The Hayseeds blog, No. 256 for the week starting May 5, 2008.
Monday
Trapani to Run Against Morelle (again!)
GOP and Conservative politicians haven't lost taste for 'Vino' Fossella
Rising costs driving retirees to work
Troy Record: Mistake' isn't Acceptable Answer
Fort Orange Club Wants to Demolish 118-120 Washington Avenue
In a time of crisis, a separate shelter?
State leaders out of touch with economic reality
Waterford Re-Publicizes Trash Pickup
Tuesday
Reading Between the Lines of a Questionnaire
Paterson hasn't rocked Albany's boat
State GOP bulks up vulnerable candidates
FBI Searches Office of Special Counsel Building
Terrorism Analyst: Web Q&A Risky for Al-Qaida
Wednesday
State GOP bulks up vulnerable candidates
Obama Wins North Carolina Decisively; Clinton Takes Indiana by Slim Margin
New York - A State of Transition
Schenectadians Upset About Public Library Closing for Reconstruction
Clinton Backer McGovern: Time for Hillary to Quit
Thursday
Fed's Supeona Bruno's Ethics Opinions
Taco Truck Battle Heats Up in Los Angeles
Tough Decisions in NY's Rural Districts
Friday
Obama Open to Clinton as Possible Running Mate
Vito Fossella admits he has love child with Virginia woman
Sean Bell Protests End in Arrests
Karl Rove: Odds Against Sen Clinton
Assembly OKs 1-year foreclosure delay
Saturday
Obama picks up 5 superdelegates, union endorsement
Boondocks is about farms, rural life, and power toys.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
Trapani to Run Against Morelle (again!). From the article:
Republican Sam Trapani will face Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, in November, the Monroe County Republican Committee announced Monday.
Trapani, a small-business owner, ran against Morelle in 2006, with the support of the Republican, Independence and Conservative parties.
Morelle won with 69 percent of the vote.
Read Businessman to run again against Morelle in the Democrat and Chronicle. P'Link
“NYPIRG sent over a spreadsheet of the Senate member items for 2008-09, organized by senator. There’s also a separate tab that ranks the senators by pork allocation. ” P'Link
“Republican Eryn Foster dropped out of the 109th Assembly District race this morning, saying he did so in the interests of party unity.” P'Link
“Party officials are praising the embattled Staten Island Republican for apologizing for his drunken-driving arrest. There's no talk of pressuring Fossella to step down or take a pass on his reelection bid this fall, they say, even if he ends up serving a short jail term for the offense. ” P'Link
“The officer who arrested a man now at the center of a police excessive force case acted with scant information, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said.” P'Link
“At 70 years old and four years into retirement, Jim McCauley might have to go back to work, possibly in the construction sector.” P'Link
Troy Record: Mistake' isn't Acceptable Answer. From the article:
Certain questions raised by the State Police raid have never been satisfactorily answered, despite three probes — and then-State Police Superintendent Preston Felton’s promise of transparency in explaining the incident.
As we noted just days afterward: “Official accounts describe the fatal incident as a furious assault on an isolated building that was wholly surrounded by police and contained no known hostages.”
So, with Trim on the inside, surrounded by the police on the outside, where was the urgency in staging a raid?
Where were the police negotiators?
What warranted police armed with assault rifles jamming themselves into a confined space to grab a perp who essentially had captured himself?
Two inquiries — led by the State Police and the Delaware County DA — focused on basic “criminal” aspects of the case. Quite rightly, the fugitive — who also died — was the only one who could be considered to have committed a crime.
Read Guest Editorial: 'Mistake' isn't acceptable answer in the TroyRecord.com. P'Link
Fort Orange Club Wants to Demolish 118-120 Washington Avenue. From the Times Union:
The Fort Orange Club wants to demolish two buildings next door on Washington Avenue for a parking lot, but opponents say their removal will ruin the streetscape a block from the Capitol.
The 128-year-old social club would raze the multistory office buildings it owns at 118-120 Washington Ave. The space would be used to expand the parking lot from 51 to 73 spaces. The club, next to the Alfred E. Smith Building, proposes to add a wrought-iron fence, stone and mature greenery to block the view. Approval is required from several city agencies, but the plan is being opposed by the Center Square, Hudson/Park and Washington Park Neighborhood associations and the council member representing the area.
