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. ♦
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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 : ) ♦
James Carville, the often outspoken liberal commentator, is feeling much better about President Obama. Last week, Carville, a CNN political pundit and former lead strategist for the Clinton administration, wrote a piece on CNN saying that it is time President Obama “panic” and called on the President to fire some of his staff.
After much rebuke from other liberal leaning media outlets, Carville suddenly found favor in the President again. Appearing on Good Morning America, he expressed his pleasure in the President’s speech about raising taxes for millionaires, saying “the White House is listening.” He also said, “I think he fired his old negotiating philosophy which was a pretty good start.”
Michele Bachmann appeared on Good Morning America and was asked about Donald Trump and the whole Birther conspiracy. Mrs Bachmann answered that she thinks we should “move on, end of story.”
The Republican representative was responding to host George Stephanopoulos when he presented her with a copy of President Obama’s certificate. Mr. Stephanopoulous then went on to describe the document, saying;
It’s certified, it’s got a certification number, it’s got the registrar of the state, signed. It’s got a seal on it. And it says: ‘This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.'”
“Well, then that should settle it,” said Bachmann. She added: “That’s what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think — again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn’t, either. Introduce that, we’re done. Move on, end of story.”
So is Michele Bachmann a convert? Has she come over to the side of sanity? Of course not. Bachmann is going to use this Birther issue again in the future. She was presented with facts and placed on the spot, so she had no other choice but to admit the whole birther conspiracy was crazy, but wait… given the appropriate time, in front of the appropriate audience, Bachmann will flip.
Newt Gingrich holds the unfortunate distinction of being the first Speaker of the House to be disciplined for ethics violations while serving in that capacity during the Clinton administration. Mr. Gingrich has also been credited for helping the Republicans win back the House of Representative in November of 2010 with his 527 Group, collecting donations from unknown donors and funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates in various districts throughout the country.
Newt Gingrich
Now today Mr. Gingrich, who many believe is planning to run on the Republican ticket against President Obama in 2012, will be immortalized for having a few choice words for Sarah Palin: If you have a brain, use it to think before you talk!
Well, that’s not how he put it, but he might as well have…
Gingrich appeared today on ABC’s Good Morning America, and after host George Stephanopoulos suggested that Palin’s favorability was at an all time low according to a new Gallop poll, he was asked how she can turn things around. He answered;
“I think that she’s got to slow down and be more careful and think through what she’s saying and how’s she’s saying it. There’s no question that she has become more controversial. But she is still a phenomenon. I don’t know anybody else in American politics who can put something on twitter or put something on Facebook and automatically have it become a national story. So she remains a very formidable person in her own right.“
Yeah, right. Sarah Palin has been criticized by many on the left for her reckless incendiary language, and was even mentioned in an interview by congresswomen, Gabrielle Giffords who claimed that Palin used crosshairs to target her. Giffords, you may have heard, was shot in her head by a gunman and in the hospital in critical condition.
Given a chance to create a more civil tone, Sarah Palin instead went on to create a video where she blamed everyone from specific media groups to the public-at-large for actually creating the national negative atmosphere. She used the phrase “blood libel”, a term used to defame Jews, then on Monday did an interview on FOX NEWS, where the blaming continued.
She’s a phenomenon alright.
The poll taken after the shooting in Tucson Arizona shows Palin’s favorability rating at an all time low of 38%.
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