Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Election results, surveys clarify one’s mind
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Mahattanites and particularly East Midtowners are not dogmatic people, we are issue-oriented. This personal conclusion, recently supported by a post-election think piece in the NYTimes, was somewhat jolted by the 2006 election results. It seems that Manhattan’s eight NYS Assembly districts voted Democratic at an uniform rate of 87 to 92%, with two notable exceptions, one in our 74th AD, where Brian Cavanagh received 75% of votes. But that is explained by the former Assemblyperson Sylvia Frieddman’s run on the Working Families ticket. Add her 13%, and you are back in the comfortable 88/12% local Democratic range.
If you are wondering how the rest of NYC voted, it was all Democratic, with the 11 ADs of the Bronx even higher than Manhattan (one exception , Naomi Rivera’s 80th AD at 70%). Brooklyn’s 19 ADs were equally high, only three reporting in the 70% range, ditto three of the six Queens ADs. Staten Island had two of the three districts in the lower range, one at 52%. The six Manhattan State Senate Democratic seats were safe for the Democrats, in our area Thomas Duane’s 29th SD at 88% and Liz Krueger’s 26th at 79%.
Does all this mean that New Yorkers are real yellow-dog dogmatic Democrats? I should think not, seeing the consistent elections of Republican Mayors, a sign of the public’s determination to maintain a balance; in other words, let each side keep the other honest.
In that case, how did the NYS Comptroller’s race figure, given a Spitzer “clean up the State House” mission? The nearly universally non-endorsed Comptroller Alan Hevesi came in at 57% of the vote statewide, vs. J. Christopher Callaghan’s 39%. Quite definitive, even when compared to the Spitzer/Faso statewide 69/29%, citywide 83/14% and Manhattan-wide 87/10%, and the Clinton/Spencer 67/31, 82/16 and 85/12% ratios. Hevesi is actually even with Andrew Cuomo who came in 58/40% against Jeanine Pirro statewide.
In the Hevesi case we see the non-dogmatic relative values judgment. A lawyer friend, whom you know as the Old Curmudgeon, considers me unprincipled (“just like all you Liberals”) because I refuse to let a Manichean or binary yes/no governing principle dominate, e.g. abortion is/ is not absolutely wrong, gay marriage does/does not absolutely destroy the family concept. I find that he is denying a cardinal gradualist principle of his own chosen profession, as best expressed by William Schwenk Gilbert’s “let the punishment fit the crime,” but I suppose we will argue that forever. But I digress. In the case of Hevesi, the prevailing opinion that swung the voters may have been that there is an overarching social benefit of his governance of the state pension funds, as opposed to the stark contrast of Callaghan’s proposed strict maximizing of return, social investment be blown. It was not just the Spitzer avalanche that carried Hevesi; the Cuomo AG vote was equally low, and his luggage was considerably lighter, although Pirro’s was not.
Back to clarification of one’s mind. A Zogby Survey, arriving via the Internet, is a neat and gentle no-fee shrink session that provides one’s self-evaluation, highlighting one’s denials. The topics range far, and your non-threatening answers show whether the event is most, least or slightly likely/unlikely. After establishing one’s voting range, a series of questions ask whether a woman could be President and whether you could vote for her in certain combinations (ditto for Majority Leader). Religion in governance is approached by establishing how you feel about certain TV kids’ shows, suppressed by the network because their sectarian bases were deemed too narrow. That leads up to evaluating concepts like (but not including) “In God We Trust” and the respondent’s attendance pattern of religious observations. Very mild, non-threatening. I think that in New York, at least, our attitudes toward the Zogby female President question are answered by the closeness of the Manhattan-wide 87/85 and state-wide 68/67 Spitzer/Clinton pattern.
Other surveys (not just Zogby’s) ever since the 2005 elections have asked questions about the respondents’ range of reactions to such topics as the Iraq, Israel and proposed Mideast actions, and the scary domestic dilemmas, abortion and gay marriage. The latter is the most threatening, e.g. questioning whether a non-homophobic heterosexual will accept, say, a gay legislator who probably can devote him/herself very freely to the public obligations, but may have some hang-ups or aggressions due to the perceived or experienced general attitudes, undercurrents that may run counter to those of the midstream voter. Midtown New Yorkers have answered that question, by consistently electing and re-electing gay legislators to city and state legislatures.
So there, once more it is confirmed that we are the best, the brightest – and, I will add, the most giving and the most trusting and forgiving. Pat yourself on the back, a Happy Holiday Season (non-political and non-sectarian) to all readers and friends, winners and losers.
Mahattanites and particularly East Midtowners are not dogmatic people, we are issue-oriented. This personal conclusion, recently supported by a post-election think piece in the NYTimes, was somewhat jolted by the 2006 election results. It seems that Manhattan’s eight NYS Assembly districts voted Democratic at an uniform rate of 87 to 92%, with two notable exceptions, one in our 74th AD, where Brian Cavanagh received 75% of votes. But that is explained by the former Assemblyperson Sylvia Frieddman’s run on the Working Families ticket. Add her 13%, and you are back in the comfortable 88/12% local Democratic range.
If you are wondering how the rest of NYC voted, it was all Democratic, with the 11 ADs of the Bronx even higher than Manhattan (one exception , Naomi Rivera’s 80th AD at 70%). Brooklyn’s 19 ADs were equally high, only three reporting in the 70% range, ditto three of the six Queens ADs. Staten Island had two of the three districts in the lower range, one at 52%. The six Manhattan State Senate Democratic seats were safe for the Democrats, in our area Thomas Duane’s 29th SD at 88% and Liz Krueger’s 26th at 79%.
Does all this mean that New Yorkers are real yellow-dog dogmatic Democrats? I should think not, seeing the consistent elections of Republican Mayors, a sign of the public’s determination to maintain a balance; in other words, let each side keep the other honest.
