The Hayseeds blog, No. 67 for the week starting June 13, 2004.
May 30, 2004
Hayseeds No. 66
June 13, 2004
Hayseeds No. 67
June 20, 2004
Hayseeds No. 67
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The View of A Young Rural Liberal Political Scientist.
Reagan is an interesting man, coming from an interesting time of the 1980s. He certainly does not deserve all the credit he gets for what occured during his administration, but he did place a smiling face to the seeds of change.
To many, the 1980s were a time of excessive greed and warmaking, and that was primarly the fault of Reagan's Voodoo Economics and his desire to expand our power of Soviets. Maybe there is some truth to that notion, but I also note a complict or even supporting Democratic Congress throughout his administration.
He acted upon many of the forces already loosened by the Carter administration, and I doubt that the world of 1988 would have been little different by Democratic and Republican control. The need for deregulation was seen by both parties, and was orginally started mostly by Carter (and to a lesser extent Nixon and Ford).
If Reagan was anything, he was a personality. He had good looks, and he knew how to embrace the support of not only the eastern establishment but the rural west and other areas. He overwhelming carried in New York in 1984, and did very well in upstate New York in 1980. Many Republican members of the Assembly still view him as a protege, as the 'great communicator'. He could talk, and he would almost never talk down to others.
I am too young to really remember Reagan as President, and while I have seen him in newsclips and read about the history of him in the 1980s, at best what I get is a canned version. What I do see is a constant villianization of the President and his cabinet members (Interior Secertary James Watt comes to mind)—and a sort of unbalanced coverage. I guess the liberal establishment had greater power back then today, but it was still open to his ideas.
In the end, Reagan's greatest gift to America was his ability to challenge the establishment through his conservative programs, that forced people to revisit who they really are and to reconsider their morals. At the same he challenged people to think, he also asked them to reflect on their country and how it belonged to them—in a similar way to what Kennedy did in the 1960s.
first national public funeral since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1973. His body will be displayed in the Capitol and many an interesting personalities will end up visiting.
I never really liked Reagan as President, but looking back post-humously he has done a lot of good for our country. There have been many interesting news stories covering his life and his death.
I incorrectly noted that in 1994, it was President Ford who passed away. I had forgotten that it was President Nixon, and that Ford is still alive.
Thank you to all of you who pointed out that correction.
There have been many stories in the past on the subject about planting crops simply for attracting wildlife for hunting, but today's article is particularly interesting as it's a local story.
As the article notes, hunters often become wildlife farmers because they want larger deer to hunt, and because they might have lost traditional hunting grounds to development
—in other words, farmland. So it makes sense to plant and improvise.
Plus it's fun to play in the dirt, and spend $20k on farm toys—obviously! Of course for mere mortals like me, I think I'd go for the used stuff, unlike Dr. Lenoard Goldstock who went for all new equipment for his wildlife farm.
Of course, real farmers don't like this at all, because attracting wildlife to farm crops for wildlife feed, also attracts wildlife to other plots intended for human or livestock consumption—sometimes justr across the street. This problem was well noted in a NYT article a couple of years back (try the search tool).
As much as I like hunting, to spend so much money and effort on farming and not selling or using any of your products seems silly. I would think it would be more then possible and little more work to run a more complete farm and recieve a bit more back. Probably the farm of the future would seek to gain both goals more fully.
I'm guess he picking up on the milk part of it, coming from his district (of course!)
James Tedisco impassionally defended out children's right to eat whatever they want in school, and Jack McEneny said we should take a good look at just how much sugar is being servered in the member's lounge.
Which probably is a good choice, as it's unlikely that any other candiate will win.
It seems that some people are paying far more for taxes then others—even when there property is far less valued on the market. And I thought State Law required assessments to be fair?!
Somehow with the store's high ceilings and wide isles, it doesn't really seem all that particularly big of a store.
I've been critical of Walmart and other big-box retailors, but my first impressions of the store were quite postive, if it only were for the fact it is so shinny and new. Somehow the atomosphere was nice, and it didn't seem so big. There are skylights throughout the store, and the flourcent lightening, while cheap, seems to fill it's role well.
They sell a lot of stuff cheaply—much of which is useful. Does it encourage consumerism and wasteful consumption? The answer is yes, but it also depends on the individual and how they shop there. Does Walmart exploit workers, flaunt labor laws, keep unions at bay, and do all kinds of other evil? Yes, it would seem that supporting Walmart would be not much more different then supporting the devil.