"We shouldn't be demolishing structurally sound buildings and replacing them with parking lots," said Richard Conti, the Common Council's president pro tempore.
The buildings, which are connected, are not historic, nor is the neighborhood labeled a historic district.
Conti said that should be irrelevant because removing the buildings would have an impact on a highly visible stretch of the city.
"It's nothing against the Fort Orange Club," Conti said. "It's an important part of the community."
Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Albany Foundation, said the board opposes the demolition of buildings to create parking lots.
This is the building they propose to demolish:
Not exactly a building people particularly get worked up about saving. It's ugly and has limited function. Yet, as Conti notes, it is a functional building whose use is far higher then any value gained from turning it into a parking lot for the elite of Albany.
Even if it was a tacky building covered with vinyl siding, one would have to pause before demolishing a building that provides a purpose that is of a higher use then just providing parking spots. After all, those building tenants will have to move somewhere else if they lose their building.
Read Demolition plans draw opposition in the Times Union. P'Link
“Sponsored by Gary Domalewicz, the proposal would establish a new local law preventing sex offenders from being housed in emergency shelters with the general population. The proposed law is intended to protect Albany County residents, particularly children, who have to take shelter in public places during times of crisis.” P'Link
“A federal appeals court had an opportunity late last month to send a strong message to government officials to check their facts before issuing statements on health and public safety. Instead, the court sent the wrong message by letting Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, off the hook for assuring residents and rescue workers near the World Trade Center that the air was safe to breathe after the 2001 terrorist attacks.” P'Link
“The taxes and fees in this state are already too high; we continue to force individuals and business to flee this state. The only solution we ever get from Albany is the need to raise more taxes and fees to cover the losses of having fewer people. This is a vicious cycle that needs to stop.” P'Link
“The new, city-operated refuse and recycling program that took effect Thursday will likely save the city more than 20 percent this year on garbage removal costs.” P'Link
Cohoes Does It Right. They're school district won't be raising taxes this year !
The Cohoes City School District’s board of education recently adopted a $35 million district budget with no expected change in the tax rate, officials said.
“We are enthusiastic about the budget we are presenting to the community,” said Superintendent Charles Dedrick. “Our budget has no projected tax rate impact this year, and we will continue to enable the Cohoes schools to provide sound educational opportunities for our students.”
The proposed budget has a spending increase of nearly $1.9 million which is 5.57 percent more than the current $33.2 million budget.
“The proposed increase in spending is driven primarily be costs incurred through district building projects approved by voters in 2006,” said Monica Lester, school communications specialist. “These building project costs, however, will be nearly all offset by state building aid.”
Read the article in the TroyRecord.com. P'Link
“The result is taxpayers statewide pay to support gun clubs and abortion-rights groups, clubs and charities -- whose funding never gets a public vote -- in addition to the health and social service programs that depend on the annual funds.” P'Link
“What has irked some lawmakers is what they saw as a threat in the cover letter accompanying the questionnaire. In the letter, the league said it would use its new political action committee, Climate Action, to support candidates who advanced the group’s agenda. Some legislators said they viewed that as a veiled warning that the league would use the money it raised through its committee to defeat candidates who opposed Mayor Bloomberg, above, and his congestion pricing plan.” P'Link
“People have criticized the practice. Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, a Rochester-area Democrat, and several colleagues introduced legislation last year that would ban the naming of buildings after elected officials in cases where the officials had helped steer public money to the owner of the building. Some critics said they believed the practice may already be illegal under state ethics and campaign finance laws. Putting a sitting official’s name on an edifice built wholly or in part with public funds, they say, may violate an existing ban on using public funds to promote elected officials. The naming of a building after an official could also constitute an in-kind campaign donation subject to legal limits.” P'Link
“Gov. David Paterson is proving to be a far more cautious chief executive than his more aggressive and free-wheeling predecessor, Eliot Spitzer.” P'Link
A fun little game on the NYT Website. P'Link
“The Republican-led Senate is pouring millions of dollars in taxpayer money into "pork" projects where GOP incumbents face difficult re-election campaigns this fall.” P'Link
“A multi-year investigation leads federal agents to search the Office of Special Counsel's building. Employees have alleged the agency was misused for political purposes.” P'Link
“In December, Ayman al-Zawahiri, considered second only to Osama bin Laden in al-Qaida's ranks, invited fellow jihadists to pose questions to him on the Internet. Last month, Zawahiri started answering.” P'Link
“The Republican-led Senate is pouring millions of dollars in taxpayer money into "pork" projects where GOP incumbents face difficult re-election campaigns this fall.” P'Link
“Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday and lost narrowly to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana, an outcome that injected a boost of momentum to Mr. Obama’s candidacy as the Democratic nominating contest entered its final month.” P'Link
“Independent analysis of new census numbers indicate that New York is heading for trouble. And even local counties ending the fiscal year with a surplus are concerned. Hudson Valley bureau chief Susan Barnett reports. ” P'Link
Schenectadians Upset About Public Library Closing for Reconstruction. They note that many patrons won't be able to access the library while it's being renovated over the next year.
The Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library are a little less friendly these days toward the Democratic-controlled county Legislature.
The library support group has launched an effort to prevent the county from closing the central branch of the library for the next 10-12 months as part of a $7.7 million overhaul. Earlier estimates placed the shutdown at 18 months.
Several members of the volunteer group, which raises money for and provides free help to the library system, attended a presentation on the proposal at Monday night’s committee meeting of the Schenectady County Legislature. They were not allowed to speak; the privilege of the floor is reserved for the regular monthly meeting, to be held May 13.
However, Friends President Bernard Allanson said after the presentation he has serious concerns about the closure, scheduled to begin this summer. The Friends are concerned about the public’s loss of programming and access to free Internet, the closure’s effect on downtown businesses and the way the Legislature pushed the project through without any public discussion.
...
Engberg Anderson Design Partnership of Milwaukee prepared the final design. It calls for the addition of 9,000 square feet to the first floor. While this is less than the originally proposed 15,000-square-foot expansion, the new design contains double the space for the children’s room, a small cafe, a performance center and a private reading room. It also retains the building’s architectural look through the use of brick and precast and poured concrete.
The design will remove the protruding semicircular McChesney Room from the library’s Clinton Street side and make the entire wall flush. Library officials will rename another area the McChesney Room.
Preservationist group Schenectady Heritage Foundation opposes the demolition of the McChesney Room. It says the library’s current configuration is historically significant architecture that should be preserved.
Eleanor Rowland said the design change pushed up the cost. “No one wanted the new entrance, not the Friends, not the trustees,” she said.
The reconstruction looks like a quite nice of the old brutalist building that certainly was showing the age. It's great to see that they will be able to save this building and turn it into something nicer and newer. Too often people's gut reaction is to demolish buildings without thinking how unique and beautiful they truly can be.
New Building:
Old Building:
Read Library closure plan draws fire in the Daily Gazette. P'Link
“On Wednesday morning, after watching the candidates spin the results of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, McGovern came to the conclusion that many savvy political observers have reached: Clinton is not going to be the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee. ” P'Link
“While the day-to-day focus of US military planning remains Iraq and Afghanistan, American strategists are increasingly looking beyond these two conflicts to envision the global combat environment of the emerging period--and the world they see is one where the struggle over vital resources, rather than ideology or balance-of-power politics, dominates the martial landscape. Believing that the United States must reconfigure its doctrines and forces in order to prevail in such an environment, senior officials have taken steps to enhance strategic planning and combat capabilities. Although little of this has reached the public domain, there have been a number of key indicators. ” P'Link
“The McCain Agenda: Despite the accolades he receives, McCain's record shows a candidate who is behind the times on climate policy and lacks conviction on environment.” P'Link
This is a Lot of Fun. How to keep your dog busy when you are out of the house. From NPR's Bryant Project / Youtube:
Fed's Supeona Bruno's Ethics Opinions. From the Times Union:
ALBANY—An FBI investigation of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno is focusing on several opinions he received more than a decade ago from the Legislative Ethics Commission that relate to his personal business ventures, including real estate development and horse breeding, the Times Union has learned.
Two FBI agents hand-delivered a federal grand jury subpoena to the ethics commission staff about two months ago requesting copies of the opinions, which were promptly turned over, a person familiar with the matter said.
Another person close to the investigation said federal authorities are closely examining the process by which Bruno may have received authorization from within state government for his various private business dealings.
Bruno, R-Brunswick, has sought at least four opinions from the commission, which was known as the Legislative Ethics Committee before being renamed last year. The opinions, which have never been made public, were issued more than 10 years ago in the early 1990s, the person familiar with the ethics rulings said.
