New York
updated
10:23 p.m.
I'm glad I got to tell the hacks on LATFOR how pathetic they are at the Brooklyn LATFOR hearing on Wednesday. Here's to free speech. ...
The Albany Project - 2:41 p.m. - 7 clicks 
1) The Susan G. Komen Foundation is starting to buckle under the pressure . Komen officials now claim that funding they provided to Planned Parenthood to help poor women get breast cancer screenings was not withdrawn because Planned Parenthood also provides some abortion services (something on the order of one percent of its operation) but because Planned Parenthood was under Congressional...
Simply Left Behind - 6:47 a.m.
The Town of Dryden is asking residents to take a survey about where they get television service and how they like it . Have a moment? Please fill it in! (Via It's About The Story .) ...
Living in Dryden - 5:03 a.m.
Losers endorse losers . Now, no one was surprised by Trump's endorsement of Gingrich, for a few reasons: a) Like Trump, Gingrich has been divorced and married multiple times and committed adultery with his current wife while married to another, 2) Gingrich wants to drop the capital gains rate to zero, which benefits a real estate typhoon...pardon me, tycoon......
Simply Left Behind - Thu 12:29 p.m.
I've been following this story for five years now. As a diver and always-hopeful treasure hunter...hey, I've actually found a whole dollar!...I'm fascinated with admiralty law and the rule of finders-keepers. Which does not apply here, apparently. ...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 11:03 a.m.
Newt Gingrich... man of compassion ???? But the former House speaker said what the poor really need is a trampoline "so they can spring up." He added, "Naked. Without tape. And only the ones with big ones, like at least D cups." ...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 11:03 a.m.
Real estate values in New York City dropped like a stone last year , as wave upon wave of foreclosures struck the city like a tsunami. The prices of single family homes, generally in the outer boroughs, were deeply impacted. Commensurate with foreclosured properties and other economically distressed housing, building code violations jumped 14%, and not just in th...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 9:43 a.m. - 12 clicks
They're idiots. This is a transparent attempt to screw the family of a man he killed in a drunk-driving accident from winning a large award. He ought to be thrown in jail and all his assets seized. Just for being a douchebag. ...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 9:07 a.m.
It doesn't really matter what Punxatawney Phil or any other rodent says, even if they disagree. Am I the only person who noticed that Spring arrives in six weeks if he doesn't see his shadow, but if he sees it, we have another six weeks of...winter? ...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 9:07 a.m.
"Never Complain, Never Explain ." "Sometimes things don't come out exactly the way you'd like them to," he explained. "That's not exactly what I meant to say. My focus is on middle income Americans. We do have a safety net for the very poor, and I said if there are holes in it I want to correct that." Opponents on the left jumped...
Simply Left Behind - Thu 6:24 a.m.
Fulfilling pledges Speaker Christine Quinn made in last year's State of the City address, the Council passed two bills that will protect tenants of buildings facing foreclosure and add more transparency to contracts. ...
Gotham Gazette - Wed 9:03 p.m.
The state is currently at an impasse. The federal government is threatening to withhold some $1 billion dollars in education aid if the stakeholders in New York do not agree on a teacher evaluation system . The best option for students and teachers would be to agree on a fair evaluation system in the near future to avoid losing that money, and more importantly, ensure that every student has quali...
The Albany Project - Wed 12:05 p.m. - 13 clicks
So says the Susan G. Komen Foundation This, from an organization that pats itself on the back for being inspired by its namesake's "thinking of ways to make life better for other women battling breast cancer." Well, "others" who can afford health insurance, apparently. ...
Simply Left Behind - Wed 9:49 a.m. - 2 clicks
And he doesn't even need to submit a bill to Congress. Obviously, President Obama has spoken at length with the Big Dog, Bill Clinton. ...
Simply Left Behind - Wed 9:49 a.m. - 14 clicks
If you're Occupy Wall Street, you build a think-tank . Also, if you believe in what OWS stands for, please give . They'll need the money when the weather warms up to re-start the protests. ...
