Bad day at the office for Crazy Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino's campaign for Governor of New York hit a bump in the road Wednesday - and then drove right off the fucking cliff.

Paladino, in case you haven't heard, is that crazy bastard who loves Staten Island. He wants to be your next Governor.

In defense of Richmond County Republicans, they didn't vote for him in the primary. He was defeated narrowly in our borough by Rick Lazio. And the Boro President Oswald Copperpot has even said that Paladino "has to tone himself down." (Coming from this guy, that's saying a lot.)

He now faces Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the general election.

This morning we were greeted with this video from Fox 5, where a sweaty Paladino is defending himself against charges of racism and malfeasance.

Visit the real Staten Island Dump

It's the moment we've all been waiting for.

This Sunday, Oct. 3 is your first chance to get a 'Sneak Peak' at the new and improved Freshkills Park, aka Freshkills Landfill, aka the original Staten Island Dump.

One of the world's largest landfills is now New York City's largest park - so take that Prospect and Central - and Sunday's park-a-palooza is the first time the general public can see this grand renewal project.

The itinerary is jam packed with family fun: canoeing, birdwatching, kite flying, live music, pony rides, art & crafts, Swedish Marionette Theatre.

There will be guided tours from people with degrees that work for the Dept. of Sanitation. We're guessing they will explain to us how safe this all is.

So bring the wife (or husband) and the kids (or grab someone else's) a pack a picnic blanket because this is a day we will never forget, a game-changer for the legacy of Staten Island.

To think as a kid that I would one day be standing atop those tremendous piles of shit -- it's almost like going to the moon.

New York City is killing Gil Scott-Heron

You can get lost in New York City.

Lost in the architecture, the whirl of taxi cabs, the sprawling parks. You can find solace in both the plaid red table cloth in a Times Square steakhouse and the slow drip of water as it falls onto the rat infested subway tracks on a drizzly fall day.

The new video by Gil Scott-Heron displays the darkness of this city, through the lens of a man begging to escape its madness.

In a places like Staten Island, technically part of NYC, there are more trees per capita, by any informal analysis, than other areas of the metropolis. But its polar opposite could be a ferry and subway fare away, in Harlem, where Gil Scott-Heron is holed up in his dark apartment, watching old boxing videos and sucking on a glass pipe.

The man who made a '60s counter-culture slogan with one poetic line -- 'The revolution will not be televised' -- is seen in this Chris Cunningham video, fading in and out of black along with his poetry, as the roar of a subway car alludes a man trapped by the bridges, elevated trains, and skyscrapers that surround him.

The New Yorker piece written about the artist recently reads more like a premature obituary. But whether the Big Apple, or crack, is killing him, Scott-Heron is still here - trapped in New York City with the rest of us.

Gil Scott-Heron "New York Is Killing Me" 

Worst landlord ever?

Guess this guy's not getting his security deposit back.

When 27-year-old Carlos Rivera was shot down in the relatively-peaceful neighborhood of Sunnyside on Friday rumors abound as to who done it.

Was it a drug deal gone wrong? Something to do with his Latin sounding name? Might Sunnyside Staten Island turning into Sunnyside, Queens?

It turns out it may have been none of these things, and the attack may have been directed by the young man's landlord.

According to the Daily News "police said there was an ongoing argument between the landlord and Rivera's mother over whether the son was on the lease."

Maybe he could have just turned to radio down a couple of notches.

On a side note: we promise to pay our rent on time this month, and no more wild parties - scout's honor.

Who killed Mike Grimm's (fake) Twitter account?

In this new media environment politicians don't have to shake hands or kiss babies to win elections - they just need a Twitter account.

Don't believe us? Just ask @SarahPalinUSA

The revolution will not be televised; it will be live-streaming on your cell phone.

So it's no surprise that the two candidates for Staten Island's most important public office took to the Internets and got themselves a social media presence on both the Facebook and the Twitter.

We were a bit curious, however, when someone set up a fake account for Congressman Mike McMahon. The anonymous user tweets 'jokes' every so often, like this one:

Another hate crime in Staten Island! Some guy on Hylan Blvd just called me "tubby."

