The Hayseeds blog, No. 154 for the week starting April 23, 2006.
April 9, 2006
Hayseeds No. 153
April 23, 2006
Hayseeds No. 154
April 30, 2006
Hayseeds No. 154
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It looks like Plattsburgh gots a firebug that just has burnt several student houses and frat houses on Brinkerhoff Street—namely 89, 99, and 101 Brinkerhoff along with a car and garage between 5:30 and 5:45 this morning. That's pretty much the length of the street.
Let me guess, at that hour it was the fault of a purty drunk college student. Still, that doesn't give much of an excuse for burning buildings. They're are plenty of legtimate and legal things people can burn in the boondocks of the North Country. Or if your a conspiracy theorist, you can think this was all a plot by city residents to try to condemn the entire street and take back their city.
It don't know. At least it seems that nobody was particularly seriously injured or died, something that would have happened had it not been easter break and a lot of students out of town. Yet for 40 Plattsburgh State students, they are without homes in the city, and all of their possesions in Plattsburgh went up in smoke. Let's hope at least the landlords will clean up their buildings quickly, and not leave burnt out shells for the next 20 years in downtown Plattsburgh.
Think your paying for a lot in gas? You probably are, as with New York taxing sales tax along with service taxes on each gallon of gas, you will be paying on average 20¢ a gallon more then our friends in Vermont and New Jersey. There are some downsides to living in the Empire State.
It looks like our fine President is doing a really good job at campaigning for us Democrats with all his screw-up, across our fine country according to the Washington Post. That's probably very much so true.
It looks like our next governor as of his last tax return, has entered the ranks of Rockefeller or at least Averril Harriman with his wealth. $1.3 million, according to the Times Union, was his income largely from real estate he had in Mahattan. That means he's purty uncorruptable, though it also means he can corrupt other public officials with his wealth (think: Rockefeller and his trips to the Pocconos estate with public officals).
What this means in the election is unclear. It might upset some voters to see Spitzer as ultra-rich, though I guess most people already have that presuation of him. Yet, unlike a Rockefeller, he's very much a self-made man, and most of his work has been for the so-called little guy.
As many of you know, our Governor is running for President in his delusions. What many of you might have forgotten, is about his little PAC the NYC discovered he had in Virgina about 7 years ago. It's still around, and despite our governor's fine promises to limit his fundraising in Virgina for his national ambitions, he continues to use it to exceed what would be allowed in New York. Virgina has no campaignfinance restrictions, while our great state limits contributions to 50kper individual(and those organizations who are legally considered individual likeLLCs and partenerships) per election cycle, and 5k per corporation.
Pataki is planning to hold a $100k a plate fundraiser in Albany in the next week, on behalf of his PAC. Yes, that's pretty scandelous, but that's how he plans to start funding his delusional president ambitions. Well, not that delusional. Being a candidate has some nice perks, like being able to travel the country and attending political conventions—all at the cost of donors. And while the governor lacks the sway in New York he had years ago, he certainly can get some shit done for lobbyists. $100k buys a lot of persusation for a poor man like Pataki, versus a Rockefeller.
Oh by the way, I won't be attending this fundraiser. I think I'd rather go to Save the Pine Bush dinner on Wednesday. $10 a plate is far more affordable then Pataki's one, and it's for a far better cause. It's at 6 PM at the Episopcal Church on Willet and State, next to Washigton Park.
That's what Fred Dicker is thinking these days, grounded in the idear that with so little interest in state races for Republicans, they will mostly stay home, meaning that the close seats will go to the Democrats. Not sure what a good thing it will be to have Democrat control over all three branches of government, but we will have to wait and see. New York has a long history of divided government.
I never used to use disposable cups untilrecently when I left my mug home. Styrofoam seems so innocent, disappearing almost instantlywhen dropped in a burn barrel or breaking up in small particles when allowed to breakdownon the roadside. The problem is that those small particles don't disappear except whengetting eaten by animals.
