadt notes that a special election in upstate New York is turning into an early test of whether the Tea Party movement will have any political staying power:
Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement’s political muscle.
Organizers up and down the East Coast report that activists are making their way into the campaign offices of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, with the volunteers focusing their efforts in Oswego, Madison and Jefferson counties. While tea party organizers say the election is a unique opportunity to hold the Democratic and Republican parties to account, much of their energy is being directed against Dede Scozzafava, the GOP establishment-backed nominee whom they view as a squishy moderate who represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party.
“I went here from Washington, D.C., saying, ‘Now what?’” said Jennifer Bernstone, an organizer for Central New York 912, a Syracuse-based tea party group that so far has about 300 members getting out the vote for Hoffman. “Well, here’s the ‘Now what.’”
(…)
For the tea party activists, the special election represents the next big event for the loosely confederated movement, which began earlier this year with local Tax Day “tea parties,” followed by town hall protests and a Sept. 12 March on Washington.
“I think, nationally, the tea party movement to a person is supporting Hoffman,” said Leahy.
Quote of the Day: David Paterson on taxes
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 12:21pm | posted by Jason Pye
“You heard the mantra, ‘Tax the rich, tax the rich… We’ve done that. We’ve probably lost jobs and driven people out of the state.” - Gov. David Paterson (D-NY)
H/T: NRO
Do You Live in a Free State?
Mon, 03/09/2009 - 8:12am | posted by Jason Pye
My home state of Georgia is the 17th freeist state in the country according to Freedom In The 50 States, an index of personal and economic freedom produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
We actually do really well on economic liberty- we’re rated as the sixth most free economy in the country. Unfortunately, we’re near the bottom on personal liberty.
New Hampshire is the most free (no surprise there considering the Free State Project). New York is the least free.
You can check out the full study here.
