The New York City Health Department issued long-awaited instructions to doctors Thursday for treating and detecting 9/11-related illnesses, including a warning that smoking worsens World Trade Center-related diseases.
Speaking in Ireland, Mayor Bloomberg made his strongest denial yet concerning a 2008 presidential run.
You know that douchebag businessman code of honor that requires anyone affiliated with the financial services industry to wear a suit on the subway no matter how incredibly hot it is?
Mike Bloomberg does sarcasm:
Let's turn our attention west to Chicago, that toddlin' town, where the men, who dance with their wives on State Street, are men, the gals are gals, and the aldermen are a bunch of skirt-wearing nannies who want to make sure that your Harold's fried chicken comes with no trans-fats. That's right, "The City of Big Shoulders" is rapidly turning into "The Village of 'My Pussy Hurts,'" as the city council authorizes bans on foie gras, cellphones, and smoking. Which is why we at Gawker would like to offer you Chi-Town weenies a trade: You take our nanny-state, ban-happy mayor and we'll take your indictable, "where's mine" city head. We've got to be honest: New York hasn't had a good corruption scandal since Donald Manes started playing with the cutlery. Meanwhile, our guy is the most regulating, schoolmarmish, "I know what's good for you" pol since that broad you guys had who "lived" in Cabrini-Green. It's an "everybody wins" situation, except maybe for the residents of Englewood, who, if this week is any indication, can expect to spend a lot of time with the power out.
The payoff on this clip comes about thirty seconds in: As Mayor Bloomberg praises Con Ed chief Kevin Burke for, we don't know, not allowing Queens to be consumed by an apocalyptic fireball, the pols behind him visibly roll their eyes in disgust. We're surprised no one stuck two fingers up behind the mayor's tiny head. Quote of the day goes to Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris, who said, "Someone should ask the mayor why the guy playing solitaire deserves to be fired but Kevin Burke, who denied hundreds of thousands of people electricity and lied to the people about it, deserves to stay in his job."
In a news conference this morning at City Hall, the mayor defended Kevin M. Burke, the president and chief executive of Con Ed...
"I think Kevin Burke deserves a thanks from this city," Mr. Bloomberg said. "He's worked as hard as he can every single day since then, as has everybody at Con Ed. And it's easy to go criticize but once this happened, Con Ed has been doing everything they can to bring it back. And I don't think that I could have gone in and done any better."
Apparently Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference today at a graduation ceremony for students planning to work in the building trade. The Daily News reports:
Shocking news from The Times: Mayor Bloomberg, who has long claimed to have been born in the sun-dappled shadows of Medford, Mass, hard by almost-Ivy institution Tufts University, is actually - horrors - a Bostonian. Who ratted him out? His mom.
They may not be able to agree on a design, a memorial, or even a proper timeline, but the wise folks behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero have come up with something that's even more important: a web site! That's right, the Post reports that the Mayor and the Governor will be joining forces to introduce the thing this morning:
President Bloomberg? Although the drumbeat has been barely perceptible for the past few months (unless you read The Observer, which pretty much puts it on the front cover every week) the possibility becomes more appealing every day, especially when you consider the other options. In any event, the needle moved a little bit this weekend when, at a fundraiser for endangered Connecticut congressman Chris Shays, Bloomberg was asked if he would run and answered "Absolutely not. And anybody who's running will say exactly that." Not exactly Shermanesque, sure, but it's not exactly Clintonesque either, which is refreshing. We don't know if this country is ready for a vertically-challenged Jew as president, no matter how many billions he's got in the bank, but stranger things have happened. (Look at the guy who's got the job now.) On the off chance that this impossible dream becomes a reality, we'd just like to issue the following warning to our fellow countrymen who may not yet be familiar with the mayor: Smoke 'em while you've got 'em.
Mike Bloomberg took some time away from his busy schedule declaring idiot holidays and deciding what soft drinks our city's school kids should drink to condemn Toquir Choudhri, recently brought up on charges for surfing the web on the job. (Admit it, you just looked to see who was near your cubicle.) Choudhri was cleared by Judge John Spooner, who likened surfing the web to reading a newspaper and noted that working for the city's Department of Education was punishment enough. Bloomberg, doing his best Giuliani impression, dismissed the judge's opinion as "advisory" and revealed that Choudhri visited 300 web sites in two days. Now, we surf the web for a living; if we see more than fifty sites a day our eyes glaze over. 300 in two days? Clearly, this guy is way too efficient to be on the city's payroll.
Speaking of Jews (and, this being a media site, when aren't we, really), the Mayor recently explained his decision not to fire city jail Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil with the claim that, being Jewish and all, "it may be easier for me to approach these situations with the Muslim community." According to The Post, the mayor asserted that "his religion gives him a better perspective on what the imam said." Because, you know, there's that long tradition of Jewish/Muslim harmony and understanding. Maybe it's the lack of pork in the diet. In any event, the mayor went on to say that "you can't fire someone for things they do outside the office." But just let the imam get caught playing solitaire on city time
Try this on for size: We think yesterday was sort of a bad day for Bloomberg. Because here's the thing. The dude was up by more than 30 points in all final pre-election opinion polls. Thirty-eight, even, according to Quinnipiac. And yet he only won by a 20-point margin.