See the below list from the DEC (they are doing this allweek to celebrate Earth Day):
Top Ten Reasons Why A Reusable Mug is Better Than A Polystyrene Cup
10. Polystyrene foam is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer and blown with air. Most people know it under the name Styrofoam, which is actually the trade name.
9. Though polystyrene manufacturers claim that their products are "ozone-friendly" or free of CFCs, this is only partially true. Some polystyrene is now manufactured with HCFC-22, which, though less destructive than its chemical cousins, CFC-11 and CFC-12, is still a greenhouse gas and harmful to the ozone layer.
8. Styrene is easily transferred from a container to your food or beverage. And the hotter or fattier the food, the more styrene it absorbs.
7. Styrene is classified as a human carcinogen by the US EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
6. Polystyrene does not biodegrade. Best guess is it will take 500 - 1000 years to decompose.
5. In a 1986 EPA report on solid waste, the polystyrene manufacturing process was the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste.
4. 57 chemicals are released from the combustion of polystyrene foam.
3. When dumped as litter, it has the tendency to break into little pieces and choke animals and/or clog their digestive systems.
2. Polystyrene is produced from non-renewable petroleum (non-sustainable).
1. Studies show that people in the US, throw away more than twenty-five billion styrofoam cups each year. If these cups were placed end to end, they would circle Earth 436 times.
The information on the ozone-friendly and hazardous waste generation of styrene is probably the most interesting, as is the idear that styrene is a human carcinogen (which I already know). Now when I get stuff for going camping, I'll make sure to get those paper cups/plates that won't be so bad when chucked in the fire.
It looks like yet another town in Lewis County is being extorted by trial lawyers to close access to roads for access by ATVs. The problem seems tobe the threat of liability—ie. some idiot runs into an ATV with their pickup truck orvise versa. We know who will win in that conflict, but certainly running over an ATVwill put a dent in the truck, and these small rural towns will end up paying. Gottalove trial lawyers.
Of course, at the end of the day all of these problems with ATVs come down to a selectgroup of farmers and environmentalists who simply don't like ATVs. Some of their oppositionis justified, but some of it is blown out of propotion. There are a few idiots who thinkit fun to tear through cornfields and the woods, while the majority of riders are purtyrespectful of property rights. For those who tresspass with their ATVs and get caught,we now have a strong criminal sanctions against it, and we should use that for the fewrotten apples with four-wheelers out there.
Bonnie Hoag's radio program on Monday morning on WRPI seems to be no more after the end of the semester, according to her announcement this morning. Always thought provoking, it's pretty sad to see her go.
The Assemblyman that doesn't look like he's going to get the nod to run for Attorney General from the Democrats, has an interesting idea—allowing people to contact the attorney general online. Sounds like a good idea, as it would make it much easier for consumers to complain, and easier for the Attorney General to decide which complaints merit investigation based on thenumber of e-complaints.
He invited the press, butdidn't exactly buy them pizza. Some LCA people were expecting not only for Pataki to give them something to eat, but also give them something to write about besides a silly photo op. It didn't happen though, so LCA people are less then happy with Pataki. Good way to make good news, Guv.
It looks like the main competition to Spitzer in the Democrats,
The way member items (aka PORK !) getalloted in New York is the subject of an article by Liz Krugeron the Empire Page.
The Press-Republican has a great story about migrant farmworkers in the orchards just south of Plattsburgh in Peru and the Chazy Orchards. Read this one, even if you have a problem with some of the people's attitudes expressed in the article.
The city in an effort to prevent further arsons, and particularly to
This will probably mean more nazi salutes to the mayor by collegestudents (and other unhappy residents). I guess that's what you get for being mayor. The good news is that students don't vote, and Dan Stewart is out next year. The other good news is that the fire departments that came from all around
According to Pataki's tax returns, one of his
One has to ask themselves, if Pataki did something sleezy in Miami, howstupid could he be? I mean real estate purchases are purty well documented in thepublic record, and the media will easily connect the dots (assuming the Governor cares wait, he's running for President).
