Former U.S. Surgeon General under Ronald Reagan, C. Everett Koop passed away Monday at 96 y.o. I always felt he was one of the most vocal, concerned SGs this country has had in a while. Bet you can’t even name our present SG. Me either. I’ll google it after I finish this little memorial…I remember when Mr.Koop first got my attention as he began regularly sporting that immaculate, crisp, white uniform and the gold-braided dark-blue uniform of a vice admiral, a practice he himself revived (I’ve always loved a man in uniform lol). I was transfixed as I watched his salt and pepper, biblical beard rapidly moving up and down as he raged against the tobacco industry during news interviews regarding his anti-smoking campaign “A Smoke-Free Society by the Year 2000″. He didn’t make any friends of the lawmakers who made big money catering to the tobacco lobbyists. He was an advocate for a strong Aids Awareness program and privacy for Aids victims, and although personally against abortion, Koop did not use his office to dictate to women, what should be their choice as to whether or not to have one. Lost a lot of Repub allies over that one too! God Speed C. Everett Koop, a man of conscience, courage and conviction. Don’t see that too much these days in political figures. ♦
The Cannibal Cop‘s got his wife crying in court over the fact that she found out he had intentions of eating her too!–and not in the fun way either. The attorneys for Gilberto Valle, 28, a New York City policeman accused of conspiring to kidnap and eventually eat women, argued in his defense saying Valle just has a little fetish and was only fantasizing, nothing to take seriously, although investigators turned up a shopping list of 100 women who he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into. Valle’s estranged wife, Kathleen Mangan testified to fleeing from their home last year after finding “disturbing material” on her hubby’s computer. I’m sure disturbing was putting it mildly. ♦
Will we begin to hear talk from the White House once again on the prosecution of Dick Cheney and GW Bush, now that’s its been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were in involved in the fabrication of the whole WOMD-War-On-Terrorism-Saddam-Hussein-was-involved-with-911-search-and-capture-of-Osama-Bin-Laden thing, thanks to Rachel Maddow‘s excellent documentary ‘Hubris’? I know one thing’s for sure. All the conspiratorial inferences and cover-up accusations aimed at Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice concerning the Benghazi incident, and the litany of bullshit condemnations, indignation and stonewalling on the part of the Republicans during Chuck Hagel‘s confirmation hearings, was just an attempt to get as much spin as possible on their ‘alternate universe conspiracies’ before ‘Hubris’ hit the fan. Guess they thought creating an atmosphere of doubt over President Obama‘s Administration would distract us from the dishonorable Bush presidency. I know the saying goes ‘nothing beats a failure but a try’…but not in this case boys. ♦
Everything you may need to start knowing about Drones: Part I
As an aircraft, the Predator UAV is little more than a super-fancy remote-controlled plane. But this simple design lends itself well to the Predator’s intended functions. Below you can see the placement of components:
‘Argo’ won Best Picture at the The Oscars.Really? I just heard of the dang movie–what–a few weeks ago? The film is based on writer, Joshuah Bearman’s 2007 article in Wired: “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran”, written after the records were declassified. Seems intriguing enough, but I haven’t seen it. In fact, out of the 9 nominees for best pictures, I’ve only seen 1, wanted to see 4 others, never heard of 2, and was totally uninterested in 2…so I’m not even trying to do a review lol. Over the years my interest in Oscar winners has narrowed down to what producer(s) won Best Movie (Who are the guys that have big money or get big money to make big films?), who wins Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jennifer Lawrence ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. Didn’t see it but liked her in ‘ The Hunger Games’) and who gets Best Actor in a Leading Role, (Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Lincoln”— the one movie I did see and enjoyed btw.) After that, I’m bored stupid. So…thats it! ♦
Turkish police are now looking for the man they suspect killed 33 y.o. New Yorker, Sarai Sierra. She was a tourist visiting alone in Turkey and was found dead on February 2, her body found near some ancient stone walls in Istanbul. Identified only as “Ziya T” police are looking for the suspect in his hometown in the southern province of Hatay where he has some family. May justice be swift and merciless! I see that her family is selling her photographs online on a website called Instacanvas to help support her two sons, ages 9 and 11. According to a family friend, Marjorie Ryan, the money was originally intended to pay for Sierra’s funeral services, but “the funeral home has now agreed to take on the costs.” she said. Turkish Airlines is also transporting her body home for free. That should ease Sarai’s soul just a bit. ♦
Linor Abargil is an Israeli national, who was crowned Miss World in 1998 just two months after she was kidnapped and raped in Italy at 18 y.o. Her story is documented in a film called, “Brave Miss World”, director by the daughter of the great actor Gregory Peck‘s (Remember ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’?), Cecilia Peck. Now as a global advocate in the fight against sexual violence, Abargil is on a mission to reach out to fellow survivors spending the last three years traveling the world talking about what happened to her, and urging others to speak. On her blog page Linor Speaks Out, Abargil explains,
“The only way we can help each other and make a change in our society is by telling our stories.”
