No single event will have a more drastic and long-lasting impact on Brooklyn than the proposed Atlantic Yards development. This uncommon proposal, however, is mostly misunderstood. Brooklyn Matters is an insightful documentary by Isabel Hill that reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal and highlights how a few powerful men are circumventing community participation and planning principles to try to push their own interests forward.

DFNYC has taken a strong position against this oversized development. To find a local screening or arrange a screening for your organization, visit BrooklynMatters.com

(Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent official positions of or endorsements by Democracy for NYC)

For those of you who are progressive aficionados of classical music and/or American musical theatre...

In 1976, Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner collaborated on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a musical that examined the establishment of the White House and its occupants from 1800 to 1900. In the giddiness of the bicentennial year, Broadway was expecting a robust patriotic celebration of America by a pair of musical theatre titans. What they got was a complex, disjointed work that focused on race relations and addressed the paradoxical wonders of the American experience in a way that theatergoers of the time were unprepared to accept, especially given the fatal flaws in Lerner's clunky, pedantic book. Following a traumatic out-of-town tryout period, the show began two weeks of previews, opened on May 4, 1976 and closed within the week after seven difficult performances. Bernstein refused to permit a cast recording and even recycled material from the show into his later classical compositions.

As with many Broadway flops (think Carrie, The Musical), the legend of the show has persisted over the years within the odd little community of Musical Theatre buffs and Bernstein devotees. One ballad from the show, "Take Care of This House" (sung by the character of Abigail Adams) has become a part of the soprano repertory and is heard in recitals and at musical theatre conservatories around the country. In 1997, Charlie Harmon (a former music editor of the Bernstein estate) and Sid Ramin (an original orchestrator of the show) fashioned the surviving material into a 90-minute concert piece they named, A White House Cantata. The cantata received good notices at its London debut and received a lovely recording by Deutsche Grammophon 2000 with Thomas Hampson and June Anderson in the lead roles. However, as with so many other contemporary large-ensemble concert works, subsequent performances have been few and far between, especially since the work still bears the scars of its ignoble birth. This week, the Collegiate Chorale and the Orchestra of St. Luke's presented the New York premiere of the cantata. (reviewed HERE...)

Those interested in the work hoping to find the youthful post-war romanticism of West Side Story or the charming wit of My Fair Lady will be disappointed. Aside from reflecting the pallor of Watergate and Vietnam, Lerner was fighting long-standing substance abuse issues and Bernstein was so busy with his conducting career that it was difficult for him to focus his waning, but still formidable, creative energies. The work in many ways resembles Bernstein's Mass as a jumble of pastiche American styles, including a notorious satiric minstrel number that can still be perceived as offensive by those with a constrained sense of irony.

But if you're seeking a cathartic musical embodiment for the frustrations of the past seven years and the rancor of this year's presidential primary, The White House Cantata may be the piece for you.

The recording is apparently out of print, although when I last checked there were some copies still available from Amazon.com. The CD is also still listed for sale on the official Leonard Bernstein website.

On March 25, 2008, a number of DFNYC'ers, coordinated by Dan Jacoby, joined NY City Council Member Tony Avella at the announcement of the "Clean Money, Clean Elections" (CMCE) bill that he is sponsoring in the City Council. CMCE will virtually eliminate private fundraising for candidates. It will truly level the playing field for candidates who don't have access to big money. It will reduce the lower of lobbyists who use big campaign donations and bundling to gain access to our elected officials. In short, it will make our elected officials responsible to constituents, not special interests.

Elizabeth Benjamin covered the event for the Daily News and wrote about it on their politics blog:

Avella's bill, which was submitted to the legislative drafting staff on March 10 but has not yet been introduced, would not go into effect until 2010 - a clause he inserted to avoid being accused to trying to pass something that would help his own mayoral bid...

Advocates have been pushing for Clean Money, Clean Elections legislation at the state level for about a decade, with little success. But Dan Jacoby, an organizer with Democracy for NYC who joined Avella on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, said there's renewed hope for the effort because its chief proponent in the Senate was none other than now-Gov. David Paterson.

...And Azi Paybarah on the NY Observer's Politicker:

Right now consultants run campaigns, but under ‘Clean Money, Clean Elections’ the candidates will run the campaign. And finally, under the current system special interest groups still spend millions on campaigns, but under ‘Clean Money, Clean Elections’ these same special interest groups have no special access or influence.

More photos of Avella's press conference are HERE...

(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions of or endorsements by Democracy for NYC or its membership)

In recent days, Senator McCain has asserted that Iran is supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq: Mr. McCain said at a news conference in Amman that he continued to be concerned about Iranians "taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." Asked about that statement, Mr. McCain said: “Well, it’s common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That’s well known. And it’s unfortunate." Although Senator Lieberman stepped in to correct Senator McCain at that particular press conference, McCain has made similar such statements since. That got me thinking I should get a comment from Nathan Gonzalez, an analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus and author of the book Engaging Iran, which was the topic of a recent DFNYC An Evening With... event. His reaction via e-mail...

Al Qaeda and Iran are strategic enemies. The idea of an Al Qaeda-Iran link is just as bogus as previous cries of a Saddam-Al Qaeda connection, which have been proven false time and again. Al Qaeda has carried out suicide bombings on the holiest of Shia shrines, and against crowded Shia marketplaces.

Let's remember that Iran is a predominantly Shia country, led by a Shia clerical establishment. Al Qaeda is rabidly Sunni, and unlike other Sunni groups, like Hamas, which are supported by Iran, Al Qaeda has no cross-sectarian appeal. As cynical as we should be about the Iranian government's actions, the idea of them bombing Shia holy shrines and killing their own Shia allies in Iraq is laughable. Once we finally leave, Iran will be fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq in a more direct fashion.

If we want to link Al Qaeda in Iraq to foreign governments, let's look at the numbers: 60% of attacks by foreign fighters in Iraq have been carried out by either Saudi or Libyan nationals. I invite John McCain to focus on those links.