moveon ads

Remember, this is the guy represents those of us that live in North Elba.

Sorry No Post Today

I was in surgery all afternoon. Twenty patients and unfortunately, none of them survived. Going to the NY State Fair this weekend. Maybe something interesting will happen.

Health Care Crisis

Iraq War Vets Duke it Out

Paul Hackett is awesome. Watch him make mincemeat out of Vin Taylor who is running for congress in Texas. Whether you are for or against the Iraq War, Hackett makes a lot of sense.

Bush's Notes Analyzed

Bob Harris at Huffington Post used photoshop to get a look at GW's press conference notes. It's well worth reading his comments.

Bush apparently has a seating chart that includes which reporters he supposed to call on (middle sheet in the photo). Two of the reporters were CBS Radio Mark Knoller and NBC Kelly O'Donnell, both were called on.

Cost of Iraq War

Most people know the Iraq War is expensive. Tens of billions of dollars a year. I've read 8 billion dollars a month. Sounds about right. So that is:

$2 billion a week
$267 million a day
$11 million an hour

This of course doesn't include the human and societal costs. The big question of course is whether spending all that money is making us safer today. Being a big bleeding heart liberal, I would argue NO. I wonder what else we could be doing with that kind of money.

The UK Guardian has an article which claims the winner of the "War on Terror" is Iran.

The study said Iran had been swift to fill the political vacuum created by the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Islamic republic now has a level of influence in the region that could not be ignored.

In particular, Iran has now superseded the US as the most influential power in Iraq, regarding its former adversary as its "own backyard". It is also a "prominent presence" in its other war-torn neighbour, Afghanistan, according to Chatham House's analysts.

The report said: "There is little doubt that Iran has been the chief beneficiary of the war on terror in the Middle East.

Ellenburg, NY Strikes It Rich

A deal has been struck with Noble Environmental Power. Noble gets to build 54 clean energy producing wind turbines and Ellenburg gets:

$243,000 annually for 15 yrs for agreeing to be a host community for wind turbines.
$54,000 one time bonus for allowing special projects.

And Ellenburg gets to split with Clinton County, the Town of Ellenburg and the Northern Adirondack Central School;

$486,000 annually for the next 15 years. 54% to the school!

"The benefit to the town, when you add it all up, is about $462,240 every year," he said.

"We intend on taking some of that money and putting it toward taxes. The Town of Ellenburg will see a drastic reduction in their taxes."

More here.

Saranac Lake Community Store

A group of hard working volunteers have been working on the formation of a Community-owned retail store for Saranac Lake. They have a website called www.community-store.org.

The community store concept is an idea that is slowly catching on in some small communities in the country. The Powell, WY Mercantile is often the store that community store groups want to use as a model. From the Casper Tribune:

The people running the Powell Mercantile didn't expect their downtown clothing store to become a tourist destination, but people come to The Merc by the busload.

Smaller contingents pull up in cars from Torrington, Riverton, Newcastle, Rawlins and Ely, Nev. But these particular tourists come not with cameras, but with questions about community ownership.

Or this:

"We've made money since day one," Witzeling said.

The cool thing about community stores is that they are owned and operated by community members. But it is not a co-op, it's about as capitalistic a company as they come. FAQ about community stores can be found HERE. The volunteers behind the Saranac Lake Community Store deserve 100% community support for one reason. As their website points out, their mission is to bring reasonably priced goods to Saranac Lake. How can anyone be opposed to that?

John Sweeney (R-NY-20)

Here is what Rep. John Sweeney has to say about the Iraq War and Pres. Bush. (Times Union)

He applauded President Bush's declaration Monday that troops will remain in Iraq to "finish the job," calling him "a determined leader who is absolutely right to say the troops will be there until we achieve our objective."

Sweeney, like Bush, disagree with the majority of US citizens about the Iraq War. So, if you want our troops to stay in Iraq for the next 2.5 years, I guess John Sweeney is the guy to vote for.

