Call us cynical but we wonder whether Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s passionate backing of the building of a controversial mosque near Ground Zero stems as much from Bloomberg’s belief in America’s “freedom of faith” as it might from the Mayor’s belief in the “virtues of Islamic finance?”

Does the Mayor’s unshakable support have anything to do with The Bloomberg (company) becoming a ‘single provider of information that caters to the Islamic business market’?  A Bloomberg five-year business plan for an Islamic finance portal via a Bloomberg hub at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is already a reality.

Michael Bloomberg, has become a staunch supporter of the Cordoba House (Park51) Ground Zero Mosque.  In the process, the Mayor has lectured opponents on “religious liberty” and, by extension, implied that opposition to the mosque is largely based on bigotry.

Lately, Bloomberg has become so insistent on the mosque’s being built at its planned location that The New York Post has labeled him Pro-Mosque Mike.”

A defiant Mayor Bloomberg, saying there should be no compromise, insisted last night that a mosque be built near Ground Zero, declaring, “We must do what is right, not what is easy.

While Bloomberg hasn’t been shy about questioning the motives of those opposed to the mosque’s location, the media has shied away from the Mayor‘s motivations.  But what of the Mayor’s motives? What might they be? Does a strong passion for religious liberty explain all?

Some of Bloomberg LP’s officials may hold some clues. (more…)

“How’m I doin?’” he used to shout at all and sundry during his three terms as Mayor of the City of New York in the late seventies and the eighties. Ed Koch was a media favorite back in those days, the scourge of dog poop and a scrappy battler for decency back in the bad old “French Connection” era of graffiti and misery in the Big Apple.

Now, like the cranky old uncle at Thanksgiving, he just embarrasses them. Here’s his Hizzoner with a few characteristically Kochian words about Sarah Palin (ka-boom!) and our current POTUS:

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The resignation under pressure of Washington Post blogger David Weigel raises so many important issues that it’s difficult to know where to start. So I’ll limit my comments to a few of the most important:

Coming on the heels of the firing of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, Weigel’s exit reinforces the notion that anything journalists and public figures say, write or do can become part of the public record with a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse. McChrystal was a fool to think that a journalist — especially a freelancer — would not report disparaging remarks made about Obama administration officials and their policies, even if those remarks were made at a bar in the euphoric haze of Margaritas during happy hour.

So, too, was Weigel a fool to think his comments about the conservative movement in an off-the-record list serve would not become public, especially when those remarks were highly disparaging toward the people he covered. Weigel has since issued a half-apology, but the damage has been done.

The goal of any good journalist should be to get at the truth and be as fair as possible to all sides. Do journalists have opinions? Well, contrary to popular belief, reporters are human beings. And they have opinions — sometimes very strong ones — about the people they cover. Heck, just walk into any newsroom and listen to the jokes and wisecracks reporters tell at the expense of public officials. For that reason, lest they be overheard making fun of the mayor’s toupee or the local school board’s boneheaded policy, journalists are trained to be wary of newsroom visitors. (more…)

KATIE COURIC:  Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg, for sitting down with us.  The other day, sir, you guessed that the Times Square bomber was “homegrown,” and now authorities have arrested a Connecticut man in connection with the case.  Can you tell us anything about this naturalized American citizen person, whose identity we won’t mention because we don’t want our audience to think “Muslim,” even though part of his last name is “Shah” and his first name is “Faisal?”

MAYOR BLOOMBERG:  He’s from Connecticut.  I’m from Boston.  How am I supposed to know?  Especially since the Feds never tell me anything.  After all, I’m a Republican… right?

COURIC: Yes, sir, but you’re also the Mayor of the City of New York.  So let me get to the most important question: Yankees or Red Sox?

BLOOMBERG: As you know, Katie, I’m the mayor of all the people of this great city, including the ones in boroughs I’ve never been to.  So that question’s above my pay grade, even though I’m a billionaire.  Ha ha. Therefore, let me address your first question. Several of Mr. What’s-his-name’s neighbors in Bridgeport say he often complained that property taxes were too high — and, what’s worse, that he might have been recently foreclosed on.  In Bridgeport, where you can buy a house for less than the price of a loaf of bread! (more…)

During his recent State of the Union speech, the President issued a call for civility in America. Forget the fact that he once made a joke about Special Olympics kids and his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently even called his fellow liberals “f-ing retards.” The President sounded good when he scolded America for its negative tone.  Oh, he also attacked Las Vegas again:

You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t go blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.

As a long-time Las Vegan and a parent of a special-needs child, I sometimes wonder if the President of the United States of America is out to get me.  I’m not the paranoid type, but I’m fitting all the profiles that he likes to attack.  Thank God Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman gave the president what for over his most recent attack on my city:

He’s not our friend. I don’t know about Nevada, but Las Vegas, he’s sure not our friend.  He has a real psychological hang-up about the entertainment capital of the world.

Everybody says I shouldn’t say it, but I’ve got to tell you the way it is. This president is a real slow learner. (more…)