Somehow it just looks so attractive to shop there, to buy, to consume. They do their best to make things attractive and beautiful, while you know the opposite is probably true.
Would I shop there, if I needed any of their products? I don't know. Their stuff certainly is cheap and plentiful. My feelings are so mixed about Walmart, and maybe a more critical examination and experience alone (instead of with another person like I was today), would give a better answer.
Should Mayor Jennings die or unable to fill out his whole term, then he would be replaced with DeFosses, the President of the Albany Common Council.
I guess that's not a real shocker to those who follow Albany politics closely, or know how the process of succession works in New York, but I guess I never really thought about it—I just have my feelings about the direction she and other members of the Albany Democrats have taken things.
Although I got this press release on Friday, I'm finally posting about it today.
It looks like it's scheduled for next Tuesday from 9:30-11A—the site says—
HAD ENOUGH?
Come to Albany and tell your elected officials you want fair treatment and legal trails in New York NOW! No more delays, this IS the year. What do we want?
—TRAILS—
When do we want them?
—NOW—This is YOUR rally. While volunteers from the state association and the state’s clubs are doing the leg work, your presence will make all the difference. Bring all you riding friends and family along!
No, I really doubt it will go anywhere today (see ATV Bill Status)—but lobbying is an important part of being a citizen and maybe if enough show up, Shelly will reconsider some of the ATV legislation.
Right now, everything is basically dead, because Shelly is mad at the governor over the ATV press release, that he released that suggested the legislature was planning on raising ATV fees (that fee was in the governor's budget and was subsiquently removed).
See the NYSORVA Ralley Website, and Franklin County ATV Riders PR.
First off, the record should show that corporations and many individuals (particularly the less well off with Social Security) paid much more in taxes under Reagan then previous administrations—his record as a tax cutter is questionable.
Of maybe $60m or $43.7m or $30m—depending on who you ask. That's how much it's going to cost the state, with overtime, and lost productivity, or so the big comptroller dude, et. al are claiming. NY spends roughly $275 million a day, so those numbers aren't that high.
Reagan's funeral is a special occassion, and the last state holiday for state funeral was in 1973 with President Johnson—so I guess the cost is worth it. Yes, there is no budget, and we all live in lean fincial times, but we are talking about a rather popular Republican President.
It's a story of soot, as they say. The paper had a wonderful picture of just how truly sooty the city was yesterday, and reviewed the health issues caused by soot (like cancer). I've been in Albany on air quality days, and it's not particularly nice to breathe—it's bad enough around here at my house, when it's a helter-swelter outside.
Maybe the city will put up signs that suggest that people upon entry wear their PPE, along with drive their 4x4 trucks (though that increases soot), to make it over the rather large potholes (which admitly have been largely fixed—but head there in spring).
If you think you might be able to get cool on a city bus, away from the black soot they spew, you probably should think again—over a 2/3rds of the buses have broken air conditioners.
So says, NYPIRG which claims air pollution kills 12,000 NYers each year—maybe a streach, but certainly a stern warning.
The idea is to study how to make the farm fertilizer impossible to make into that blight to known as meth. Understanding the problem is a good first step.
The bill offering tougher penalities is still being played with—although I don't think the proposed penalities are nearly severe enough (i'd prefer to(see sentencing of 25-to-life and possibly making it a Capital offense to run a meth lab). Likewise, anhydrous ammonia possion with intent to make into meth with a penality of 4-years is equally absurd.
The bill would create new crimes of unlawful clandestine lab operation in the first degree, bringing a prison sentence of 6-to-25 years, or in the second degree, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. It would also make possession of stolen anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer used in methamphetamine production, a felony bringing up to 4 years in prison. Current law pegs the penalty for theft of anhydrous ammonia to its value, and is not necessarily a felony, the governor said.
So what is exactly is anhydrous ammonia?
Farmers mix anhydrous ammonia with water and apply the mixture as a fertilizer that enhances the nitrogen content of the soil to help it grow crops. Farmers store the anhydrous ammonia in large tanks on their farms, and thieves frequent the storage tanks to "harvest" the necessary ingredient for methamphetamine.
The Illinois Farm Bureau does a good job describing the problem of meth and what farms can do to deal with the risks and dangers of meth.
