We may have entered an unheralded era in political frankness with the inauguration of Gov. David Paterson. The new gubernatorial head admitted in an interview with NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter that he's done drugs; different drugs. And not experimenting; he used substances a few times.Carter: Marijuana? Paterson: Yes. Carter: Cocaine? Paterson: Yes. Carter: You have used cocaine governor? Paterson: I'd say I was about 22-23. I tried it a few times, yes. Where's all......

On Tuesday night at St. Ann's Warehouse, David Byrne, longtime advocate of bikes, big suits, lamp dancing and PowerPoint, will be joining a who's who list of New York performers to observe the fifth anniversary of the official start of the Iraq invasion. Called Speak Up!, the sold-out show is raising money for United for Peace and Justice and Iraq Veterans Against the War. If you don't have tickets, you might want to skip......

City Council member and probable 2009 mayoral candidate, Tony Avella, is the latest politician to ask for America's withdrawl from the Beijing Olympics if China will not grant Tibet independence. Under China's rule for over 50 years, Tibet has made no headway, even with the support of human rights groups, activists...and Richard Gere. When we interviewed Robert Thurman, co-founder of the Tibet House, earlier this year he touched on the Olympics, saying:The thinking is that......

Photograph of John McCain and President George Bush at the White House by Ron Edmonds/AP Yesterday, Senator John McCain was welcomed and endorsed by President Bush. Bush referenced McCain's doubters and past history, "John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment. And that's exactly what we need in a President: somebody that can handle the tough decisions; somebody who won't flinch in the face of......

Senator John McCain at a campaign stop in San Antonio, TX by Eric Gay/AP CNN, NBC, and the AP are projecting Senator John McCain will clinch the Republican presidential campaign, after winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island and clinching the 1,191 delegates needed. A source tells NBC that President Bush has invited McCain to the White House tomorrow and will endorse him. McCain will be having a victory party in......

Photograph of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debating in Cleveland by Kiichiro Sato/AP Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off for the 20th time last night in Cleveland, Ohio, as they head towards the big March 4 primaries next week. The rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination "traded insults," as they accused each other of negative attacks regarding their health care policies. The NY Times described Clinton as "relentless" - insisting on "responding......

Doug Schoen, the pollster who has worked with Bill Clinton on his 1996 reelection and Mayor Bloomberg, is stirring the Bloomberg for President pot again. He tells the Sun that Ralph Nader's decision to enter the 2008 presidential race could help Bloomberg. Schoen explained, "The Democratic candidate, whoever it may be, will have to tack to the left to protect their left flank, and that leaves more room on the center-left." And what with John......

Ralph Nader will be making another third-party bid for the Presidency in the 2008 election. The consumer advocate - and bane of many Democrats - made the announcement this morning on Meet the Press. Nader emphasized most Americans still are disenchanted with both the Democratic and Republican parties. At his exploratory site, which he established last month, he said both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in thrall to corporate interests. Nader, who ran for......

Senators and rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met at the University of Texas in Austin tonight for the CNN/Univision debate. The debate was less a showdown than an "agree to disagree" type affair. You can read a transcript here and clips will start to appear, but, per Austinist, here are some of best lines of the night: “I have to confess, I was somewhat amused, the other night,......

Photograph of Fidel Castro from 2006, proving he was alive after intestinal surgery and wearing an Adidas tracksuit Cuban president Fidel Castro resigned his position after nearly 50 years of rule. The 81-year-old Castro has been battling illness since 2006, notably turning over power to his brother Raul and other ministers temporarily. Though he was still ruling after his 2006 surgery, Castro was little seen. Now it is expected that Castro's resignation positions Raul......

Mayor Bloomberg let his feelings about H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which was signed into legislation by President Bush on Wednesday, be known. Mayor Bloomberg said the government "is spending money it doesn't have," and "I suppose it won't hurt the economy, but it's in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic." But don't worry, Americans - singles with incomes of under $75,000 and couples with combined incomes of under......

The Pentagon has charged six men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks and will seek the death penalty (the Pentagon's terse press release was titled "Defense Department Seeks Death Penalty for Six Guantanamo Bay Detainees"). These would be "the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system." The defendants will see the evidence and will have similar rights as U.S. soldiers accused of crimes. As for whether evidence and confessions gained through methods,......

Photograph of Bill, Chelsea, and Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night by Carolyn Kaster/AP Yet another example of foot-in-mouth syndrome due to the hours of punditry on TV, followed by an apology and suspension! Yesterday, while referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning on behalf of her mother, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster commented, "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Yes, he totally said that. Or,......

For those of you that still collect baseball cards (are there any left), be on the lookout for a joke card from Topps. The card manufacturer of our childhood, Topps is sneaking in a card with the former mayor and Yankees fan as a member of the Red Sox. You ask, "'But that's just nuts! He's a Yankees fan through and through! Why would Topps do such a thing?'" Well, because Rudy said in......

The Waldorf Astoria loves to brag about how every president since Herbert Hoover has been a guest at their hotel, but they rarely disclose what delicacies our rulers savor while there. But starting this month, guests at the Waldorf Towers and diners in the hotel’s Bull & Bear steakhouse can have a taste of presidential luxury that, until now, only taxpayer money could buy. For $330 each, guests in the towers can have a four......

