Given his incompetence in handling the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it was surprising to many that Mayor Ray Nagin was reelected. A poster on the Huffington Post put this absurdity down to the stupidity of the New Orleans voters.
Next month, we'll see if New Yorkers will rate the same judgment. Both Mayor Bloomberg and many City Council members will be seeking reelection despite residents voting for term limits twice.
Mr. Bloomberg has arrogantly ignored their wishes and is running for his third term under the rationale that the public needs more choice in the time of an economic crisis.
Certainly he thought differently after September 11, 2001, when the city faced a much more deadly crisis and would have welcomed a third term for Mayor Giuliani. Then Mr. Bloomberg insisted that the public vote be upheld.
However, Mr. Bloomberg could only circumvent the public wishes for a third term with the cooperation of the City Council, which also had over 35 members who would be term-limited out of office.
Do New Yorkers have the gumption to vote out both the mayor and the self-serving City Council members? Mr. Bloomberg has spent $65 million to make sure they don't. So the question remains: How stupid are we?
In a fascinating American Thinker column on Sunday, "Do Not Blame Barack," Selwyn Duke compares today's voters with the ancient Romans who adored and praised Julius Caesar and rejoiced in their loss of freedom.
He quotes Marcus Tullius Cicero who wrote: "Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions .... Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.' Julius was always an ambitious villain, but he is only one man."
Campaign ads today invariably make much of the same promises that worked for Caesar and for that matter President Obama. How easy it is to seduce us with the language of deception when our powers of discernment have been dulled by lack of exercise.
I've been watching the Bloomberg television ads and reading his campaign mail and I wonder if others are asking the same question: "Mr. Mayor, you've been in office for nearly 8 years. Why haven't you addressed these problems before?" What he claims he has achieved is highly debatable.
Ask any teacher if he's really improved the public schools. The answer will be a resounding "No!" They are bogged down in filling out regulatory forms instead of teaching.
One teacher told me she feels like she's the one who has to pass the exam instead of spending her time teaching.
As for the so-called improved test scores, I've written before about how they can be faked by administrators. Just Google "testing scandals in NYC public schools" since Mr. Bloomberg took office and judge for yourself how valid his success statistics are.
Parents need to do their own homework before swallowing how well the system is since the mayor took over the School Board.
Much is made about the mayor's $1 salary and his philanthropic donations to charity.
However, the amounts given to charity coincide with his political aspirations and the fact is that in 2001, his net worth was around $4 billion and is now rumored to be between $16 and $20 billion. No wonder he wants to stay in office.
Those of us who own homes in Staten Island are less impressed with the mayor who balances his budget by raising our property, water, and sewer taxes. In addition, he's raised fines on traffic and sanitation violations that are frivolous and punitive.
I voted for the mayor when he first ran in 2001 because I believed that he had the determination to cut spending and would refuse to cave in to onerous union demands. He has done neither and the only determination he still shows is how to ruin our lives with his nanny decrees.
I've never voted for a Democrat for mayor before and I wish the GOP had not succumbed to bribery to endorse Mr. Bloomberg. All that candidate would have had to say is that he would overturn the Bloomberg nanny laws, and cut spending and taxes. Boom: GOP landslide.
As for the City Council races, how many people even know who represents their district? Out of 51 districts only three seats are held by Republicans. All three honored the wishes of the voters and voted "no" to extend term limits.
I've been told over and over again that this is a Democrat town and there's nothing we can do about it because so many mindlessly vote down the party line. What I do know is that we can use a little change around this town.
But that means we have to get off our backsides, pay attention, and vote out the incumbents who should have been kicked out through term limits. That means entertaining the possibility that more Republicans in the City Council might mean lower taxes. |
[USATODAY] Former mayor Ray Nagin, the businessman-turned-politician who became the worldwide face of the city after Hurricane Katrina, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.
Former New Orleans Mayor 
NEW ORLEANS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - City officials will order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans starting early on Sunday if Hurricane Gustav holds to its current course, New Orleans Mayor 