The amazing survival stories are as horrifying as any war torn hero’s experience you may have heard and are hard to listen to. However, once you get through them, you feel strengthened and comforted by these women and young girl’s strength and will to survive. And there will be crying. ♦
‘scroo-gleverb: 1. The process of Google going through every Gmail that’s sent or received by you and to you, looking for keywords in which to target you with paid ads’
And there’s no way to opt out of this invasion of your privacy, other than to not use Google as your search engine, of course.
“There is what I call the creepy line. The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” says Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.
Admitting to it only makes it even more creepier, Mr. Schmidt.
See, what Google Gmail apparently does is use the system it has to scan your email in order to identify spam or viruses, to also pickup on keywords in your mail to show ads that may or may not be relevant to you. Umm–anyone the least bit surprised by this, please raise your hand. Did your Mama not tell you that there ain’t nothing free in this world chile’? Microsoft’s Outlook.com’s advertising attempts to differentiate itself from Google with ads claiming they’d never go through your email to sell ads. No word yet on exactly how they plan to get around that statement. ♦
Chilean-born, New York-based writer, photographer Camilo Jose Vergara has been travelling across the US since 1970, photo documenting street portraits of Dr. Martin Luther King jr.
Having discovered the many hand painted murals done by local artists on neighborhood walls of car repair shops, alleyways, barbershop and the like, Vargas noticed a consistent theme of this this folk art whether it be in a Latino, Native American or Asian neighborhood,
“Over time I became interested in learning why these images are so pervasive. I feel that they reflect a significant cultural phenomenon: the rise of Dr. King as a central moral figure in poor neighborhoods, and his elevation to secular sainthood as the savior of dispossessed African Americans. His varied representations, often based on photographs taken from the national media, express poor people’s perceptions.” Camilo Vergara
Photographer Camilo Jose Vergara interviewed by NPR
So you know you can’t complete your celebration of Black History Month without first paying a visit to the famed African Slave Burial Ground Memorial in NYC. In May of 1991 the burial ground, widely acknowledged as one of the most significant American archeological finds of the twentieth century, was discovered in lower Manhattan during construction for a municipal building. The discovery significantly raised public awareness of colonial African heritage in the area. For instance, I’ve learned that New York had more enslaved Africans than any other port north of the Caribbean except Charleston, South Carolina. With nearly two decades dedicated to documenting and interpreting data from the site, in October of 2003 the remains of 419 individuals excavated from the site were reinterred during a ceremony called the Rites of Ancestral Return. Followed by a series of events and ceremonies honoring the dead, and the grounds being named a national monument, actvities culminated in the 2007 unveiling of a permanent on-site memorial. Dr. Michael L. Blakey, a physical anthropologist now at William & Mary College, was the scientific director of the African Burial Ground Project. He said of the unveiling,
“It was a good day. I certainly felt that I was nearing the end of a very long, difficult journey with the African Burial Ground that brought me and all of the other researchers very close to the individual and collective stories of the people whose remains we were there to bury. It also brought us close to people in all walks of life who shared that journey with us.”
