I used to wonder if I was the only person who regretted NYC letting the real estate developers "clean up" Times Square. I miss the seediness and grit, now replaced with the bland anti-reality charmlessness of DisneyWorld. I've seen similar homogenization initiatives ruin interesting and unique corners of the world from Thailand to tiny Essaouira in Morocco.
I've never read any of Ursula K. Le Guin's futuristic books, not The Lathe of Heaven, nothing from the Earthsea series, nothing from the Hainish cycle, not Hugo Award winners, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed or The Word for World is Forest or any of the many others. After hearing her acceptance speech on radio at the National Book Awards this week (above), I decided to remedy that. In the speech-- a lifetime achievement award-- she went right after Amazon and its deleterious effect on literature through commodification.
This week's guest on Bill Moyers shows were two academics-- Zephyr Teachout And Larry Lessig-- who "decided to practice what they preached. They left the classroom, confronted the reality of down-and-dirty politics, and tried to replace moneyed interests with the public interest." Teachout stunned Andrew Cuomo and his backers by winning over a third of the vote and 30 of New York's 62 counties. She won Ulster County with 70%, Schoharie County with 71.7%, Columbia County with 77.9% and Albany County, where they know Cuomo best, with 61.9%. Cuomo spent $60.62 per vote.
New York State has 62 counties. A majority of voters in only 16 of them backed Andrew Cuomo's reelection as governor last week. He beat Republican Rob Astorino 1,919,225 (53.96%) to 1,443,713 (40.59%)-- with 173,606 votes (4.88%) for Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.In September Cuomo spent $60.62 per voter to win a 62-35% victory over staunchly progressive icon, Zephyr Teachout, who managed to win 30 counties, several-- like Ulster, Sullivan, Columbia, Schoharie, Saratoga, Otsego, and Tompkins-- with over two thirds of the vote.
Many of the Democrats who lost their seats-- or nearly lost their seats-- Tuesday had nothing to offer voters, which helps explain why voters stayed away. DCCC Chair Steve Israel had a purposeful "mystery meat" strategy for his collection of lousy candidates-- almost all of whom lost. That excuse for a strategy calls for candidates to say nothing controversial that might make someone (like a Republican) not want to vote for them.
This election cycle should serve as a case study in how not to run the DCCC. We've been referring to it as The Steve Israel Effect but, even if Israel is the worst practitioner ever, the DCCC's inability to do its job predated Israel for as long as anyone alive can remember.
A few days ago we looked at the seamier side of Eric Holder’s very mixed record, his (and Obama’s) refusal to hold the banksters, who finance the political careers of both parties’ politicians (including Obama’s), accountable to the law. This week Bill Moyers did the same thing on his TV show (above). Moyers also wants us to remember that “No banking executives have been criminally prosecuted for their role in causing the biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression.” His guest was William K.
Every time I see some clueless DIY pundit say something about the "Elizabeth Warren-Bill De Blasio wing of the Democratic Party," it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. Bill De Blasio? He has a record, which is why Blue America never endorsed him and why DWT never had any editorial comment on him beyond him being better than the even worse character that EMILY's List ran, Christine Quinn.
What do candidates do after they lose their race? Many disappear, at least for a while. Or if not disappear, they lower their profile significantly. I remember, though, on the night that election fraud cost Donna Edwards her first race, I spoke with her about how she needed to start running the next day. She did and she two years later she became the first African-American woman to represent Maryland in Congress.
This is the continuation of an interview (see Part 1) with filmmaker Scott Noble based on his documentary series Counter-Intelligence. Noble’s films can be viewed for free online at metanoia-films.org.
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