Photograph of President Bush, with Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in the background, delivering the State of the Union by Ron Edmonds/AP President George Bush gave his final State of the Union address, sounding positive about his leadership but also noting that there's still more to do: "From expanding opportunity to protecting our country, we have made good progress. Yet we have unfinished business before us, and the......

The NY Times' editorial board has made its endorsements for the upcoming primaries. While the Times' selection of Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama is interesting (the Times cites experience), we're very taken with the editorial about the Republican candidates. The Times thinks John McCain is the best Republican candidate and notes some problems with him. But the heart of the editorial is an evisceration of former mayor Rudy Giuliani:Why, as a New York-based paper, are......

Though there's a "tentative deal" for President Bush's proposed economic stimulus plan in D.C., Mayor Bloomberg thinks it's a bad idea. During a speech last night (accepting an award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors), he outlined why the package was a problem. From the NY Sun:The $145 billion proposal being negotiated centers around the idea of providing several hundred dollars in tax rebates to individuals and families in a bid to spur the economy......

The bio on Eugene Mirman's website poses the question "Who or what is Eugene Mirman?" and answers, "In 1978, at the age of four, Eugene Mirman emigrated from Russia to seek a better life in America. It fucking worked." Of course, you've probably been familiar with Mirman at least as far back as the summer of '06 when he killed at Gothamist's Laughable Hype show. For any other entertainer, that magical night would have been......

The U.S. financial markets may have been closed due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, but stock markets around the world tumbled as worries over the U.S. economy took hold. Johan Stein, who manages about $14 billion at an asset management firm in Stockholm told Bloomberg, "It's the worst I've ever seen. The financial system is in terrible shape, and no one knows where this will end.'' Many investors are doubtful that President......

Over the weekend, Democratic and Republican caucuses were held in Nevada, bringing victory to Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney while John McCain won the South Carolina primary (the Democratic primary will be held next Saturday). While Clinton won in Nevada, Barack Obama's close second and his possible win of one more Nevada delegate than Clinton means that a Democratic front runner is far from certain. John Edwards, though, only managed 4% of the vote......

Say, did you hear anything about this movie that opens today, Cloverfield? No? Yeah, it’s kind of a [Spoiler Alert!] obscure art-house thing, all shot with a camcorder from the perspective of a few friends fleeing a massive monster smashing Manhattan. We attended a screening earlier in the week and deemed it top-shelf disaster porn; though the main characters are rather annoying and the apocalypse takes a little too long to blast off, “by the......

Anthony Lappé is a writer, blogger, television producer and executive editor of GNN.tv, the web site for the Guerrilla News Network. He's written for mainstream press like the Times and was the National Affairs Editor for Black Book, and in 2003 he collaborated on the award-winning Showtime documentary about Iraq called BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, which covered the front lines of the simmering guerrilla war in Iraq in 2003. Part of what......

The last sentence uttered before all hell breaks loose is, “Forget about the rest of the world and hold onto the ones you care about.” Though probably unintentional, those words of brotherly advice – spoken to a lovesick young yuppie named Rob – perfectly sum up the prevalent attitude in fin de siècle New York: the world’s spinning into a cataclysm of total war and catastrophic climate change, but fuck it; let’s party and......

Due to the Writer's Guild of America strike, Hollywood's party, the Golden Globes Awards were transformed from a boozy, fun dinner party to a press conference where presenters from entertainment programs like Extra! and E! News got to announce the winners. Yes, it was as painful as it sounded (Giuliana Rancic, it's not about you); many said they couldn't believe they were announcing the winners but said they would prefer it with the stars.......

In the vicious waters of the 2008 presidential campaign, everything is fair game. President Bill Clinton learned that (again!) after a remark he made has drawn the ire of black leaders. So Clinton called into the Reverend Al Sharpton's radio show to explain why used the term "fairy tale" while criticizing Barack Obama. It turns out during a Dartmouth College speech (the day before Hillary Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary), the former President......

An AP report that Mayor Bloomberg has been "conducting extensive polling and voter analysis in all 50 states" continues to fan the flames of a possible Bloomberg '08 bid. We can just imagine it: People in Alaska, Missouri, Ohio, all getting phone calls and asked, "How would you feel if a billionaire who happened to also be a mayor of a certain urban area decided to run for President - as an independent?" So far,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: smoke inhalation victims at Centre and White Sts. in Manhattan, a shooting on Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn, and a truck vs. overpass at 155th St. and South Rd. in Queens. Design firm EDAW was chosen to plan the Steeplechase Plaza for a now-vacant lot near the Coney Island boardwalk. The development beneath the Parachute Jump may include a water park and a platform for viewing Cyclones minor league baseball......

That just happened! Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic Iowa Caucus with at least 37% of the vote (projections are changing). Former Senator John Edwards got 30% of the vote while Senator Hillary Clinton got 29%. The media is playing this as a huge failure for the Senator from New York, given how powerful the Clinton machine has seemed. Also stunning: There were 82% more Democratic voters in this year's caucus compared with 2004,......

Earlier today, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed during a rally. The Western-educated (Harvard, Oxford) Bhutto had been living in Dubai and London for eight years, but returned in October to prepare for Pakistan's national elections (to be held next month) with hopes of returning to power. However, her return parade was bombed, killing 134 people and injuring more than 400. [Her obituary in the NY Times.] U.S. politicians weighed in on......