MORE

Do you think Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans should get a $1500 bonus and improved health insurance benefits?

John Sweeney doesn't, he voted against H.R. 3289 and H.R. 1815

Do you think you should be able to purchase cheap drugs from Canada?

John Sweeney doesn't, he voted against H.R. 2427.

How do you feel about the oil and gas industry right now?

John Sweeney loves them and he's in favor of price gouging, voted against H.R. 3402.

Do you think American companies that have moved offshore, to escape paying taxes, should qualify for Federal loans?

John Sweeney does, he voted in favor of H.R. 4818.

See here.

You Win!

A neurobiology professor, Dr. Dario Ringach, has given up animal research because of pressure from the UCLA Primate Freedom Project. This group published a picture of Dr. Ringach along with his address, phone number and email address on their website.

Why did he stop? From "Inside Higher Education"

Anti-animal research groups are trumpeting Ringach’s move as a victory, while some researchers are worried that it could embolden such groups to use more extreme tactics.

Ringach’s name and home phone number are posted on the Primate Freedom Project’s Web site, and colleagues and UCLA officials said that Ringach was harassed by phone — his office phone number is no longer active — and e-mail, as well as through demonstrations in front of his home.

In an e-mail this month to several anti-animal research groups, Ringach wrote that “you win,” and asked that the groups “please don’t bother my family anymore.”

Colleagues suggested that Ringach, who did not return e-mails seeking comment, was spooked by an attack on a colleague. In June, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for trying to put a Molotov cocktail on the doorstep of Lynn Fairbanks, another UCLA researcher who does experimentation on animals. The explosive was accidentally placed on the doorstep of Fairbanks’s elderly neighbor’s house, and did not detonate.

There is a bill in committee called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (H.R. 4239) that would supposedly make it a crime to harrass animal researchers or for that matter any enterprise that uses animals for 'profit'. The act has primarily Repulican sponsors which makes me suspect that legal civil rights will be taken away from protesters.

Unfortunately, the current Animal Enterprise Protection Act is largely unused by prosecutors. An analysis of the Act by animal liberation types can be found HERE.

A Day at the Track - Saratoga Springs Travers

First, breakfast at the track


With friends from Maryland


While watching the horses being exercised.

Random Quote Generator

Go to the random quote generator and generate some quotes. I like to use the cynical quote collection myself but there are many other collections from which to choose.

A few cynical quotes that were generated for me:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. H. L. Mencken

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. Alec Bourne

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. Douglas Adams

I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time. Charles M. Schulz

The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.
Franklin P. Jones

Enough Said

From John Amato at Crooks and Liars.

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor is the Michigan US District court judge who has ruled that GW Bush's secret wiretapping/spying program is unconstitutional.

The defendants “are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilising the Terrorist Surveillance Programme in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III”

So one, or both, of two things will happen next. She will be swiftboated as someone who hates America and loves the terrorists and/or the 6th Circuit court will overturn her decision. The decision almost certainly has to be overturned because if it is not, then GW Bush is almost certainly guilty of breaking many Federal laws. And, if that is the case, then impeachment proceeding must begin.

There is an excellent review of this finding by lawyer Glenn Greenwald HERE. Mr. Greenwald points out:

Even with this Order, the Bush administration is free to continue to do all the eavesdropping on terrorists they want to do. They just have to do so with approval of the FISA court -- just like all administrations have done since 1978, just as the law requires, and just as they did when eavesdropping as part of the surveillance they undertook on the U.K. terror plot.

Rep. John Sweeney - Push Poller?

Some of us live in the 'head' portion of the congressional disrict represented by republican John Sweeney. We don't get much coverage of Mr. Sweeney or his re-election campaign in this area. However, there is an interesting article in the Times Union concerning possible 'push polling' by the Sweeney campaign.

