Ed Koch, New York City's Quirky, Caustic Former Mayor, Passes Away At Age 88

Former three-term New York mayor Ed Koch died from congestive heart failure at New York's Presbyterian Hospital in the early morning hours Friday. Known for being quick with a witty, acerbic remark, Koch served as New York's mayor between 1978 and 1989.

Born to Polish immigrants in the Bronx in 1924, Koch grew up in Newark and was drafted into the Army in 1943, serving as a combat infantryman and earning two Battle Stars with the 104th Infantry Division in France.

After the war, Koch enrolled in NYU's School of Law, recieving his degree in 1948 and going into practice the following year. By the early 1960s, Koch was interested in seeking political office, unsuccuessfully running against an incumbent Democrat for State Assembly in 1962. However, he would serve two years on the New York City Council before successfully running for congress in 1968.

During his time in Congress in the early 1970s, the New York Democrat described himself as transitioning from a liberal to what he called a "liberal with common sense" after hearing a number of complaints from his constituents over proposals from then-mayor John Lindsay- including a ham-fisted attempt to place a 3000-person public housing project in a middle class Queens neighborhood. In 1973, Koch resigned from Congress to run for mayor of New York, but didn't even last through the Democrat primaries.

However, by 1975 New York City had to lay off a number of NYPD officers among other city employees- causing an uptick in street crime accompanying a decline in services. In July 1977, there was a citywide blackout- criminals took advantage of the power outage and an NYPD short on manpower and embarked on a looting and arson spree. In response, Koch positioned himself as a 'Law and Order' candidate and was elected mayor of New York City in 1978.

The city's fortunes gradually began to turn around under Koch and in 1981, he was re-elected in a landslide, running on both the Democrat and Republican Party lines. The following year he briefly entered the race for governor but lost to primary challenger Mario Cuomo.

In 1985, Koch ran for a 3rd term and won by a margin of 78%. However, his third term was also wracked by scandals within City Hall and health problems after suffering a stroke in his office in 1987. During the 1988 Presidential primary, Mayor Koch publicly fueded with Democrat candidate Jesse Jackson. Some speculated this feud  with Jackson angered black voters and led to his downfall in the 1989 mayoral election, where he lost to challenger David Dinkins.

After his three terms as mayor, Koch remained in the public eye appearing as a judge on The People's Court and hosting his own radio talk show in the 1990s. More recently, he appeared in a weekly online video segment called Mayor At The Movies as well as appearing as himself in cameos on a number of TV series and films such as The Muppets Take Manhattan and Saturday Night Live.

He also remained involved in politics and would often cross party lines to endorse Republican candidates like George Pataki, Rudy Gulliani, George W Bush and Bob Turner. The former mayor was also something of a foreign-police hawk and staunchly pro-Israel.

In a 2010 forum, Koch said he felt the highlight of his time as mayor was during a 1980 transit strike when he felt the need to do something brash and public.

He strode down to the Brooklyn Bridge to encourage commuters who were forced to walk to work instead of jumping aboard subway trains and buses.

"I began to yell, 'Walk over the bridge! Walk over the bridge! We're not going to let these bastards bring us to our knees!' And people began to applaud," the famously combative, acid-tongued politician recalled at a 2012 forum.

His success in rallying New Yorkers in the face of the strike was, he said, his biggest personal achievement as mayor. And it was a display that was quintessentially Koch, who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during a three-term City Hall run in which he embodied New York chutzpah for the rest of the world.

A lifelong bachelor with no known romantic partners, Koch's sexual orientation was the subject of rumor and speculation. During the 1980s, Koch signed off on gay rights ordinances approved by the city council. When pressed on the issue, Koch famously stated “My answer to questions on this subject is simply, ‘Fuck off.’ There have to be some private matters left.”

Koch was survived by his sister, Pat Thaler, and many grandnieces and grandnephews. He will be buried in a plot in the Trinity Church cemetary- his headstone will reportedly have an inscription that were the last words of journalist Daniel Pearl- a US Journalist who was murdered on videotape by Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan in 2002:

“My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish.”

Happy Hanukkah From Not Another New England Sports Blog

This is one of those fortuitous years where Christmas and Hanaukkah overlap one another, so you have occasional menorahs and illuminated Stars of David thrown in with the various displays of Christmas lights amoid everything else.

