And at a new location:

www.nysun.com/51ststate

Hopefully things run as smoothly there as they did for me here, here and here.

Let me know what you think:

email: apaybarah@nysun.com

aim: azipaybarah 

This site is almost back in action.

I’m taking a week-long hiatus to work on an obscure side project that will put this site on hold temporarily. Exactly how long? Who knows.
In the meantime, enjoy this rant on Daily Gotham about Vito Lopez and wait for the excitement at the annual Queens County GOP dinner this Friday, hosted by Mike Bloomberg’s favorite State Senator, Serph Maltese.

Especially on domestic issues, according to today’s Siena poll of 1,120 registered voters in 50 states. (No one from the 51st State was surveyed.) Progressive, but still domestic.

But on foreign policy and commander-in-chief issues, more than half the people surveyed said there would be no difference between a male and female president.

Would that change if male/female were replaced with names of actual males and females? The survey doesn’t go that far, but it did ask if Laura, Hillary and Condi should run.

Sorry Laura. 81% said no. Hillary’s numbers dipped a bit from 2005, but she’s still above 50%. As for Condi, she jumped 6 points, but hasn’t broken 50% yet. But the rise in Condi’s “should run” numbers seem attached to the growing notion that Hillary’s will actually run.

Glad to see one woman’s success helping another.
[Note: This item was updated from an earlier version that was saddled with funky HTML issues.]

Karma? Conspiracy? You decide.

Man shot in hunting accident after lauhging at Dick Cheney.

Okay. See you Monday.

Just out of curiosity, how does Mike’s Solitaire firing compare to Christine’s Full House cleaning?

Sorry for the sporadic posting. I’m wrapping up some personal errands, including a much-delayed Valentine’s celebration.

Be back on Monday.

The publisher who lead the “Freedom of the Press Week” almost 20 years ago after a Bronx newspaper was firebombed for defending Salman Rushdie is taking a slightly less outspoken position with the Danish cartoons.

That publisher, and my old boss, Mike Schenkler wrote in his column this week:

“We are not afraid; however, we are uncertain whether reprinting the cartoons serves any purpose but to inflame. We just don’t know at this moment.”

Several Islamic groups will protest tomorrow outside the Danish embassy in Manhattan, from noon to 3 p.m.

Lets see if it’ll turn into the kind of mayhem some people feared.

“You can’t blame anyone else. I’m the one who pulled the trigger and shot my friend.”

-Dick Cheney

excerpt from Fox interview, airing tonight

(hat tip: wonkette)

A bill that makes fleeing the scene of an accidental shooting a felony is being dubbed “Cheney’s Law” by cigar-chomping, upstate Republican senator George Winner, Jr.

For the first time in years, the bill have moved out of committee and has found support in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

5-9 a.m. Milano senior fellow Sharon Lerner starts the first of two reports on WNYC about affordable health care and childcare.

10 a.m. Tom Suozzi talks joins a Brookings Institute discussion in D.C. about First Suburbs.

10:30 a.m. Yvette Clarke and others storm the City Hall steps to condemn “bigoted” remarks made on Hot 97. Then, in a totally unrelated matter, calls for an investigation into payola schemes at radio stations.

11 a.m. In a case of sheer coincidence, Mike Bloomberg will make an announcement at a Battery Park restaurant at the exact same time George Pataki makes an announcement on Governor’s Island.   In case you forgot, Mike is fighting with Republicans in Albany, and Pataki is hoping people forget he is a Republican in Albany.

Also at 11 a.m. Bill Thompson (in a pre-mayoral move?) calls for property tax rebates for seniors.

11:30-12:45 Immigrants rights advocates march to City Hall. Wonder if Mike will be back by then?

4 p.m. Greg Meeks and others launch the Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus.

In case those longstem roses from the bodega on your corner didn’t go over well yesterday, try giving your loved one this bumper sticker, spotted by Ira Stoll: “I’d rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy.”

Happy birthday to mayor Mike, who turns 64 today. His public schedule includes remarks at a Valentine’s gala later tonight at the Rainbow room. Fun.

And for folks celebrating today’s other major holiday, here is something to enjoy: a bridal blog.

For the politically minded that need some attention today, here are sites for conservative dating, single liberal men, and everyone else.
As for this site, 51st State is celebrating its first week of, uh, freedom by tinkering with its design and posting on a slower than usual pace.

Stonewall has some information about Howard Dean’s off-the-record meeting with LGBT leaders in a Manhattan law firm yesterday.

Dean told the group he eliminated the job of Director of Lesbian and Gay Outreach at the Democratic National Committee to, as Stonewall puts it, “broaden the entire organization’s minority community outreach.”

KT McFarland, the Republican congressional candidate on Manhattan’s East Side has some “going interest” in running for Senate, her campaign said today.
I first mentioned this in my profile of her campaign consult Ed Rollins a few months ago.

When I asked “why not run her for Senate,” Rollins replied, “I talked about it today with her at lunch.” That was when Ed Cox and Jeanine Pirro were still running.
Now, that lunch chatter has found its way into an Albany Times Union piece.

McFarland, a former Regean aide with foreign policy experience, seems like a more formidable challenger for Hillary than John Spencer, the former mayor of Yonkers. But Spencer seemed ready to sow up Conservative Party support, making him the first candidate that Republicans and Conservatives agreed on.

O well.