In that case, how did the NYS Comptroller’s race figure, given a Spitzer “clean up the State House” mission? The nearly universally non-endorsed Comptroller Alan Hevesi came in at 57% of the vote statewide, vs. J. Christopher Callaghan’s 39%. Quite definitive, even when compared to the Spitzer/Faso statewide 69/29%, citywide 83/14% and Manhattan-wide 87/10%, and the Clinton/Spencer 67/31, 82/16 and 85/12% ratios. Hevesi is actually even with Andrew Cuomo who came in 58/40% against Jeanine Pirro statewide.
In the Hevesi case we see the non-dogmatic relative values judgment. A lawyer friend, whom you know as the Old Curmudgeon, considers me unprincipled (“just like all you Liberals”) because I refuse to let a Manichean or binary yes/no governing principle dominate, e.g. abortion is/ is not absolutely wrong, gay marriage does/does not absolutely destroy the family concept. I find that he is denying a cardinal gradualist principle of his own chosen profession, as best expressed by William Schwenk Gilbert’s “let the punishment fit the crime,” but I suppose we will argue that forever. But I digress. In the case of Hevesi, the prevailing opinion that swung the voters may have been that there is an overarching social benefit of his governance of the state pension funds, as opposed to the stark contrast of Callaghan’s proposed strict maximizing of return, social investment be blown. It was not just the Spitzer avalanche that carried Hevesi; the Cuomo AG vote was equally low, and his luggage was considerably lighter, although Pirro’s was not.
Back to clarification of one’s mind. A Zogby Survey, arriving via the Internet, is a neat and gentle no-fee shrink session that provides one’s self-evaluation, highlighting one’s denials. The topics range far, and your non-threatening answers show whether the event is most, least or slightly likely/unlikely. After establishing one’s voting range, a series of questions ask whether a woman could be President and whether you could vote for her in certain combinations (ditto for Majority Leader). Religion in governance is approached by establishing how you feel about certain TV kids’ shows, suppressed by the network because their sectarian bases were deemed too narrow. That leads up to evaluating concepts like (but not including) “In God We Trust” and the respondent’s attendance pattern of religious observations. Very mild, non-threatening. I think that in New York, at least, our attitudes toward the Zogby female President question are answered by the closeness of the Manhattan-wide 87/85 and state-wide 68/67 Spitzer/Clinton pattern.
Other surveys (not just Zogby’s) ever since the 2005 elections have asked questions about the respondents’ range of reactions to such topics as the Iraq, Israel and proposed Mideast actions, and the scary domestic dilemmas, abortion and gay marriage. The latter is the most threatening, e.g. questioning whether a non-homophobic heterosexual will accept, say, a gay legislator who probably can devote him/herself very freely to the public obligations, but may have some hang-ups or aggressions due to the perceived or experienced general attitudes, undercurrents that may run counter to those of the midstream voter. Midtown New Yorkers have answered that question, by consistently electing and re-electing gay legislators to city and state legislatures.
So there, once more it is confirmed that we are the best, the brightest – and, I will add, the most giving and the most trusting and forgiving. Pat yourself on the back, a Happy Holiday Season (non-political and non-sectarian) to all readers and friends, winners and losers.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Imam speaks at Brotherhood
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Imam Izak-El M. Pasha is the resident Imam of the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (Masjid) at 102 West 116th St, near Malcolm X Blvd. Nine years ago, after the Abner Louima police brutality and the Amadou Diallo shooting cases, Mayor Giuliani formed a community group, to resolve and cure the brewing discontent. There Imam Pasha met Richard Davis, a former prosecutor now in private practice, also a member of Brotherhood Synagogue’s interfaith relations committee.
The committee invited the Imam to bring some 20 members of his Mosque for a dinner and meeting between the congregations, on Friday October 27, 2006, to discuss common problems, worldwide and local. It was a most satisfactory get-together and exchange of ideas for working towards salvaging peace in the world.
This event was a continuation of the part of Brotherhood Synagogue’s mission dealing with peace and harmony, originally formulated by its founder, the late Rabbi Irving J. Block, that offered the establishing of relations and working towards resolving strife between religious groups. The Synagogue has been a member of the local Midtown New York interfaith organization of faith leaders that promulgated exchanges at Thanksgiving and Passover celebrations over the years, and has held in the past had many joint events and welcomed speakers, such as Dr. Thomas Pike from Calvary/St. George’s Paris hand the now retired Msgr. Harry Byrne from Epiphany Church, as well as exchange of services with a Baptist Church.
Most notable were the 1994/5 visits by Serif Ashmawy, a Muslim newspaper publisher and member of the Religion On The Line radio program panel, who preached peace and warned of radicals of all stripes attempting to take over religions and causing strife (see Looking Ahead, 5/5/1994). He died in an automobile accident in 1997. The literature shows that Imam Pasha comes from a Mosque that is not unfamiliar with strife. Named for El Hajj Malik Shabazz, or Malcolm X, who organized it as part of the Nation of Islam, and advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, equality and racial identity, eventually clashing with the leader of NOI, Imam Elijah Muhammad, with the well-known results.
After Malcolm X, the Mosque was led by Louis Farrakhan, starting in 1965. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, his son Imam Walid (Wallace) D. Mohammad took NOI into a peaceful traditional Muslim mainstream direction, as the Muslim American Society, while Farrakhan continued on his path, retaining the Nation of Islam name. The Malcolm Shabazz Mosque was led Imam Rashid Mohammad, who in 1992 acquired a young assistant , Imam Pasha, who had the religious calling while working as a plumber. After the elder leader’s death Imam Pasha took over the direction of the Mosque.
At the dinner Imam Pasha, also a former Chaplain of the NYPD, offered his prayers for peace and his perspectives of living in a multi-cultural society. Mayor Giuliani has attended services in his Mosque, whose congregation just a week ago was addressed by a Rabbi; he described his faith as peace-loving and offered the proper definition of Jihad as strife, not between people but as that of managing daily life (“we were not put here to have fun”), although it does also include defense of one’s religion and one’s life. Elbert Hamshid-Doon, an insurance broker and member of the Mosque congregation since 1969, the Farrakhan years, supplied some private insights during our communal dinner. He grew up as a Baptist in the American South, and joined in the Mosque during Farrakhan years, because of the appeals of the philosophy of self-reliance, self-discipline and Black Nationalism. Now a firm believer in maintaining harmony in our multi-cultural society, he tells the story of owing his early business successes (moving from street-corner retail ventures to wholesale distribution) to two Jewish businessmen, and has not forgotten it. His Mosque has the same multi-nationality makeup, and a prevalence of members who actively strive for peaceful solutions in a troubled world. He offers an important methodology to dealing with the troubled Middle East - have members of the African-American Muslim community negotiate with the leaders of the Muslim countries.
