Hayseeds No. 220

Daren Dopp is Back.

The man that got one of the hardest punishments over Troopgate will have his indefinate suspension lifted today, and be brought back t the governor's staff to serve as communications director until Spitzer finds a replacement. It is expected he will be given another patronage position once Spitzer finds a new communications director.

What does this all mean? Spitzer probably feels that Troopergate is winding down, and that Daren Dopp took a significant enough of a hit being suspended without pay from his post. It also suggests that people—including the governor—are ready to get on with other parts of life and that we won't hear much more about the scandal, despite Fred Dicker and his cohorts in the State Senate trying to milk this for all it's worth.

Secena Nation's Militancy.

If you put a sign out in front of your house demanding payment from New York State for everybody who traveled down your street and claiming that your a soverign entity and only your laws apply on your property, then you'd probably get a knock on the door by the swat team—or at least the police.

From the Times Union blog:

The Seneca Nation is more then a little upset that the State of New York is demanding records on sales from their casino, for New Yorkers who are illegally going onto the Indian Reservation and purchasing cigerettes and gasoline without declaring such expenses to the state.

Any time you buy a product, you are suppost to pay state consumption tax to New York State (popularly known as "sales tax") as a resident of New York State. It doesn't matter if you buy that product in New Jersey, Vermont, or California. In exchange, those states are suppost to not charge you their state's sales tax when buy from their products.

People who buy multi-thousand dollar products out of state already know this. As a New York resident, buy a car in Burlington, and you will not pay Vermont taxes but New York taxes. That is how the law works. Many out of state companies already surrender sales tranaction data to the state. That's the law—and the state has been more aggressive in recent years at cracking down on violators.

So why has the state been so gun shy about forcing the Indians to turn over sales records as state law requires, to go over New York residents who are tax creats? They are afraid of the Seneca Nation and other indian tribes. Governor Spitzer, much like his predecessor Governor Pataki are afraid of an armed confrontation with the Indians.

Politically it looks bad if we show up with swat teams or the national guard to enforce the law against the Indians. Unlike some whacko with a compound in Texas, people feel sorry for what the white man has done in the past to the Indians. It doesn't matter if they are violating state law by failing to turn over records demanded by the state.

It also is more complicated then Spitzer sending in the big guns to go after the Indians. The federal government ultimately is the one that has the power to make war against soverign nations and the Indians. So legally it's complicated to force the Indians to follow state law—as it is to force companies headquartered outside of New York to either pay sales tax to New York or report violaters to the state.

At any rate, the Indians—be it the Senecas or the other tribes in New York State do not have a reputation of being nice to our state or refraining from violence. State troopers have been shot in the past in the past trying to protect the state from the Indians. Indians have been known to harass neighboors, and take parcels of state land and declare them as their own pieces of land without legal authority to do so.

Paranoia at UAlbany?

There is an interesting story in the Times Union about the arrest and subsequent detention over tresspass as a person non-grata on the campus.

Apparently he was accused by the college of making some stupid remark along the lines of "if I were a different sort of person I might get violent and use a gun." He didn't actually threaten anybody per se (if you read those words), but that didn't stop UAlbany from kicking him off the campus.

At any rate, he came back to discuss this issue with the Dean of Student Services, which rather then discuss the issue with him, called the police to have him removed his office, citing the previous declaration of person non-grata. They pressed third-degree tresspass charges, on a highly questionable reading of the tresspass statue, as regular tresspass couldn't lead to more then an appearance ticket being issued.

He has been detained indefinately on a potential immigration visa violation and $10,000 bond. In the minds of the racist city police, he's a Chinese immigrant that clearly must be a terrorist (!) It's not like he is accused of bringing a firearm on campus and threatening somebody at gun point, much less shooting them. He is accused of tresspass, after a highly questionable declartory ruling by a academic bureaucrat.

When we start punishing people for shooting up schools, and meanicing people with firearms, and not for abusive speech then our society will have some sanity returned it. People say we must do something before it gets before that point—but you have to ask what can you do.

Probably the only solution to this problem of school violence is start decenteralizing our schools, and making them more personal, and allowing a closer relationship between professors, staff, and students. The efficency gain of mega-schools or as we liked to joke about at Plattsburgh State—Confined Human Education Feeding Operations (CHEFOs)—only are leading to social isolation and violence.

Don't Get Caught Dipping Your Feet in the NYC Fountains.

It looks like in the City of the Evil Empire, they have a fifty dollar fine for wading in public fountains that are only for looks and not for your baceteria containing feet.

Spitzer Considers Property Tax Caps on School Taxes.

After saying that capping property taxes in response to additional state aid coming into school districts would be a bad idear during his campaign. Now he's re-thinking that idea, after evidence suggesting that schools ate up the additional state aid, and still raised taxes, as they always do.

Of course if we had real races for school board—and people who weren't personally benefiting from their line business, then things might be different. Right now there are few people on school boards without being related to teachers, union people, or parents. None of those people care about high taxes.

Senator Larry Craig.

The Idaho Senator and rancher tried to make go away his arrest over alleged solication of sex at a public restroom in Minesota airport.

What this all involved was the Senator tapping his foot while on the toilet, and then suppostly touching the undercover officer with his foot. This is suppost to be a gesture used by gay men to find other men in solication of sexual acts in a public restroom.

So what? I find it hard to see how tapping a foot can equal a crime. As far as I can tell no money for sexual favors were transfered nor did any sexual acts occur. I guess people don't want "strange" people hanging around public restrooms—but still there was no sexual act explicitly requested by the Senator.

I can understand why he decided to just plea this matter out, and not decide to seek counsel. He probably figured it would just be easier to pay a $585 fine and keep this secret, then to hire a lawyer, spend a lot of money, and risk having it become known to his friends and family.

You have to wonder what his wife has to say about all this—as his own consituents. I can just imagine having to explain to your wife what happened in Minesota. To say nothing of your conservative consituents or the ranchers next your ranch.

Honestly, I have no problem with him having a long-term gay relationship. He should have a right to privacy to it, and maybe if he eventually wants to get married or have a long-term commitment.

Spitzer Vetos Adverse Possession Repeal.

It looks like Spitzer vetoed the bill by Senator Little that would end the doctrine of adverse possession, that basically says that if you lay claim to a piece of land for a decade, then you gain posession of it.

The reason for the bill by Senator Little was that there are abandoned hunting camps and the alike in her district, long forgotten by their owners who may have obtained title through a long inhertiance. Senator Little believes those owners are the rightful owners, and should collect on their property, even if the deed was long forgotten and rediscovered decades later.

The reason for adverse possesion is to avoid confusion and long costly court battles over sometimes centuries old deeds. Deeds over time are often forgotten, and new owners are forged by assumption of ownership and maintence of land. In addition, old surveys are often inaccurate both as a result of human error and the natural geological changes such as the shifting magnetic north.

It also promotes active stewartship of land owned, at least to the extent that the owner has to be knowledgable of his land and post it or otherwise make it look developed (ie. from farming, mowing it, or building on it). This combined with property taxes, promotes the active use of land.

An interesting piece of trivia relating to this adverse possession is that if you look at old maps of Albany's west end near the Landfill and Washington Ave, you will find the city's until recently settled western expanse has shifted south in it's 400 years since incorporation.

The state law chartering the city, uses magenetic coordinates measured from the Hudson River going due west. The only problem is magentic north pole has shifted several degrees since the 1600s. In another 100 years, the Rapp Road Landfill might be Colonie's district lines, if not for the doctrine of adverse possession.