The account has 12 followers.

Anyways, a fake account popped up for McMahon's opponent Mike Grimm Thursday. The jokes were just as bad, but the account has been suspended.

Movie Reviews: Not on Staten Island

The Dump would like to review two new movies currently out in the theaters: 'Catfish' and 'I'm Still Here.'

'Catfish' is the creepy, Facebook-inspired dystopian social network documentary, and 'I'm Still Here' is the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary that managed to fool everybody while getting blistering - though misguided - reviews in the process.

They may not be blockbusters, but both are compelling new films generating buzz and conversation throughout the city. Also, both are not playing on Staten Island.

Once again, like in the 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Milk' debacles, Island theaters continue to avoid arthouse, while appealing to the lowest common denominator at the same time.

Lincoln Restler and the hipsters take over Brooklyn politics

After a lengthy lingering count from last week's primary, upstart young Allen Ginsberg look-a-like Lincoln Restler won an election for some political committee thing in Williamsburg and Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

"This is a tremendous victory for the reform movement in Brooklyn," Restler told the Brooklyn Paper.

Why is this important? Well, Restler took on the Democratic machine and the big fat political boss Vito Lopez. Restler had support from the blogs (do they hold the future of political fortunes?) and he pulled out the newbie residents, young professionals, and trustafarians who live in Williamsburg.

And Restler is just part of the New Kings Democrats coalition.

It's nice to see a neighborhood rally around young idealists who are concerned with fringe causes like the 'environment,' 'public health,' and 'issues of development.'

Will the North Shore of Staten Island ever start throwing some young progressives in the political ring? Or, will everyone keep moving away when they find enlightenment in the outer reaches of Colorado and Jersey City?

What will Governor Paladino give Staten Island?

Get your wish list out.

A new poll came out Wednesday morning that showed crazy Carl Paladino inching closer toward Andrew Cuomo in the race to be bring a baseball bat to Albany.

This is great news! Why? Because, Carl Paladino loooves Staten Island -- even though we didn't vote for him and our local paper can't even spell his name correctly.

So, if crazy Carl is elected governor, we pretty much get anything we want, right? Here's a few things Staten Island could get from Governor Paladino:

The evils of Obamacare! Revealed

by Johnny Patriot

We at the Staten Island Tea Party recently called for Congressman Mike McMahon to help repeal the new health care reform law passed by President Obama: Obamacare.

Here's the Tea Party take on this: Medicare, Social Security, earmarks for local transportation and military spending - these are all legitimate forms of government handouts.

But this 'Obamacare' just goes too far. When will we stop this nanny-state that gives people free rides?

It is just a matter of time before the Death Panels kick in, and the red shirts starting invading our homes and clubbing our children.

Now there is proof that this massive government scheme is turning into the evil nightmare we at the Tea Party were warning you about.

Take a look at this piece of propaganda that shows how 'Obamacare' is ruining the country:

Jersey Shore: Angelina is the Staten Island Ferry?

On a recent episode of 'Jersey Shore,' Mike The Situation Sorrentino served up an insightful metaphor about Staten Island's sexiest administrative-dental-assistant Angelina.

"Angelina is just like the Staten Island ferry. It's free and everybody gets a ride."

Great line, Mr. Situation. Who's writing your jokes, anyways? 

As ferry riders, we were intrigued by his remark. But, however apt the analogy, it left us with an even more pressing concern:

If Angelina was the Staten Island Ferry, which ferry would she be? It's a tough choice - we looked into the options:

Welcome to Staten Island: 'If you don't leave, I'll shoot you'

The New York Post has the latest news item from our terribly-branded neighborhood of Port Richmond.

Jonas Vidals is a truck driver who recently moved his family into the area because he thought it would be safer than Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

He was standing outside his house Saturday with his wife when three men from an apartment building nearby allegedly shouted anti-Mexican slurs and threatened him.

"If you don't leave, I'll shoot you," they yelled.

What, no fuitcake? This is not the way Staten Islanders welcome their new neighbors.

How to be in the new Paragraph video

Wanna take a 'Powernap' with the crunk-funk band Paragraph?