They can offer philosophical positions from the peace-oriented mainstream Muslim faith, using an insiders’ status, knowledge and past history of strife to counter-balance the warlike aberrations that are seizing control over that part of the world. The Condoleezza Rice solutions, although well meaning, do not have the presence and weight that insiders can offer. If good will were the means of bringing peace to the world, we would all be winners. The simple, straightforward view of the world and the faith-based solutions of its problems of Imam Pasha is endearing and touching, in its offer of relief to the desperate situations that seem to defy solutions.
His message to both congregants and visitors was clear, as walked out with uplifted spirits, somewhat more ready to face tomorrow’s news of fresh calamities.
Imam Izak-El M. Pasha is the resident Imam of the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (Masjid) at 102 West 116th St, near Malcolm X Blvd. Nine years ago, after the Abner Louima police brutality and the Amadou Diallo shooting cases, Mayor Giuliani formed a community group, to resolve and cure the brewing discontent. There Imam Pasha met Richard Davis, a former prosecutor now in private practice, also a member of Brotherhood Synagogue’s interfaith relations committee.
The committee invited the Imam to bring some 20 members of his Mosque for a dinner and meeting between the congregations, on Friday October 27, 2006, to discuss common problems, worldwide and local. It was a most satisfactory get-together and exchange of ideas for working towards salvaging peace in the world.
This event was a continuation of the part of Brotherhood Synagogue’s mission dealing with peace and harmony, originally formulated by its founder, the late Rabbi Irving J. Block, that offered the establishing of relations and working towards resolving strife between religious groups. The Synagogue has been a member of the local Midtown New York interfaith organization of faith leaders that promulgated exchanges at Thanksgiving and Passover celebrations over the years, and has held in the past had many joint events and welcomed speakers, such as Dr. Thomas Pike from Calvary/St. George’s Paris hand the now retired Msgr. Harry Byrne from Epiphany Church, as well as exchange of services with a Baptist Church.
Most notable were the 1994/5 visits by Serif Ashmawy, a Muslim newspaper publisher and member of the Religion On The Line radio program panel, who preached peace and warned of radicals of all stripes attempting to take over religions and causing strife (see Looking Ahead, 5/5/1994). He died in an automobile accident in 1997. The literature shows that Imam Pasha comes from a Mosque that is not unfamiliar with strife. Named for El Hajj Malik Shabazz, or Malcolm X, who organized it as part of the Nation of Islam, and advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, equality and racial identity, eventually clashing with the leader of NOI, Imam Elijah Muhammad, with the well-known results.
After Malcolm X, the Mosque was led by Louis Farrakhan, starting in 1965. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, his son Imam Walid (Wallace) D. Mohammad took NOI into a peaceful traditional Muslim mainstream direction, as the Muslim American Society, while Farrakhan continued on his path, retaining the Nation of Islam name. The Malcolm Shabazz Mosque was led Imam Rashid Mohammad, who in 1992 acquired a young assistant , Imam Pasha, who had the religious calling while working as a plumber. After the elder leader’s death Imam Pasha took over the direction of the Mosque.
At the dinner Imam Pasha, also a former Chaplain of the NYPD, offered his prayers for peace and his perspectives of living in a multi-cultural society. Mayor Giuliani has attended services in his Mosque, whose congregation just a week ago was addressed by a Rabbi; he described his faith as peace-loving and offered the proper definition of Jihad as strife, not between people but as that of managing daily life (“we were not put here to have fun”), although it does also include defense of one’s religion and one’s life. Elbert Hamshid-Doon, an insurance broker and member of the Mosque congregation since 1969, the Farrakhan years, supplied some private insights during our communal dinner. He grew up as a Baptist in the American South, and joined in the Mosque during Farrakhan years, because of the appeals of the philosophy of self-reliance, self-discipline and Black Nationalism. Now a firm believer in maintaining harmony in our multi-cultural society, he tells the story of owing his early business successes (moving from street-corner retail ventures to wholesale distribution) to two Jewish businessmen, and has not forgotten it. His Mosque has the same multi-nationality makeup, and a prevalence of members who actively strive for peaceful solutions in a troubled world. He offers an important methodology to dealing with the troubled Middle East - have members of the African-American Muslim community negotiate with the leaders of the Muslim countries.
They can offer philosophical positions from the peace-oriented mainstream Muslim faith, using an insiders’ status, knowledge and past history of strife to counter-balance the warlike aberrations that are seizing control over that part of the world. The Condoleezza Rice solutions, although well meaning, do not have the presence and weight that insiders can offer. If good will were the means of bringing peace to the world, we would all be winners. The simple, straightforward view of the world and the faith-based solutions of its problems of Imam Pasha is endearing and touching, in its offer of relief to the desperate situations that seem to defy solutions.
His message to both congregants and visitors was clear, as walked out with uplifted spirits, somewhat more ready to face tomorrow’s news of fresh calamities.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Dinkins delivers Block lecture…Elections
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
David Norman Dinkins came to speak at the 4th Annual Rabbi Irving J. Block Memorial Lecture at the Brotherhood Synagogue on Wednesday, November 8, 2006. What brings a former Mayor to this event? It is brotherhood, the thing that unifies people throughout the world and gives a glimmer of hope to humanity, deeply entrenched in national antagonisms, religious warfare and contests for resources.