And yes, the admission is free, like many National Parks are. Our tax dollars at work for something we know is worthwhile for a change. ♦
News Flash: in the event of a Sequester, your air travel holiday plans may be seriously interrupted! We can all agree that the whole air travel experience these days is no picnic, and outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says it could get worse if the sequester isn’t averted. If Republicans don’t get back to the negotiating table to hammer out a deal, the proposed cuts indicated in the plan will eliminate $600 million from the Federal Aviation Administration resulting in more than 100 air traffic control towers closing down. Expect more delays, cuts in service, cancelled flights and waiting in lines longer than the distance to the sunny tranquil beaches you’re trying to get too. Once again President Obama reached out to Sen. Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday, to try and stress the need to continue negotiations, but as usual, his calls went unheeded. Better start calling your congressman ASAP pilgrims. ♦
Want to know what the GOP’s latest attempt to take back women is? Welcome to hashtag #LiberalTips2AvoidRape on Twitter created by conservative mystery blogger SooperMexican. See, it all started with first-term Democrat, Joe Salazar, who, when debating a bill on banning gun-toting students on college campuses, was presented with a counter argument that women could use guns to defend themselves from possible rapists. Salazar’s response was,
That’s why “we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. Because you don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop a round at somebody.”
I can see how he made himself an open target with that statement, can’t you? In enters SooperMexican, who wishing to remain anonymous, said in a telephone interview that he thought what Salazar said was condescending to women and responded with this one tweet under the hashtag which got the proverbial ball rolling,
Conservatives jumped all over it and within 24 hours the hashtag racked up 25,000 tweets! Here’s just a slice of some of the responses…
This past Monday, Salazar issued a formal apology for his statement saying,
“I deeply apologize for how people have taken the statement. It’s not reflective of the point I wanted to make. I certainly know that women know how to defend themselves and know how to discern a threat. I was trying to explain that more guns on campus doesn’t mean that campuses are any safer. I used a really bad example and I apologize for it.”
Ok. Now disappear for a while Joe. ♦
Our favorite FLOTUS here at Ezkool.com, Michelle Obama, appeared on the zany ‘Jimmy Fallon Show’ last night! Along with the madcap skits, Jimmy did take time out to put a serious question to The Lady,
“What fresh new hell is this?” you’re probably wondering. Would you believe its a math homework assignment that was to be given out to kids in the fourth grade at NYC school P.S. 59? It would have been, if not for the conscientiousness of student teacher Aziza Harding, who was told by the teacher in-charge of the class to hand out the assignment but couldn’t bring herself to do so. Ms.Harding reported the teacher’s assignment to one of her professors at NYU, where she’s a graduate student. He swiftly brought it to the attention of the school’s principal who wrote back saying she was ‘appalled’ and after that things went really viral. The Department of Education released this statement,
“This is obviously unacceptable and we will take appropriate disciplinary action against these teachers. The Chancellor spoke to the principal, and she has already taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
And upon hearing the story on the news, State Senator Simcha Felder, who is the chairman of the New York City Education Sub-Committee, emailed this statement,
“While the city, state and unions are busy haggling over teacher evaluations, New York City’s students are being subjected to reprehensible and irresponsible educational materials. I am calling for the immediate removal of these two (?) teachers.”
FYI: No word yet on the name of the teacher! They probably have her in hiding for her own safety. ♦
Which leads to my next story…
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, failed to reach a deal on a new system for evaluating 75,000 public school teachers, putting the city in danger of losing out on $450 million in state and federal money along with raising the possibility of cuts to staff and programs. The mayor boo-hooed about how tragic this impass was for public school children and Mulgrew is now mumbling under his breathe about a strike. WTF! The teachers’ union has been working without a contract since just before Mr. Bloomberg hijacked…oh, excuse me, I meant was reelected in 2009, a campaign in which the union declined to endorse a candidate (ie: not Bloomberg). The UFT are hoping for a more friendly administration next year, and are being heavily courted by several Democratic candidates for mayor. A professor of political science at Hunter College, Kenneth S. Sherrill says this:
“The fact of the matter is that as long as a Democrat wins, the union is better off, and I think that holds for all public employees. There is a long tradition of this.”