The Staten Island group is filming a video for their electro-glitch extravaganza Tuesday night at the Brickyard Gastropub in midtown.

You can listen to 'Powernap' here!!! And this is what an actual music writer said about the song back in May:

"Paragraph has unleashed a dance-floor carpet bomb with their new track, 'Powernap,' a fuzzy, wuzzy, scuzzy headbanger that drunkenly staggers a fine line between Daft Punk and actual punk."

Wow. That's some strong words from somebody who was once called the last rock critic standing.

According to the FB invite for Tuesday's event the directors need "people that are willing to party, and have a good time, on camera for a wild video."

Count us in! Also, glow sticks will be provided. See y'all there.

Gano Grills at the Alice Austen House (video)

A tipster sent in this video of local artist and actor Gano Grills speaking at the Alice Austen House Museum on Saturday.

Gano is known for his graffiti work and acting in television shows like 'Law and Order,' 'Oz' and movies like 'Cadillac Records' and 'Bamboozled.'

The event was a benefit to honor volunteers and community leaders who assist the Universal Temple for the Arts, an organization based on Jersey street in Staten Island.

Some of the honored recipients were people who have devoted their time to teach and inspire young artists in the under served community and help the organization further its mission: Robert Sievert, Sharon Broadnax, Mary Bullock, Gano Grills, Lorenzo Hail, Edward Ladner.

Each honoree received a certificate citation for their service from Assemblyman Matthew Titone and Congressman Mike McMahon.

Here is a short video of Gano speaking at the event:

Guidos gone viral

After the latest Staten Island mini-viral sensation, 'Staten Island Girls,' some faux-guido guys wanted to get in on the action.

These five brave Staten Island youngsters are auditioning (?) for the next season of ‘Jersey Shore.’

They have the blowout down to a science, Ed Hardy gear in tact, pretentious sunglasses, and chains too!

The wannabe viral video doesn’t include any singing, but give the guys credit for the choreography – from ‘semi-robot’ to ‘fist-pump’ to one guy jumping on the bed. It’s inspirational.

Weezer is broken statue with four toes

We should be well acquainted with the Rivers Cuomo marketing technique by now. Have you not seen the ridiculous album covers? Maybe you heard the oddball collaborations with Lil Wayne and Kenny G? Well, then you must have purchased the Weezer Snuggie.

This season, the perennial meme-generators bring us "Hurley" - an album whose patron saint is the character from the now-defunct hit television show "Lost." Oh, and there’s a beaming shot of actor Jorge Garcia plastered on the cover.

"I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia," Rivers told AOL Music. "It just had this amazing vibe."

But more than the “vibe” it's fitting how the band chose to associate with this particular show. Each one is a pop culture phenomenon that continues to perplex their fans with elaborate stunts. With “Lost,” we were intrigued with kernels of faux-philosophy and allusions to revered scientists. Weezer elevated nerds to their full glory in the ‘90s with horn-rimmed glasses and wide-eyed lyrics about Dungeons & Dragons and Buddy Holly. We fell from them both, and they convinced us that they held secrets and insights to our lives. But in the end they failed to deliver anything except disappointment and regret.

What’s been missing from Rivers' work for the past decade has been his sincerity. And “Hurley” is another recycled watered-down version of a Weezer album.

Firefighters rescue sinking car after 'tornado'

That was scary. Thursday night's almost-tornado tore down trees all over the North Shore, and knocked out power in Tottenville.

We even found a car sinking off Richmond Terrace -- and people were inside.

They took a wrong turn and drove right into a flooded street.

"The water's coming up" - kid in the back seat.

Firefighters were on the scene.

They told us there might be a live wire in the water. So the three people stuck inside couldn't swim out.

"You in the back," the firefighter said. "Last year, we had a guy in Queens, stuck in the car, got out in the water with his girlfriend. They both got electrocuted, and died."

He stopped complaining.

Here's what happened next:

Another huge win for Michael Grimm

Two days in a row.

We wanted to congratulate Michael Grimm on his big win tonight.

It seems one day after bagging the Republican nomination for Staten Island's Congressional seat, Mike Grimm also won a TV talent contest.

