When white people take food from closed stores in New Orleans, they’re “finding” food.

When black or brown people do it, they’re “looting.”

Seriously.

Are Catholic schools closing due to taxation and population loss, as Jim O. claims? Possibly, that’s true.

Or are they closing because of a decline in congregations throughout the country due, in part, to the truly egregious and unforgivable scandal of priests abusing little innocent boys, and not only getting away with it, but having the behavior tacitly encouraged by a Church that would merely shuttle deviant priests from parish to parish?

My family is nominally Catholic, but we were never relgious for a variety of reasons. I don’t even think I can call myself Catholic, since I was never confirmed, never had communion (but was Baptised, FWIW). But I used to be able to join Catholic friends in Church for certain occasions, like Easter & Christmas services and go along. I can’t do that anymore. I am so sickened by a secretive heirarchy that not only permitted pedophilia to happen, but denied it while it was rampant throughout the church, that I find it physically repulsing now.

This letter ranks, in my mind, as the stupidest thing I’ve read in the Buffalo News in the last week. (at least)

That’s what Bauerle’s talking about today.

The idea that the police ought to “shoot to kill” people who are committing larceny (a non-violent crime) is so completely fascist that I can’t believe it’s being considered during the course of a 3-hour morning talk radio program in Buffalo, NY, USA in 2005.

He wouldn’t advocate shooting people who steal a bottle of water from Walgreens, though. But if they steal a walkman from Best Buy, then go ahead and blast ‘em with a load of lead. Because murder is the proportionate and reasonable response to losing a walkman.

Fucking wanker.

Everybody grow the fuck up.

If you’re one of Buffalo’s three registered Conservatives (I kid, people), I would ask you to please vote for KEVIN HELFER on the conservative line in the 9/13 primary.

The fact that Brown got the Conservative endorsement is just a joke.

Today 4-5 pm on 1270-AM WHLD:

Mayoral Candidate Kevin Gaughan.

Christina Abt got all of her petitions in on time, and nobody is challenging them. So, it’s off to the next step: raising money & getting the word out.

This quote right here:

The greatest lesson I have learned in running a legislative district office is that a large part of representing constituents involves listening to their problems and helping them find solutions. I think too often people get into office and treat the job as if it’s all about them. They forget that elected officials are public servants—responsible to those who voted for them.

Don’t you wish it fit on a bumper sticker? Good luck, Christina!

In his latest attempt to chase businesses out of New York and kill as many jobs as humanly possible in as short amount of time as feasible, Spitzer has shut down some Chinese entrepreneurs from Queens who were making money in the silicone bracelet trade.

All they did was sell counterfeit LiveSTRONG bracelets and not forward any money on to the Lance Armstrong foundation. Now, they’re out of business and that busybody Armstrong will get some cash from them. Damn you Spitzer!

If you’re a customs agent, and you suspect that the Chinese female tourist is somehow associated with the guy you just arrested for pot smuggling, and even if she runs away, that does not miraculously give you the right to beat the living shit out of her.

Turns out she had nothing to do with the guy arrested for pot smuggling. Turns out she witnessed the arrest, and she’s from a wicked totalitarian dictatorship, she saw a bunch of guys with guns and uniforms running after her, and she thought they were angry that she had witnessed the arrest. Hey, if you were in China, and a bunch of armed Chinese officers started chasing you, would you run? Would you stop? In that split-second you’d have to decide, would you be thinking clearly?

She had done nothing wrong. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and met up with the wrong guy - a guy whose first reaction wasn’t legally to subdue her, given his suspicions, and take her into custody. Instead, he beat her so as to render her unrecognizable.

His defense? Not that he used reasonable force - because that would be obvious bullshit to any jury. Not that the battery was otherwise justified - it wasn’t. His defense is that he’s being persecuted unfairly because he’s gay. He says he just pepper-sprayed her. Pepper spray makes your eyes burn. It doesn’t give you bruises and welts. His fellow officers won’t even back him up: they testified that they were handcuffing Zhao when Rhodes kneed her head into the concrete floor. Nice guy.

Whatever. He’s going to be convicted.

But here’s my question: why the fuck is “psychic” Bernice “hang in there, sweetie” Golden (as heard on the Sandy Beach variety hour) holding a rally in support of the unjustified batterer?

…that Albany deigns to give us a week to experience what a properly run New York would be like. Every time they tout “tax free” week to you, remind them that the other 51 weeks should be tax-free for clothes under $110, too.