What gave rise to this particular togetherness? It may have been the Rabbi’s son, 12 year old Herbert Block, brought to a Dinkins for Borough President rally in 1977. Fascinated, he started hanging around the office of the then City Clerk (1975-85), eventually participating in the last two of the former Marine’s (correction, not former: once a Marine, always a Marine), Assemblyman’s (1966-72) and Board of Elections Chairman’s (1972-73) campaigns for BP (also ran in 1981, winning in 1985), at the last campaign sitting next to David Patterson, now to be Deputy Governor. Dinkins made BP in 1985, defeating Jerald Nadler, after losing twice to Andy Stein, and was chosen to be the Mayor in Nov. 1989, defeating Rudy Giuliani in the general election, after winning the primary against the three-term Mayor Edward I. Koch. Young Herbert Block was at Dinkins’s side, as the Jewish coordinator.
The Dinkins term was marred by the Crown Heights Riot, and his easy-going policy of racial healing by glorifying “the Gorgeous Mosaic” of New York’s racial and cultural diversity did not work. The crack epidemic, the drug wars and the 41.8B deficit hurt his gentlemanly Mayoralty, and Giuliani took over in 1993.
All of this has not dimmed Dinkins’s positive outlook He is active in Mayor Bloomberg’s Commission to Reduce Poverty (2006, with Richard D. Parsons and Geoffrey Canada) and supports it key objectives, to upgrade household incomes, reduce teen pregnancy and move forward education, Reducing poverty and improving education were the messages of his lecture.
The latter is most key, aiming to enable New Yorkers to fill the well paying jobs that the city ‘s industries offer. Expansion of alternate schools and rehabilitation of housing stock will step it up. Dinkins is very supportive of the schools being administered as a department, without the intervening boards, and points to the accomplishments, although uniform curriculum is not effective. Further, the needs of youngsters in foster care aging out, and former convicts (25% of young Blacks are in jail, a larger percentage than those in college) must be provided for educationally and job wise, lest they become a burden on society. Further, creating pre-school educational opportunities for 3-4 year olds leads to better school attendance and attitude. In urban poverty, Mayor Dinkins introduced the idea of privately-sourced conditional cash transfers, as used in some South American cities, providing supplements to working heads of families in low-compensation jobs, as a way to get the kids going. An upgrade of the minimum wage, by the new Congress, will help.
The 106th Mayor was introduced by Rabbi Daniel Alder and Executive Director Phil Rothman, with an affectionate family history by Herbert Block (the two families celebrated many events together). The good aura of Rabbi Irving J. Block sent us home, once more, with lifted spirits.
***********************************************************************Speaking of the new Democratic Congress and of upgrading the minimum wage, last week Reuters reported important statements by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China. He was interviewed at a central bankers conference in Frankfurt. Apparently, Zhou said, "All central banks are trying to diversify. …We have had a very clear diversification plan for several years." This may be an expression of concern that the Democrats will introduce spending policies that will weaken the dollar, and a veiled threat – forgetting that it was President Clinton who balanced the budget, and President Busch who drove it to an immense deficit.
It is estimated that China now has over $1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, some $700 billion of these held in U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated securities. The U.S. dollar came under immediate selling pressure. It would really cause an immense loss to China’s reserves if the dollar were to take a substantial dive, possibly snowballing into the threatened stagflation. Secretary of Treasury Richard Paulsen has a major task of pacifying the G8 powers, and the US sponsors of heightened tariffs may be well advised to reconsider. There is a need to stem inflation just when a recession looms. The scary stagflation we have been warned about on many occasions may be nearer at hand than we had thought.
Meanwhile the merchants of greed are betting billions that the dollar will crash – Warren Buffett reputedly has $16.5B on the line, and George Soros and Bill Gates are engagee. Best wishes, US Congress, should not get carried away with its new-found strength.
David Norman Dinkins came to speak at the 4th Annual Rabbi Irving J. Block Memorial Lecture at the Brotherhood Synagogue on Wednesday, November 8, 2006. What brings a former Mayor to this event? It is brotherhood, the thing that unifies people throughout the world and gives a glimmer of hope to humanity, deeply entrenched in national antagonisms, religious warfare and contests for resources.
What gave rise to this particular togetherness? It may have been the Rabbi’s son, 12 year old Herbert Block, brought to a Dinkins for Borough President rally in 1977. Fascinated, he started hanging around the office of the then City Clerk (1975-85), eventually participating in the last two of the former Marine’s (correction, not former: once a Marine, always a Marine), Assemblyman’s (1966-72) and Board of Elections Chairman’s (1972-73) campaigns for BP (also ran in 1981, winning in 1985), at the last campaign sitting next to David Patterson, now to be Deputy Governor. Dinkins made BP in 1985, defeating Jerald Nadler, after losing twice to Andy Stein, and was chosen to be the Mayor in Nov. 1989, defeating Rudy Giuliani in the general election, after winning the primary against the three-term Mayor Edward I. Koch. Young Herbert Block was at Dinkins’s side, as the Jewish coordinator.
The Dinkins term was marred by the Crown Heights Riot, and his easy-going policy of racial healing by glorifying “the Gorgeous Mosaic” of New York’s racial and cultural diversity did not work. The crack epidemic, the drug wars and the 41.8B deficit hurt his gentlemanly Mayoralty, and Giuliani took over in 1993.
All of this has not dimmed Dinkins’s positive outlook He is active in Mayor Bloomberg’s Commission to Reduce Poverty (2006, with Richard D. Parsons and Geoffrey Canada) and supports it key objectives, to upgrade household incomes, reduce teen pregnancy and move forward education, Reducing poverty and improving education were the messages of his lecture.
The latter is most key, aiming to enable New Yorkers to fill the well paying jobs that the city ‘s industries offer. Expansion of alternate schools and rehabilitation of housing stock will step it up. Dinkins is very supportive of the schools being administered as a department, without the intervening boards, and points to the accomplishments, although uniform curriculum is not effective. Further, the needs of youngsters in foster care aging out, and former convicts (25% of young Blacks are in jail, a larger percentage than those in college) must be provided for educationally and job wise, lest they become a burden on society. Further, creating pre-school educational opportunities for 3-4 year olds leads to better school attendance and attitude. In urban poverty, Mayor Dinkins introduced the idea of privately-sourced conditional cash transfers, as used in some South American cities, providing supplements to working heads of families in low-compensation jobs, as a way to get the kids going. An upgrade of the minimum wage, by the new Congress, will help.