Grimm was preparing for his challenge against Democrat Mike McMahon in November's midterm election. But first, he had to sing a little song.

The FBI agent, former Marine, and sexy blues singer Michael Grimm was revealed Wednesday night the winner of 'America's Got Talent,' the wanna-be 'American Idol' on NBC.

No word yet from the McMahon campaign on whether they will challenge Grimm to a karaoke contest at the Cargo Cafe.

We are sure the $1 million prize will help Grimm's campaign. Here's a video from his epic take on the Al Green classic, 'Tired of Being Alone.' Had no idea he was such a good singer - and can play geetar.

Post-primary hangover: the stench of racist emails and Jesus Freaks

So yesterday was primary day.

In local events Mike Grimm beat Mike Allegretti -- whatevs, not sure many people actually give a shit.

On Staten Island, Grimm bagged 6,797 votes. That's about 1.5 percent of the Island's population. You could probably get more than 1.5 percent of Staten Island to vote the "The Situation" if he was on the ballot.

The more interesting results came from the Republican primary for Governor of New York State, where a crazy racist e-mailer, cruised to victory over the flailing Rick Lazio.

Paladino has some very inventive ideas about how to reform state government including baseball bats, calling Jewish people Hitler, and sending welfare recipients to prison. But for the past few years, Paladino has been busy sending around racist emails.

The full monty has been uncovered by wnymedia.net. Some of the highlights are (don't click unless you actually want to see what is described) neo-Nazi Obama propaganda, racist jokes about Africa, porn, racist Obama again, porn, more porn, ugly racism, and, honestly not sure - something involving animals and sex.

It could be possible that Paladino was hitting the forward button innocently, unknowingly sending dirty, misogynist, white power, emails to a long list of Buffalo officials and state workers.

But here's the thing. When confronted about the offensive content in the e-mails Paladino actually responded by defending himself. His logic is antiquated, old-man stuff, complete with a gamut of ethnic slurs ("dago," "spic," "polack"). It's like someone transported Archie Bunker's armchair from the 1970's right into Carl Paladino's office:

New York Jets can't contain themselves

When Mexican reporter, and alleged hottie, Ines Sainz went to Jets practice to interview Mark Sanchez the team could not control themselves.

"I entered the locker room and there were some comments and some games," Sainz told DeporTV. "I want to make clear that in no moment did I even feel offended, much less at risk or in danger while there. It was simply a situation that got out of hand."

The NFL and the Jets are looking into the situation, possibly taking disciplinary measures.

But then the inevitable backlash: people are now claiming she deserved it, because, well she's so damn sexy that she should expect sexual harassment.(!?)

We don't know what kind of sadistic man cave these people are living in. But in the interest of serious investigative journalism we decided to take a look at the evidence.

In-depth report after the jump:

Dump guide to primary day

Are you excited about primary day Tuesday? Alright, well keep reading anyway.

Here on Staten Island the big Congressional battle between two dapper wanna-be GOP nominees will maybe bring out a few hundred or so voters.

Mike Grimm and Mike Allegretti are the two Republican candidates for Congress on the ballot for the 13th district.The winner of tomorrow's battle royale will advance to the next round against Democrat Mike McMahon in November (kinda like 'American Idol.')

If you are a registered Republican, and still on the fence, we have done the service of summing up the candidates and their most important attributes:

Who has better hair?

This was a close one. While Grimm has a very neatly-trimmed military style crew cut, Allegretti has a little more to work with. This gives him the opportunity of mixing it up a bit, stylistically speaking. He can go with the youthful Italian spike up front, or comb it real business-like when he visits the senior centers. Advantage: Allegretti

Who has the best endorsement?

Gotta give this one to Grimm. By bagging Sarah Palin, the de-facto leader of the Republican party, Grimm will be raking in the out-of-state cash once primary season is over. Allegretti has Vito Fossella, which is great locally but seems to have lost his luster a bit.

Who has better experience?

Grimm was in the FBI and Marines. Sounds great. Only problem is he keeps misusing and allegedly lying about his record - not cool. Allegretti has a good business background, and hasn't run any failed restaurants - nothing earth-shattering. Grimm is kinda smug about the whole Marines thing as well. Think it goes to Allegretti by default.

