Commentary & Opinion

It is now customary for lies to drip from the fountain of public discourse. “I did not have sex with that woman,” “your investments are safe with me,” “doping did not play a role in the Tour de France victories”, a film about Mohammed was responsible for the raid in Bengazi,” are merely recent examples of dissimulation. Whether the liar is former President Clinton, Bernie Madoff, Lance Armstrong or President Obama, there is the belief you can pull the wool over the public’s eyes. And, as events have shown, this is often true.

David McCraw, vice-president of the New York Times and a graduate of Albany Law, has been involved in a lawsuit for documents showing how the Administration decided which Americans to assassinate who were on foreign soil but not in war zones. United States District Judge Colleen MacMahon decided that the government did not have “to explain in detail the reasons why its actions do not violate the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

Governor Cuomo last week unveiled his proposed $140-plus billion budget for New York State.  The goals of the governor’s budget were to close a $1 to $2 billion deficit without raising taxes, as well as to offer his blueprint for spending federal dollars expected to flow to New York to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy.

On the health front, there was some good news: the governor proposed full implementation of the federal health care reform law – aka Obamacare – and to expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands of uninsured New Yorkers.

Sometimes, individual scenes in movies are well-worth singling out for their sheer artistry.