Join us for an LGBT civil rights walk that is being organised by Connecting Rainbows. The walk will take place on April 24 during the 2011 Easter Parade in New York City. We need your help to create a mass movement to legally recognise LGBT civil rights.
Create profiles, form and join groups, and plan LGBT civil rights actions at our social media site at : Connecting Rainbows.
You are invited to register to participate in the LGBT civil rights demonstration that is being planned by Connecting Rainbows to take place on April 24 during the 2011 Easter Parade in New York City. We need your help to create a mass movement to legally recognise LGBT civil rights.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had a sudden outburst of anger on Wednesday by bursting into a verbal attack at Erin Einhorn, a reporter for The Daily News, who did not refer to Ms. Quinn by the courtesy title, ''Speaker.'' Instead, Ms. Einhorn had referred to Speaker Quinn as, ''Ma’am.''
“You can call me Speaker,” Ms. Quinn said in a testy tone, reported The New York Times. “It’s my press conference. I actually decide what words are necessary.”
Updated with video link ! ➔ NY1 has exclusive video of Speaker Quinn's hissy fit.
After her little temper tantrum, Speaker Quinn knew she had crossed the line, and Speaker Quinn said she was sorry. “I was nasty to you,” Ms. Quinn said to Ms. Einborn. “I apologize.”
A few weeks ago, Ms. Einhorn had reported that Speaker Quinn had had trouble paying her rent on time.
Meanwhile, Ms. Einhorn could just as easily have said, ''Deputy Mayor'' instead of, ''Ma’am.'' For all the times that Christine Quinn has gone along with all of Mayor Bloomberg's horrible plans for New York : all of the school closings and Cathie Black's controversial schools chancellor waiver ; the unequivocal insistence that more and more luxury condos and university dorms get built out of hospitals, churches, and landmark buildings ; denying us paid sick leave ; the shady way that the City Council changed term limits ; the way that Quinn will most likely deny us a living wage -- she goes along with Mayor Bloomberg rather than stand up to him.
It's almost like Christine Quinn is Mayor Bloomberg's puppet.
5 Activists Arrested Today For Blocking Traffic In Front Of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Office In Political Demonstration To Support Marriage Equality
NEW YORK - In a bid to raise political pressure on the passage of a marriage equality law in the state of New York, members of the LGBTQ activist organization Queer Rising held a series of coördinated protests in New York City, culminating in the arrest of 5 of the group's members.
A Trio of Actions for Marriage Equality from David Wallace on Vimeo.
In one phase of the protests, balloons were released inside Grand Central Station and floated up to the iconic ceiling. The balloons were attached to a large sign, which called on New Yorkers to put pressure on their government to demand marriage equality, according to a press release issued by Queer Rising.
In another phase of the protests, several activists blocked traffic near the intersection of East 41st Street and Third Avenue during rush hour ; the location was just outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. Once they blocked traffic, the activists unfurled a huge 75-foot banner that read, ''Marriage Equality NOW ! Call Cuomo : "518-474-8390 !!!'' Five members then handcuffed and chained themselves in the middle of the street. The activists, who were arrested, were identified to be : Natasha Dillon (26, lesbian activist); Kevin Donohue (51, gay Jewish activist); Melissa Kleckner (31, straight ally); Ali Lozano (20, lesbian student activist); and Robert Moore (30, gay Mormon activist).
In still yet another phase of today's protests, approximately 10 drag queens from a separate group calling itself Drag Queen Weddings for Equality organised a ''drag wedding'' at Grand Central to publicise the need for marriage equality in New York State. The drag queens then invited commuters to march in solidarity to Gov. Cuomo's office.
''Unwilling to wait any longer for equal rights and protection from the state of New York, Queer Rising is calling on all the New Yorkers to call the governor’s office and voice their support for marriage equality,'' the press release stated.
The Queer New York blog has published the text of the Queer Rising press release.
OP-ED : Update on Community Effort to Create a Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's in the Lower West Side of Manhattan
When a deal was announced for the transfer of bankruptcy assets from the 501(c)(3) charity that was St. Vincent's Hospital to the private real estate developer tycoon William Rudin at values that may not fairly represent the full market value, the bankruptcy assets transfer was hailed as a health care miracle, because it would replace the Level 1 Trauma Center that was St. Vincent's with a first aid clinic.
But just a mere examination, at first blush, of the beneficial transfer of assets to insider creditors, the jobs that it would create, and the services it would provide, show that this deal is fraught with potential legal challenges.
The transfer of St. Vincent's principal assets -- its real estate -- to the Rudin family, who has always had an ''inside track'' on condo-conversion plans -- may be fraudulent, if the transfer does not happen at full market value prices. There is also community concern that the North Shore-LIJ landlord taking over the first aid clinic is going to hire only non-union employees for the 400 jobs that are expected to be created at the first aid clinic, and that the new clinic will forbid any efforts at collective-bargaining ; presently, only approximately 36 per cent of North Shore-LIJ employees receive union benefits. The services to be provided by the first aid clinic will not be able to treat ''women in labor, patients with severe trauma such as gunshot wounds or open fractures, or those requiring immediate surgery or cardiac interventions.'' In the face of the lack of life-saving services to be provided by the first aid clinic, and even the dishonest comparison of ambulance response times between 2008 and 2009 (even though St. Vincent's closed in 2010), predictably Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn can still be ''encouraged'' by the flimsy outpatient center.
Meanwhile, here is a video of a press conference outside Friday's appellate court hearing in connection with a freedom of information lawsuit.
