When it comes to buffoons there is nothing worse than billionaire buffoons.
That’s because when buffoons on a park bench or in a tavern makes an ass of themselves it’s usually good for a laugh. But a billionaire buffoon actually has the clout to turn the entire bar into fools with him.
I came to this conclusion after reading a recent New York Times story on how Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hiring a handful of the country’s top journalists at close to $500,000 a pop to “divine and distill his unique brand of political philosophy and disseminate it around the globe.”
This gig might pay well but it’s hardly Andrew Carnegie hiring journalist Napoleon Hill to learn the secrets of the country’s great industrialists and inventers and share them with the masses in the seminal book, Think and Grow Rich.
It’s more like “billionaire gone wild” Mike Bloomberg trying to buy his way into greatness. Talk about dealing with the devil.
But I’m sure some of the hottest and smartest journalists in the country read the article and dusted off their resumes licking their Columbia J-School lips for a chance to bolster their checkbooks and gain bragging rights to working for Bloomberg.
But here’s a word to the wise for my colleagues. Before applying for the gig, read the fine print on the Bloomberg LP career Web site. It states:
“I agree that if I am hired for a position in the United States of America, I will be employed on an at-will basis, which means that: (a) my employment and compensation are not guaranteed for any definite period, and can be terminated, with or without cause, and with or without notice, by either the Company or myself; and (b) there is no written or oral agreement or representation that can alter my at-will status except an individual’s written agreement signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Bloomberg.”
In other words, if you get hired and look so much as cross-eyed at anything Bloomberg says, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
This goes for working for world-renown union buster and Bloomberg friend Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Post, and Mort Zuckerman, whose Daily News reporters are increasingly “permalance” positions – paid per diem with no benefits.
But let me not criticize my colleagues, who after all, are just trying to make a buck. In fact, I could divine, distill and disseminate Bloomberg’s unique brand of political philosophy a lot cheaper and start with a single sentence:
“He created a better mousetrap that made him billions of dollars, bought his way into public office, destroyed the middle class and used his money to buy the public and politicians, and ruin his enemies.”
But I jest here. So if your Royal Highness, Mayor Bloomberg or any of your minions should glance at this column, please understand it is pure buffoonery to amuse you. Ask anyone who knows me and they will say I’m a buffoon who means no harm.
And as a journalist, feed me a cracker and I’ll squawk like a parrot, “Bloomberg is great! Bloomberg is great!”
Just let me know where to Email my resume
Commenting on the reports of China’s dominance in world education and New York State rankings that place the New York City schools at the bottom of all categories, educator Michael Hooper, chairman of Roots Revisited, said “We don’t have a Department of Education, we have a Board of ‘mis-education’ that not only undermines the students, but prepares them for nothingness, for a life of havoc to be wrecked upon them by all manner of institutions.
“We have schools where Halloween is followed faithfully with posters and art but no attention is paid to the history of African liberation, even though studies have been made and laws passed, the multicultural programs that were to be taught have been ignored.
“Parental involvement is at an all-time low. Many schools have sign has signs that say “No parents beyond this point.” Hooper quotes South African student leader Steve Biko who said “The greatest weapon the oppressor has is the mind of the oppressed.” Well, they’ve gotten our minds in a calculated and planned effort that is no different than academic homicide. The sad part is that we as a people buy into it.”
Educator activist Jitu Weusi noted that “the Chinese have the most dynamic society in the world today and it should be no surprise that that dynamism extends to their schools.”
Weusi says that what we have today is a mayor who shuts down schools and hires a non-educator to run what’s left. ”Michael Bloomberg is in charge of the schools and he’s busy shutting them down. How does that solve anything? Bloomberg should be recalled and shown the door.”
The recent compromise giving tax cuts for the wealthy play a part here also says Weusi. ”Tax cuts for the wealthy are ridiculous when we’re looking at this kind of situation. The wealthy class we have today just want more and they sit on the money and it is stagnating the nation. ”Charles Barron and Warren Buffet said it best, until the people with money get off of it and let it trickle down, we as a nation are going to be up the creek.”
Mike Bloomberg’s first thoughts the morning after Mayoral election night might have wavered seamlessly between “ I won!” and “I almost lost!” A bittersweet victory/defeat for the richest man in New York City, who lives in a world where powerful egos have no patience with almost losing. He won 557,059 expensive votes to Democrat Bill Thompson’s low-cost 506,717.
