The Hayseeds blog, No. 83 for the week starting October 3, 2004.
September 19, 2004
Hayseeds No. 82
October 3, 2004
Hayseeds No. 83
October 10, 2004
Hayseeds No. 83
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If you have been wondering why I haven't posted an update in the past week, the answer is simple: I don't have Internet access at home.
To be more specific, I'm having problems with the monitor on my PowerMac, which started working, and then with the phone line / modem. Life can be tough at times.
I'm still working on the problem, but as soon as it's fixed, there will be a big update. Sorry guys!
at the campus computer lab, let me post the updates I was planning to get up last week.
As most people who have been listening to Capital Region News, openned a paper in the past few couple of weeks, or just have been listening to WGNA know, the Army Band is put on a significant preformance in the Kickerbocker Arena on last Friday and Saturday.
The tickets have been on sale for quite a while now, and the price is right: namely free (though ultimately the taxpayers of the US are picking up the bill). I might have considered going if I didn't have to work. I'd be interested in what all the hubub is about and for a little bit of wholesome patriotic ralleying.
Critics are claiming that this whole event is little more then a drive to get our youth to enroll in the arm services at a young age. They also says that purpose of the show is to encourage blind patriotism and obdiedence to god and country. The also note how these shows glorify violence and bring the real-life 'death industry' to the steps of kids. And we can extrapolate this idea to giving kids violent thoughts and causing school shootings. Or so the argument goes.
Some people are particularly concerned about the young age of the kids that will be at the show on Friday when schools bring them there. Albany City High School is bringing kids as young as second grade there. These kids are far too young to be able to sort out the evidence and see the whole picture, they claim. Jews are also upset, because this event falls on their holy day of Yom Kippur and are being treated as non-Americans (orthodox jews are prohibited from going out on sacred days).
Personally, I'm not sure if agree with the critics of the show. First off, a second grader will not be deciding on enlisting anytime in the near future. They will have plenty of time to get other experiences to modify how they see the world as a second grader. Already kids at that age have some concept of pacifism versus war-monger, and they will figure this out more as they grow up. We are just providing full information.
Second, of course the show will promote the army as it's put on by them. I don't see what's wrong will a little self-promotion in a patriotic show that also teaches a bit about military history and gives some free music. I don't think one night at a show is going to make people enlist instantly. It will just provide information and the individual is free to reject or embrace it. Hopefully the individual will be a conscience consumer of any information they recieved from such a propaganda show.
Thirdly, the military does a lot to help out poor rural whites and those who otherwise would struggle to make a living. They might end up putting their lives at risk at the end of the day in Iraq or Afganistan, but for many people the risk is worth it, not only to serve their country but to keep their families afloat. Going into the military and then into war isn't an easy decision, but if an individual chooses to do it then so be it.
It's sad to see some people who have decided to go over to Iraq be killed in the most horrific way of beheading. These two construction workers wanted only to do the right thing, serve their country by helping rebuild Iraq, and bring a little bit extra money back to their families.
You might just say, "join the club". After all, over 1,000 American solders have died in Iraq, and roughly 8,000 people have had their lives changed by permament injuries (which in many cases are worst then death). Other contractors have been killed in Iraq too.
But these are Americans, and these are civilians not solders sent over their to fight and die for our country. Yes, these civilian workers new of the danger, but that makes it no less of the tragity. Each American dead represents a life extingushed, a man or women who will never return home to support his often marginal family.
You can also argue that I am biased against the Iraqis. And indeed I am, those people aren't our boys, and it's not our country to worry about. Certainly their lives are important, but they lack the connection that we believe in so strongly. These men were just trying to make a living.
Did you know that the peace sign represents N D in semaform—the n as the /\ symbol and the d as the | symbol? That means nuclear disarment, the orginal peace symbol of the 1950s.
I just hope somehow and somewhere we can get some peace and stop all this killing. It just makes me sick. Not to mention all the civil liberties and lives we are losing in our own county.....
Cat Stevens, the man who brought us Tea for Tillerman, Cats in the Craddle, and of course Peace Train found himself on a no-fly list and quickly deported out of the US of A, after his plane was diverted to Maine and he was harassed by the Federal Pigs, aka the FBI.