Simply Left Behind - Wed 8:07 a.m.
Interesting quote from Mitt Romney : "I'm not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there," Romney told CNN. "If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling." Host Soledad O'Br...
Simply Left Behind - Wed 7:25 a.m.
New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly faces calls for increased police oversight after revelations about his participation in an anti-Muslim video that was used to train officers. ...
Gotham Gazette - Tue 9:00 p.m. - 12 clicks
This is a complete load of horseshit. As the Congressional Research Service documents, the average effective tax rate among millionaires is already about 30 percent. A -hem Top 1% pay about 24% total tax rate. ...
Simply Left Behind - Tue 12:41 p.m.
From MSNBC: A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure [...] The steam contains low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, but federal and plant officials insisted the levels were safe for workers and the public. Phew! If they say it’s safe, [...] Related posts: And Justice for ALL - AG Candidate...
Rochester Turning - Tue 12:06 p.m.
A city-wide campaign warms New Yorkers away from for-profit education scams that can leave students in debt and without a job. ...
Gotham Gazette - Mon 9:47 p.m. - 14 clicks
Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America Presents #534: "Race and Privilege" Rabbi Brian Walt, originally from South Africa, talks about race and racism there and here. It is the job of people who inherit privilege to understand it and confront it. Recorded January 16, 2012. Tuesday, January 31 7:00-7:30 pm on Channel 13 Wednesday, February 1 1:00-1:30 pm on Channel 13 Thursday, Febr...
Ithaca Action Network - Mon 9:09 p.m. - 16 clicks
It's time for Village of Dryden elections again, or at least time to prepare for them. The 2-year terms of Trustees Charles Becker and Don Norman are expiring. The election is in March, but the caucuses to select candidates will be held Tuesday, January 31st. Republicans will be meeting at 7:30pm Tuesday at 1 West Main Street. (I think that's the Dryden Cafe, or maybe they're next door in...
Living in Dryden - Mon 6:41 p.m.
I've had my issues with Governor Cuomo on some things, but today he came out with something that I completely agree on: getting rid of New York's Combined Ballistic Identification System, or CoBIS. CoBIS is based on the premise of ballistic "fingerprinting" of bullets. If you've ever seen CSI, you probably know that a bullet fired from a gun receives a distinctive set of marks and scratches on it...
The Albany Project - Mon 2:07 p.m. - 18 clicks
Poor conditions in apartments across the city lead to unhealthy tenants. A coalition of housing and health advocates have started a program to send health-care providers to tenants to treat housing-related illness. ...
Gotham Gazette - Sun 9:25 p.m.
You probably already know that federal judge Gary Sharpe has ordered new York to hold its primaries for congressional office on June 26, to accommodate the federal law that requires a 45-day window for servicemembers overseas to return absentee ballots. While Judge Sharpe did not order the state to change its primary for state office as well, having three different primary days (one each for Pres...
The Albany Project - Sat 11:24 p.m. - 16 clicks
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe has ordered that New York State have a June 26th primary . Since we still don't even have congressional district maps, this will be complicated. (I think a June primary is a good idea generally, and hope the state accepts its wisdom. We'll see how it works this year, however.) ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 27 - 12 clicks
It wasn't that long ago that Army National Guard Company D, of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, was deployed from the Ithaca Armory on Hanshaw Road , and now they're heading out again : The soldiers going to Kuwait are expected to deploy in April. The soldiers expect to be on federal active duty for up to 12 months, but the Army continues to review and reduce forces needed overseas. So...
Living in Dryden - Jan 27 - 8 clicks
Via commenter Jason C , I see that meteorologist Drew Montreuil of GrotonWeather.com is giving a talk in Freeville tomorrow night: What do snow, tornadoes and groundhogs have in common? Come to the Freeville Potluck Dinner THIS SATURDAY starting at 5:30pm! Meteorologist Drew Montreuil will be talking after dinner [7pm?] about lake effect snow, tornadoes in New York, and who is a better for...