An endorsement for a Democrat if I ever heard one. To be continued…♦
So, some researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine think they’ve come up with biological evidence supporting the idea that women talk more than men. The assertion is that the average woman speaks about 20,000 words a day, while the average man manages gets in about 7,000 words in between women flapping their gums.The new study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience says that women have a higher level of some protein in our brains called, get this — FOXP2, nicknamed the “language protein.” Bunk all that I say! You wanna know the real reason why women talk almost 3x as much as men? Because the first two times we try to tell you something you’re not listening. See…, you guys aren’t even listening now! Thar’s one… ♦
I love it when the ‘wave of the future’ comes splashing right up to my wiggling toes! Today it comes in the form of a company called SkyVegetables, headed by CEO Bob Fireman. Based on a simple concept utilizing otherwise wasted space on big rooftops to grow fresh vegtables, it can be utilized on supermarkets, schools, public housing, anywhere there’s a roof and a need for easy access to fresh, wholesome food. Rooftopm farms are self sustaining, complexes using solar energy, rainwater catchment, wind turbines and living-machine style aquaponics, all functioning 24/7, 365 days a year in all weather conditions. Affordable housing developer Les Bluestone has taken this concept one step further by incorporating affordable housing and sustainable living sky farms with the newly built Bronx, NYC residence called Arbor House. The nearly $38 million housing complex has 124 units of affordable housing and will feature a hydroponic rooftop farm for growing fresh vegetables. Fireman says,
“Local, fresh, nutritious food is what the people of the cities need. And there is no reason why we can’t turn all of these rooftops into living farms.”
So over the last few weeks, the Harlem Shake dance has been played and replayed over and a over again, each time with a new interpretation of what this sacred dance really is. So the next obvious move was to contact the experts. To go to the place where the dance got its name – Harlem New York.
Now these people know about the Harlem Shake, and from their reaction, this new dance crave sweeping the nation is not even close to what the real Harlem Shake is.
It’s a resume bar… you know, like a chocolate bar. But your resume bar will come with nutritional facts and ingredients specific to your experience and education, detailing how much of each ingredient you (your resume bar) have.
“THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HILL-ARYS!” No need to worry about Hillary Clinton and how she’ll make ends meet after quitting her day job. Her gig as Secretary of State segues right into a career in the public speaker circuit where its estimated she could pull in anywhere from $250,000 to $750, 000 a pop! Considered one of the most admired people in the world, Hillary can parlay this into a pretty nifty retirement package if she plays her cards right. Then, who needs the white house in 2016? ♦
Its on record that John Boehner and his bunch approved of the sequester idea, if they and Democrats didn’t come up with a budget plan for the first fiscal period of 2013. They approved of it! Now, Boehner is going around saying that ‘No, I didn’t approve a sequester because’ quote, ” …it threatens US national security, thousands of jobs and more” and is bad, bad, bad! So what part of “on record” doesn’t he get? He now wants the record to show that he and the GOP will allow the $1.2 trillion sequester cuts to go into effect unless President Obama and Democrats agree to make some deep cuts to entitlement programs. Highly unlikely JB. If Boehner thinks the blame for the activation of the automatic cuts, which can go into effect in 9 short days, will be placed on the President’s head, then either he and his party were not paying attention to who won the election for POTUS this past November or they’re certified members of the walking dead, in which case they’ll be excused for not knowing who won on accounta them being brain-dead and all. In this late stage of the game, Republicans are trying to drag the country back to square one. In-sane. ♦
The Independent Party has selected Adolfo Carrion, the former borough president of the Bronx, as their candidate for mayor. Formally a Democrat and member of the Obama Administration, Carrion now has an official spot on the ballot this fall as an Independent. His strategy, he says, will be to target NYers who aren’t Democrats or Republicans and who suffer from voter apathy, having never voted at all. Carrion says that less than 30% of the electorate actually shows up to vote. Pull that one off my friend and I guarantee you, there will be a spot for you in the White House! Adolfo Carrion joins the ranks ofMichael Bloomberg, George Pataki, Andrew Cuomo, Eric Schneiderman, Kirsten Gillibrand, all successful switch hitters to the Independent Party. ♦