As a semi-practicing Christian, my only encounter with the Jewish Festival of lights was while visiting a sibling in college whose housemates were practicing Jews. As guest, I was invited to light the menorah as they prayed in Hebrew. I'm pleased to say it went smoothly- no structure fires or anything.


Currently, the closest thing I have to a tradition for the Jewish holidays is to post some Rule 5-tastic images of women in uniform (tight, snug uniforms no less) of the Israeli defense forces persuasion.

So I figure I might as well keep a good thing going. Remember, Israel has near-universal consription for Jews over the age of 18, so its not unusual to see men and women from all walks of life serving the IDF in some capacity- even triplets.

73 Years Ago Tonight- Kristallnacht And Some Eerie Similarities to the #Occupy Movement

The overnight hours of November 9-10 1938 were marked by coordinated attacks against Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria in what was to be known as Kristallnacht- or 'Night of the Broken Glass'. The 1938 pogrom considerably ratcheted up persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria (which had been annexed earlier in 1938) by the ruling nazi party.

"It marked a dramatic escalation of the persecution of Jews in Germany," said retired professor Gerhard Weinberg.

The personal accounts gave a firsthand look at that night.

"They ripped up the belongings, the books, knocked over furniture, shouted obscenities," Harris said.

"Houses of worship burned down, vandalized, in every community in the country where people either participate or watch," Gerhard said.

They served a reminder of what happened and what was to come.

"People were coming in and destroying their family heirlooms, that kind of shock just shook their entire world and then the catastrophe of holocaust and its aftermath," said Thomas Louchheim, the co-chair of the Yom Ha Shoah Memorial Service.

And they served as a warning of what can happen in the future.

"Horrible things can happen when people don't care, or are silent," Harris said.

When Hitler assumed power in 1934, Jewish-owned shops were frequently attacked and vandalized by the paramilitary arm of the nazi party while they called for boycotts of Jewish run businesses. The following year, the Nuremberg laws were passed, which virtually eliminated the right of Jews in Germany to work, travel or vote.

Kristalnacht itself was reportedly sparked by the November 1938 shooting of a German diplomat in Paris by a Polish Jew who had been expelled from his Hannover home [although after the war it was apparent that the nazi regime was searching for any pretext to begin a widespread expulsion, imprisonment or extermination of Germany's Jewish population while destroying or seizing their property in the process- NANESB!]. Encouraged by the nazi SA stormtroopers, German civilians also took part in the lootings, assault and arson that fateful autumn night.

Now I guess this is the part where I heave a sigh of relief and say to myself 'I for one am glad that I don't live in a country that has roaming gangs of thugs indiscriminately attacking & intimidating people, vandalizing businesses and torching structures with tacit government approval'.

But hold the phones- what's this?

Keep in mind that that above image is not Bonn circa 1938, but rather Oakland, CA circa November 2011. The happy little hooded window-smashers depicted above are anarchists who have embedded themselves with the #OccupyOakland movement (although numerous #Occupy supporters insist that they're actually provocateurs sent by Homeland Security or the Oakland Police- y'know, because nothing is EVER their own fault). And while invoking Godwin's Law is the oldest trick on the internet, the whole #Occupy movement doesn't seem to be the least bit disturbed by their movement calling for a totalitarian ideology while their members blame a historic scapegoat for this nation's problems:

After skirmishes with police last week in which an ex-Marine was injured, #OccupyOakland called for a general strike and shut down the port while marchers and anarchists began smashing windows in storefronts, grocery stores and banks- even businesses that had expressed support for the #Occupy protests.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier said that the #OccupyDC protests were becoming increasingly aggressive and confrontational after demonstrators surrounded the Washington D.C. convention center during an Americans for Prosperity summit and started blocking public roads.

The apparent target of #OccupyDC's actions at the Convention Center (including using children as human shields) was the politically active billionaire Koch Brothers. That right there should be a dead giveaway that the entire #Occupy movement is nothing more than contrived leftist astroturf seeing as how they're remarkably quiet about President Obama's cozy relationship with wealthy bundlers like John Corzine or George Kaiser.

And lest you think I'm being too hyperbolic with the #Occupy/nazi comparison, the #Occupy movement has been endorsed by the American nazi party, complete with AR-15 toting neo-nazis showing up at #OccupyPhoenix.

For those of you who think the comparison to the nazi SA storm troopers is over-the-top and uncalled for, I give you the teachings of the Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple:

So tell me, how out of place would such a sermon be at one of the #Occupy demonstrations and sit-ins?

