Live Blogging The NY Senate Debate

I just live blogged the NY Senate debate between Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Joe DioGuardi over on Daily Kos. Andrew C. White live blogged the debate over at The Albany Project.

I think Gillibrand won this debate, just as she won last week's debate.  DioGuardi once again called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Maybe Ponzi Joe is making that incorrect conclusion based upon his experience with Ponzi schemes.

Overall, Gillibrand scored her points, highlighting where her positions were in-line with New Yorkers, along with highlighting the hard work she's done for us since she was appointed to the United States Senate. It's important to remember that Senator Gillibrand favors the immediate repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell; that she favors marriage equality; that she favors the Recovery Act, without which the economy would be considerably worse off; that she favors protecting Social Security and not privatizing it or belittling it as a Ponzi scheme; that she favors a woman's right to choose.

On all these issues Joe DioGuardi stands in opposition. He thinks we should defer to the generals on one of the great civil rights issues of our time. He opposes marriage equality. He opposes the Recovery Act and thinks the answer is less regulation and that government shouldn't do anything to help. He keeps on calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. And he opposes a woman's right to control her own body.

Thankfully, Senator Gillibrand is now comfortably heading towards winning the election to fill out the term of the seat she was appointed to (see New York Times article and data PDF, Siena College poll (warning: PDF), and even Rasmussen). There are still plenty of down-ballot races though where turnout can change the outcome, so it remains as important as ever to get out and vote to help Democrats keep control over the US House (there are at least 6 competitive races in Democratic House seats in New York State) and help expand the majority in the state senate.

Two-for-Two: Rangers Beat the Yankees

The Rangers have beaten the Yankees 10-3 to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. One more Texas win ends the Yankees' season and puts the Rangers in the World Series for the first time. It would be that much sweeter to see the Yankees lose, and their season end, at Yankee Stadium.

Knesset Majority Opposes Loyalty Oath

Ha'aretz reports today only 56 MKs support the proposed loyalty oath passed by the government. In addition to the entire opposition, including the far-right National Union, two government parties also oppose the oath: Avodah (Labor) and UTJ (United Torah Judaism, an Ashkenazi Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) party). The Ha'aretz head count seemingly does not include at least four Likud MKs who publicly oppose the oath: Benny Begin, Michael Eitan, Dan Meridor, and Reuven Rivlin. Begin, Eitan, and Meridor are all cabinet ministers; Rivlin is the Knesset speaker. Their opposition presumably lowers support for the loyalty oath to 52 MKs, nine short of the 61 MKs needed for passage.

Following the furor over the proposed new loyalty oath applying only to non-Jewish new Israeli citizens, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli Justice Minister to change the proposed wording to include all new Israeli citizens, both Jew and non-Jew alike. However, the aforementioned Ha'aretz report suggests the proposed revision extending the loyalty oath to Jews could result in opposition from both Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu:

The revised version is likely to be particularly problematic for Shas, which, like UTJ, is an ultra-Orthodox party. UTJ MK Moshe Gafni told Haaretz on Monday that he opposes the bill, in part because of the religious objection to Jews swearing any kind of oath. That reason would presumably apply to Shas as well.

As for Yisrael Beiteinu, it is the party that initially proposed and pushed the bill. But a sizable proportion of its voters are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and it may therefore be sensitive to the claim made by Edelstein and Elkin that the new version discriminates against immigrants.

Shas leader Eli Yishai (the Israeli Interior Minister) and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman (the Israeli Foreign Minister) both opposed extending the proposed loyalty oath to new Jewish citizens of Israel.

While Ha'aretz reported that if current numbers held the loyalty oath would go down to defeat in the Knesset, the opposition continued their attack against the proposed loyalty oath. A group of MKs, artists, and intellectuals met at the Knesset today to express their opposition to the bill, among them Kadima MK Shlomo Molla:

"The country is thriving, but the flood of anti-democratic and anti-Israeli laws in Israel must end. We came here to say, 'Stop (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman's fascism."

"I am first and foremost a proud Jew, Israeli and Zionist. I am not going to ask that Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash chairman) or Afou Agbaria (Hadash MK) be Zionists. I want to preserve our democracy, because a democracy that does not defend itself is at risk, and we've seen what happened to the Jews when they did not defend themselves," said Molla, who chairs the Knesset's Lobby for the Struggle Against Racism.

I have repeatedly stated that it should not be taken for granted that the entire Knesset would pass the loyalty oath. Therefore, this news, while certainly good, comes as no surprise to me. Based on the very public opposition from Avodah and from senior Likud members, it has always been abundantly clear that the loyalty oath pushed by Yisrael Beiteinu thankfully faced a steep uphill climb. This news only reiterates that.

Hopefully, Prime Minister Netanyahu, cognizant of the damage already caused by proposing this loyalty oath and of the fact that it faces uncertain-to-unlikely prospects for passage, will decide to shelve this bill before it gets to a Knesset vote. Prime Minister Netanyahu will also hopefully fire Avigdor Lieberman, the prime pusher of this "loyalty" agenda.

While I am hopeful that the former will come to pass, I doubt the latter will ever come to pass. In the meantime, I can be somewhat satisfied that while the Israeli government did not do the right thing, it looks like the Knesset will do the right thing.




Cross-posted at Daily Kos.

One Down, One To Go

The Giants defeated the Phillies 3-0 today, giving them a 2-1 advantage in the NLCS.  The Phillies are looking to win their third consecutive National League Pennant, while the Giants are looking to go to the World Series for the first time since 2002, when they lost to the then-Anaheim Angels in seven games.