Read Bruno probe focus on ethics opinions in the Times Union. P'Link
“Los Angeles County officials recently passed a law that makes it a misdemeanor to park a taco truck in the same place for more than an hour. Violators face penalties of up to $1,000 in fines or six months in jail. ” P'Link
“Census figures show that population growth in New York is way behind the national average and that's forcing some hard decisions in rural school districts. Hudson Valley bureau chief Susan Barnett looks at the issue in one of the largest districts in the state.” P'Link
“Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday did not rule out selecting rival Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate if he ultimately defeats her in a race in which he has an almost insurmountable lead.” P'Link
Vito Fossella admits he has love child with Virginia woman. From the article:
Disgraced Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella admitted Thursday he fathered a 3-year-old love child in an illicit affair with the woman who rescued him from a Virginia drunk tank.
It looks like another Republican in Congress is in real danger of losing his seat.
Read Vito Fossella admits he has love child with Virginia woman in Newsday. P'Link
Inventor of LSD is Dead. Albert Hofmann the inventor of the chemical that changed a generation is dead. The Economist had a good biography of the man.
HIS first experience was “rather agreeable”. As he worked in the Sandoz research laboratory in Basel in Switzerland on April 16th 1943, isolating and synthesising the unstable alkaloids of the ergot fungus, Albert Hofmann began to feel a slight lightheadedness. He could not think why. His lab was shared with two other chemists; frugality and company had taught him careful habits. And this was a man whose doctoral thesis had revolved around the gastrointestinal juices of the vineyard snail.
Perhaps, he supposed, he had inhaled the fumes of the solvent he was using. In any event, he took himself home and lay down on the sofa. There the world exploded, dissolving into a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes, spirals and light. It seemed to have something to do with lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, the substance he had been working on. He had synthesised it five years before, but had found it “uninteresting” and stopped. Now, like some prince in faery, he had got the stuff on his fingertips, rubbed it into his eyes and seen the secrets of the universe.
The next Monday, ever the good scientist, he deliberately took 0.25 milligrams of LSD diluted with 10cc of water. It tasted of nothing. But by 5 o'clock the lab was distorting, and his limbs were stiffening. The last words he managed to scrawl in his lab journal were “desire to laugh”. That desire soon left him. As he cycled home with a companion, perhaps the most famous bike ride in history, he had no idea he was moving. But in his house the furniture was ghoulishly mutating and spinning, and the neighbour who brought him milk as an antidote was “a witch with a coloured mask”. He realised now that LSD was the devil he couldn't shake off, though in his senseless body he screamed and writhed on the sofa, certain that he was dying.
Albert Hofman suggested people could get many of the effects of acid without taking it:
Without it, however, Mr Hofmann knew it was still possible to get to the same place. As a child, wandering in May on a forest path above Baden in a year he had forgotten, he had suddenly been filled with such a sense of the radiance and oneness of creation that he thought the vision would last for ever. “Miraculous, powerful, unfathomable reality” had ambushed him elsewhere, too: the wind in a field of yellow chrysanthemums, leaves in the sunlit garden after a shower of rain. When he had drunk LSD in solution on that fateful April afternoon he had recovered those insights, but had not surpassed them. His advice to would-be trippers, therefore, was simple. “Go to the meadow, go to the garden, go to the woods. Open your eyes!”
Read Albert Hofmann on Economist.com. P'Link
“Hundreds of people were arrested in New York for civil disobedience, as protesters demonstrated against the acquittals of three New York detectives charged in the 2006 shooting death of Sean Bell. We get insight from NPR correspondent Margot Adler — who covered the demonstrations — and the Rev. Herb Daughtry, who held a protest outside his House of Lords Church in Brooklyn, New York.” P'Link
“Karl Rove, the former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, says the chances of Sen. Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination are slim after Sen. Barack Obama's decisive victory in the North Carolina primary and her close win in Indiana earlier this week.” P'Link
“The state Assembly passed legislation Wednesday to impose a one-year delay on foreclosures when New York homeowners default on mortgage payments, while the Senate was poised to consider a related measure backed by Gov. David Paterson.” P'Link
“Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.” P'Link
Copyright ©1999-2008 Andy Arthur.
All mistakes are intentional or otherwise.
Mind where you step in a cow pasture or legal mindfield.