LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

I am so sick of the credit card commercials that have everybody doing a synchronized dance up to the cash register. Everything is in harmony, until one person tries to pay with cash. The whole line stops, as well as the background music. After the awkward stares from everyone, the "cash" person produces a card to swipe at the terminal, restoring music and harmony to the commercial. Here's the real story. I have twice as much handwritten paperwork to do for credit card customers at my job, so it's exactly the opposite of the insipid commercial. Credit card customers take longer to process, for reasons besides the paperwork. ID requirements are strict at my job, which means I've had to make people go back to their cars for their ID, if they want to pay with a credit card. We accept debit cards, but the pinpad also takes much longer than paying cash. Are you getting the point of this post yet? Contrary to the stupid commercials, it is actually easier to use cash, in ...

Huckabee is the flavor of the month, and the month is drawing to an end. This is a blog roundup of his latest controversy, where his campaign slanders Rush Limbaugh. I think he's "hit the wall," regardless of how he does in Iowa. The following is crossposted from STOP THE ACLU , with permission. Wow! Now this is gonna have to sting , at least a bit. There may not be many conservatives in Iowa that read the blogs, but I know there are plenty that tune into talk radio. As Jammie Wearing Fool says: If you're now a top contender for the GOP nomination, the last man you want to alienate is Rush Limbaugh . "Honestly, because Rush doesn't think for himself. That's not necessarily a slap because he's not paid to be a thinker?he's an entertainer. I can't remember the last time that he has veered from the talking points from the DC/Manhattan chattering class. If they were praising Huckabee, he would be too." Of course his campaign is backpeddaling...

This is an excerpt from my latest email from the NYCLU: In April, the Supreme Court showed a frightening disregard for a woman's right to make private reproductive health care decisions when it upheld a federal ban on abortion methods. This decision was a profound setback - not just for women, but for all Americans who believe medical decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not by politicians. This defeat endangers women and undermines one of the core principles of Roe v. Wade - that women's health is always paramount. Is there no consideration for the life that the man and woman create? The Supreme Court seems to think there is some. The question is how much can women and men restrict the procreation of humans. It's an age-old question, but it still lingers as a theme in the public/political debate. The "women's health" argument is a canard. If a woman could abort a pregnancy for "health risks," EVERY child could justifiably be termi...

Alot of people think alot of bad things about New York City, sometimes with reason. Here's a story that shows not just the bad, but the greatness that exists in our fair city. The story made the front page of the NY POST . Here's an excerpt: A Brooklyn man whose "Happy Hanukkah" greeting landed him in the hospital said he was saved from a gang of Jew-bashing goons aboard a packed Q train by a total stranger - a modest Muslim from Bangladesh. Walter Adler was touched that Hassan Askari jumped to his aid while a group of thugs allegedly pummeled and taunted him and his three friends. So Adler has invited his new friend over to celebrate the Festival of Lights. The two new pals - Adler, 23, with a broken nose and a fat lip, and Askari, 20, with two black eyes - broke bread together and laughed off the bruises the night after the fisticuffs. "A random Muslim guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hanukkah - that's a miracle," said Adler, an honors student...

Spitzer gets "profiled" by both The New Yorker , and Vanity Fair . According to PAGE SIX , neither is a flattering profile. My buddy jJack Midnight asked me back in July: " why I should care about local politics in New York ?" My reply was that he was a rising Democratic star, who was about to fall. And fall he has. That two "dyed-in-the-wool" liberal magazines will feature him, in a critical light, at the same time, says it all. He should never have made a problem for Hillary. I'd like to think that my reporting of Spitzer's excesses helped, but this level of media influence is uniquely Clintonian. The "long knives" are coming out. Readers of LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI will be familiar with all of the dirt on Spitzer, of course. I'm just glad to see the "progressive intellectual" media agree with a position I've been advocating for months. A final thought: "Don't put a fork in Spitzer; he's not done yet!...