Thrice As Nice- A Rosh Hoshanah Tale From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Because I'm not the most ambitious person in the world to start off with- plus I'll be even further out in the boonies than usual over the next couple of days- I started out thinking I'd do something similar to my blog entry last year for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hoshanah. Basically some generic wishes peppered with some olive drab clad Rule 5-bait of the Israeli persuasion.

But while doing a search for some IDF eye candy (and lets face it, they are to women in uniform what Brazilians are to female soccer fans), I came across the tale of the very lovely and unique Orbaum Triplets, pictured above.

"The concept of 'one for all and all for one' can get pretty absurd," the late Jerusalem Post staffer and columnist Sam Orbaum wrote about his identical triplet daughters 14 years ago.

Orbaum, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 46, went on in the column, entitled "The threeness of it all," to describe life as a father of identical triplets.

Not only did he sometimes mix them up, Orbaum wrote in his well-known wry, comic style, but he was also constantly impressed by their tight bond - when for example they stood up for one another in fights in the school sandbox.

The three blond 19-year-old sisters are still sticking up for one another, although this time not on the playground but in the IAF, in which they all enlisted a few months ago, making history.

While all three are in khaki-colored air force uniforms, they don't serve together. Odelia, the oldest (born a minute before her two sisters), serves as a control officer in the IAF's underground command-and-control center in the Kirya in Tel Aviv; Nomi is an air traffic control officer at the IAF's Palmahim Base; and Donna is currently in training for a different IAF position near Herzliya.

"Even though we are, in a sense, still together since we are all in the IAF, it was still difficult to split up to different positions and offices," said Odelia.

The sisters say that they think of themselves as one person, which might not make sense - until one sees how they complete one another's sentences or give the same answers during the interview.

Since elementary school the three have been together, going on to the same high school in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood and then to the same premilitary academy in the Jordan Valley.

It was there that the triplets decided to enlist in the IDF and not do national service like most of their female classmates.

"As religious girls we were confused about what to do," said Nomi. "But [we] decided to enlist into the IDF since national service, like working in an old age home, is something we can always do after our military service, but military service is right now. [It's] the only time we can do it and is what characterizes the state."

Once they made their decision, all they had left was to find fulfilling jobs in the IDF. Donna said she thought about trying out for the pilot's course; Nomi thought at one point about joining the Ground Forces Command and becoming an infantry instructor.

In the end, they all made their way to the air force, albeit on different bases.

"We didn't all decide to joint the IAF," explained Odelia. "That is just how it worked out."

Nomi, the self-declared "controlling" sister, said that becoming an air traffic controller fit in very well with her personality.

"I usually make the decisions so becoming an air traffic controller was natural," she said.

While the three are not currently together, they all plan on becoming officers and hope to be in the same course at the Bahad 1 Officer Training School near Mitzpe Ramon in a few months.

If that doesn't work out, there's always the post-IDF trip overseas, which they have no doubt they will make together.

The girls also don't doubt that their father would have supported their decision to join the army. When Sam came to Israel he tried to enlist, they said, but he was exempted on medical grounds.

"He supported us in everything we did until he passed away when we were 12," Donna said. "This is the seventh year since he passed away and I think about him all the time and see his smile and know that he would have been proud of us."

The story is from late 2009, so Odelia, Kirya and Nomi are probably 21 and could very well be junior officers by now if they followed through on attending the Officer Training School together.

Happy Rosh Hashanah, From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my regular Jewish and Israeli visitors [Do I have any? If not, I'll just wish it to Jewish passers-by then- NENESB!].

Since Bar Refaeli is apparently a draft dodger (not an easy feat coming from a nation that has mandatory conscription) I thought the High Holiday observing the New Year could be kicked off with some Israeli eye-candy that's actually wearing the IDF uniform.


Of course, some could argue that there's a sensationalist and exploitative element to pointing out the fact that there's attractive women living in Israel.

But for a more straightforward, slice of life look at contemporary Israeli women serving in the IDF, photographer Rachel Papo has an interesting photo essay called Serial No. 3817131.
It was my observation that if a woman could look good in BDUs (i.e. Battle Dress Uniform- the day-to-day camouflage uniform of the US Army), she could look good in pretty much anything. I think the same analysis could hold true for the IDF olive-drab uniform, although that hasn't hindered the IDF glee club any.

But on this Rosh Hashanah, I will let you, good NANESB! readers, be the judge of that.