A new play at the Lincoln Center, writtenby Kirsten Greenidge (Bossa Nova, Milk Like Sugar),“Luck of The Irish” chronicles an upwardly mobile African-American couple who want to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood of 1950’s Boston, but due to that wonderful era in America’s history, black folks realized that their brown faces automatically made them ineligible to buy homes in certain parts of the country. The couple hatch a scheme to pay a struggling Irish family to “ghost-buy” a house on their behalf in order to get their piece of the American Dream. Ms Greenidge writes:
“Ghost buying was how my grandparents bought their house in a predominantly white town in the 1950s. The American dream is that you should be able to provide a home for your family. But often, if you are ‘other’ – poor, of color, what-have-you – there are forces conspiring against you. I am more than slightly obsessed with recognizing how race and class intersect – and they always do in America.” -Kirsten Greenidge
This historically went on quite often and was still risky business once the family showed up at their new home with a moving van. Aaahh, what people wouldn’t do for liberty, freedom and justice for all, huh? Anyway, fifty years later it backfires, and the Irish family wants “their” house back. Wow! One of stars of the show is Victor Williams who plays Deacon Palmer, Doug Heffernan friend on the tv show “Kings of Queens” (I love that show. ) Tickets for “Luck of The Irish” are on sale now so support an indie and go check it out.♦
Besides being quite possibly the kindest sign of the zodiac, Pisces are dreamy, mysterious, and very endearing to all who meet them. There’s something of an otherworldly, indescribable quality to them that tends to attract others. While submissive Pisces will get along with most people, they definitely appreciate certain personalities more than others.
Open up to your Pisces friend or acquaintance without any fear or holding anything back. Pisces is a very emotional and intuitive sign and has a knack for being able to sympathize and understand where others are coming from. If you are already close, this is the obvious choice when deciding who to go to for a shoulder to lean on (or to cry on.)
Protect him from individuals who might try to manipulate him or take advantage of him. A Pisces has a very hard time spotting those who might have negative or selfish intentions because they are naive and off in their own dream worlds. They don’t always understand the harsh, cold realities of the real world. Therefore, it’s a smart idea to watch their backs and bring such situations or people to their attention.
Give your Pisces friend a jump-start if you notice her falling into a state of laziness or apathy. Because they are so creative and artistic, they loathe the concept of demanding assignments and the grueling monotony of the 9 to 5 existence. Nevertheless, avoiding these things is obviously not good for them. Sometimes they just need a little reminder to get them moving.
Make sure you don’t let your friend spiral into a pattern of escapism. This can manifest in many forms, but it often shows up as disappearing into novels, video games, alcohol, or drug abuse for long periods of time. While indulging in these activities can be healthy to some extent, Pisces has a habit of becoming addicted to things that let them escape from this reality. This can have disastrous results on all areas of their lives. If necessary, unplug the Wii or take the bottle away.
Return all of the good deeds and favors that your friend offers you. Pisces is eternally giving and selfless by nature, and rarely asks for anything in return. This too often leads to them not getting as much back. To be a truly good friend to a Pisces, offer her the same amount of support that she has given to you.
The science behind 350.org can be found in their mission statement which reads:
“350 means climate safety. To preserve our planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current level of 392 parts per million to below 350 ppm. But 350 is more than a number—it’s a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.”
Last September they organized “Moving Planet” — a massive day of action to find alternatives to fossil fuels. They also credit themselves with helping lead the campaign to stop the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline from happening.
The grassroots organization thinks they can turn the tide on the climate crisisby establishing an international movement that forces world leaders to be accountable for the damage and responsible for finding environmentally friendly solutions to reduce the harmful effects of pollution. Sounds like a noble, worthy cause, doesn’t it? Well, Donor’s Trust doesn’t.