The 106th Mayor was introduced by Rabbi Daniel Alder and Executive Director Phil Rothman, with an affectionate family history by Herbert Block (the two families celebrated many events together). The good aura of Rabbi Irving J. Block sent us home, once more, with lifted spirits.
***********************************************************************Speaking of the new Democratic Congress and of upgrading the minimum wage, last week Reuters reported important statements by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China. He was interviewed at a central bankers conference in Frankfurt. Apparently, Zhou said, "All central banks are trying to diversify. …We have had a very clear diversification plan for several years." This may be an expression of concern that the Democrats will introduce spending policies that will weaken the dollar, and a veiled threat – forgetting that it was President Clinton who balanced the budget, and President Busch who drove it to an immense deficit.
It is estimated that China now has over $1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, some $700 billion of these held in U.S. dollars or dollar-denominated securities. The U.S. dollar came under immediate selling pressure. It would really cause an immense loss to China’s reserves if the dollar were to take a substantial dive, possibly snowballing into the threatened stagflation. Secretary of Treasury Richard Paulsen has a major task of pacifying the G8 powers, and the US sponsors of heightened tariffs may be well advised to reconsider. There is a need to stem inflation just when a recession looms. The scary stagflation we have been warned about on many occasions may be nearer at hand than we had thought.
Meanwhile the merchants of greed are betting billions that the dollar will crash – Warren Buffett reputedly has $16.5B on the line, and George Soros and Bill Gates are engagee. Best wishes, US Congress, should not get carried away with its new-found strength.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Imam Izak-El M. Pasha speaks at Brotherhood Synagogue
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Imam Izak-El M. Pasha is the resident Imam of the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (Masjid) at 102 West 116th St, near Malcolm X Blvd. Nine years ago, after the Abner Louima police brutality and the Amadou Diallo shooting cases, Mayor Giuliani formed a community group, to resolve and cure the brewing discontent. There Imam Pasha met Richard Davis, a former prosecutor now in private practice, also a member of Brotherhood Synagogue’s interfaith relations committee. The committee invited the Imam to bring some 20 members of his Mosque for a dinner and meeting between the congregations, on Friday October 27, 2006, to discuss common problems, worldwide and local. It was a most satisfactory get-together and exchange of ideas for working towards salvaging peace in the world.
This event was a continuation of the part of Brotherhood Synagogue’s mission dealing with peace and harmony, originally formulated by its founder, the late Rabbi Irving J. Block, that offered the establishing of relations and working towards resolving strife between religious groups. The Synagogue has been a member of the local Midtown New York interfaith organization of faith leaders that promulgated exchanges at Thanksgiving and Passover celebrations over the years, and has held in the past had many joint events and welcomed speakers, such as Dr. Thomas Pike from Calvary/St. George’s Paris hand the now retired Msgr. Harry Byrne from Epiphany Church, as well as exchange of services with a Baptist Church.
Most notable were the 1994/5 visits by Serif Ashmawy, a Muslim newspaper publisher and member of the Religion On The Line radio program panel, who preached peace and warned of radicals of all stripes attempting to take over religions and causing strife (see Looking Ahead, 5/5/1994). He died in an automobile accident in 1997.
The literature shows that Imam Pasha comes from a Mosque that is not unfamiliar with strife. Named for El Hajj Malik Shabazz, or Malcolm X, who organized it as part of the Nation of Islam, and advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, equality and racial identity, eventually clashing with the leader of NOI, Imam Elijah Muhammad, with the well-known results.
After Malcolm X, the Mosque was led by Louis Farrakhan, starting in 1965. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, his son Imam Walid (Wallace) D. Mohammad took NOI into a peaceful traditional Muslim mainstream direction, as the Muslim American Society, while Farrakhan continued on his path, retaining the Nation of Islam name. The Malcolm Shabazz Mosque was led Imam Rashid Mohammad, who in 1992 acquired a young assistant , Imam Pasha, who had the religious calling while working as a plumber. After the elder leader’s death Imam Pasha took over the direction of the Mosque.
At the dinner Imam Pasha, also a former Chaplain of the NYPD, offered his prayers for peace and his perspectives of living in a multi-cultural society. Mayor Giuliani has attended services in his Mosque, whose congregation just a week ago was addressed by a Rabbi; he described his faith as peace-loving and offered the proper definition of Jihad as strife, not between people but as that of managing daily life (“we were not put here to have fun”), although it does also include defense of one’s religion and one’s life.
Elbert Hamshid-Doon, an insurance broker and member of the Mosque congregation since 1969, the Farrakhan years, supplied some private insights during our communal dinner. He grew up as a Baptist in the American South, and joined in the Mosque during Farrakhan years, because of the appeals of the philosophy of self-reliance, self-discipline and Black Nationalism. Now a firm believer in maintaining harmony in our multi-cultural society, he tells the story of owing his early business successes (moving from street-corner retail ventures to wholesale distribution) to two Jewish businessmen, and has not forgotten it. His Mosque has the same multi-nationality makeup, and a prevalence of members who actively strive for peaceful solutions in a troubled world. He offers an important methodology to dealing with the troubled Middle East - have members of the African-American Muslim community negotiate with the leaders of the Muslim countries. They can offer philosophical positions from the peace-oriented mainstream Muslim faith, using an insiders’ status, knowledge and past history of strife to counter-balance the warlike aberrations that are seizing control over that part of the world. The Condoleezza Rice solutions, although well meaning, do not have the presence and weight that insiders can offer.
If good will were the means of bringing peace to the world, we would all be winners. The simple, straightforward view of the world and the faith-based solutions of its problems of Imam Pasha is endearing and touching, in its offer of relief to the desperate situations that seem to defy solutions. His message to both congregants and visitors was clear, as walked out with uplifted spirits, somewhat more ready to face tomorrow’s news of fresh calamities.