Why Are They Closing St. Vincent's Hospital? (Pt. 23) - Freedom of Information from g. sosa on Vimeo.
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn try to destroy the social safety net by trying to close firehouses, shut down senior citizen centers, cut childcare, layoff teachers, pretend like votes don't go missing, build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital, make money from government information, and end Progressive Era reforms, we are left to wonder. When will the focus of irresponsible real estate development at the expense of the middle class spark a voter backlash, that will lead to mass protests at the city's legislature, or a revolution of the likes that have been happening elsewhere ? What will be the spark that will trigger mass protests in New York ?
(Christine Quinn is Speaker of the New York City Council, but she has made her bed alongside Mayor Bloomberg on many controversial issues that often times she acts more and more like his Deputy Mayor than an independent voice for Democratic Party ideals.)
A cobra that had been missing for seven days from a reptile exhibit at the Bronx Zoo has been found “alive and well,” Zoo Director James J. Breheny said at a news conference today.
The Egyptian cobra was found inside a non-public area of the zoo’s Reptile House, and was in “really good condition,” Mr. Breheny is quoted as having said, The New York Times reported.
During the time that the cobra had gone missing, she had attracted tabloid media coverage, including a fake Twitter feed that had gone venomously viral and a Facebook page advocating that the cobra host ''Saturday Night Live'' (recalling the Facebook page that helped Betty White to host SNL).
Low levels of Japanese Fukushima Radiation Found in U.S. milk ; Government Says, ''Don't Worry, Be Happy!''
What is being described as ''very low levels'' of radiation in the form of radioactive Iodine-131 have been detected in milk samples from Washington state, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, but U.S. federal officials were desperate to downplay any concern over the safety of the U.S. food supply.
"Radiation is all around us in our daily lives, and these findings are a miniscule amount compared to what people experience every day," Patricia Hansen, senior scientist at the FDA, was quoted by the Associated Press. "A person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round-trip cross-country flight, watching television, and even from construction materials."
The radioactive milk sample, which was taken on only one point in time, on March 25, 2011, in Spokane, Washington, does not yet provide any long-term, conclusive results of the ongoing radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The AP report declared that the level of radiation was supposedly so small that it was ''5,000 times below levels of concern set by the FDA, including levels set for infants and children.''
Meanwhile, if radiation is being detected in milk from Washington state, how long before it is reported to be detected in other agriculture, such as apples, which Washington state is famous for growing ? How long before radiation-contaminated apples make their way into baby food, like canned apple sauce or apple juice ? (It has been widely reported that infants are extremely vulnerable to radioactive Iodine.)
Is your hair mysteriously falling out ? Is your sushi glowing in the dark ? Is your baby's first tooth falling out ? The EPA and FDA say, ''Don't worry, be happy !''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhwWzczoKbE
Do you think Mike Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and editors from The New York Post would like to join me, Norman Siegel and ACLU representatives on National Television to discuss why I was banned from The New York Post for alleged self promotion.
We can flash my comments up on the screen like referring readers to Aram Roston’s article “Inside the Secret Campaign of Mike Bloomberg” where he reports Bloomberg funneled money to Haggerty two elections in a row.
We can look at my latest on criticizing The New York Post for not following up on Sally Goldenberg’s piece “Kick Backs” which exposes Gartner’s role in “quality control” of Spherion. My question why didn’t Gartner go to the US Attorney and reported being extorted rather than go along with the 20 percent fee they were told to pay by Spherion which amounts in my book to extortion. Being that Gartner charges a steep fee like Spherion consultants they did not care as long as they billed “BigTime” on “CityTime” The Tax Payers Titanic”.
Is this why I was really banned?
Rally to Demand a Hospital to Replace St. Vincent's
Saturday, April 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.
2011-04-30 St Vincents Hospital One Year Rally Poster
Geraldine A. Ferraro, First Woman on Major Party Ticket, Dies at 75
NYTimes : Geraldine A. Ferraro, a former Conggresswoman from Queens, New York, who was nominated in 1984 to be the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate, was the first woman nominated for national office by a major political party. She died Saturday in from complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Flashback : Watch an excerpt of Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 Vice Presidential Acceptance Speech :
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn refuses to support the Living Wage Bill, just like she squashed the Paid Sick Leave Bill, because she is in bed with special interest groups that oppose the middle class.
The Poverty in America blog has exposed the reason why Speaker Christine Quinn would not endorse the Paid Sick Leave Bill and why Speaker Quinn also opposes the Living Wage Bill : both laws are being targeted for defeat by a shady anti-middle class group calling itself the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance.
The 5 Boro Chamber Alliance was formed in 2009 to take down the Paid Sick Leave Bill, and now it is reportedly organising a political campaign to defeat the Living Wage Bill.
The Poverty in America blog is worried that the Living Wage Bill will be defeated the same way as the Paid Sick Leave Bill was defeated : each were opposed by Speaker Quinn.
''Quinn's silence isn't random; she's declined to take a position on either bill because of pressure from the city's business interests. One of the main business groups that spoke out against paid sick leave was the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance, a group of chambers of congress from around the city,'' reported the Poverty in America blog.
Based on her history, more and more people are worried that we can't count on Speaker Quinn to do the right thing. ''We know what her position was on the paid sick leave bill and how mindful she has been not to cross the business community as she plans a run for mayor in 2013. Let's hope this time the speaker will think first and foremost of the well-being of the great majority of New Yorkers,'' wrote Albor Ruiz from The New York Daily News.
