Who do you trust more - the Control Board or the Elected Officials?

A recent post by Cindy Locklear raises some valid points about the Erie County Control Board. In fact it is hard to get too excited about this group, with its makeup almost a political recycle bin.

But in a county whose bond rating is the lowest in the country, with a nearly bankrupt city at its core, and with a County Executive and Comptroller (representing both parties) who can't seem to find the value in using the Board as a way of financing borrowing (and thereby saving taxpayers about $4 million) it is pretty obvious that we are not ready to shed the board.

BTW, to her credit, Locklear avoids hypocrisy by avoiding the Dem's own Open meeting problems.

Questions for Al Gore

Former Vice President Al Gore will visit the University at Buffalo area tomorrow.

Is it possible that the earth's temperature is more effected by the sun than any man made activity?

How much were emission reduced during 8 years of Clinton/Gore?

Does it seem at all hypocritical to call for reduction of energy consumption when in 2006 your home consumed over 220,000 Kwh - more than 20 times the national average?

Isn't it true that the incremental increase in our planet's temperatue predates factories and automobiles?

Help a skeptic - whom should we believe about a complex subject like this? A politician with a BA in Government, or a distinguished faculty member from the University of Pennsylvania?

Click here for some additional questions from someone far smarter than me.

Don't let Your Head Explode

I know that nothing is more challenging for some folks than having facts that don't reconcile with whatever Olberman, Matthews or the rest of the downstream media have sold them. Bush lies! A mantra, that some beleive can become true by repeating it over and over again.

If this is a problem for you, or if anyone you disagree with is "another O'Reilly or Hannity", perhaps this will help. Either that, or it may make your head explode.

Check out this progressive site, and perhaps then you will believe what I said about the President.

They still don't like him, but they acknowledge that the President leaves a more modest carbon footprint.

Green House

Before any reaction, be sure to check out the veracity at snopes, urban legend or truth or fiction.

YOU won't find this in the downstream media outlets, but it is true.

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU
CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:
A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas.
Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated
by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the
average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for
electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural
gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property
consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home.
This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt," either. It's
in the South.



HOUSE # 2:
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university,
this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction
can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and
is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central
closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water
through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67
degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The
system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes
25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling
system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000
gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets
goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The
collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers
and shrubs native to the are! a blend the property into the surrounding
rural landscape.



HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of
Nashville,Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist
(and filmmaker) Al Gore.


HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford,
Texas. Also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private
residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Toliet paper Part (not Number) 2

WHile Sheryl has even been ridiculed by Rosie O'Donnell, the Smoking Gun has some info on Sheryl's tour requirements.

BTW - someone asked me if I saw an inconvenient truth. The fact is, I don't typically go to science documentaries by politicians or celebrities. Although, I am looking forward to the Tonya Harding movie on nanodynamics.

Iraq a Touchy Subject

I have not commented too much on the Iraq situation as it is unlikely that I (or commenters) can add much to the discourse. I received a lot of comments to my drawing attention to Reid's stance on the issue.

Oddly enough, none of the posters took issue with any of the substance of my comment that Reid is a defeatist that would have bailed out at Normandy.

One pointed out that war is unpopular. No big surprise there. A war like this one is even harder to grasp, and therefore unlikely to be as popular as responding to a nearby agressor. I don't beleive that Rasmussen should dictate when it is time to pull out. I trust in the generals and the people with their boots on the soil. Drudge has an intereting email from a purportedly from a soldier reacting to Reid's stance.

Another person drew a comparison to Viet Nam. That may be a better analogy. How did things go for the South Vietnamese when we pulled out?

We are in this war. You can debate all you want how we got there, but two presidents and a majority of both houses of congress believed that Iraq had WMDs and Bush and the two houses acted on that information. The most important question to be asking now is: should we pull out now (or in October or Arbor day or whatever).

In that context, when did we pull out of Germany? Japan? What would happen to Iraq if we left tomorrow?

Reynolds and the AMY

Reynolds leading the charge against the Alternative Minimum Tax.

But What Does Emo Philips think about Global Warming?

Sheryl Crow has a solution to Global Warming - using 1 square of toilet paper per visit "except in those pesky situations where 2-3 are necessary". The best line is where she compares a visit from Algore to a visit from your Dad on Sorority weekend. Talk about taking the wind out of Al's sails!

D is for Defeatist

Generally speaking, the leaders of the Democratic Party are a bunch of defeatists.if Harry Reid had been in office back at Normandy, one assumes that he would have stood on the floor of the senate and ordered the men back to the boats. Clearly we were not "winning" then.

The good news is that he has finally put the lie to the whole "support the troops but not the war ruse". This was clearly a kick below the belt to our troops.