Property Taxes and Cutting 'Em. On the radio there was a discussion of property tax caps, ala. California's Proposition 13. Maine is considering one. Opponets to such caps note that destructive effect they have on local government, schools, police, and highway maintance. They are right on that point: the loss of aid and tax revenue can hurt us directly. Supporters note that it's difficult for older people, farmers, and the alike to pay tax bills that are constantly increasing—a problem I have sympathized with in the past.
My solution is that state and federal government through revenue sharing, should cut higher up programs and fund local government more directly, instead of placing it right on the backs of people through land tax. Income and sales (technically 'consumption' tax) are far more desirable then property tax where income is not considered. Inevitably, any good local tax abatement tax program can only be successful if there is a significant state surplus to make up up for lost local revenues.
I know, some of you are already sick of hearing how Saratoga social elitist Mary Lou Witney's Birdstone horse kicked some butt, beating Smarty Jones. Some people claim that she was disappointed to see her horse dash Smarty Jones' hope of winning the triple crown. I'm not surpised at all, but I think she was being polite and nice, and still strongly supported her own horse.
Some are suggesting that it would be a really good idea to have a special branding for milk that notes that it comes from New England. This milk would have a special surcharge of maybe 15¢ a gallon that go to directly to farmers, to ensure their fincial stability over those in the west that can make milk much cheaper.
The idea is to have consumers in New England pay a little extra, to make up from the derived benifits of having local farms (no, I don't think they mean that marvey spring-time smell). It seems that open space preservation, snowmobile trails, hunting areas, and natural beauty would make it worth it. I know I'd kick in the extra dime and a half—if only because milk is already expensive, so a little more makes little difference to me.
See the WAMC story...
She say's it too skimpy, and unrealistic in size compared to the muscluar women that typically make up the ranks. Then again, she's pretty thin like the statue, and it's not that thin (despite what she might claim).
Ted Rall takes a rather tasteless look at Reagan's rougher corners.
My old High School is going to get half a million more bucks, under the Assembly plan, while Albany High is getting $35 million more. Doesn't seem very fair, except my school's budget is only $19.5 million bucks.
See the Legislative Gazette.
Our friends from RCPA notes the lack of standards and enforcement of rural septic systems—a problem that hamlet of Renselearville had to deal with several years back, by getting a muncipal sewage system.
then you probably have seen the news about RFID tags in UK license plates. RFID is handy with Capitol IDs, but the use of RFID in a license plate seems rather invasive—then again, the use of OCR of old fashioned license plates on cars is widespread in Ez-Pass, for violators, that is.
Still, I prefer to have somebody or something reading my plate physically through an image at a toll booth, then randomly placed sensors telling the state if I'm speeding and where I am going. I know, human systems are cumbersome and rarely work as well as they should, but oh well.
Metroland continues their coverage, noting the serious problems and opposition it faces—and how it would rework the face of State and Eagle forever (and probably be uglier then DeWitt Clinton, et. all).
So says the Corning Leader—renewable energy is always great.
Sort of that is—you won't pay extra for being a big tosser, but you'll still pay a bit to be reminded of the cost of tossing—although at a very subsidized rate of something like $180 bucks a year (penny change for all that most people toss).
Not quite so popular in New York—at least prior to his death.
The County Supreme Court ruled that he had a license while marrying the couples, although the question of the legality of gay marriage is still a question in NY.
I really hope and fully support gay marriage—I think it would expand our freedoms and allow for a greater acceptance of those who choose an alternative lifestyle.
Rather unsuccessfully it seems using laws—although that's not surpising in the city of fascism. In other news, it's been pretty quiet around here.
They have a nice little article talking about what the Ralley will be like on Tuesday—before the Assembly Republican Dairy Day Ralley, of course.
In related news, they've gotten a permit for having their ralley on the western lawn of the capitol. Cool—I'll stop by when I'm at the Capitol on Tuesday.
It would seem a little bug, yesterday, was making the previous post disappear, and really old ones appear on the front page.
I fixed it, and will continue refinement, attempting to get the correct look for the front page done.
False alarm, but more seats then usual this year will be highly competitive.
Some foes would like that, but seems like it's gonna go on anyways.
If you find out or suspect tenants are doing something bad, they're saying, you find your buildlng being condemned.
See the actual law (click on Local Law 2). Sounds like a good tool, but possibly a little bit invasive.
Well, except for several applications where it will remain legal.
