Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Salon's pointing to signs the draft might be coming back, citing the Pentagon's push to fill Selective Service Board vacancies.
(If you're like me, and you think it'd be high-larious to be on a draft board, but, unlike me, you don't mind calling the Pentagon's attention to yourself, you can click here to volunteer.)
No response from the White House or Defense yet.
BBC story here.
(If you're like me, and you think it'd be high-larious to be on a draft board, but, unlike me, you don't mind calling the Pentagon's attention to yourself, you can click here to volunteer.)
No response from the White House or Defense yet.
BBC story here.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Apparently Governor Pataki is pushing Yonkers Mayor John Spencer to run for Charles Schumer's Senate seat.
We'll hear a lot about how Spencer fathered two children with his chief of staff while he was still married to another woman; but, hey, he's a strict anti-abortionist, so what was he supposed to do with the little buggers?
But here are some fun Journal News stories about Spencer:
October 16, 2002:
YONKERS - The city's Ethics Board yesterday ruled Mayor John Spencer didn't abuse his power by placing relatives on the municipal payroll and that the mayor's personal relationship with his chief of staff doesn't violate the local ethics code.
. . . [attorney John] Murtagh alleged in a five-page complaint to the board that the mayor and his chief of staff, Kathy Spring, used their roles in government to secure jobs for at least 16 of their "relatives," many on the city payroll.
"There is no rule (in the city's ethics code) prohibiting the mayor from hiring someone he knows," the board wrote.
Murtagh, a longtime Spencer adversary, said the decision didn't surprise him, considering Spencer "hand-picked" the ethics board.
HEADLINE: Spencer wants to relocate low-income residents
6/21/02
YONKERS - In an attempt to settle the city's longstanding housing desegregation case, Mayor John Spencer wants to raze public-housing complexes throughout southwest Yonkers and then relocate the thousands of people living there to new housing to be built throughout Westchester County . . .
. . . "We are looking to take antiquated, low-income, high-density housing, blow it up and give people a choice of where they want to live, and in new housing," Spencer said. "They would have the choice of staying in southwest Yonkers, relocating to another part of the city or somewhere else in Westchester."
[This stems from a long, recently-settled battle between the NAACP and the City of Yonkers; the federal gov't and the NAACP sued Yonkers for purposefully segregating public housing, and thereby, public schooling. Good NYT summary here]
HEADLINE: Spencer inspires resentment in poor neighborhoods
3/19/00
Yonkers' popular mayor isn't nearly as popular in the city's poorest neighborhoods, spreading out from the steep stone steps of Yonkers City Hall.
While John Spencer does have some support in the city's predominantly black and Hispanic southwest corner, many community activists say he does not give residents there equal attention.
'' We have been ignored, '' said Lisa Best, president of the Yonkers Community Action Program's board of directors. . . . ''If I had a tape of every time (Director of Public Relations and Community Affairs) Richard Halevy came to one of our get-togethers and said the mayor had the flu, '' she said. '' The man must be the sickest person I know. I guess he's got the 'black flu.' ''
We'll hear a lot about how Spencer fathered two children with his chief of staff while he was still married to another woman; but, hey, he's a strict anti-abortionist, so what was he supposed to do with the little buggers?
But here are some fun Journal News stories about Spencer:
October 16, 2002:
YONKERS - The city's Ethics Board yesterday ruled Mayor John Spencer didn't abuse his power by placing relatives on the municipal payroll and that the mayor's personal relationship with his chief of staff doesn't violate the local ethics code.
. . . [attorney John] Murtagh alleged in a five-page complaint to the board that the mayor and his chief of staff, Kathy Spring, used their roles in government to secure jobs for at least 16 of their "relatives," many on the city payroll.
"There is no rule (in the city's ethics code) prohibiting the mayor from hiring someone he knows," the board wrote.
Murtagh, a longtime Spencer adversary, said the decision didn't surprise him, considering Spencer "hand-picked" the ethics board.
HEADLINE: Spencer wants to relocate low-income residents
6/21/02
YONKERS - In an attempt to settle the city's longstanding housing desegregation case, Mayor John Spencer wants to raze public-housing complexes throughout southwest Yonkers and then relocate the thousands of people living there to new housing to be built throughout Westchester County . . .
. . . "We are looking to take antiquated, low-income, high-density housing, blow it up and give people a choice of where they want to live, and in new housing," Spencer said. "They would have the choice of staying in southwest Yonkers, relocating to another part of the city or somewhere else in Westchester."
[This stems from a long, recently-settled battle between the NAACP and the City of Yonkers; the federal gov't and the NAACP sued Yonkers for purposefully segregating public housing, and thereby, public schooling. Good NYT summary here]
HEADLINE: Spencer inspires resentment in poor neighborhoods
3/19/00
Yonkers' popular mayor isn't nearly as popular in the city's poorest neighborhoods, spreading out from the steep stone steps of Yonkers City Hall.
While John Spencer does have some support in the city's predominantly black and Hispanic southwest corner, many community activists say he does not give residents there equal attention.
'' We have been ignored, '' said Lisa Best, president of the Yonkers Community Action Program's board of directors. . . . ''If I had a tape of every time (Director of Public Relations and Community Affairs) Richard Halevy came to one of our get-togethers and said the mayor had the flu, '' she said. '' The man must be the sickest person I know. I guess he's got the 'black flu.' ''