My biggest beef with ever-growing sales taxes in New York is that they hit the poor disproportionately hard. 8.25% to you or me or Ray Dusza may not seem like a lot, but to a poor family with a couple of kids, it’s a lot.

Many states, including our neighbor Pennsylvania, don’t tax clothes under $110, so that basics can be just a little more affordable for poor families - or any family, for that matter. If a state is so dependent on the $8.25 from a $100 winter coat, that says a lot about just how poorly managed the state is.

C’mon Albany, get it together and make it easier for families to come here and stay here.

Buffalo School District 1 : BTF 0

The state Public Employees Relations Board ruled in the District’s favor in the ongoing brouhaha over a single health insurer for BTF members.

The union’s leadership would rather lose 100+ jobs for its members, than switch from Univera to Blue Cross. Given that good-paying jobs with full benefits are hard to come by in WNY, I’m not exactly shedding too many tears over this particular issue.

The BTF argued before PERB that Blue Cross Blue Shield cannot replicate coverage previously provided by Independent Health and Univera. In addition, the union said, there is no guarantee that Univera and Independent Health will again write policies for BTF members if the consolidation is reversed.

The PERB decision cites an affidavit from Stephen G. Jepson, a Blue Cross Blue Shield senior vice president, promising to “replicate all health insurance benefit plans now being offered Board of Education employees and retirees.”

The ruling by William L. Busler, PERB’s counsel for litigation, said Jepson’s statement “supports the (school district’s) contention that no immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage will result from the change to a single carrier.”

If the contract with teachers is drafted in such a way to ensure that the substance of Jepson’s affidavit is maintained, I can’t fathom what, precisely, Rumore is whinging about.

I saw this story on WNYMedia.net, and it was emailed to me by the enigmatic “Democracy in Albany“. I sat on it, because I don’t know what to make of it, and because I don’t want to debate affirmative action and reverse discrimination - it’s just not my issue.

I’m white and I acknowledge that I have certain advantages because of that accident of birth. I know that black people and brown people and other non-white people have certain societal disadvantages because of that accident of birth. But you can also have a piss-poor white person from a trailer park who’s way worse off than an upper-middle class black kid who lives in a subdivision…so if I’m for anything, it’s for the totality of a person’s background to be examined when issues of affirmative action are raised, and not just race or ethnicity.

On the one hand, I don’t knee-jerkedly oppose affirmative action as a concept; recognizing the fact that minorities in this country have gotten the shaft for many years simply due to their minority status. I think that minorities certainly shouldn’t be discriminated against and should be actively recruited for every and any type of position.

On the other hand, I just said the other day that New Buffalo ought to embrace the concept of meritocracy, thus calling into question the idea of affirmative action insofar as it gives an advantage to someone’s minority status over a Caucasian with equal or better qualifications.

There’s obviously no easy answer, and it’s quite a treacherous minefield of thought, opinion & jurisprudence we’re talking about.

Nevertheless, if you’re going to openly discriminate based on race, don’t be obvious and hamhanded about it. Especially if you’re running to become the first Black mayor of the City of Buffalo.

According to the Albany Times-Union, an Italian-American who had been photographer of the Senate minority caucus for 14 years was unceremoniously fired in 2003 because minority senators wanted to hire an African-American.

First of all, that brings us to an obvious question: why the fuckedy fuck is New York State hiring full-time photographers at $34,206 per year? Isn’t that the sort of thing we can do away with? Can’t a senator have an aide bring a goddamn point & click digital camera and use that?

The photographer, Joseph Maioriello, is now suing in federal court, alleging reverse discrimination. He had been a state employee for 26 years when he was fired.

Maioriello claims in court papers that his immediate supervisor, Tracey Pierce-Smith and Deputy Chief of Staff Jack McPadden told him of the plan during a March 20, 2003, meeting, even as the official cause of termination was listed as poor performance and reliability.

Then, he claims, as he sought to preserve his longevity, Democratic senators Byron Brown of Buffalo and Malcolm A. Smith of Queens told him not to bother asking other minority senators for work, because they wouldn’t be sympathetic to a white male.

“I believe I was terminated from my long-term position with the New York State Legislature because of my race,” Maioriello said in court papers. “I was never disciplined for misconduct or wrongdoing. I was never written up by a supervisor and I maintained a good work record. I believe that the employees and Senators of the New York State Senate Minority conspired to deprive me of professional opportunities.”

A former Associated Press photographer Joseph El-Wise Noisette took over, at $48,000 per year the day after Maioriello was fired.