At any rate, his total income has increased 8x since starting in office. Not bad for a public servant. If his farm was making that kind of money, the feds would be knocking on his door to find out what he's growing in barns with cow manure(marijuna comes to mind). At any rate, thanks to Buckley v. Valeo, Pataki can spend any money of his own for his delusional presidential ambitions. Sounds fun.
He's still not as rich as Elliot, who as we found yesterday on his tax returns is another Averill Harriman (and did similiarly well on his investments). At least, Elliot made most of his money before becoming Attorney General (and continues to make it through investments).
Both the Press Republican and the Troy Record have taken a stance against the state legislature for yetanother year depriving citizens the right to have ATV trails.
The end of the Press Republican Editorial makes a great point:
But the promise has not been fulfilled. Where are the trails? In theabsence of allowable, well-groomed trails, some renegade ATV owners areriding on other land that is either unsuitable or illegal or involvestrespassing.
When you register a car, you get paved roads, traffic signals and lawenforcement to help you travel.
When you register a boat, you get boat patrols, buoys and othernavigational assistance provi ded by the state.
When you register a snowmobile, you get trails and maintenance.
Yet, when you register an ATV, you get nothing.
We agree with eliminating the $10 registration fee.
Until the state can decide on how to better serve the ATV community, itis unfair to levy this tax without providing anything in return.
We have to thank the nice people over at the NYSORVA list for passingthese stories on by. Now if only our legislators would get the messageand do something about it. Maybe a few of the new Democrats we get fromUpstate New York in the next election will make the difference (ie. AndyBrockaway and Judith Hunter).
That's what the city wants to build it's new dump on. Yes, this is through the same SERQA process that can make it hell for a landowner to build a road out to a barn, becauseit crosses a wetland. Life sure is fair under SERQA, kids.
I guess the city could argue that the actual dumping of garbage (for now) would only be on a portion of the 100 or so acres, being that theyare only planning to dump right now on 50 of the 353 acres with the other 300 being so-called buffer. Then all they'd have to do is turnsome of the other land into wetland—ie. mitigation. With this landbeing former farmland, it looks like the Army Corps might just permit that, even if they'd never allow anybody to do something less inacculous like farm on it again.
DIA does a great job at summing it all up.
It also will be a nice rainy day for once. We certainly need the rain, as it's been a purty dry month this April so far, and they're have ben red flag and other burn warnings/bans in-effect. Not to mention, we need wet ground to allow th grass to green up and get the trees blooming in the areas outside of the big city of Allbany.
Tommorow, I will be down at the Hannacroix Preserve, helping out picking up trash from the Hudson Rifver. It's a start, and the Senenic Hudson event is a fun get together. It won't deal with the PCBs or the associated stigma of the river, but hopefully our new governor will deal those problems and make GE do the right thing.
I think the most important lession of earth day is to be awqare of the problems around us, and to make change happen. So much of earth day has been trivalized, and made issues of the individual, while the real focus should be on changing industry and government. We must work as individuals to make positive political change happen on the environment—not just send a check to some distant environmental group that spends it on high priced lobbyists that take Tom Dinappoli and Carl Marcellino out to dinner on Tuesday nights.
Certainly, leaving that big Silverado truck at home and taking the car off-to-work or not using and burning styrofoam may help the environment, but the effect is relatively minimal compared to all the problems that our environment currently faces. We need real leadership in our country, and we need real change that doesn't effect as us as indivdual.
On the whole, I have great hope for man to make change and make our world a better place. All of our current leaders are at least paying lip service to building a greater scoiety, and most of them are doing many good things. The upcoming decades, we will face growing challenges of sprawl and reducing oil prices, and global popupulation pressures that and polutions. Yet, I think we as man can do a lot about it, and make our world a better place. We are such a revoluntary society compared to even 40 years ago, and in another 40 years, we will be in a place that is far beyond the realms of our imagination today.
