Bob Turner to Be Sworn In Today

House Speaker John Boehner will swear in Congressman-elect Bob Turner in the House of Representatives at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15.

Turner, who succeeds former Congressman Anthony Weiner, defeated state Assemblyman David Weprin by a 54-46 percent margin in a special election in the Ninth Congressional District on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

AP: Turner Defeats Weprin

The Associated Press has declared that Republican Bob Turner has defeated New York State Assemblyman David Weprin in the race to succeed former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

With roughly 70 percent of precincts in New York's Ninth Congressional District reporting as of late on Tuesday, Sept. 13, Turner defeated Weprin by a 53-47 percent margin.

Weiner resigned in June after lewd pictures and text messages he tweeted and sent to women became public.

Does the Tea Party Actually Matter?

Is the Tea Party a Ponzi scheme?

More than a few progressive Democrats may have already come to this conclusion, but Republican presidential candidates who participated in last night’s debate in Tampa certainly went out of their way to curry favor with Tea Party voters. Some had more at stake than others.

“I know we can do so much better in this country,” said Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann in her introduction. “That’s why I’m the chief author of the bill to repeal Dodd-Frank, the bill to repeal Obamacare. And that’s why I brought the voice of the Tea Party to the United States Congress as the founder of the Tea Party Caucus.”

Bachmann described herself as “the leading voice in the wilderness of Washington all summer” against raising the country’s debt ceiling, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry continued to take more wind out of her sails as he fended off attacks from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Congressman Ron Paul on the economy, taxes, Social Security and immigration. She found her Tea Party mojo, however, when she blasted Perry over his executive order that requires HPV vaccines for girls as young as 11.

“I’m a mom. And I’m a mom of three children. And to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong,” said Bachmann. “That should never be done. It’s a violation of a liberty interest.”

Rhetoric and strategic one-liners aside, last night’s debate raises the obvious specter of whether the Tea Party will emerge as a tangible force in 2012. Voters will obviously answer this question at the ballot box, but today’s special election in New York’s Ninth Congressional District for could potentially prove a harbinger of things to come.

Weiner resigns

Amid shouts from hecklers, embattled Congressman Anthony Weiner just announced his resignation at a Brooklyn senior center.

"I had hoped to be able to continue the work the citizens of my district had elected to do," he said. "Unfortunately, the distraction that I had created had made that impossible."

The once probable 2013 mayoral candidate represented New York's Ninth Congressional District, which includes portions of Queens and Brooklyn.

Reports: Anthony Weiner to Resign

The other shoe appears ready to drop.

Media outlets have begun to report that embattled Congressman Anthony Weiner will resign. The New York Times reported earlier this morning that Weiner made the decision after he spoke with his wife, Huma Abedin, after she returned to the country after a trip with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. WCBS is reporting that Weiner will announce his resignation at a press conference somewhere in the metropolitan area this afternoon.

Weinergate has clearly become a distraction to Democrats who have their eyes squarely set on the 2012 elections. Weiner's resignation will obviously come as a relief to those on Capitol Hill who clearly want to put this sad spectacle behind them.

Stay tuned...

Fire Island 2011, part 7

Started writing at 8:48 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, while waiting for a Babylon-bound train at the Bay Shore train station.

A fine mist has once again begun to fall. And while the weather on Fire Island was certainly less than ideal today, it was still good to be on the beach after a particularly tumultuous week.

Today's agenda included attending a memorial service in Fire Island Pines and interviewing two long-time Cherry Grove residents about the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of what became known as AIDS. I went inside the Woodhull School in Corneille Estates for the first time. And I even became an Ocean Beach scofflaw by eating a handful of pistachios on a public walk outside the village's commercial district.

Here are three notes and observations from the previous day.
1) I had never interviewed anyone while wearing only my underwear until I sat down with two lesbians in the Grove earlier this afternoon. My jeans became wet after I walked to their house during a downpour, and they were in the dryer during our interview.
2) Perhaps Congressman Anthony Weiner will seek refuge on Fire Island during his leave of absence from the House.
3) Inside voices should apply to any place where other people are not interested in hearing about someone else's cocktail ring or quirky parents. The loud woman on the 8:05 p.m. ferry to Bay Shore should take particular note.





The Land of No means business!



A Fire Island school bus parked outside the Woodhull School.



Roses outside Cielo E Mar in Cherry Grove.

Have Democrats thrown Weiner under the bus?

Have Democrats thrown Anthony Weiner under the bus?

Former Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine and Pennsylvania Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz are among the growing chorus of Weiner's colleagues who have called for his resignation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-Nev.] made it clear to reporters on Tuesday that the congressman has few friends on Capitol Hill. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] has launched a formal ethics investigation into Weiner's antics.

Sending lewd and sexually explicit pictures to women over the Internet hardly qualifies as a high crime or misdemeanor, and stupidity alone is not an indictable offense. This sad spectacle, however, has obviously become a distraction to Democrats who have their eyes squarely set on the 2012 elections. This episode also proves once again that politicians generally lack a backbone or intestinal fortitude.

Stay tuned…

Weiner: I Am Not Resigning

While Congressman Anthony Weiner does not represent Bushwick on Capitol Hill, one could not help but feel a bit sorry for the normally loquacious lawmaker when he confessed to reporters in Midtown this afternoon that he sent the now infamous lewd photo to a Seattle college student.



Weiner was scheduled to participate in an LGBT health care forum in Jackson Heights earlier this evening, but one can obviously assume he did not make it. The congressman maintained he will not resign, but today's revelations are almost certainly not the last shoes to drop in the ongoing Weinergate saga.