Over the past two years there has been a lot of tumult in the United States Congress. By and large the American people are fed up with politics as usual and somehow assume that voting the opposite way they did the last time will fix things.

With this in mind the Republican party took a Brooklyn congressional seat in a special election last night. Brooklyn businessman Bob Turner beat Democratic Assemblyman David I. Weprin in a margin large enough to turn the heads of polsters who had been predicting an incredibly tight race, 54% to 46%.

National Republican leaders, trying to get a leg up on the upcoming Presidential race, suggested that the Democratic loss was a referendum on President Barack Obama himself. It is as if they forgot completely that the entire special election was necessitated by the public shaming of former Congressman and amateur pornographer Anthony Weiner.

Mr. Turner is the first Republican since 1920 elected to the ninth congressional district, which includes several working class Brooklyn neighborhoods and Forest Hills in Queens. In the end it seems that the Democrats greatest miscalculation was nominating a career politician, easily painted as a party insider intent on keeping things going as is.

The tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks is receiving wall to wall coverage and for those of us who lived in New York at the time that seems totally justified. The shear terror and shock of that chaotic day has not been lost on anyone who was there or within eye shot. Brooklynites will inevitably recall standing on the promenade or their roofs watching as the course of American history shifted in an explosive moment of violence. Some might remember walking across the Brooklyn bridge from their lower Manhattan offices to let loved ones know that they were okay, even though no one was okay.

The view of Manhattan from Brooklyn, always an iconic reminder that we live in one of the most exciting and vital places on the planet, was changed forever. So too was the view from our collective psyche. The last ten years have been a series of culture shocks and cultural breakthroughs. The technology we once feared would drive a wedge between humanity has instead become a hyper connective network. In a way that reaction could have something to do with the events of 9/11. The fear of being suddenly torn from someone you love or something familiar now has us forever connecting to one another. It is safe to say that on that day Brooklyn and the world got a whole lot smaller.

In an interesting form of protest, Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn’s Borough Prez, is threatening to — gasp — appear in a bathing suit in public unless Mayor Bloomberg reverses his decision to close the Gowanus “Double-D” public pool. Markowitz won’t be alone in his exhibitionism, as various city council members and other pro-poolers will be likewise suited.

The “Double-D” pool will take $200,000 to open, apparently. Is it worth it?

We’re just looking forward to all feeling better about our bathing-suit bods — seeing Markowitz in trunks is probably just as therapeutic as eating ice cream and watching The Biggest Loser.

Looking for a better way to cool down? We recommend Blue Marble, a purely Brooklyn ice-creamery with locations in Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights, and (newly) Cobble Hill. Plus, they added soft serve to their menu, at lease in some locations.

Although we’re often lighthearted at Brooklyn NY News, serious topics are sometimes more pressing. Today is one of those days.

Syed Hashmi, a 30-year-old former Brooklyn College student, pled guilty Tuesday for aiding in the delivery of military supplies to al Qaeda. Hashmi admitted to helping a roommate transport outdoor military gear to the terrorist organization in Afghanistan from London in 2004.

The three other charges against Hashmi were dropped, reducing a potential life sentence to 15 years. Hashmi awaited trial in custody for four years, and could be released in as few as 10 years for time served and good behavior.

In related news, two Brooklyn residents were arrested today for providing technology aid to al Qaeda. The residents, Wesam El-Hanafi and Sabirhan Hasanoff, also face 15-year sentences.

As residents all over Brooklyn are laboring to fill out those 10 tedious questions, those in Williamsburg as laboring a little less strenuously. Gawker reports that Williamsburgers have only a 30% return rate for the census, significantly less to 50% return rate in all of NYC.

Oh well, at least Williamsburg is pretty, as depicted in this photo via [charlie cravero] on Flickr.

Tired of trekking into Manhattan for your iPads and Pods? Maybe someday you won’t have to.

Marty Markowitz, the borough president of Brooklyn, is pushing for a BK Apple Store. The Prez recently emailed Steve Jobs from his new iPad, praising Brooklyn as a mecca for collegiate and creative types — two of Apple’s major clientele. Markowitz even included a promo video:

TUAW (The Official Apple Weblog) adds that Brooklyn has continued to prove its retail value over the years; the Brooklyn IKEA, for example, is one of the company’s top outlets in the country. But, as TUAW also points out, many Brooklyners probably pass one of Manhattan’s four Apple Stores on a regular basis.

A celebration to mark the groundbreaking of a new building near Ground Zero turned into a public screaming match this afternoon between a Brooklyn Councilman and a CUNY Trustee.

The verbal scuffle erupted after City Councilman Charles Barron, who chairs the Council’s higher education committee, started speaking at the podium and was heckled by CUNY Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld who was sitting in the audience.

Shortly before Wiesenfeld interrupted the councilman, Barron said he was angry he was not properly acknowledged for the his role in the rebuilding effort of Fiterman Hall, and he later complained about the role he was given during the press conference.

Barron, according to CUNY, was not originally scheduled to speak at the groundbreaking, but at a separate, related event. Weinsenfeld said he spoke out because he thought Barron’s body language was inappropriate.

“I heard and what I saw and what I heard. He stood up and stood like a thug next to the vice chancellor and disrupted the event with his body language,” Wiesenfeld said.

“He is a right-wing, ignorant, racist fool. He should not be sitting on the board of trustees at CUNY,” Barron said.

An official at CUNY said it does not want the fight to distract them from rebuilding Fiterman Hall, which was severely damaged in the September 11th attacks.

NY1