According to several people who got the call, it started out with fairly innocuous questions about whether the country is headed in the right direction and if President Bush is doing a good job. Next came the question about who the responder planned to vote for in the 20th CD race: Gillibrand or U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park.

Bob Hudak, a Corinth resident who is a “blank” (not enrolled in any political party), said he picked Gillibrand, and was then asked whether his choice would change if he knew, for example, that she doesn’t live in the district, that her law firm represented an Enron crook, or she had used the death of American soldiers in Iraq for political gain.

So who is paying for the 'push poll'? Well, Sweeney's campaign claim they have nothing to do with the poll. But it appears that it may be paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee. This type of campaign tactic sure looks like Rove-inspired 'swiftboating' tactics.

Iraq War and Our Soldiers

I have a nephew that joing the army right out of high school 14 yrs ago. He serves as a medic. Since being in the army he has served in Panama, South Korea and is on his second tour in Afghanistan. When he comes back to the USA next February he will barely have time to unpack and will be sent to Iraq. My nephew, who wanted to serve 20 yrs, is considering getting out of the army. Anyone wonder why?

Literacy Volunteers Luncheon

I just returned from Westport, NY where we had lunch at the Westport Hotel as a fund raiser for Literacy Volunteers of Essex and Franklin County. The author Russell Banks was there to read from his recent book 'Cloudsplitter'. A good time was had by all. I stupidly forgot to bring my camera so no pictures of Mr. Banks, Lake Champlain, the Westport Hotel etc.

Suppressing the Vote

Republicans want to stay in power. To do that they must make sure that the 'wrong kind of people' don't vote. Salon has an extensive discussion of six states that are trying to suppress the votes of the 'wrong' kind of people.

Across the country, they will have to contend with Republican-sponsored schemes to limit voting. In a series of laws passed since the 2004 elections, Republican legislators and officials have come up with measures to suppress the turnout of traditional Democratic voting blocs. This fall the favored GOP techniques are new photo I.D. laws, the criminalizing of voter registration drives, and database purges that have disqualified up to 40 percent of newly registered voters from voting

Arizona: The only state in the union that requires one to prove they are a citizen in order to vote. Could you easily prove you are a citizen?

Indiana:

when she learned that the state required a state-issued photo I.D. to vote, her husband drove her down to the delay-plagued Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get a photo I.D. On her first visit, she brought her Social Security card, her voter registration card, two bills and a credit card, but that wasn't good enough. She had to return three more times, with BMV drones telling her successively she needed a copy of her birth certificate, then a $28 state-certified birth certificate from Massachusetts, and finally a marriage certificate because her birth certificate listed only her maiden name -

Ohio:

the law that took effect in May allows the state to pursue felony prosecutions of workers for voter registration groups who turn in registration cards past a 10-day deadline. They face up to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine

California:

43 percent of all new registered voters in her huge county were being disqualified

because their social security number or drivers license numbers don't match up with a voter registration database. Is that the voters fault or the person that maintains the database?

Other states include Florida (what a surprise) where fines for violations are now so stiff that they forced the League of Women Voters to suspend its voter drives in the state for the first time in nearly 70 years and Missouri Republicans are promoting "mass disenfranchisement" because African-American voters turned out in large numbers in 2004 and are expected to turn out again this fall because Republican Gov. Matt Blunt cut 100,000 people from Medicaid.

Democracy is being promoted in Iraq and demoted in the USA.

Show Me the Money

Whether you are in favor or opposed to Federal 'earmarks', the Sunlight Foundation has a cool 'google map' that shows who is NOT getting the money in NY state. So go HERE and either type in 12983 (or any other Adirondack Park zip code) or zoom out on the map. See all the pretty dollar signs all over the Northeast? See where they aren't?

Allen's Listening Tour

I hope everyone in the USA gets to listen to Mr. Allen and his racist remarks. There aren't words that are insulting enough to describe this guy. Ole George here also believes that anyone who doesn't look like him is 'new' to America.