The think–tank spends an inordinate amount of money and time trying discredit the science behind climate change. Their mission statement reads a bit differently:
“Explicitly devoted to supporting organizations that promote liberty, Donors Trust alone can commit to honor and defend the charitable intent of donors who share in our mission. The Trust is working to help alleviate, through education, research, and private initiative, society’s most pervasive and radical needs, including those relating to social welfare, health, the environment, economics, governance, foreign relations, and arts and culture; and to encourage philanthropy and individual giving and responsibility, as opposed to governmental involvement, as an answer to society’s needs.”
Pretty much the opposite of 350, Donors Trust’s rich, conservative, anonymous ‘well-doers‘, prefer to fund such groups as The Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, which runs the website Climate Depot, created exclusively to attack environmentalists and scientist who take on global warming. Well, a wisewoman once said, “You’ll never realize the good that you do, until a negative force attempts to suppress you.”
Okay, I said it, but its still a good saying. Carry on 350. ♦
In his State of the Borough address on Tuesday, Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz touted what he says is the climatic change in economic progress happening in that borough right now. Affectionately called Da Bronx by some New Yorkers, this area of NYC has had its share of bad raps–some deservedly, some not–with high crime, suspicious firebombings of real estate property and an overall badass-itude ( use to live up by the Grand Concourse on Morris Avenue. Street cred for real lol!). But Diaz says the borough,which saw more than $1.7 billion in new investments last year, is taking a turn for the better, lowering its crime rate and welcoming a number of large-scale projects, from new housing to an indoor mall to a Marriott Hotel, the first brand name hotel in the borough.
In the area of education, Diaz is pushing to build a six-year high school that he hopes will give young people who graduate a boost in getting high-paying science and tech jobs. Assuring that there will be even more progress to report at the next State of the Borough address, Diaz also let it be known that he plans to run for re-election. He’d get my vote! ♦
I want to start a campaign to bring Byron Allen‘s now defunct ‘Comics Unleashed’ to prime time television! Airing back in 2006, each show featured five hilarious (most times) comedians discussing everything from pop culture to entertainment, ad-lib! Caught the show at 3am this morning and had to stifle my laughs before my neighbors called the cops on me. Too. funny! Check out the segment I caught last night (excuse the bad audio) which originally aired… I-don’t-know-when lol!: ♦
The Hurry Cane (that name is definitely cute). You’ve seen the commercial on tv with the even cuter senior citizens exalting how this magic stick has enriched their lives, all within the time it takes for the fold up cane to be removed from the pocketbook and expanded to a full size stand-alone support apparatus. Hope there’s no hidden dangers or drawbacks in the thing because I intend to buy two or three of them and sock them away for my impending ‘Golden Years’–you know, just in case the whole “I-intend-to-stay-healthy-and-strong-til-the-day-I-die” thing doesn’t work out. Best to get one now just in case they disappear off the market like the Today’s SpongeContraceptive. I’m still investigating that btw. Best damn contraception ever created in my opinion. ♦
NYC public school bus drivers of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, serving the largest school district in the nation, will be reporting back to work from their strike Wednesday just in time for the kids to return to school after mid-winter recess. Drivers for non-public schools will start Tuesday. All in all the city spent about $20.6 million in transit cards, taxis and gas for tens 0f thousands of kids to get to school during the month long bus strike, but saved an estimated $80 million by not having to pay bus companies during the strike, which started over the bus drivers’ job protection issues. So don’t cry for the City, Argentina.
Union leaders took heart over a letter written by five Democrats – City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Comptroller John Liu, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson and former Councilman Sal Albanese – all vying for the mayoral seat after Bloomberg vacates, asking them to return to work proming to revisit the job security issue if any of them are elected. That’s a big “IF”. ♦
How many tragic space heater fires have to occur before authorities crack the whip on landlords who refuse to provide heat for their tenants during the winter? Space heaters accounted for 32% of home heating fires and 80% of home heating fire deaths. What should you do if your landlord does not supply appropriate heat for the winter months for which they are obligated? According to the HPD, the following:
1. Contact your landlord, managing agent, or super to report the problem. If you’re not sure whom to call, check your lease for a name and contact number.
