21 Articles

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Atlantic Yards, Shadow Government, and Albany Frozen in Amber
The big chill of eminent domain abuse is challenged in the highest court in New York. The case is Goldstein et al v. New York State Urban Development Corporation-- aka Empire State Development (ESD). Godzilla of the state's quasi-private Shadow Government. Meanwhile, revitalization in Albany continues as usual...

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
April Daye, Lady of Burlesque/Hope Diamond, Jersey City Deputy Mayor?
As anybody who spends time muckraking can tell you, pursuing stories about political corruption can take you to some passing strange places. Particularly in New Jersey...

Friday, September 25, 2009
Abbie Hoffman's Contrarian Shoes
Abbie Hoffman was master of the culture jam. Whacking the establishment with its own wack. I interviewed Abbie in 1981. He told me all about his contrarian shoes. Now folks in other ideological places are doing the jam...

Monday, August 10, 2009
Fish For Obama My Precious
Ahoy President Obama! I hear you want folks to send you any fishy emails they receive about your health care reform plan. (Whatever the heck it is.) So I'm enclosing the ones I've received. Not all the messages diss your plan, but all are pretty fishy...

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Jersey City Dreaming: Bullets, Bribes, and Unreal Real Estate
Summer bloody summer boils over behind Jersey City's Gold Coast. A deadly shootout erupts in Smack Alley and the Feds sting pols greasing wheels for developers. Jersey City once had a case of corruption-- till the new improved U.S. Housing Mission turned it into an epidemic.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Life, Inc: Tripping the Corporatism Fantastic with Douglas Rushkoff
(1 comments) Spoiler alert for the last few folks who take Alan Greenspan seriously-- don't read chapter two of Douglas Rushkoff's new book Life, Inc. The scene where Greenspan addresses attendees of the 2008 Wealth Expo in New York City via satellite is pure twisted comedy.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Obama Montana and the Morbidly Obese VAT Tax
Whew. President Obama's first 100 days are done. Ditch the give-him-a-break and those holy magazine pics. Hey-- didya hear? Obama and Hannah Montana are king and queen of the Wal-Mart prom! But Sam's choice chow can't top Spam. Sales are surging. Just another green shoot in the Obama guided economy. Despite rumors, the Marquis de Sade didn't ghost write the phrase "100 Days of Stimulus." [humor/satire]

Friday, May 8, 2009
Arlen Specter Zelig, America's Unsung Pulp Star
For 45 years Arlen Specter has appeared at critical points in lurid national dramas, skipping from part to part like a pulp fiction Zelig.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Hoboken Tax Revolt: BYO Tar & Feathers
(1 comments) In early March the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey was tarred and feathered by a mob of city residents enraged by a gigantic property tax increase. April Fool late! Twas only an effigy of Mayor Dave Roberts that got the T & F treatment. Still, it's the thought that counts. On May 12th, a mayoral election will be held. Roberts won't be

Saturday, February 7, 2009
Stimulus IBM Style: Take the Jack, Ship out the Back
(6 comments) IBM CEO Sam Palmisano knows good stimulus! Tech infrastructure projects will "reignite growth" and "create jobs". Meanwhile back at assorted IBM ranches, workers are being fired. No need to fret. IBM has Project Match. The Big Blue Foreign Legion...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Alice in Mail Art Land/Traveling Light with a Pinhole Camera
(1 comments) January 27th is/was Rabbit Hole Day. Birthday of Lewis Carroll. For those lost in uffish thought of slithy pols, Carroll is a beacon of better. Time to leave town on the Alice Express, in the car marked "Mail Art". All aboard for the Pinhole Parcel Project...

Monday, January 12, 2009
Like New Jersey Corruption, Stimulus is Forever
Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey wants a special $1 trillion stimulus for states. Taxpayers need not fear; twill only for last 2 years. Those who know Jersey know better. Once federal funds start passing through corrupt hands, need never dies. Stimulus is forever baby!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Shovel Ready Xmas/Gifting Our Public Servants (humor)
Get off the stick consumers. Tis way past time to do your patriotic part to bolster the economy. Not enough names on your gift list? Super size it with public servants. Now you're spending like an eggnog addled sailor!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Might Makes Blight: Eminent Domain v. Free Speech in Clarksville, Tennessee
Hop the last train to Clarksville, Tennessee. Where Mayor Johnny Piper, the Downtown District Partnership, and the Clarksville City Council have a blight pretty plan to seize other people's land. So private developers can "maximize the potential". Home owners and small businesses in Blightville object. They say bad things in newspaper ads. "Libel" scream the pols/developers.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Nightmare on Election Street
(2 comments) Hit the road Halloween. For those who loathe politicians (count me in) there's no more horrific time than the final days of a presidential race.

Monday, October 13, 2008
Obama McCain: A Man For This Season
(4 comments) Evil omens re the economy hath melded Obama and McCain into one man, living in the cramped quarters of one craven political soul.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Big Bailout Circus
The Big Bailout Circus has the nation in stitches. Taxpayers are being sewn into a skin-tight forever suit by an amazingly bipartisan group of government clowns. But despite the agreement about the need for a slap dash redo of the U.S. financial system-- and by extension our political system-- the designing bozos disagree about details. And none can resist an occasional hit of the rubber chicken...

Saturday, September 13, 2008
Explicit Fannie & Freddie: Taxpayers Tote Load, China Heaves Sigh of Relief
(6 comments) Is there some way out of here, said the taxpayer to the thieves...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Obama Parts the Sea, Cuomo Heeds the Community, Cynics March on DC
Obama and company on the national stage and local machine pols in Albany, New York share a common theme; cynicism about government.

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Bloody Toto Guilty of Mortgage Fraud
(2 comments) Go Brooklyn. A jury in that fair borough has found Emmanuel "Toto" Constant and grand larceny. Emmanuel Constant is the former founder and leader of FRAPH, the Haitian paramilitary group that in the early 90's, systematically tortured and murdered thousands of supporters of deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Albany Show/See Bruno Go/Did Spitzer Know?
(1 comments) New York's ex-Governor Eliot Spitzer must be kicking himself round his Manhattan real estate office. If Spitz had played his cards sharper he could be in Albany watching state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno take flight from the capital sans state-owned helicopter.