Maple Ridge Wind Farm

Danger Democrat points us to this youtube video.

Adirondack Park On a Lighter Note

My favorite family blog is 46erfamily. Lots of pictures of a couple of kids having the summer that they will remember for the rest of their lives (even if they don't know that yet).

Saranac Lakers: Be Prepared for Nuclear War

Our friend Jack Phillips has some good advice for all you survivalists out there.

Everyone needs to know that “Nuclear War Survival Skills” by Cresson H. Kearny, originally produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1979, was updated and expanded in 1987 and is available from the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, P.O. Box 1279, Cave Junction, Oregon 97523. This 282-page book ($19.50 post paid) provides the information people will need to survive in the event of an emergency, including detailed instructions for building and operating simple field shelters.

Save the $19.50 for your freeze-dried food stash. The book is available online free of charge.

Iraq War

Always Low Postal Rates: For Mega Publishers

Here is a good example of lobbyists hard at work.

Earlier this year, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead they opted to implement a modified version of an extraordinarily complicated plan submitted by media giant Time Warner.

So the small publishers of activists magazines, of the political left and right, pay more postage than the big guys. Seems reasonable. Afterall, the big guys have more money to use bribing (donating) our politicians.

Can Saranac Lake and Harrietstown Share Services?

Local residents of Saranac Lake and the Town of Harrietstown have been asking for the sharing of municipal services for a long time. Many residents want to dissolve the Village of Saranac Lake altogether and let the Town of Harrietstown provide municipal services. But will shared services ever become a reality? An article in todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise makes it appear shared municipal services are not just around the corner. At least the possibility of a sand/salt storage shed shared between the Village and the Town seems unlikely at the moment.

Village Manager DePuy is quoted as saying: "stupid idea". Village Trustee John McEneany doesn't want to share a $175,000 state grant with the town. McEneany also said: “All the department heads are against it, and we aren’t listening to them,” he said. “The decision where to put the sand shed was not agreed on by everybody.”

I have no idea if the potential agreement between the Village and the Town is fair or not because I havn't seen it. But it sure seems that some attitudes need to change in some manner if shared services (and tax savings) is ever going to become a reality.

Rove/Bush Legacy

Conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan succinctly summarizes the Rove (and Bush) legacy.

• a president with lower consistent approval ratings than any in modern history
• a generational shift to the Democrats
• a resurgent al Qaeda
• an endless catastrophe in Iraq
• a long hard struggle in Afghanistan
• a fiscal legacy that means bankrupting America within a decade
• the poisoning of American religion with politics and vice-versa

Can we add lying to the public about reasons for invading Iraq, dividing the country when they had a chance of uniting it, making the USA a pariah among nations, leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent, violating the Hatch Act, bringing partisanship to the US Justice department, subordinating policy decisions to politics, making the absurd charge that Democrats support terrorists, and smearing John McCain in the 2000 Presidential election? I'm sure there is more.

I wonder which University in Texas is going to welcome Rove as a Professor?

UPDATE: NYT editorial this morning makes a good point. Bush should have made it clear to Rove that his job was to promote the interests of the American people, not just the Republican party.

Thanks to Karl Rove, this administration has injected divisive politics into everything they have attempted. Especially leading the country into a "preventative war".

Karl Rove Resigns

All Karl Rove did was put lives at risk.

Bill O'Reilly Caught in a Lie? How Can That Be?

Mr. Falafel just makes it too easy. He's checked the transcripts at FOX news and NEVER has John Edwards been treated unfairly.

Saranac Lake: A Community of Socialists or Communists?

An interesting morning on todays WNBZ radio Talk of the Town. One caller basically accused the supporters of the Saranac Lake Community Store of being Socialists and another caller accused special interests groups petitioning village government officials of being communists.

It isn't real clear how a group of people getting together and investing money to form a company can be called socialistic. It seems like it fits more with the definition of capitalism.

As for local progressive groups attending local government meetings and voicing their opinions....how exactly is that communism?

This actually all about opposition to a proposed two year retail store size limit and support for that limit by groups such as Sound Adirondack Growth Alliance and Save Saranac Lake Coalition. The proposed limit under discussion is similar to the one instituted in Lake Placid in 1998 that limits a single store to 40,000 square feet (the size of a football field) and a retail plaza to 68,000 square feet.

UPDATE: There has been some confusion as to the definition of socialism. A whole bunch of definitions of socialism can be found here. The common theme seems to be government ownership and control(socialism) versus private ownership and control (capitalism) of industry and business.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise "Web Poll"

There is a letter to the editor in todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise requesting that they cease publishing their so-called "web poll". Here is the letter:

Please do the community a favor and do away with the weekly Web Poll.

This so-called opinion forum has morphed into nothing more than a conveniently anonymous chat room where cowards deposit their rants, attacks, religious preachings and complaints over things that have nothing to do with the poll question. The Web Poll has served no other purpose than to divide the community. It is a verbal toilet.

The questions themselves are usually meaningless, divisive or poorly stated (or all of the above), and the “results” are worthless because the poll is unscientific.

As the only choice available for local news and information, the Enterprise should hold itself to a higher standard. The Web Poll is unprofessional and downright childish. If the editors really feel it’s necessary to have such a forum on the paper’s Web site, they should simply create a chat room where these people can have their anonymous, free-for-all shouting matches. Otherwise, there is already a legitimate way for the reading public to express opinions in the newspaper. It is called a letter to the editor, where you sign your name and accept accountability for your arguments.