It looks like Rockland County has decided that they will ban outdoor wood furances on grounds of pollution they cause.
Well, at least for now—it's more of a moratorium then an actual ban. The admendment to the county law basically says no new wood burners until the EPA or DEC passes air regulations. Existing ones must get a special permit.
The interesting thing about this law is that suppostly outdoor woodburners have to follow the EPA standards for woodstoves (be them inside or outside). The problem is that the guidelines are less then clear, and in many cases these machines exceed the particulate levels that would be allowed by law.
Outdoor Wood Furnances (OWFs) tend to violate EPA standards as people or the machines themselves dampend down the fire by using the damper that cuts down on oxygen supply. That saves on wood, but creates a lot of more smoke (ie. particulate matter and other crap) as things don't burn as completely.
You certainly could do that on your woodstove, but anybody with half a brain wouldn't do that as it would generate more creocete, leading to the possibility of chimeny fires. On the other hand, OWFs aren't likely to start house fires, and should the creocete burn it would just snuff out once it's all burnt up.
Some towns in New York, already have limited where people can have these OWF, most notably Queensbury. None so far have totally banned these machines, and the so-called restrictions on OWF suggested by Assemblywomen Lupardo of Binghamton is purty dead with the Senate and Farm Bureau steadfastly against it. Most people need hot water not only in the winter, but also in the summer.
At any rate, burning any kind of wood is dirty. It's even worst if you deprive the fire of oxygen and have a short chimney that releases the smoke around where people can breathe it in. This really isn't a problem on farms and in rural areas, where the smoke can blow away without annonying too many people, but in more urban areas (like Rockland County and the rest of downstate), this is a problem.
Maybe the compromise we need is a law like we have with burn barrels—ban them in villages, cities, and towns with populations greater then 20k, but then allow other muncipalities to regulate them as they want. A county-wide ban upstate certainly is unneccessary, but if local towns like Queensbury want to do things like regulate stack height or where these machines can be put, then so be it.
Possibly, but not likely following Rockland County's lead on OWF, it looks like te people out in Oneonta and many far nicer towns in Central New York, is considering a bill that would ban trash burning county-wide. It would be first county in New York to do that if they actually passed the bill (something I think the farm bureau out in Otsego would have a problem with).
Remember, Otsego was the famed county where we had the District going after the Diphillano's burn barrel trial (ie. creating a pollution event) in Davenport, which he was of course aquitted off after ice melting off the courthouse destroyed half a dozen cars (a sign from god).
Speaking of burning things, it looks like only Warren County has a burn ban locally which will likely expire tommorow when we get the much needed rain. Saint Lawerence County, finally got rid of theirs.
This now ends our pyro Friday. Be safe until we get enough rain to make things better. Not only that, the rain will help out those who put out certain crops early (though if it continues will make it hard for the tractors to get out in early May).
Well sort of if you include all the mergers and name changes over the year. Rex Smith is purty excited about it, and they are holding WAMC's Roundtable at the world headquarters of the Times Union.
While we all know the Press-Republican and the Auburn Citizen are far better papers (for some things), it's still a good day for Rex Smith. I also got my free Times Union paper from the man in the paper suit. Nice way to waste a lot of paper, but then we won't get in that over the newspaper industry.
One fact particularly interesting in the paper, is that the TU gets 80% of their revenue currently from ad sales, meaning that the transition to much cheaper to print online won't be that painful. That said, the Schenectady Daily Gazette, another wonderful paper, was far better before you had to pay to read it online (silly if you ask me—but I'm a cheapsake cowboy!).
At the end of the day, the TU is one of many good sources on the Capitol. It's coverage of rural New York is a bit lacking and it tends to view the hilltowns as kind of backyards, but nobody expects too much from a big city newspaper.