It's all kind of a strange thing—and it shows how disfunctional the whole anti-terror system really is. We are stopping people like Senator Ted Kennedy and Cat Stevens, both known for their advocacy of peace, and letting terrorists get in undetected.
Our terror policy seems bad enough when we are using it to deport Americans. But we are also using it to kill Americans on our own soil—see below.
That's how Assemblyman Ortloff of Plattsburgh described the border crossing stop that is 100 miles south of the border, deep in the high peaks region.
Basically what the border crossing has is a secondary stop and search place for illegal aliens. in other words, a glorified registration check and quick visual inspection of vechicles. A smart driver who knows about their spot would just sneak off at exit 30 and go down Route 9, but never mind that.
The check is about 1 mile south of that exit, about 3 miles in a 5 mile downhill streach of Northway in the desolate section of the High Peaks. You have to come to a complete stop at this check. To keep the border patrol spot seceret, the border patrol has kept the area of the check both poorly signed and lit at night. There are some signs, and the border patrol has added more, but still it's increadibly dangerous.
The casualties just keep adding up there. Last week we saw several people get injured when a semi tractor-trailer rear-ended a pickup truck and a sedan waiting in line to be checked. A year ago, a border guard was killed. And there have been other accidents.
Ortloff is right; it is a death trap. We need flashing lights and rumble stips to warn drivers about the need to stop, along with putting it on an uphill section of road. Right now, being downhill brings up the possiblity of brake failure causing catastorphic accidents (that 5 mile downhill can get a semi way out of control if brakes fail).
Changing to an uphill location would be difficult, as border guards only have jursidiction within 100 miles of the border, and they don't want to move farther to the north, as that would take away from the element of surpise (I guess). Ideally, the border check should be past Keene / AuSable where traffic is going uphill, and not so far from the city of Plattsburgh that everybody is not totally asleep at the wheel.
Or best yet, we should have only border crossing at the real border. Border security should be fast and efficent, and we should remember our close relationships with Canada. Remember, Cannucks are a lot like us—they have ATVs, cows, burn barrels, snowmobiles, and cars that look and drive just like ours. The only difference is who their ultimate soverignity goes to.
Congressman Sweeney is pressuring the feds to take a closer look and it's also gotten the ire of the governor...
God, I hate terrorists! Just not as much as meth dealers and users. Meth poses a far greater threat to upstate New York then any terrorist.
This legilsation only sets up a blue ribbon panel to the study the issue of adding a chemical known as ferrocene to anhydrous ammonia to prevent the creation of meth (aka speed).
It must not work yet, or cause problems for farmers, as otherwise the state legislature would have made into law. I'm glad we are studying it first, before forcing the cost on farmers or killing their crops. I haven't heard more on this issue yet, but I'll keep my eyes open.
The NYFB does support AB 6179 and SB 874 which would make possesion of stolen anhydrous ammonia or tampering with other farm chemicals a felony, something that seems like a no-brainer.
At least one person got the sentence they deserve, though not in NYS.
Less then three months after going there, after pleading guilty and starting his sentence of one year.
Most of us didn't expect Vellela to spend more then 6 or 7 months of his sentence in jail, but he got out even earlier then that it would seem. Says something about racism, the priveledged class, and the world around you and I. I know I couldn't plead a felony corruption count to a year, and get only 3 months in jail—and I'm not even black. ;)
Velella normally would not have been eligible for early release until February but was sent home even earlier under a program that rewards nonviolent, first-time offenders who behave themselves in jail, Ryan said.
He lacks his law license now, but he will have plenty of time to recooperate before January, when he returns to Albany as a lobbyist. His direct power is gone, but now he'll be able to cash in on his $80k a year pension, plus all the monetary awards of being a lobbyist. His experience will serve him well—it is likely that what he lobbys for, he will get.
Guess what kids, my Internet is fixed at home and I am back on the web, surfing faster then I have been in a long time.