Imam Izak-El M. Pasha is the resident Imam of the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (Masjid) at 102 West 116th St, near Malcolm X Blvd. Nine years ago, after the Abner Louima police brutality and the Amadou Diallo shooting cases, Mayor Giuliani formed a community group, to resolve and cure the brewing discontent. There Imam Pasha met Richard Davis, a former prosecutor now in private practice, also a member of Brotherhood Synagogue’s interfaith relations committee. The committee invited the Imam to bring some 20 members of his Mosque for a dinner and meeting between the congregations, on Friday October 27, 2006, to discuss common problems, worldwide and local. It was a most satisfactory get-together and exchange of ideas for working towards salvaging peace in the world.
This event was a continuation of the part of Brotherhood Synagogue’s mission dealing with peace and harmony, originally formulated by its founder, the late Rabbi Irving J. Block, that offered the establishing of relations and working towards resolving strife between religious groups. The Synagogue has been a member of the local Midtown New York interfaith organization of faith leaders that promulgated exchanges at Thanksgiving and Passover celebrations over the years, and has held in the past had many joint events and welcomed speakers, such as Dr. Thomas Pike from Calvary/St. George’s Paris hand the now retired Msgr. Harry Byrne from Epiphany Church, as well as exchange of services with a Baptist Church.
Most notable were the 1994/5 visits by Serif Ashmawy, a Muslim newspaper publisher and member of the Religion On The Line radio program panel, who preached peace and warned of radicals of all stripes attempting to take over religions and causing strife (see Looking Ahead, 5/5/1994). He died in an automobile accident in 1997.
The literature shows that Imam Pasha comes from a Mosque that is not unfamiliar with strife. Named for El Hajj Malik Shabazz, or Malcolm X, who organized it as part of the Nation of Islam, and advocated black pride, economic self-reliance, equality and racial identity, eventually clashing with the leader of NOI, Imam Elijah Muhammad, with the well-known results.
After Malcolm X, the Mosque was led by Louis Farrakhan, starting in 1965. When Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, his son Imam Walid (Wallace) D. Mohammad took NOI into a peaceful traditional Muslim mainstream direction, as the Muslim American Society, while Farrakhan continued on his path, retaining the Nation of Islam name. The Malcolm Shabazz Mosque was led Imam Rashid Mohammad, who in 1992 acquired a young assistant , Imam Pasha, who had the religious calling while working as a plumber. After the elder leader’s death Imam Pasha took over the direction of the Mosque.
At the dinner Imam Pasha, also a former Chaplain of the NYPD, offered his prayers for peace and his perspectives of living in a multi-cultural society. Mayor Giuliani has attended services in his Mosque, whose congregation just a week ago was addressed by a Rabbi; he described his faith as peace-loving and offered the proper definition of Jihad as strife, not between people but as that of managing daily life (“we were not put here to have fun”), although it does also include defense of one’s religion and one’s life.
Elbert Hamshid-Doon, an insurance broker and member of the Mosque congregation since 1969, the Farrakhan years, supplied some private insights during our communal dinner. He grew up as a Baptist in the American South, and joined in the Mosque during Farrakhan years, because of the appeals of the philosophy of self-reliance, self-discipline and Black Nationalism. Now a firm believer in maintaining harmony in our multi-cultural society, he tells the story of owing his early business successes (moving from street-corner retail ventures to wholesale distribution) to two Jewish businessmen, and has not forgotten it. His Mosque has the same multi-nationality makeup, and a prevalence of members who actively strive for peaceful solutions in a troubled world. He offers an important methodology to dealing with the troubled Middle East - have members of the African-American Muslim community negotiate with the leaders of the Muslim countries. They can offer philosophical positions from the peace-oriented mainstream Muslim faith, using an insiders’ status, knowledge and past history of strife to counter-balance the warlike aberrations that are seizing control over that part of the world. The Condoleezza Rice solutions, although well meaning, do not have the presence and weight that insiders can offer.
If good will were the means of bringing peace to the world, we would all be winners. The simple, straightforward view of the world and the faith-based solutions of its problems of Imam Pasha is endearing and touching, in its offer of relief to the desperate situations that seem to defy solutions. His message to both congregants and visitors was clear, as walked out with uplifted spirits, somewhat more ready to face tomorrow’s news of fresh calamities.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Nature stories, free-ranging from local parks to distant forests
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The parks of our neighborhood had a fine season. Both Stuyvesant Square parks were gorgeous in hot colors, dark crimson, with orange and yellow highlights, red sage, blue sage, verbena, hibiscus and rudbeckia, backed up by masses of lime green coleus. We have been well cared for. That's the good news. The bad news is that Connie Casey, our gardener for the past few years, is leaving the Parks Department to return to another profession (she teaches journalism). We wish her the best of luck and hope that the new supervisor of District 6, Ronnit Ben David (replacing Elliot Sykes) will take care of us as well.
There is this thing about gardeners - they are dedicated and focused. While being interviewed, Connie never stops her task - most recently, laying out hundreds of tulip bulbs in the triangles between rose bushes in the Eat Park's fountain, clean- cleared of the Summer's bloomers. Why? Well, the weather is threatening, and she has 2,000 bulbs to plant in the area. As we are talking, a lady ranger arrives, with a truckload of 2,000 more bulbs, from Bill Steyer of the mysterious Forestry, and Connie has to depart, to find space. Her final message - she may be leaving, but the park will be blooming in the Spring.
The West Park will not be neglected, another 2000 bulbs are designated for it. Also, on November 5 sixty volunteers from Friends Seminary were scheduled to plant masses of tulips and daffodils throughout the parks. As for the Summer's bloomers, they have been removed, chopped up for mulch and readied for next Spring's use. Even the hibiscus, which I know in the South as a perennial bush; the variety used here is a Caribbean annual. Current blooming décor consists of the hardy pink-red roses, green berberis bushes of and the fuzzy leaves of lambs' ears along the edges. The tall hollyhocks, supported by thin sticks, which we admired in the summer, were contributed by a neighbor, name of Bob, who walks his greyhounds in the park. Thanks, friend.
If you wonder what plants were blooming in the park, Connie had a list posted, which was scratched out by a vandal. We also have had tree plaques removed. Keep your eyes open for enemiess.