I beg you to put a stop to the Web Poll. Flush the toilet!

Annette Scheuer

Saranac Lake

I have to say it's pretty hard to disagree with Ms. Scheuer. Take a look at the comments to the current "web poll" question. The question is: Does the Minneapolis bridge collapse make you more hesitant to cross bridges? A bit of an inane question but that is beside the point.

The comments begin with their usual pro-Walmart, anti-community store, native vs transplant "thoughts". They then rapidly devolve into rants against the Unitarian Church! Do the editors of the local paper and the commenters realize that these comments can be read by anyone with internet access? How do these comments make our community look to people living outside our local area? Most commenters probably don't care because if you live outside of Saranac Lake you are only a potential transplant who is not welcome in Saranac Lake.

Might we all be better off if Saranac Lake were a dying community?

More Ocean City, NJ

The Chatterbox


The Alley


Shrivers on the boardwalk


Downtown


Taffy at Shrivers ready for the wrapping machine

Democrat Congressmen Need to Be Fearful

E.J. Dionne Jr. discusses the reasons Democrats caved in to the President and the Republicans on the warrantless surveillence bill.

The episode was the culmination of a shameful era in which serious issues related to national security and civil liberties were debated in a climate of fear and intimidation, saturated by political calculation and the quest for short-term electoral advantage.

Politically, Republicans won this round in two ways. They got the president the bill he wanted and, as a result, they created absolute fury in the Democratic base. Pelosi has received more than 200,000 e-mails of protest, according to an aide, for letting the bill go forward.

Democrats concede they made an enormous tactical blunder by not dealing with the issue earlier, forcing the question to the fore in the days before the recess. One anxiety hovered over the debate: If a terrorist attack happened and Congress had not given Bush what he wanted, the Democrats would get blamed for a lack of vigilance.

Democrats are worried that they will provide Republican challengers and voters reasons to vote for someone else in the next election unless they appear strong on the WOT.

What Democrat congressmen should really be worried about is whether I and other Democrats will vote for them in the next election.

The TSA Makes Flying Safer for Americans

Read Raed Jarrar's version of how he was treated at JFK airport. Evidently certain t-shirts are not allowed on US airlines, at least JetBlue. What was Raed's crime? Wearing a t-shirt that said "we will not be silent" written in arabic and in english. Happily, Raed has sicced that commie organization, the ACLU, onto the TSA and JetBlue.

Mr. Jarrar, an architect, moved to the USA with his American wife to get away from an authoritarian government. Ironic isn't it?

Did you know there was an airline screening playset available for sale? See here.

Yeah, yeah I know. We libs all hate America. But we do love the Constitution.

August 9, 1974

33 years ago today, Richard Nixon resigned as president of the USA. But was he worse than the current president?

“Indeed, Bush puts Nixon into a more favorable light. He has trashed the image and reputation of the United States throughout the world; he has offended many of our previously close allies; he has burdened future generations with incredible debt; he has created an unnecessary war to further his domestic political objectives; he has suborned the civil rights of our citizens; he has destroyed previous environmental efforts by government in favor of his coterie of exploiters; he has surrounded himself with a cabal ideological adventurers . . . .”

Can An Atheist Run for Public Office?

Of course, this is a free country and Article 6, paragraph 3 of our Constitution says:

"no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States".

But tell that to the states of Arkansas (article 19, section 1), Maryland (article 36), North Carolina (article 6, section 8), South Carolina (article 4, section2), Tennessee (article 9, section 2) and Texas (article 1, section 4). Each of these states constitutions require that you acknowledge the existence of God or a Supreme Being in order to hold state level public office. I especially like article 1, section 4 of the Texas State Constitution:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being".

Who is the highest ranking public official in the USA that publicly denies the existence of a supreme being? That would be Rep. Pete Stark of California.

Next question. Does God bless America?

Motels of Ocean City and Wildwood NJ

You won't find any "big name" hotel or motel chains in Ocean City, NJ. This community knows what it wants and how it wants to present itself. No highrises at all.


The Nantucket is in Wildwood NJ





The Coral Sands is open all year.


The Forum Motor Inn


The Homestead Hotel


The Caprice is in Wildwood, NJ

Serving Their Country - Getting Dad Elected

Why aren't any of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's 5 sons serving in the military?

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

There's a sacrifice for you.

Good Christian Website!

I finally found a Christian website worth visiting and reading. It's called truechristian.com. The web author tells it as it really is and pulls no punches. Check out his FAQ page and read some of the hateful emails he has received from liberals and atheists (I rolled on the floor when I visited this section of the website, be sure and try it.

The "Kidz" section is especially good for educating your children about the Bible. I really like the bible stories for kidz, complete with pictures. Here's the one about David and Goliath
Definitely worth a visit.

Yea for Gillibrand, Clinton and Schumer

They all decided that protecting our Constitution is more important than winning conservative votes in the next election (especially brave of Gillibrand who represents a rather conservative district). These 3 congress people all voted against changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (also known as the "Protect America Act"). The Bill temporarily expands the executive branch’s authority to spy on suspected foreign terrorists without a court order, when communications are passing through the U.S. It seems that even the rubber stamping approval of the FISA courts for warrantless searches were too much to ask of the Bush administration.