Things ain't perfect though, stuck with a PowerMac 4400/200 that struggles to load some of those really complex webpages on the Internet. But it's much better then before.
New around these parts is two pieces of fodder, plus free writing on the changing seasons, which unfortunately was dated too old for the auto-generation script to put it on the front page. Hopefully, I'll get around to picking a new snapshot and getting that updated too.
Lots of revision has happened while things were down, and in general I'm happy with all of that. Old fodder got some evil dashes removed, and general clarifications added. The Principles and Politics page has been removed, and broken up into to individual fodder. Old fodder was found and uploaded.
Things have been a lot of fun around here. Lots of work, and lots of studying for the test that I did great on tonight. I love fun evenings, and the Internet is so fun to play on.
It's dysfunctional they say, and that it doesn't work for me. And so the story goes.
People are saying:
"What we have is three people in a room with a disproportionate amount of power," said Skoler, president of NYC Equities, a real estate investment firm, as he sipped java at the Full City Coffee Shop Tuesday. "The question is whether that is better or worse than giving the Legislature more power. A lot of people believe they do nothing now, and they would do nothing even if they had more power..."
..."There's no point in throwing a vote away so someone worse gets in," he said. "Sometimes you can throw the baby out with the bathwater. John Bonacic does not generally have my political slant, but he has an extraordinary record on women's issues, so it's tough to give that up."
They've banned the machine from their county, despite the fact it doesn't really work. Maybe it's good for all our sakes that we can't get drunk or high from breathing in alchohol.
which might ultimately shape things to come over the next four years. Tonight's theme is foriegn policy.It's consequences might even effect you personally. So it's going to a lot of fun with such great debaters.
You should not underestimate Bush, but you must also realize that Kerry has been debating since age 12. Yet, Kerry tends to intellectualize, ramble, and just go on forever, defeating his main point. He's been working on keeping it simple, according to NPR.
I'm very tired, so I don't know if I will see all of it, and I'm missing the ACYD party, but that's okay. Maybe there will be a little live coverage here, but I don't know for sure.
We got a mini-theme for this little posting, focusing mostly on my recent experiences.
On Friday, I happened to see a man pulled over at the State Office Campus by both State Troopers and Albany Cops. The combination alone perked my interest. To my surpise, the cops were holding up a little clear sandwitch bag of white powder. It's sad to see another life destroyed by drugs, and that a man will now be enjoying prison for the next 10-15 years.
This morning, traffic was held up by several horses getting loose and running down Route 32 at rush hour. There was a lot of state troopers out there (I counted three cars), trying to get ahold of the two horses. The poor owner, holding the reins of one horse, looked totally moritified. I can't blame her for being so embarassed, though horses do tend to get loose from time to time.
Between horses and cows, there have been many traffic tie ups on Route 32 over the year. Cows seem to have the most impact, as they are big, stupid, and just don't know how to get out of the way.
This evening, I happened to see somebody in a nice tricked-out silver Silverado dumping trash out their window. I promptly took notice of their plate, and forwarded that information to 911. The second time I've called that number this week, the previous time to report potentially dangerous debris on the Northway.
You could argue that this unneccessarly ties up the 911 system. Maybe, but this is the main number to access the police, and they can choose what they want to do with this all. I left them my work number should they ask me to file a formal complaint. I might just do that, and spend one evening in New Scotland court, just to make the point that littering is unacceptable.
In the past I've noted the need for an authorian response to littering and what causes people to litter, so I need not reiterate my point.
The US House of Represnetives passed a law 250 to 171 that would repeal handgun and other weapons prohibitions in the city of Washington, DC on the logic of personal protection.
Everybody knows these are just symbolic votes on issues that aren't going to change much. This silly DC Personal Protection Act is not going to pass the Senate, but it gives the NRA a good way to stick it to members who didn't go along with this bill.
As noted previously (though not seriously), I do not generally support the right of city people to own guns, though I guess if we have to give them to the cops we better give them to everybody.
The logic of the bill is right to a degree: if citizens can't have guns then they can't protect themselves. Police are only required to protect the common good, and have the right (legally called 'discression') to ignore any particular violation of the law. Not to mention, there are a lot more citizens then police. Still, police are more trained and screened, in theory.