Speaking of hibiscus, our experience is with the tree variety, known as the Rose of Sharon, in upstate New York, a beautiful purple bloomer. Fortunately the deer do not bother it. Currently it is the bow-and -arrow deer season in Columbia County. I ran into a camouflage-dressed hunter at the gas station, replenishing supplies. He claims that, though plentiful, deer seemed to stay out of public lands, hanging around homesteads, where No Trespassing signs abound (hey, the Mayor does claim that we are more literate). This year the hunting seasons start on weekends rather than Mondays, making the woods dangerous with city hunters, arriving in droves. Soon as the gun season starts he will change into fluorescent oranges, taking no chances.
Speaking of chances, consorting with wild animals in nature brings on some risks. In addition to bears, the mountain lion, a hefty knee-high cat, has made an appearance in the Berkshires and Catskills, not good for the deer population. The hunter at the gas station, who knows his way around, having worked for Lido's Game Farm (they arrange deer and pheasant hunts on private lands), claims to have had an encounter. The Endangered Species Department of the NYSDEC in Albany admits receiving several such reports each year, but maintains that the last cougar in the state was hunted down in 1894, earning the woodsman a $20 reward. Nowadays the only place you can meet one face to face is in the NYS Museum in Empire Plaza, the Rockefeller urban renewal extravaganza. I have tied to see one in person, while hiking in Florida Everglades, the only place where they survive, to no avail.
As to black bear, also a federally protected species, my licensed professional trapper claims having removed several, and wants to build a metal barrel to transport the captives to deeper woods, just the way they do it in Churchill, Manitoba, the world's polar bear capital. This family has met several in that Canadian preserve, both in nature and in the transportation barrel (a mother and cub), courtesy of the management of what is locally known as the "bear prison." Also the coyote, known hereabouts as coyot, accent on the first syllable, who give the willies to solitary hunters dragging their deer harvest through the woods. They follow the man around, in packs. The hunters know that all the coyote wants is the carcass, but, nevertheless, the lodge chitchat is that 90-odd coyote attacks on humans have been registered in New York State over the past 20 years. The Eastern coyotes, tall an crafty as timber wolves, are real, all right, their sometime howling at night bothers our cats.
If you're wandering about having a personal licensed trapper, that is the only legal and humanitarian way to remove a family of woodchucks squatting under your deck, or deep below your garden. Our seven uninvited guests left at a price of $35 per, a bargain, much preferred by effete cityites (typical Liberal, the OC would scold) over the local alternative of gunning them down or smoking them out.
Ed.: OC, the Old Curmudgeon, is a friend and sometime contributor of wisdom to this column.
The parks of our neighborhood had a fine season. Both Stuyvesant Square parks were gorgeous in hot colors, dark crimson, with orange and yellow highlights, red sage, blue sage, verbena, hibiscus and rudbeckia, backed up by masses of lime green coleus. We have been well cared for. That's the good news. The bad news is that Connie Casey, our gardener for the past few years, is leaving the Parks Department to return to another profession (she teaches journalism). We wish her the best of luck and hope that the new supervisor of District 6, Ronnit Ben David (replacing Elliot Sykes) will take care of us as well.
There is this thing about gardeners - they are dedicated and focused. While being interviewed, Connie never stops her task - most recently, laying out hundreds of tulip bulbs in the triangles between rose bushes in the Eat Park's fountain, clean- cleared of the Summer's bloomers. Why? Well, the weather is threatening, and she has 2,000 bulbs to plant in the area. As we are talking, a lady ranger arrives, with a truckload of 2,000 more bulbs, from Bill Steyer of the mysterious Forestry, and Connie has to depart, to find space. Her final message - she may be leaving, but the park will be blooming in the Spring.
The West Park will not be neglected, another 2000 bulbs are designated for it. Also, on November 5 sixty volunteers from Friends Seminary were scheduled to plant masses of tulips and daffodils throughout the parks. As for the Summer's bloomers, they have been removed, chopped up for mulch and readied for next Spring's use. Even the hibiscus, which I know in the South as a perennial bush; the variety used here is a Caribbean annual. Current blooming décor consists of the hardy pink-red roses, green berberis bushes of and the fuzzy leaves of lambs' ears along the edges. The tall hollyhocks, supported by thin sticks, which we admired in the summer, were contributed by a neighbor, name of Bob, who walks his greyhounds in the park. Thanks, friend.
If you wonder what plants were blooming in the park, Connie had a list posted, which was scratched out by a vandal. We also have had tree plaques removed. Keep your eyes open for enemiess.
Speaking of hibiscus, our experience is with the tree variety, known as the Rose of Sharon, in upstate New York, a beautiful purple bloomer. Fortunately the deer do not bother it. Currently it is the bow-and -arrow deer season in Columbia County. I ran into a camouflage-dressed hunter at the gas station, replenishing supplies. He claims that, though plentiful, deer seemed to stay out of public lands, hanging around homesteads, where No Trespassing signs abound (hey, the Mayor does claim that we are more literate). This year the hunting seasons start on weekends rather than Mondays, making the woods dangerous with city hunters, arriving in droves. Soon as the gun season starts he will change into fluorescent oranges, taking no chances.
Speaking of chances, consorting with wild animals in nature brings on some risks. In addition to bears, the mountain lion, a hefty knee-high cat, has made an appearance in the Berkshires and Catskills, not good for the deer population. The hunter at the gas station, who knows his way around, having worked for Lido's Game Farm (they arrange deer and pheasant hunts on private lands), claims to have had an encounter. The Endangered Species Department of the NYSDEC in Albany admits receiving several such reports each year, but maintains that the last cougar in the state was hunted down in 1894, earning the woodsman a $20 reward. Nowadays the only place you can meet one face to face is in the NYS Museum in Empire Plaza, the Rockefeller urban renewal extravaganza. I have tied to see one in person, while hiking in Florida Everglades, the only place where they survive, to no avail.