Who has the better positions?

Both candidates pretty much toe the GOP line on everything from fiscal policy, government spending, health care, the war in Afghanistan. Both have a common disdain for Nancy Pelosi and pretty much everything Obama has accomplished or tried to push through Congress. Notably cap-and-trade, the failed legislation to tax multi-billion dollar corporations for polluting the planet with carbon emissions and causing the country to rely on Saudi Arabia for most of our energy resources. McMahon voted for the bill, which is probably why they hate it so much.

Basically they are similar, but Grimm seems more robotic about his positions - like he's reading a cue card from Rudy Giuliani. Allegretti sounds more sincere, he wins.

Which candidate is a true Staten Islander?

Neither

Also, when you're in the voting booth: don't forget to vote for Crazy Carl Paladino. Good luck tomorrow, young men. Hopefully, we helped you rack up a one or two votes. You're welcome.

Is Staten crazy enough to vote Paladino?

We just might be.

At a recent rally on Staten Island Carl Paladino was the talk of crazy town, as he comforted the right-wing nuts like a weirdo uncle that sends you racist e-mails.

"You gotta come to one of our NRA rallies, we'd love to have you," says the burly intimidating man to Paladino, the wanna-be nominee for governor of New York.

"Which part of me do you want," said the GOP hopeful, waving his limbs in the air like a marionette.

"I want all of you," said the burly man, "and bring you right up to Albany."

It was a genial exchange, like old buddies from high school. And Paladino was hamming it up everyone: kids, moms, people in patriotic gear, local politicians -- they all wanted a piece of Paladino.

A recent poll puts Carl and Rick Lazio neck-and-neck for Tuesday's GOP primary. (Lazio leads Paladino, 43 percent to 42 percent.)

Carl has made repeated trips to Staten Island, made his distaste known for other boros, and his most recent stunt is the proposal to "abolish the Verrazano toll" gimmick. We've heard that one before.

(Btw, SILive, or Advance: his name is spelled Paladino not Palladino.)

But, the Buffalo businessman's most contentious proposal is the one that seeks to house welfare recipients in upstate prisons, where they can work and take lessons on "personal hygiene." Really.

So it'll be a close one, and Staten Island can put this guy over the edge. We could be a game-changer.

Jersey Shore: Angelina and Vinny smash

Thursday's 'Jersey Shore' was a Staten Island smoosh fest. There was fighting, crying, drinking, and the eventually sweet, sweet love-making from the most unlikely couple.

The all-Staten duo of Angelina and Vinny smashed one night after a drunken bout of partying - even though they were battling the entire episode and Vinny didn't even buy her a Fossil watch or anything.

In the midst of the Staten smoosh, Situation and Paulie tried to brand Angelina the Staten Island Dump which is obviously copyright infringement, but we can't really get into it (our lawyers are working on this)

In the end, the episode taught us a lesson about guidos on Staten Island.

When we are drunk we'll never pass up the opportunity the bang a hot chic, cute dude, guidette, juicehead, grenade, bottom of the sneaker. The are no limits or laws on Staten Island. No rules except the ones we impose upon ourselves.

This is what makes us such great fodder for reality TV. Our self righteous attitude is so palpable, it almost justifies itself.  We don't even have to act like assholes, because we already are.

Angelina and Vinny were having a great time that night. They'll probably wake up and pretend it never happened - or not remember it at all. Whatever, that's how we do out here.

Daily Show fights discrimination on Staten Island

There must be a casting agent that doles out guidos every time a television show wants to film on Staten Island.

In last night's Daily Show 'Staten Island Supreme Court' piece, the crew scoured the Island to find a veritable cast of candidates for the Supreme Court - but, predictably, they found a bunch of guidos, some with a history of reality show appearances. (Was the Tea Party not available?)

Matthew Titone also makes an appearance, but the real meat of the piece follows the Jersey Shore model: throw a bunch of Italians in a room and wait for them to say funny shit. The same method we used at our weekly Sunday dinners growing up.