We could debate this all night.
That does not seem fair at all that us mere mortals must pay more, while our godly friends who like animals that go moo are losing more money.
In May, when farm milk prices peaked, local farmers received $1.67 per gallon, according to the report. Since then, the price dropped to $1.57 in June; $1.38 in July; and $1.29 in August, the report said.
But in July, consumers saw store prices rise 18 cents a gallon, the report finds.
Schumer is calling for an investigation of such a growing discrepency in prices. Blame the usual suspects—milk processors like Agrimark and stores like Price Chopper. To bad we can't drag some more CEOs off in hand-cuffs.
At the start it was obvious that Kerry was winning both on rhetoric and appearance, with the President looking bored and uninterested.
As the debate went on, Bush really picked up steam at least in experience. He did make frequent misspeaks, stumbling on words, um and ahhing, and confusing Iraq and Afgahastan (the later is the scaryist).
Personality wise, Kerry's stature was a bit too formal, and after a while it looked like Bush picked up steam after a while. Bush looked very tired. If you looked only at the characters, Bush won after the first few minutes, but Kerry didn't do all that bad.
Substance wise, it goes for Kerry. His points were clear and well taken. Some of that might be due to my liberal bias, so be aware.
For the concluding remarks, Kerry won hands down. His were clear, and he seemed to be pretty friendly and likeable.
At the end of the night, Bush's face really shone with a few exceptions, and Kerry looked pretty good. I'd call Bush the winner, eventhough his points did not resonate and his argument was confusing and often misleading or wrong.
He's finally gotten the Washington Avenue Armory, so he can return it back to a sports and concert venue like yesteryear.
Being that the building has been abandoned for over a decade (with the exception of minor use for Education Department storage), it is not surpising that it is in terrible shape (a sad thing, being such a truly beautiful building).
So it looks like the not likely to happen Rt 85 extension is even more unlikely to happen, anytime in the near future.
I have to wonder what the purpose is, when these vechicles are too old to be leaking fluids or doing any real damage, rotting away in the preserve. Aestetics as they say.
Before the preserve became protected land in 1974, the area had been used as an illegal dumping ground, where vehicles were abandoned along the sand roads, Hecht said.
Probably hauling the cars from one part of the preserve to another part isn't going to do any good. But maybe they'll at least recycle some of the rusty steel.
And his response is snicker-snicker with all the special interests trying to tack on what they want unsuccessfully, at a cost of well over $20 or $30 million dollars.
In his article his points out this, and how the establishment wants to keep things the same at all costs:
The 1967 con-con, as it is aptly labeled, failed in large part because those in charge of the convention were the same men who controlled the political process going into it. Protecting the status quo was implicit.
Not so surprising. After all, the legislative leaders were at the top of the political food chain. It was not in their best interest to create another food chain where they might not survive.
He goes on to compare the reforms proposed today and of 1967. It doesn't look good, and with the results of '67, I doubt we will see anybody in New York say that convention is a good idea.
A kid of a Weatherman who happens to live in the Capital Region has written a book on the subject of hiding out from the authorities.
Such a life must be fun, but difficult to live at the same time. In such a world, you can't really have an identity, much less a name. You have to keep moving. Sounds romantic until you realize the crappy jobs, hitch hiking, and having no place to call home.
By the way, the name of that former Weatherman is Jeff Jones and he happens to run a group known as Environmental Advocates of NY, one of the more promement environment groups in our area.
Some clamer for closure, but the coverage in the paper won't be closing anything up soon.
Many people are unhappy with Paul Clyne's failed attempt to get a grand jury indictment against the pig who pumped a few holes into Scaringe's head with the police's random gun fire on Lark Street. Certainly that didn't help his re-election bid at all—a friend I know from Delmar, talked about how local Dems worked hard for his defeat.
The real question is what will David Soares do, when he takes office in January? He could try to get another grand jury indictment, this time actually trying, instead of blowing of the jury. Remember, in an grand jury indictment, only the Assistant DA is present, giving the information—both judge and defense lawyer is barred from being present.