Living in Dryden - Jan 27 - 6 clicks
Today the weather is just unseasonably warm but seasonably dismal - but sometimes we get more dangerous weather here too. I gave a talk last night to the Varna Volunteer Fire Company about weather disasters, exploring some of the extremes we've had here, how forecasting is getting better at predicting (some of) these things, and what people can do to help. I've posted a PDF of When the We...
Living in Dryden - Jan 27
I, uh, liked " Abraham Lincoln riding a vacuum cleaner " better than " Puking Man in Headdress ", but yes, I have to agree that the proposed version of Dryden's Senate district: looks like a man wearing an elaborate, feathered headdress while projectile vomiting. Dryden, of course, is one of the projectiles. Great. ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 27
Celebrants hold candles aloft at the Riverside Church MLK observance(Photo: Bud Korotzer / NLN) NEW YORK — January 15, 2012. The 99 percent have a long struggle ahead of them to Occupy 2012, to Occupy Everything in the name of peace and justice, but on the evening of January 15, Martin Luther King’s birthday, [...]...
Next Left Notes - Jan 26 - 5 clicks
I can't begin to say anything nice about this. Proposed NYS Senate and Assembly maps . Dryden seems to be in the same gerrymandered Senate and Assembly districts as before. ( Abe Lincoln loses his hat, but that's about it. It looks like the Senate district now runs up to a split-up Auburn, too.) "Our" legislators have no shame whatsoever. I'll dream about Governor Cuomo vetoing this...
Living in Dryden - Jan 26 - 3 clicks
The proposed LATFOR redistricting maps are out for the State Senate and the Assembly. The changes... wait, you were expecting changes? Well, there are some, and at least none of the new proposed districts are more than 120 miles or so long. Although that's a really, really low bar. Most interesting from a competitive perspective is, of course, the State Senate: Full Senate maps can be foun...
The Albany Project - Jan 26
Will City Hall grant an exception to the hiring freeze so that the Civilian Complaint Review Board can hire a lawyer and independently prosecute police misconduct? ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 25
As always, Dryden Town Talk is a must-read . Volunteer opportunities, jazz concerts, pancakes, chowder, a father-daughter dance... there's lots going on! I guess State Senator Jim Seward's earlier comments about home rule didn't sit well with the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition folks. Tracy Marisa (of One of Nine and webmaster of the DSEC) writes to argue that local government should s...
Living in Dryden - Jan 25
Two familiar firearms were used in the shooting of NYPD Officer Peter Figoski. Chris Opfer takes a look at the guns New York's criminals prefer. ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 24
Not that it makes the local battle any less important, but I've had a hard time for a while believing that the rush to drill here made much economic sense . It's not that I question there being gas here, but the prospects seemed badly oversold . Today the estimates for the recoverable gas in the Marcellus fell in another estimate, from last year's 410 trillion cubic feet to the EIA's curr...
Living in Dryden - Jan 24
With the higher temperatures, my count of ice lanterns plunged. I couldn't make new ones, and last night there were only five worth trying. I cleaned up the remains this morning - not much left! Ice lantern stubs. Sunday night looks like the next possible time to make any lanterns, and even that's kind of iffy. ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 24
It's good to see that DRAC got up to Albany: A Dryden banner visiting the legislature. (Provided by Judith Pierpont.) The Ithaca Journal has more on the lobbying day . ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 24 - 3 clicks
A housing project in Brooklyn that would provide 1,800 new apartments is delayed by political infighting. ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 23
NYS Senator David Carlucci announced on his Facebook page that he joined Sen. Greg Ball to propose a one year moratorium on hydrofracking in the state so the risks and benefits can be properly weighed by a public that stood up in strong protest of the NYS DEC survey which sought to open the door for drilling permits. Along with his IDC colleague Sen. David Valesky and an unlikely ally in the Repub...