While not a fan of the club that once upon a time inhabited the Polo Grounds, I am indifferent towards them.  At the same time, I hate the Phillies more than any other club save one: the Evil Empire a.k.a. the New York Yankees.

The Yankees and Rangers play in an hour, and I'm hoping to see Texas take a commanding three games to one lead over the Yankees with one game left to play in New York after that, and potentially two more to play in Arlington.  Obviously, I'm hoping that the Rangers make that unnecessary and simply close out the series in New York.

Tonight's Gubernatorial Debate

Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino faced off in their only debate tonight. The two major-party candidates shared the stage with five minor candidates, including Kristin Davis (the so-called Manhattan Madame), NYC councilman Charles Barron, and Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party. I live blogged the debate over at Daily Kos. It was my first-ever attempt at live blogging.

What struck me most about the debate was Paladino's relatively good behavior. Gone was the angry and obnoxious bigot that we had seen in full force the past week. Instead, Paladino remained relatively calm. The real characters in the debate were McMillan and Davis. McMillan concluded nearly every answer with "Rent is too damn high!" Meanwhile, Davis got in a few zingers of her own, particularly against what she termed "career politicians".

In fact, "career politicians" seemed the term of the night for everyone on-stage except Andrew Cuomo. Each of the six other candidates bashed career politicians in one form or another. Barron, at one point, accused Cuomo and his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, of racism. Paladino discussed cutting spending, although he didn't mention anything about his baseball bat.

All-in-all, tonight's debate seemed relatively tame. I was expecting fireworks, with Carl Paladino providing some more golden material. Instead, aside from the minor candidates, the debate was relatively calm and an actual exchange of policy ideas.

In the end, I think Cuomo won the debate. He clearly possessed a grasp and knowledge of policy unmatched by any of the candidates. Other candidates offered vague proposals that either consisted of pure platitudes or simply did not make any sense. Cuomo offered substantive policy proposals, which while certainly not comprehensive given the limited time in a debate, clearly indicated he possesses a serious plan, something that cannot be said of the other candidates.

Of course, I entered the debate with my mind already made up.  I already knew that I am voting for Andrew Cuomo on November 2. I merely watched for the entertainment value I expected. In some ways, the debate proved disappointing because Paladino did not provide the expected fireworks. However, some of the other candidates did provide those fireworks.

In Defense of Israel

I am a strong supporter of the State of Israel. At the same time, I do not particularly like her current government. Binyamin (Benjamin) Netanyahu is letting himself be held hostage by the extremists in his own government, particularly by Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu and Eli Yishai and Shas. Netanyahu has had several opportunities to remove both men and their parties from the government and replace it with the Tzipi Livni-led Kadima. However, Netanyahu has refused to do so, and in the process has harmed Israel's interests by helping kill the recently-restrated peace process.

Of course, in this Netanyahu does not share sole blame. Mahmoud Abbas shoulders a fair share of the blame as well. Abbas is the one that refused to return to the negotiating table during the first nine months of the settlement freeze. Abbas is also the one that said Palestinians would never recognize Israel as a Jewish State and would never compromise on their core issues, including the right of return and a border adhering to the 1949 Armistice Lines with no land swaps.

The latter would mean giving up Israeli sovereignty over the Kotel (Western Wall) and recognizing Palestinian sovereignty. That is unacceptable and a clear indication that Abbas is not serious about peace. The Kotel is the holiest place in the world for our people. To force Israel to recognize foreign sovereignty over it now that it is under Israeli sovereignty is akin to asking Muslims to give up Mecca or Catholics to give up the Vatican combined with asking Britain to recognize foreign sovereignty over London or France to recognize foreign sovereignty over Paris.

Throughout its history Israel has fought several wars for its very existence, starting in 1948, when an Arab coalition attacked the newly-established state as it declared independence. Then, after Israel won its War of Independence, rather than sign peace treaties with Israel the Arab governments simply left the armistice in place. It was not until 1979 that an Arab country (Egypt) signed a peace treaty with Israel. It was then another fifteen years until another Arab country (Jordan) signed a peace treaty with Israel. To date, Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries at peace with Israel and with full diplomatic relations with Israel.

People must understand that Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish People. It was where my ancestors came from before they found themselves in Latvia and Poland. It was in Israel that we were forged as a nation. And that legacy continues on today, not only in the modern State of Israel, but also in the fact that as an Ashkenazi Jew my genetic relationship with Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews are ten times closer than any of us are related to the host populations our ancestors lived among in Europe, North Africa, the Levant and Iran.

Most importantly, today I am in exile, in the Diaspora, because that is my choice. I hold only American citizenship and live in the United States because that is my choice. At any time I remain free to pack my bags and return to my ancestral homeland. That is something that was denied to the overwhelming majority of my fellow Jews for nearly 2,000 years. It is for that reason that Israel is so important for me.

Finally, I believe that Zionism can very easily be distilled into the sixth and seventh lines in Hatikvah, Israel's national anthem:

התקוה בת שנות אלפים
להיות עם חפשי בארצנו

The Hope of 2,000 years
To be a free people in our land

Entertainment Provided Courtesy of Carl Paladino

I'm anticipating tonight's New York Gubernatorial Debate. The debate should provide some entertainment value, with not only waiting to see the latest crazy statement made by Republican candidate Carl Paladino, but also from some of the characters debating Andrew Cuomo tonight. I'm actually live blogging the debate over at Daily Kos.

In the meantime, The New York Times, has published two articles today. One is about the preparations and expectations from both the Cuomo and Paladino campaigns ahead of tonight's debate. The other is about the five minor candidates appearing on the stage with them tonight.

Whatever happens, tonight's debate should be interesting.