I have my doubts. The world of political power works one way, and you don't go up stream. At least it looks like the officer responsible, Joe Gerace, is now on permanent leave (at taxpayer expense and getting full pay). I need to become a government employee, so I can get such benifets (look at Senator Guy Vellela's experience—though Vellela's a good guy ;).
And so much more, in Middleberg-ian Jon Fackler's Op-Ed piece on rural youth and cars.
His argument is simple: graduated licensing hurts rural youth, which depends on cars for not only getting to work, but also for being able to social and not isolated.
Let's go right to it. What is important out here is wheels. A car. It doesn't matter if you can see through holes in the floorboard, or if the odometer has rolled up into six figures. When you think of all the worries of being 16—pimples you can't get rid of, clothes you want but can't afford, even marginal social acceptance—not having a car pushes ahead of all these things. It jumps up on a chair and gives you a hard, reproachful stare.
When you look at maps of Schoharie and Greene counties and parts of Albany County, you begin to see that the worry about not having a car has a basis in geography. The much-desired green space of the urban or suburban tree-hugger translates to "it's 10 or 20 miles from here to there" in the country. To a teenager out here, the choices are fairly stark. Get your parents or friends to drive you. Take the school bus. Or don't go.
Not having a car until I was almost 18 1/2 years old, I know that form of social isolation a bit too well. The reality is that we need to ensure that youth get cars, but that can be hard as paying for them can be difficult. It's a chicken-n-egg scanario, compounded by the problem of lack of jobs in rural America.
A car of your own is more than a way to get to and from school. It is also a way to get to and from your first job. And you need whatever edge you can get. It's tough to land that first job. No experience. The blank resume page.
On the other side, there are not many employers out in the country. Work in the fields is seasonal. The frantic 16- and 18-hour days of the harvest wind down into unemployment by mid-fall. Many non-farm employers won't give you a second look.
You rarely see a help-wanted sign in the windows of the fast food joints in Cobleskill, and Wal-Mart won't hire anyone under 18. "We used to hire 16-year-olds," one Cobleskill Wal-Mart manager told me recently, "but we sell beer and cigarettes, so we went with 18-year-olds."
At least I live in communiting distance to the city, so once I got my wheels, I was able to get a decent job in Albany. I can't even start to imagine what it like to be youth in Middleberg, without a car or job. Or having to do that kind of work demanded of those who work out of the fields.
I guess many just don't work until they go away to college—if they are lucky enough to do that. Some probably get work on their family's farm, but even in Schoharie County, that is a very small minority of the people.
A similiar problem exists in suburban sprawl in our nation. I will take a look at that in more detail at a later date. In the suburbs, the problem is not people, but just where businesses and buses are located. Suburbs are a lot uglier then Middleberg, too.
It's time for some serious punishment for causing your buildings to fall into disrepair, destroying downtowns in the process.
The City's qausi-governmental corporation called Capital City Housing Development Fund Company, will be also buying up houses whose owners can't afford to rebuild them, and tearing them for future use. Hopefully, this all will help to improve the ugliness of city life somewhat, in the worst neighborhoods.
But don't want to be told what to do in their backyard, according to a new TU poll.
Those ideas are mutually incompatible. We must compromise, one way or another. The best way to control development, is the way we already do: carefully scrutentize every building permit, and from that decide if we should allow or deny. That doesn't effect what you can do in your backyard, unless the zoning is absurd (ie. telling you more then residential versus commerical and a lot size).
I have these suggestions to control sprawl, some of which differ from the professionals:
The last one on the list is the most serious, and do able. Developers would love to be able to build more subdivisions in Bethlehem, and I say give them the green flag. There is a lot of Bethelehem that is unbuilt and still fairly rural, but it land area is still controlled by surbanites that don't understand or respect farmer's rights.
Some people are just NIMBYs, and we must respect them. I'd just rather see more suburbianization in Bethelhem then New Scotland, or heaven help us, Berne. It's probably a neccessary evil, one that will isolate our youth and make them psychopaths, but fortunately those of us who are in the priveledged class won't be stuck in that life.
