Lawmakers Pass New York State Budget - NYTimes.com

Yay, New Yorkers finally have a budget to look at and see who will be paying for the failures of our leaders.

Guess who!

Not the wealthy, not the politicians who are telling us how they will get the cash, nope!

Specifically left off the list of those whose taxes will rise are those poor, poor - pass the hat - alms for the poor Hedge Fund workers!

Yup, those wonderful folk who manipulate derivatives and derive more derivatives from the derivatives they derived in the first place! In other words once again the people who work in the industry that in part caused all of our economic woes are shielded from pain.

Perhaps we can raise the tax rate on the rest of us so we can create a fund to bail these poor poor people out in a year or so when they fail and take whatever is left of the economy at that time!

When will our politicians finally treat 'we the people' fairly? After all don't we elect them to do so?

Sorry, a little naivete crept into my old brain and I reverted to la la land for a moment.

Politicians and detectives attempting to solve a crime follow a very similar method - THEY FOLLOW THE MONEY!

The difference is detectives arrest the criminals when they find that money. Politicians just take it home.

Chutzpah Revisited

The definition of the word Chutzpah, like so many words derived from the Yiddish language is best understood when given in an example.
The story goes that a young man is arrested for the murder of his parents. He is brought before a judge and asked if he has anything to say to the court.
"Have mercy your honor," he says, "I'm an orphan!"
Merriam Webster would do well to add this as the definitive definition of Chutzpah.
But surely it is not the only one they or we could use.  These days we see chutzpah everywhere.
So yo, listen up.
Joseph Bruno the former Teflon 'Don' of the New York State Senate was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Over his entire career in politics Bruno was known as the so-called 'third man in the room' because no matter what horse trade was going on it had to be cleared with Da Boss.
I make no accusation against the man nor would I lest I wish to become a permanent neighbor of Mr.James Hoffa.  I'm sure he's a wonderful family man and loves all animals of da earth.
In his defense his attorney stated that the court should look at his long career of public service.
Really?
So in other words if you commit a crime you go to jail, but if you can commit the crime continually and over an extended period of time you should be commended???  For what, getting away with it???
I wonder what his parents would say.
Have mercy on Mr. Bruno, your honor, for Chutzpah's sake.