A Simple Question

Who was the officer assigned to be with the mayor on the date in question, and was he in fact in fron of the mayor's house at the time of the accident? Until we know the answer to that question, we don't know all of the facts.

NBC Should be Ashamed

The public gained nothing ,but NBC saw a ratings spike. There was absolutely no value from giving this disturbed young man a posthumous platform for his twisted worldview. Clearly they could have chosen to summarize the tapes as the final act and disturbing images of a tragically sick young man.unfortunately they could barely hide their disappointment that the tragedy did not occur during a sweeps period. Thankfully, they may now pay a price. That price will pale though in comparison to the harm that they have caused, both to the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as from the fallout of other twisted minds that may feel that there is a new ticket to their 15 minutes.

Virginia Tech

There is little to add to this story. A couple of observations though. First of all, this could happen anywhere. The criticism of the school is, in my opinion, premature. Hindsight is 20-20, but it appears that as soon as they knew that there was a continuing danger, they acted to spread the word. When all the details emerge, then one can form an informed opinion.

A second point is that an event like this, and more importantly , the way it is reported, tells us a great deal. Check back hereWBEN 930 : Local News : On-Demand Audio to see if they post the liveline interview with the CBS reporter on the scene. This guy was unbelievable. First he goes on about how puzzling it is that this "foreign student" could do anything so "american" as committing mass murder. This of course is based on his amazing knowledge of the correlation between playing "cowboys and indians" and "cops and robbers" with homicide.

He also showed how out of touch he is when he pointed out that before the university sent out the mass email that they were text messaging students, but that "it's not like students can check their text messages during class" Helloooo?!

Note - most of the above quotes should have "air quotes" because, the link has not yet been posted, so I can't quote him verbatim. Once it is posted (if) then we can see how close I was.

Life on Campus

Federal Deficit Down Sharply This Period

While this is Economics 101 for most folks, some find it surprising that tax cuts can result in increasing tax revenues. SeeFederal Deficit Down Sharply This Period

Biron to the Flyers

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop.

"The Buffalo Sabres have reportedly traded netminder Marty Biron to The Philadelphia Flyers. Buffalo picks up goaltender Ty Conklin from Columbus and gives up second and fifth round picks in the deals.

Watch for Blog to Move

I am likely to be moving this blog some time soon to WNYMedia.Net . They already have a number of local bloggers, however like our local governments, don't have much perspective from the right of the aisle.

With more readers on the site, I may be motivated to post more often. You can decide whether that is a good thing...

Albright Knox Brouhaha

Click here for post.

Bison Fund to Expand

Click here for post.

Buffalo News - BISON fund grows to include suburbs

Buffalo News - BISON fund grows to include suburbs

There is some good news in this morning's Buffalo News - the Bison Fund (Buffalo Inner-city Scholarship Opportunity Network), a private philanthropic fund that provides scholarships for low income students in grades K-8 is expanding eligibility for the first time outside of the city limits.

This is truly great news. The main point of the story is missed however. He points out that the scholarships "have long been credited with giving a major boost to Catholic Diocese of Buffalo elementary schools and other nonpublic schools". The Superintendent referred to the scholarships as "an angel sent to Catholic schools."

Clearly, these scholarships deliver the greatest benefit to those individuals who, through the scholarships, are given the opportunity to make a choice as to what school is best for their family. Absent these scholarships, these families with modest financial means would be left with no choice but to attend whatever school to which the educational bureaucracy assigned them.

So the first beneficiary is clearly the individual family impacted by this philanthropy. It is also clear that private and catholic schools derive benefit as well, as they are given the opportunity to serve students who they would otherwise not see enrolled at their schools. This kind of benefit is clearly secondary. It could be considered tertiary if you consider the benefit that the Buffalo Public Schools, and therefore the taxpayers receive from the kindness of these donors.

The Bison fund currently provides scholarships to roughly 1,200 students. The City of Buffalo Board of Education serves about 38,000 students http://www.buffaloschools.org/District/District.aspx , and has a budget of $629,869,609 http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/files/1_2_1/2006-07_Adopted_Budget/VI-Board_of_Education.pdf . If you divide that budget by the number of students served you get $16,575.51. Now this may be oversimplified (law of diminishing marginal costs/returns) but the fact that 1,2000 students are enrolled outside of the Public School system eliminates up to $19,890,612 in additional costs to the District.

So while we thank those who support this important philanthropic cause, let's recognize that the program has benefited our entire city, and soon will benefit some of the first ring suburbs as well.

Blogging and RSS Workshop

I am taking a workshop today. Perhaps I will have fewer typo's in the future!! ;-)