Jamie Malanowski's Blog, page 11

SPITZER’S GAME?

I’m delighted to see that Eliot Spitzer is running for Comptroller of the City of New York. Spitzer was an excellent public servant, especially as State Attorney General, where he reduced corporate big shots to sputtering and perhaps worse. I’m entirely open to the suggestion of the film Client 10 that with his predileciton for prostitutes, Spitzer gave his enemies a sword that they used against him. (You don’t really belief that children’s fable that investigators `accidentally’ ensnared the governor, do you?) And as City Comptroller, he will a large platform on which to reestablsih himself as a fighter for the people.

But I don’t think that City Comptroller is really the office that Spitzer wants. The group of candidates for Mayor this year is particularly weak; it’s not hard to imagine that whichever one of them emerges will struggle with the office, and enter 2017 with high vulnerabilities. As I look into my crystal ball, I see Comptroller being highly supportive of Mayor Whomever in 2014 and 2015, and then starting in 2015, distancing himself from Hizzoner. Then, maybe in 2017, and if not, certainly in 2021, Spitzer will run for mayor.

AND AGAIN, THE GREAT RIVERA

Last night at the All Star game, baseball paid homage to the greatest relief pitcher of all time, the peerless Mariano Rivera. It was the 13th time he has made the team; he has never given up an earned run. For another scoreless inning, Rivera was named the game’s MVP

BUSTING THE FILIBUSTER

I don’t know who put the chili in Harry Reid‘s grits, as Ann Richards used to say, but I’m glad Reid had the gumption to begin to take on lipless Mitch McConnell and the other anti-government Republicans. Hey, I don’t hate filibusters; I studied political science, I know their value. And the last two filibusters of note–Rand Paul and Wendy Davis in Texas–were done in support of causes I support. But the way the Republicans have applied the threat of filibuster during the Obama era has just been to stifle and stymie government. Obama has won more than 50% of the popular vote in two successive elections; by any measure, he has won the right to govern. It should not be necessary for him to get a 60% majority in order to fill positions and appoint judges. Nor, for that matter, to pass legislation. I understand that occasionally there will be significant issues that the minority should be able to filibuster, but this is too much. These (mostly) southerners have tried this `If we don’t get our way, we’ll go home” trick before”– nullification, secession, and now obstructionism, it’s all the same deal. The Senate is already an inherently undemocratic institution; the profligate use of its own made-up rules must be discouraged.

GO, ELIZABETH, GO!

With this appearance on CNBC last week, the Legend of Elizabeth Warren continues. Look how she shoots down these two smart-alecks who dare come at her armed with nothing more than some producers’ notes and a little cocktail party conversation. “No!” Elizabeth says, and they are gobsmacked. You know, I love Hilary Clinton, but whenever Elizabeth decides to run for president, I’m her guy.

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: CRUMPLER’S BLUFF, VA, JULY 14

The first engagement in which William Cushing distinguished himself was at the battle of Crumpler’s Bluff, which was in Franklin, Virginia. Federal officers designed a combined army-navy operation against elements of Longstreet’s army camped near Franklin on the Blackwater River in October 1862. While Navy gunboats under the command of Charles Flusser made their difficult way up the narrow, twisty Blackwater, the army was supposed to attack overland from the other side. They didn’t, leaving the gunboats perilously exposed. Under deadly fire, Cushing freed a cannon that had been strapped to the deck and fired, breaking the confederate attack. The pictures give an idea of how twisty the river is. By the way–there’s no bluff in sight. And for the record, yes, that’s a sewage treatment plant downriver to the left.

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: FORT FISHER NC, JULY 13

William Cushing‘s last engagement was at Fort Fisher, in January 1865. Located on a piece of land separating the Atlantic and the Cape Fear River in southern North Carolina, the fort protected shipping bringing goods across the Atlantic and up the river to Wilmington, which, in 1865, was the confederacy’s last open port. The fort, which was comprised of giant molded mounds of sand, was shaped like a 7. The Army attacked the western point of the fort, while sailors and marines under Cushing attacked the eastern juncture. Cushing’s assault was stymied, but the army broke though, and carried the day. Above, the Fort Fisher monument. Below, the mounds of Fort Fisher; ocean-battered trees; a gun placement on one of the western mounds.

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: KURE BEACH NC, JULY 12

That’s pronounced Curry.

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: PLYMOUTH NC, JULY 12

At Plymouth, I reached the site of William Cushing‘s great triumph, the place where he sank the CSS Albemarle with a manual torpedo, a perfectly ridiculous offensive weapon. At a lovely little museum devoted to the event and to the Albemarle‘s earlier triumphs and to otherCivil War events in Plymouth, I met some wonderful people, and had a good chat. Above: the American flag that flew over Plymouth during parts of the war. Below: Cushing’s personal model of the torpedo, gifted to him by admirers in Buffalo; the museum’s 3/8 scale model of the ironclad; looking at the Roanoke upstream (the Albemarle was sunk on the left bank); and looking downstream (on the horizon is where the Albemarle sunk the USS Southwick.)

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: CAROLINA POSTCARDS

From most of what I saw, North Carolina is a long series of two-lane blacktops bracketed by fields of weeds. I don’t know why people object to immigrants coming to America; there seems to be ample room for them in North Carolina. But there were some things to see: a place called Tarheel Barbecue, where, unfortnately, the food disappointed; the Senator Bob Martin Agricultural Center, which seemed to be in the center of nothing; a Boiled Peanuts store (I actually bought the blistered peanuts); and The Twisted Lime, the sort of place where expect to find John Fred and the Playboy Band playing `Judy in Disguise.’

SOUTHERN SOJOURN: NORTH CAROLINA, JULY 11

Intermittent deluges blinded on the endless two-lane blacktops of northern North Carolina.