Monthly Archives: June 2009
Congrats, Al Franken
You might recall we posted here about “A Dollar A Day To Make Norm Go Away“–a campaign to get Norm Coleman to drop his lawsuit keeping Minnesota Senator-elect Al Franken from officially taking up his seat. Good news! MN Supreme Court has ruled in his favor:
Just now, the Minnesota Supreme Court handed down its unanimous verdict [PDF] on the long-running, unresolved contest between Al Franken and Norm Coleman to determine who will fill the state’s vacant U.S.
MYD Does NYC Gay Pride!
This past Sunday MYD Members participated in the annual New York City Gay Pride Parade. This year, we were proud to be more than casual observers to the parade. We have worked hard to push for Marriage Equality in New York State, and will continue to work hard to guarantee equal rights for all. Don’t forget to check out our website www.newyorkequality.com to email your State Senator today!
That being said, the parade was AWESOME! We joined… Read More
Shake That Fist At The MTA (Again)
Enjoying that fare hike that went into place over the weekend? ($2.25 per ride now, hooray!) Here’s another reason to be annoyed with the MTA:
Not surprising, but still troubling: A new study from the University of Washington and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health shows that subways are the loudest forms of mass transit in the city. Some of the noise levels recorded in the subway exceeded 100 decibels, which is loud enough to cause permanent hearing
Crusading New Yorkers
Some cheery news from beyond New York State borders! The Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that state attorney generals have the right to investigate nationally-chartered banks for violating consumer protection laws.
NY AG Andrew Cuomo wanted to see if national banks were engaging in discriminatory practices by funnelling minorities into dangerous sub-prime loans. Fannie Mae estimates that more than
“Ayes, 32″
Apparently Republican Senator Padavan walked through the chamber while the Democrats were having yet another not-really-a-session. Democrats are now passing a huge list of non-controversial legislation, claiming “Ayes, 32″.
But Padavan has told Paterson he wasn’t present:
Paterson takes Padavan’s word that he was not in chamber during session and [will] not sign bills passed this afternoon.
You can watch the proceedings live here (scroll down).
Senate Shows Up - The Albany Project
“Only” 5% of GDP

One of Manzi’s central points is that climate change just ain’t all that damaging, economically speaking: it will reduce global GDP by “only” 5 percent one hundred years hence, he writes, even arguably pessimistic assumptions by the IPCC about both the magnitude of climate change and its economic impacts.
The problem with GDP is this: it varies greatly across counties, by a factor of 800 or so on a per-capita






