Drill Baby Drill
I have not seen President Obama rub the Republican noses in the Drill Baby Drill theme, and if he has, it has been certainly low key. Yet, unbelievably, he is beginning to be blamed for this catastrophe.
Not so fast! It is apparent that drilling for oil or any other kind of exploratory activity in our oceans has great risks associated with it. But in searching for solutions, not only to this calamity, but towards the future, we need be careful not either to whitewash …

The New York U. S. Senate Race
I’m here at the Hilton Ryebrook Inn on the tony Metro North Line at the Democratic State Convention being run by the incomparable state chair, Jay Jacobs, and have decided not to have my name placed in nomination, though I have been accorded a more than apporpriate share of credentials, floor passes, VIP passes. I have reserved the right to circulate petitions but after fifty years in this business I do know how to count. Nonetheless, one of my principal reasons for …

Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is having a slightly difficult time on her path to confirmation as Justice of the Supreme Court, which might not be enjoyable for her, but is terrific for President Obama.

The brilliant hypocrite Newt Gingrich called for the President to withdraw her nomination while Laura Bush was extolling the idea of three women on the Supreme Court. Obama, who is at least as smart as Gingrich will not withdraw her nomination, nor will he lose it either. That would be unfortunate for Kagan …

Happy Tuesday everyone.
British Elections
Back from London safe and sound, the election turning out pretty much as I predicted. Had Gordon Brown been as perceptive as Toni Preckwinkle he’d be Prime Minister again, this time in his own right.
Because I was the houseguest of the most noble Liberal Democrat of them all, literally, and having been ‘given’ lunch (another Briticism) by one of the most credible private sector conservatives (Michael Flesch, QC) and another high ranking Lib Dem (Baroness Thomas of Walliswood), I was able to express my opinions in …

The New York Senate Race
On Saturday morning, May 1, I had the opportunity to speak to the New York State Democratic Rural Conference, an organization which represents the mainly 47 rural counties of the Empire State (yes there is more to New York than Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island).

Interestingly, the incumbent senior senator also spoke, violating a cardinal rule of not sharing a platform with an opponent. Worse, he was exceedingly gracious, extolling the virtues of competition in a democratic society and actually thanking me for my participation. …

l’ve just spent over a week in New York and wasted most of my time having fun with a fewvoters rather than trying to woo the masses. Frankly, if I could meet and win the votes of1,000 people a day between now and the primary September 14 | would amass a total ofabout 150,000 votes, enough to lose by a million. So l’m doing it differently.

On Thursday I went to a small invitation only meeting of the New York Democratic StateCommittee where all the statewide candidates were represented by their …

I don’t know where the week has gone, but it has been filled with great experiences. Yesterday I actually officially became a candidate for the U.S. Senate, filing in the office of the Secretary of the Senate. While not required, I also registered to vote from the State of New York in Speculator, New York; (actually from the next town over Lake Pleasant, the county seat) last Friday.

Hamilton County, which has the smallest population of ANY county in ANY state East of the Mississippi is bucolic to the …

During the pendency of my campaign for the U. S. Senate I shall be writing on Tuesdays. It will be a virtual pot pourri, not just including my wallowing in self esteem, but observations on all things international, national and local. (Everything is really local now.)

First of all my apologies and credit to Mitch Albom for his monumental Tuesdays with Morrie. Obviously it is a book that has tremendous relevance for me, as I have been designated as terminally ill since May 1, 2005 and given even …

Last week I went to my first AIPAC conference in Washington DC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Since the year 1955 I must have attended more than three hundred conferences, conventions, symposiums and assorted gatherings, including sixteen national political conventions (12 Democratic, 4 Republican), the 1992 UN conference on the environment in Rio, the 2010 IOC meeting in Copenhagen. But this was the most memorable and most impressive of all of them. I have to say that the others in contention were the 1956,1960 and 2008 …

I am at the stage of my life where I can do anything I want (that is legal, ethical and moral)having achieved my realistic goals. Last year I decided to engage in a controlled experiment with myself as the guinea pig. It would have entailed me spending most of my time in New York state. Therefore, when I was told that Dan Hynes was going to run for Governor (and that Lisa Madigan was not) I decided to give up my personal experiment to work hard …