In case you missed it, watch and learn:

www.thedailyshow.com

The real Lady Gaga is from Staten Island?

A Staten Island mom has come out and declared that Lady Gaga ripped the whole androgynous shtick off her now-deceased daughter, Lina Morgana.

Apparently, Morgana was a dark, edgy pop songstress when she met a staid Stefani Germanotta (Ms. Gaga) in a New Jersey studio.

Then everything changed...

"Lina had that style. Gaga had a different style. She changed dramatically overnight," the girl's mom said. 

Now, according to the NY Post, Morgana's mom is seeking the rights to release about a dozen songs that her daughter recorded with the wicked queen of pop. (That album will probably suck, but sell hundreds.)

The Post said that in October 2008 Morgana jumped ten-stories to her death off a Staten Island hotel, (we have a ten-story hotel?)

Here's a YouTube clip of both of the songstresses doing a song together.

This chic coulda really put us on the map!

The first casualty in Great Kills inferno

A moment of silence...

For the past three days firefighters have been battling the fiery inferno in Great Kills park. And today, in an unrelated Great Kills fire, we suffered our first loss in this ongoing saga.

A 28-year-old man named Louis Ventafredda was out minding his own business when the fire department busted into his blazed-up house and confiscated a bevy of pot plants on the top floor of his apartment.

Ventafredda, who apparently has been arrested for this stuff before, was later found in Hugeonot with "five oxycodone pills in his pants pocket."

Guess he was in pain after all that pot he just lost.

We are sorry for your loss, Louis (and .. psst, we know a 'guy.')

You need to learn more about Islam

This is Wendy Pellegrino - a Staten Island woman who claims "everything she needs to know about Islam, she learned on 9/11."

Let try to put aside all the political implications for a moment. She is obviously grieving. She knows many others who are grieving as well.

It sucks to lose someone you love, who is close to you, for no apparent reason. It's also nice to have a scapegoat. 

Ms. Pellegrino decided to sidestep Al-Qaeda, bin Laden, the Taliban, the hijackers who slammed planes into the buildings, the Bush Administration for not heeding the warnings, the Clinton administration for bombing the wrong Sudanese factory, the CIA's support for Islamic Jihad against the Soviet Union in the '80s, Rudy Giuliani's lack of a control central which left firefighters in the stairwells and 9-11 operators telling people to "stay put."

All of these are potential, though not necessarily correct, targets of anger from a person like Ms. Pellegrino. But she chose a religion - Islam.

I'm sorry for your loss, truly I am. But this does not give you the right to malign a faith of over 1 billion people as terrorists. 

You may have "learned something" about Islam on 9/11, but it's not everything. And pretending this promotes the basest form of ignorance and intolerance.

It's not all you need to know about Islam. And maybe you should find out a little more before you step up to a microphone again.

We recommend starting with this Op-Ed in the New York Times from Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam who is hoping to bridge gaps and promote peace among religions throughout the world.

Read it, when you get a chance. You might learn something.

Video pays homage to crash victim

In case you haven't read about it, a 20-year-old kid was decapitated when his car ran into the Citgo gas station on Bay Street, while traveling over 100 mph to White Castle.

The car went up in flames, the passenger was saved, but Philip Boney-Scrivano is dead.

His friends (?) have decided to pay homage to the young man by putting together a video tribute that highlights Boney-Scrivano's life.

It's a terrible shame. He's a good-looking kid and seems like a really fun guy.

You can see him in the video drinking a large pina colada, Coors Light, Bud Light, various shots, large pints of beer, keg cups, more shots, Coronas, fancy pink drinks, double-fisting Jack Daniels and Coors Light, yet another shot, Corona, beer pong cups, shot again, big pitcher, Grey Goose, Heineken, bottle of wine and double Keystones.

Rest in peace.

The Glory of the 'Ghost Hole'

Where'd you spend your Labor Day weekend?

We went over the Verrazano to visit a place that makes the Jersey Shore look classy.

In Coney Island you can drink with a no-armed midget, get served alcohol by underage girls in bikinis, ride an 80-year-old roller coaster, and eat just about anything that fits in a fryer.