2. File a complaint with the City’s Citizen Service Center by calling 311. The Center will take the following action to get the heating problem resolved:
3. The Center will try on your behalf to contact the landlord or managing agent to get the heat working properly.
4. If not successful, then the Center will send one of its own housing inspectors to your apartment. The Center won’t inform the landlord of the time of inspection. The inspector will issue violations to the landlord if he determines heat is lacking. If the inspector determines that the heating problem isn’t limited to your apartment, he or she may issue a building-wide violation.
5. If, after receiving violations, the landlord doesn’t fix the problem, HPD’s Emergency Repair Program may use in-house staff and/or outside contractors to perform needed repairs to restore the heat and/or hot water. The cost of these repairs will be charged to the landlord, not to you.
GOOD LUCK! ♦
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President Obama is pushing for more vigorous enforcement ofthe Voting Rights Act following the even more vigorous attempt by the Republican Party to disenfranchise voters during the primaries back in November 2012. The, now universal, symbol for the attempted disenfranchisement, 102 y.o. Desiline Victor from Miami, Florida, who stood in line for three hours and made two trips to the polls in order to vote last November, was honored by the President during his State of the Union Address last Tuesday for her inspiring efforts.
The fear is that a conservative ruling will strike down one of the core elements of the landmark 1965 law, the 15th amendment, that guarantees African Americans and other minorities the right to vote. Looks like the Tea Party is getting the South to do their dirty work for them. ♦
;
And WELCOME BACK ROBIN ROBERTS!
At five months to the day after receiving a bone marrow transplant, Robin Roberts will be back on the Good Morning America anchor desk Wednesday morning. And she’ll be making a lot of folks very uncomfortable.
Not because she’ll be sporting her post-surgery baldie, offset with impeccable studio make-up; or that she’ll refuse to allow anyone to pity her or offer up condolences on her condition; or that her disposition will not be one of resignation or victimization.
She’ll be unnerving a lot of people because she’ll have that almost blinding, power-filled aura of a woman who has consistently looked that SOB Death in its face and sang, “I a m tell-in’ youuuu, I’M NOT GOIN’!!!” (yeah, the Dream Girls song : ) ♦
Cold as a witch’s tit in New York today, 18 degrees! And since it’s a federal holiday, practically everything is closed so no need to go outside…that’s my excuse and I’m standing behind it…
President Obama has declared a presidential proclamation citing February 2013 National Black History Month, commemorating and honoring the 50th Anniversary of The March On Washington. The groundbreaking march solidified the cause for justice and civil rights in the hearts and minds of all the brave folks who were a part of it.
“In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr. from his “I Have A Dream” speech during the 1963 March On Washington. ♦
The ever-kool, Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is demanding an apology from NRA hell raiser Wayne LaPierre for comments he made last week in an editorial for The Daily Caller about Super Storm Sandy giving Brooklynites an open invitation to pillage and plunder, reiterating his call for more gun ownership:
“We saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn . . . And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not be home at all.”
But Congressman Jeffries begs to differ:
“There’s reality, and then there’s Wayne’s world. In Wayne’s world facts apparently don’t matter. The reality is that the in week after Super Storm Sandy hit, crime went down.”
“Wayne’s world”… lol! So far, no word on that apology, and I wouldn’t hold my breath either Hakeem. ♦
On Sunday Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called for the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. House Republican lawmakers opposed revisions to the bill back in October 2011 because it had the nerve to suggest its expansion to include LGBT and Native American victims of domestic violence as well. House Republicans just can’t wait to be kicked out next year, can they? The VAWA presently funds programs for domestic violence victims. Is there really a need to emphasize ALL victims of domestic violence, you numbnuts!? ♦
Mayor Bloomberg is pissed about the rising incidents of iPhone thefts marring his record of NYC’s low murder rate in 2012. The free weekly paper, The Brooklyn Paper, chronicled iPhone thefts in the 35 neighborhoods it covers, and its police blotter recorded an increase in Apple product thefts by 3,890, with some of thefts resulting in its owner being killed. My advice on avoiding iPhone theft? Put the ish away and read a paper! ♦
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