As to black bear, also a federally protected species, my licensed professional trapper claims having removed several, and wants to build a metal barrel to transport the captives to deeper woods, just the way they do it in Churchill, Manitoba, the world's polar bear capital. This family has met several in that Canadian preserve, both in nature and in the transportation barrel (a mother and cub), courtesy of the management of what is locally known as the "bear prison." Also the coyote, known hereabouts as coyot, accent on the first syllable, who give the willies to solitary hunters dragging their deer harvest through the woods. They follow the man around, in packs. The hunters know that all the coyote wants is the carcass, but, nevertheless, the lodge chitchat is that 90-odd coyote attacks on humans have been registered in New York State over the past 20 years. The Eastern coyotes, tall an crafty as timber wolves, are real, all right, their sometime howling at night bothers our cats.
If you're wandering about having a personal licensed trapper, that is the only legal and humanitarian way to remove a family of woodchucks squatting under your deck, or deep below your garden. Our seven uninvited guests left at a price of $35 per, a bargain, much preferred by effete cityites (typical Liberal, the OC would scold) over the local alternative of gunning them down or smoking them out.
Ed.: OC, the Old Curmudgeon, is a friend and sometime contributor of wisdom to this column.
Monday, November 06, 2006
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis Harvest in the Square, our County Fair revisited The Eleventh Annual Harvest in the Square Festival on Union Square proves something about the tenacity, solidity, quality and – you know it is the big one – security of your neighborhood, the place where you sleep, eat dinner, and send your kids to school. It is bracing to know that you can also just walk outside and have a meal, or a night out, or a celebration, with Danny Meyers, Eric Pettersen and Steve Hansen, who have several restaurants each for your choice, or with any number of the other grand chefs who have staked the ground here, or with your local favorite restaurateurs who know you by name. The big white tent was erected in the Greenmarket territory on the night before Tuesday, September 19, not without any trepidation, in view of the storm warnings that caused postponements in the past (remember Hurricanes Floyd and Isabel, in 1999 and 2003). But the organizers – for acknowledgements see last week’s article by Sabina Mollot – were brave. All went well, and at the entrance the guests were welcomed with champagne and hors d’ouevres, and guided to visit the 100 or so tables along the inside walls and in the center of the tent, tasting the products of the local restaurants and wine purveyors on the run, or assembling plates and glasses, to be taken to the picnic tables outside, along the 17th Street side, to be enjoyed in company of friends, with a Manhattan melody of taxis and cars in the background, reflected against the stage props of the lit-up windows of Barnes and Noble. Think of being on a cruise ship. The participants were 45 local restaurants whose chefs put forth samples of their products, for public tasting. This column for the past years has attempted to do an informal exit poll, when the visitors have had ample chances to sample the cooking and loosen the tongues with some of the 45 quality wines, supplied by wine yards and importers. The festivals, over the years, have presented a crosscut of the food tastes of our neighborhood, bellwethers and trendsetters of patterns for the nation. Over time we have morphed from major steakhouse/ seafood/ Italian food to Continental/American/ Latin American/ Asian /natural food /international cuisine specializations, experiencing the successes of fusion and, recently, Spanish tapas and tasting menus. The Festival groups them by food category, and so will this review. The most ambitious group, hors d’oeuvres people who send out servers with trays, also had the top share of cudos. Laurent Perrier Champagne, whose maidens served glass flutes at the entrance, treated us to a superior brand, garnering votes. The other winners were Cafe Deville, with chicken salad Waldorf and tuna tartare, steak bits from Knickerbocker Bar & Grill, an interesting ethnic quiche from the Venezuelan brothers who run the brand-new Tisserie Bakery, and Barocco Kitchen. Soups had one entrant, the perennial Tilden chili from National Arts Club, The Vegetable section had 13 entrants, including the Galaxy Global Eatery, whose youthful looking chef Ariel Goldstein has years of ashram, yoga retreat and Israel cooking experience, featuring a Japanese Four-Grain dish with vegan tofu garlic sauce. At the top end of the spectrum, we had samples of Tomato Tart Tatin with arugala from upscale Gramercy Tavern – although I was reminded that they do serve $35 lunches and $65 prix fixe dinners. Union Square Ballroom had a phyllo-wrapped farmers’ cheese tastie, with blueberries. Seafood has expanded over the past decade, 14 restaurants, reminiscent of the 3rd Ave El years (it went down in 1955/56) when seafood and Italian were the catchwords. New names are Babonia and Barqueria. Barca 18 was a major favorite, offering their Octopus with sweet pepper Confit. Had a chat with Corporate Chef Chris Garraputro of the fourteen B. R. Guest (get it?) Restaurants, who squelched the legend that Steve Hansen started his Union Square career with a hamburger wagon. Actually, their beginning 19 years ago was with the Coconut Grill on 77th Street and 2nd Ave. Blue Water Grill had a salmon-pastrami terrine, Casa Mono mussels were liked, Devi, a two-year Indian cuisine based enterprise, mentions a six course tasting menu for $60. The meats department –15 entries - is solid. Duke’s has a new Down Home companion and neighbor, Big Daddy’s Diner, Blue Smoke’s ribs are smokin’, and the man from Steak Frites explained that my preference for home fries is not justified in terms of calories and cholesterol: his French fries are double-fried, so there. Feel welcome to write to the editor, or me ( wally@ix.netcom.com), if you opine otherwise. Visitors also liked L’Express chicken, Beppe’s pulled pork sandwiches and Lucy Latin Kitchen’s duck con Arepa (Latino beans & cheese specialty). The desserts this year – five entrants - took the crown. Dos Caminos, chef Scott Linquist, had Crepes de Cajeta with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. At Candela, Chef Sean Fetters, trained at Buzzy O’Keefe’s Water Club, offered Grilled Peach Gazpacho. Beverages were a big ticket with us – 12 purveyors. Everybody was enjoying Fiji Water, drawn from an aquifer in the South Pacific and bottled on the West Coast. As for the wines, we had at least six of the 35 Long Island vineyards represented. We noted the 2002 Merlot from Jamesport, and an oddity, raspberry wine from Long Island Meadery.Of the out-of-staters, note the robust Pinot Grigio from Tamas Estates, and Sella & Mosca Fermentino La Cala. Union Square Wines & Spirits, as usually, had a selection of imported wines.