But nothing's more debasing than the spectacle of the 'Ghost Hole,' a place that makes you want to take a shower - twice.

The actual ride is $6 and probably the worst haunted house you can take a mechanical cart through. But the real attraction is the 'water fountain' out front.

No words can do it justice, so we took a picture instead:

Rally brings out Vito Fossella, some other dudes

There was a rally today outside the firehouse and memorial in Concord, Staten Island - something about 9/11 and Sharia Law, not really clear on that.

Supposedly, everybody was there: Carl Paladino, Mike Allegretti, David Malpass, Peter King, and even good ol' Vito Fossella.

Although Fossella led the rally, he maintained that he's not running for office.

Dennis McKeon of the Where to Turn group was in attendance as well. He reiterated his position that a rally against the Park51 mosque on 9/11 was in bad taste. This did not go over well with the angry crowd.

Mostly, the rally was a peaceful way for people to express their opposition to religious freedom and hatred of Islam.

It was a great place to bring the kids on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Happy Labor Day weekend, everybody!

Someone sent us this video of the gathering. Watch at your leisure.

Hey Mike Grimm: Your primary is coming up

Just a friendly reminder.

We wanted to take a minute and tell Mike Grimm that the Republican primary for Congress on Staten Island is September 14th.

It turns out that the the candidate for New York's 13th District has never actually voted in the primary for the very office he is running for.

His opponent, Mike Allegretti, mentioned this inconvenient fact at a 'Grimm-no-vote' press conference on the steps of borough hall, flanked by veterans. Then the Advance verified it, by asking Grimm.

"That's true," he told the Ad-vance. "I never voted in a primary."

And, as Allegretti pointed out at the smackdown:

"Who really knows him? We simply know the story that he is telling us."

It turns out that Mike Grimm ran a few restaurants into the ground after leaving the FBI, but is the candidate even from Staten Island?

If he's never voted in a primary here, has he voted somewhere else? Where was he registered? Queens? Manhattan? Rudy Giuliani's vacation house?

Someone look into this, we've got (part-time) day jobs.

Drunk guy walks into a hookah bar

Were they out of Jasmine?

A drunk guy walked into the Fire & Ice Hookah Lounge in West Haven, Connecticut last week yelling "racial epithets at a group of black and Arabic people."

The douche, 31-year-old Kevin Morris, apparently had something to get off his chest. According to the New Haven Register, he even tried to strangle the bartender.

Unfortunately for Mr. Morris, in his drunken stupor he forgot that people can fight back.

The patrons proceeded the beat the shit out of the young man, leaving him with a bloody face and embarrassing mug shot.

Police said that Morris was plastered and he continued to spit racial invectives as they carted him off to the drunk tank.

The bar looks like a pretty rad place, with belly dancers and pure herbals, but this dude must have had some axe to grind. (Police nor the Register reported what the epitaphs actually consisted of.)

Tobacco smokers should pay heed: no hookah bars near ground zero.

To the Tea Partiers: not on 9/11

As August saunters away, it's possible that she'll take this ugly 'ground zero mosque' episode with her.

But extremists, politicians, and media outlets are latching onto the cause with insidious glee, scheduling the latest protest-a-palooza on a day usually reserved for national mourning - September 11th.

Raging against the machine of Islam is fine 364 days a year - if that's your bag. But this is an exception: the one day when the petulant loons should check their outrage and reserve the spotlight for those who perished and the ones who lost them.

Meet the crazy bastard who wants to be governor

This guy's out of his mind.

Carl Paladino, the Tea Party (Republican) wanna-be candidate for governor of New York State, is appearing at the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island tonight for a little handshake meet-and-greet with the right-wing activists who want to slash government spending by any means necessary.

Paladino, among other things, is known for his controversial plan to house welfare recipients in unused upstate prisons so that they can live in dorms, work there, and take "hygiene classes."

Sounds delightful.

Maybe this is an issue that Islanders can get behind. Some have already isolated themselves on the South Shore, barricading against any perceived threat from the "others."

Why not round up everybody at the welfare office on Bay Street and throw them in the correctional facility on Arthur Kill Road? They'd be happy with that, no?