That morning, our friend Robert Taylor woke up to a world that eludes the city agencies. He was at peace padding his way from Brevoort Place to Clinton Hill’s Grand Avenue, as he does every morning. “If it snows, I pick up a shovel and clean the streets for a few dollars. I just keep moving, but I keep coming back.” Virtually homeless after losing his apartment on the avenue just after 9/11 due to escalated rents; Robert is accustomed to “street guy” references. But he also knows how to train horses; he does not bet on them. He sometimes entertains small crowds, outdoors, with his phenomenal classic music playing, when a used piano is dropped off at his friend Eddie Hibbert’s Antique warehouse down the street.
Mr. Taylor informed us that the Mayor shelled out about $200.00 per vote for each of the more than half million votes he received, compared to his Democrat opponent Bill Thompson’s $14 each for almost the same amount of votes. “But, remember, it’s not always about the money; it’s about what you want that money to do. When the stakes are high, you cast high bets to win at any cost. He now has a lot of work to do to make true on those promises he paid for.”
On the north easternmost edge of Brooklyn, Mr. B., a block association president and former corrections officer agrees, but he still thinks arrogance, not money interfered with Mr. Thompson’s sure shot. At his election site, the lever for DeBlasio was stuck, and the pollworker told him gruffly, “Don’t worry ‘bout that, it’ll count.” After putting his strength on that lever to bring it to its place, he informed everyone present what was going on. “This ‘kiss-my-ass’ attitude – on the part of a lot of folks connected with the political process, including local elected officials, only succeeds in keeping voters away. And it may have pushed votes away from Thompson. People are turned off, they don’t want to participate.
“At the community board meeting this week, a guy stands up and asks about construction jobs that are going to other ethnic groups who don’t live in the neighborhood; a weatherization official announces that it doesn’t make sense for owners of 2-family homes to apply for special funding, ‘especially,’ he said, ‘since you don’t use that much hot water anyway’, plus we learn about 75% of the program’s $10 million is available to owners of multi-family dwellings, well – that’s not us; then there’s these rezoning issues and whether or not certain areas of Bedford –Stuyvesant will be rezoned in accordance with the special interests of other ethnic groups in other areas. Point is … if local politicians are servants of the public, they should come out of their comfort zones and get into the neighborhood and go to the people. Explain to them what’s going on.”
The 45-year-old block association president was recently stopped by police in Herbert Von King Park and asked to show ID because he was walking through the park at night, three nights before the election. Officers apologized profusely after they discovered he was a retired Corrections Officer. “This is the way it is. But attitudes across the board must change if they are to get the support from all of the people.
“Some of the young Turks seeking election against incumbents could have gotten a lot of mileage out of putting their weight solidly and visibly behind Mr. Thompson. There are so many lessons to be learned.”
It’s still no excuse for such a low turnout, says New York City Parks worker Earl Williams. “When I went to P.S. 305 at 4pm to vote, there was no one there except the poll workers.”
It was chilly and dry the day after the election, and everyone had something to say abouthow Thompson should have won. Except, of course, the mainstream press, stunned that their polls didn’t get it right, and perhaps numbed by the same thinking as Taylor, Mr. B., Mr. Williams and Mr. Bloomberg: if Black people had turned out, in force, Thompson, who earned 50.9% of Brooklyn votes to Mr. Bloomberg’s 45.3%, would have enjoyed the landslide of the century. For pennies on the dollar. Lessons to be learned, indeed.
Tags: antique, bedford-stuyvesant, Bill thompson, billionaire mayor, black community, black people, black votes, block association, brevoort place, brooklyn, clinton hill, community board 3, corrections officer, DeBlasio, democrat, earl williams, eddie hibbert, ethnic voting, grand avenue, herbert von king park, homeless, low turnout, Mayor's bittersweet victory, Mayoral elections, michael bloomberg, Mike Bloomberg, multi-family dwellings, new york city, New York City mayoral elections, New York City Mayoral Race, new york city parks, p.s. 305, politicians, pollworkers, richest man in New York, robert taylor, servants of the people, street politics, term limits rulings, votes, young turks
