(continued from Part 2)

It should come as no surprise that on the campaign trail, President Obama refused to be interviewed about Saul Alinsky, the community organizing guru who wrote Rules for Radicals, a how-to guide for destroying American capitalism and democracy.

Presumably Obama, who taught courses on Alinsky’s brutal, sometimes violent organizing techniques, declined to speak to reporters about the late guru. He must have realized that such an interview would throw an unwanted spotlight on Alinsky’s radicalism, and by extension, his own. Such counterproductive publicity would also have undermined the candidate’s efforts to reinvent himself as a moderate. Alinsky’s adherents now dominate the modern Democratic Party establishment. Apart from President Obama himself, they include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, Federal Communications Commission diversity chief Mark Lloyd, Obama’s ex-green jobs czar Van Jones, former DNC trainer Heather Booth, Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to name just a few. “Who the hell isn’t [an Alinskyite] in this administration?” asks conservative author David Horowitz.

And President Obama hasn’t been the only longtime ACORN operative working in the White House. There’s also the low-profile Patrick Gaspard who, until recently, was White House political affairs director, one of the titles Karl Rove held in President Bush’s White House.

In a move that ought to disturb anyone who cares about the integrity of the democratic process, earlier this year Gaspard took over the reins of the Democratic National Committee as its executive director—just in time to begin initial preparations for President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Gaspard hails from the same world of radical left-wing community organizing that made Barack Obama who he is today. Gaspard is an expert in the harsh, street-smart organizing tactics taught by Alinsky. He’s the hatchet man Obama sent to New York over a year ago to strong-arm then-Gov. David Paterson into dropping his reelection campaign. As executive director running the DNC’s day-to-day operations, Gaspard will oversee Organizing for America, a project of the DNC supposedly modeled on Alinskyite organizing principles.

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The federal government has identified a new opportunity in its quest to endlessly push dubious spending initiatives supposedly tied to advancing “the greater good.”  According to the New York Post, federal copy-editors are forcing New York state to spend $27.6 million to eradicate the apparently major threat of… all-capital-letter street signs:

Federal copy editors are demanding the city change its 250,900 street signs — such as these for Perry Avenue in The Bronx — from the all-caps style used for more than a century to ones that capitalize only the first letters.

[...]

At $110 per sign, it will also cost the state $27.6 million, city officials said.

[...]

The Highway Administration acknowledged that New York and other states “opposed the change, and suggested that the use of all upper-case letters remain an option,” noting that “while the mixed-case words might be easier to read, the amount of improvement in legibility did not justify the cost.”

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New York, like most states in the nation, is facing a nasty budget hole which Gov. David Paterson attempted to fix earlier this summer by pushing through a tax hike on cigarettes.  A pack of smokes now costs as much as $13 in Manhattan, but the high taxes being levied may not be helping to close the state’s budget gap.  Revenue from cigarette sales following implementation of the 58 percent increase in tax levied by New York State totaled $125 million last month.  During July 2009, it totaled $119 million.

Now, facing ongoing budget problems, New York is moving to impose taxes on a good the state is known for producing, and which many of its residents consider indispensible: The bagel.

An obscure provision in New York’s tax law allows Albany to tax “sliced or prepared bagels (with cream cheese or other toppings),” and the tax collectors are moving on bagel shops across the state.  A particular target appears to be Kenneth Greene, who owns over thirty Bruegger’s Bagel franchises in New York.  Greene’s customers are livid at the eight-cent per bagel tax being levied.  In response to customer outrage, Greene has posted signs reading “We apologize for this change and share in your frustration on this additional tax.”

Other bagel shop owners meanwhile are holding out hope the tax collectors refrain from targeting them next.  “I hope they don’t come after me for that,” said Florence Wilpon, a founding owner of Ess-a-Bagel in Manhattan, per a quote in the Wall Street Journal.

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From The Hill:

Democratic leaders and major party donors plan to hold a lavish 80th birthday gala for Charles Rangel at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan next month, despite 13 ethics charges pending against the veteran lawmaker.

Lobbyists and other party donors received invitations this week to join Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and New York Gov. David Paterson at one of New York’s finest hotels to celebrate Rangel’s birthday.

Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are also listed as featured guests, according to an invitation viewed by The Hill.

Some potential guests received the invitation a day after the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct issued a report accusing Rangel of multiple ethics violations.

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On July 1, a new cigarette tax hike took effect in New York.   But just three weeks after the state began levying the additional $1.60 per pack, the move is looking likely to prove a bust.  Reports are flowing of more New Yorkers crossing the Empire State’s borders to purchase their smokes.  Meanwhile, the state’s cigarette smuggling sting operations have been all but shut down, with the official responsible for overseeing such efforts having been axed just over a week ago.

Just one day after the hike went into effect, Massachusetts’ Berkshire Eagle reported that an Xtra Mart convenience store and gas station in Great Barrington was already seeing an uptick in purchases from bargain-hunting New Yorkers.  According to the manager of the store, “a lot of people are coming from New York…  We had to order a lot of cigarettes, more than usual, in anticipation of New Yorkers coming down.”

In Jersey City, convenience stores and gas stations have been benefiting from New Yorkers buying their smokes outside the state’s borders for years—and they expect to see more of that.  Phil Hwang, who works at a gas station near the New Jersey end of the Holland Tunnel, was recently reported as saying “People from Manhattan will buy cigarettes here and they’ll buy a carton at a time.”  He added that the last time New York hiked its cigarette tax, sales at his shop increased 20 to 30 percent.

In Pennsylvania, smoke shops were also anticipating a boost in customer numbers before the tax hike went into effect.

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New York Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo is proving a canny politician the further he progresses in his career.  Thursday, the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo trashed outgoing Gov. David Paterson’s budget plan, saying he opposes plans to tax soda and hike taxes on cigarettes, and favors cutting spending in order to close the state’s $9 billion budget gap.

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Cuomo also indicated Thursday that as Governor, he would bring down state spending by eradicating state agencies and cutting spending on education, health care and Medicare.

New York’s deficit is expected to reach as much as $15 billion next year, with many observers blaming Paterson’s big spending approach for the situation.

Republican candidate for Governor Rick Lazio has been bashing Cuomo for failing to detail how he would close the budget deficit, just as Paterson has been dancing around various proposals to deal with New York’s current budget crisis.

Just days ago, taxpayer groups and convenience store owners breathed a sigh of relief when Paterson backed off his plan to raise cigarettes by $1 per pack, following Republicans in the State Senate signaling that they would vote against any bill including tax increases.

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ACORN’s New York operations are looking forward to a potential new flow of federal dollars, thanks to the New York State Senate and New York Governor Paterson.

Together they applied the Van Jones’ Apollo doctrine to tap into federal stimulus money allocated to New York.

Governor Paterson recently signed into law something called the “Green Jobs – Green New York Act of 2009″. The new law provides for the creation of a massive slush fund of federal stimulus dollars to be set aside for “green jobs”.

Those green jobs include but will not be limited to “Energy Auditors”, certified green contractors, green financing services to help pay for property upgrades, and more.

There are a number of places in the legislation where ACORN, SEIU, and their affiliates stand to gain access to this new green slush fund. Below is but one excerpt which must make them very happy:

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