Rockland Progressive Dems - Jan 23
at the former NYSEG headquarters, rather than spreading because of: an employee at an independent software development consulting firm who allowed unauthorized access to one of the companies' customer information systems. The customer records contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth and, in some cases, financial institution account numbers. Of course, the data may have been just ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 23
I woke up New Year's morning with a nervous stomach. It was finally 2012, the year that I'd been talking about casually since people started asking me, "will the Affordable Care Act survive?" As I wrote in the epilogue to my new book, Fighting for Our Health: The Epic Battle to Make Health Care a Right in the United States , health reform has to jump two big hurdles in 2012 to survive. Th...
The Albany Project - Jan 23
The Personal blog of Marc Cenedella (via New York Times ) The GOP sure can pick 'em in NY state. Last go around they offered up "crazy Carl" Paladino, who after an epic campaign of facepalm-inducing blunders snared a whopping 33.3% of the vote to Andrew Cuomo's 62.6%. In the special 2010 election for the Senate, A-list hopefuls (if anyone GOPer in NY still qualifies for that title) step...
The Albany Project - Jan 23
Introduction It now can be logically argued that we now have less freedom (= less rights) than even a decade ago - for example, via indefinite detention, "legal" assassination of Americans, (lack of) on-line privacy, the "death" of "habeus corpus" and warrantless wiretapping. And yet one local (to NY State) hard won right is the freedom to vote with the money you spend on your electricity bill as...
The Albany Project - Jan 23
Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America Presents #533: "Healthcare: Better in Canada" Anita Watkins tells the Occupy Ithaca Healthcare Teach-In about her years of good experiences with the Canadian single-payer healthcare system. Rebecca Elgie and Dr. Susan Soboroff add insights about work needed here. Recorded December 11, 2011. Tuesday, January 24 7:00-7:30 pm on Channel 13 Wednes...
Ithaca Action Network - Jan 23 - 2 clicks
Community members try to find a nuanced voice in their critique of the NYPD's stop and frisk program while dealing with the stigma of speaking out against the police. ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 22
I haven't spent that much time looking at the intricacies of school budgets over the past few years. Dryden Daily KAZ has, and tells a painful story of rising expenses New York State only shifts around instead of addressing . ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 21
The weather's been tricky since I first started making ice lanterns , but tonight's cold and low winds are about perfect. I've also gotten a little better at making them. The main problem I've had is that candles melt everything around them, or just melt to the bottom, get put out by water, and then freeze into the lantern again. That makes it really hard to reuse the lanterns, as the old ...
Living in Dryden - Jan 20
Queens groups are split over how they want to see legislative districts drawn in their communities. ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 19
With two passed bills heading for a mayoral veto and a newly introduced bill aiming to curb the Mayor's power, the City Council is taking a stand against the Mayor in a big way....
Gotham Gazette - Jan 18
Councilman Stephen Levin looks to help struggling street vendors who face "outrageous" fines for small infractions. ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 17
Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America Presents #532: "Corporate Personhood: Citizens United" Victor Tiffany, local coordinator of Move to Amend, tells Nicholas Heavens about how the Supreme Court came to regard corporations as people and how this is a threat to electoral democracy. It will take a constitutional amendment to fix this. Recorded January 14, 2012. Tuesday, January 17 ...
Ithaca Action Network - Jan 17 - 8 clicks
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he wants to be an advocate for students. What does his new-found focus on education policy mean for the city? ...
Gotham Gazette - Jan 16
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 15
Veteran of the year Many people may have forgot about his time in the U.S. Army. He is the son of an Air Force General, and a accomplished Golden Gloves boxer, and he graduated from Pomona College with a B.S. degree, and then became a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University. ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 15
Reprinted from Daily Freeman article Jan 11th: By ANN GIBBONS Equal parts eatery to equal parts spirits, at 100 proof kitsch, @346 Broadway brings a casual Left Coast sensibility to Midtown Kingston. The two business partners, one from the Pacific Northwest, the other from L.A., were first attracted online to the Hudson Valley, but specifically to Kingston...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 12
Congrats to Mitt Romney on his win in New Hampshire. Now Mitt, Ron Paul and the others head down to South Carolina and Florida to push their vision on unsuspecting folks down there until those primaries. Best of luck to who ever ends up facing Obama this November. Oh, a word of advise? Don't put your current place on the market just yet. ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 11
It's official. Racism is now dead. You may now go about your business in a post-racial Amerika. That is all. All sarcasm aside, this was actually posted in all state buildings in Arkansas. Makes you realize that we are truly sheltered here in the North East. ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 10
Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America Presents #531 : "Free Tax Help" Brian Zapf, Community Tax Program Director at the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, tells Deirdre Silverman how trained, supervised volunteers help low and moderate income people do their taxes and get all the credits they're due. People save, and money comes back into the community. Call 211 for information...
Ithaca Action Network - Jan 9
Are Your Property Taxes Lower Today Than They Were One Year Ago? Dollars to doughnuts -- or to school districts, sanitary districts, towns, counties, and taxing districts by the dozen -- your property tax bill was higher this year than it was last. And higher still than that tax bill for the very same services was 2 years, 5 years, 10 years ago. Talk of cuts, consolidations, transparenc...
The Community Alliance - Jan 9
This would be the public toilet at Staples in Ulster, N.Y. I actually had to tighten the seat bolts to navigate this device without risking injury. Is this the level of health concern we should expect in the commercial stores across America? Is this where we've come? Here's your homework assignment... Go out and get pictures of the worst public bathrooms ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 9
I found a new hero. He should be your hero, too. His name is Buddy Roemer, he’s from Louisiana and he’s trying to get the Republican nomination for president. Why haven’t you heard of him before? Because his main issue is Campaign Finance Reform and, big surprise, the corporations who run this country don’t want that to [...] Related posts: Answering the President: &#...
Rochester Turning - Jan 8
New York Republicans are looking for a rich white knight to take on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this year. And time for that search is running short. State GOP chairman Ed Cox, Nixon son-in-law and legacy 1-percenter, told county chairmen this week that Gillibrand is toast because he had "at least two highly qualified candidates" interested in a Senate challenge (obviously not including the o...
The Albany Project - Jan 6
[ Update : this New York Times article tells a similar story with a lot less background.] New York State energy policy is a game that's largely about territory and players and not so much about principles. I obviously don't work in Albany, and would be happy to be wrong about much of this, but this is the story I tell based on what I've seen. The key pieces of this story are New Yor...
The Albany Project - Jan 6
Ulster County is making serious changes again. Where the Charter Reform of 2005 provided separate branches of government and last year's election gave us 23 districts, we now have our first female Chairperson. With a near unanimous vote, Terry Bernardo leads the 23rd Legislature with an agenda: to get the policy making branch of county government back to business. "We are ...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 4 - 2 clicks
A protester – and a symbol – occupy Zuccotti Park(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN) NEW YORK — January 1, 2012. Occupy Wall Street was the story of the year and it yielded many opportunities for photojournalists to ply their craft — including NLN photographers — but it wasn’t the only story. In Times [...]...
Next Left Notes - Jan 3
Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America Presents #530 : "Healthcare: We Need Something Better" At the Occupy Ithaca Teach-In on Healthcare Andrea Levine, Outreach Coordinator for the Ithaca Health Alliance, tells about the services that the Ithaca Free Clinic provides to the un- and underinsured. Dr. Susan Soboroff volunteers at the clinic but like a majority of doctors wants a singl...
Ithaca Action Network - Jan 3
A momentous day for the City of Kingston. The ceremonial swearing in of our elected and appointed proved to be a crowd pleaser. All who attended shared the sense of optimism that comes with a new year coupled with a new administration. With a new Mayor comes a new Common Council and several new department appointments in City Hall. The theme in Shayne's address continued the u...
Kingston Progressive - Jan 2
Lately I've noticed an uptick online in the number of people trying to sway the left wing over into supporting Ron Paul. Some of this may be driven by Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald, who has been singing Paul's praises as an anti-war, anti-imperialist libertarian hero for liberals. (As opposed to Greenwald's portrayal of President Obama as a warmongering neo-fascist who didn't really end the Iraq...
The Albany Project - Dec 31