Why the fuck are Noisette’s snapshots worth $13,800 more than Maioriello’s? To me, the issue here isn’t discrimination, but patent waste of the taxpayers’ money. Hell, for $48,000, I’ll come by and take some snaps.

And before you stop and say that this is just a frivolous lawsuit, Maioriello took his case first to the EEOC claiming unlawful termination, and the Buffalo office determined that there was reason to believe that there had been EO violations. Why? Because the respondents - the minority caucus (incl. Senator Byron Brown) “refused to hand over information that supported the criticism of Maioriello, claiming they hadn’t saved his most recent performance evaluations.”

How conveeeeeenient. They ostensibly fire the guy for bad performance, but misplaced his evaluations. Are these guys for real?

Officials also declined to divulge the name of anyone who had complained about Maioriello.

Cadle pointed out that EEOC investigators learned that the Senate minority had fired a white, female graphic artist and replaced her with a woman of Hispanic origin.

She urged minority officials to engage in conciliation talks with Maioriello, but they didn’t, leading to the civil lawsuit.

So, presumptive Mayor Byron Brown of Buffalo participated in the firing of one unnecessary state employee, and replaced him with another unnecessary state employee, and paid him $13,800 more than the first guy. No meritocracy, no fiscal conservatism, no thought to “maybe we don’t really need our own photographer on the State’s payroll”.

Albany is diseased, and we’re bringing a guy who’s been infected back to Buffalo to run things?

Craig posts a story I saw floating around recently about Brits stealing road signs from an Austrian town called “Fucking”. It’s a small town just north of Salzburg, and the town fathers (and mothers) don’t understand the hype.

Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F—ing.

“The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg,” he explained.

“Every American seems to care only about ‘The Sound of Music’ (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler’s birthplace in Braunau.

“But for the British, it’s all about F—ing.”

Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village’s breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.

“Yet still there is this obsession with F—ing,” she said.

“Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F—ing postcards.”

If there was a town in the UK called “Arschloch”, you can bet that every German, Austrian & German-Swiss tourist would be flocking to that town. The people of Fucking should do the obvious and embrace their Fucking name, and produce every manner of cheap tourist-trap ware to sell to snickering Anglo visitors. Fucking mugs, Fucking postcards, Fucking caps, Fucking beer steins, Fucking loden jackets. You get the picture.

On this here site right here you’re reading right now:

“maintained by a liberal who doesn’t mind letting partisanship get in the way of the real debate on occasion.”

Well, for there to even be a “real” debate, you need two or more people, each of whom is advocating for a different opinion; i.e., partisanship.

Setting “partisanship” aside, the ratio of liberal claptrap : local concerns that transcend traditional right-left labels has got to be something like 1:10 on this here site right here you’re reading right now. No? Just take a glance at the category list to the right.

Elmwood Strip is an interesting site, because it’s got a couple hundred bloggers on there doing journals. I have to confess, though, that I don’t go there very often only because it’s heavy on the graphics and it’s a pain to navigate. It’s a very cool design - don’t get me wrong - just not my cup of tea.

Your show is great. It should, in fact, be at least 2 hours long.

The only problem is that it’s at a somewhat inconvenient time. For me, at least.

Please talk the numbskulls at WBEN into podcasting the show, so anyone can download it at their leisure.

It’s must-listening for local people who are interested in or tuned into politics. It’d be great to be able to link to the actual audio each week, so the discussion can continue after the show’s over.

Momentary lapses of judgment can have long-standing & far-reaching consequences.

What Erie County very definitely does not need is someone who throws his influence around like a mallet, and who gets rebuked for “momentary lapses of judgment“.

KT reminded me that I’ve been meaning to post about the bees.

Those mother f*ckers are pissed this year.

I don’t know what they’re so pissed about. Maybe it was the unusually hot and humid summer? Maybe it was the lack of rainfall? Maybe they’re just bastards, and they’re being particularly bastard-y this summer? But they’re pissed nonetheless.

We had a picnic a couple of weeks ago up at Fort Niagara, and it was fine on the grass, but under the hut where we kept the coolers and food, it was Bee City.

And when I say it’s Bee City, I don’t mean to conjure up images of an orderly city in, say, the first world, where people and cars and buses mingle with relative safety by using normal channels and avenues of mobility and treat each other with polite indifference.

I mean Bee City, India. Calcutta comes to mind. A swarming, uncontrollable mass of people and scooters and cars and bikes all moving willy-nilly in no apparent order and without regard to rules of the, e.g., road. A truckload. All over the place. Relentless.

I had to go into Youngstown and pick up a can of murder at the Rite-aid. I wore cargo shorts and kept the murder can in the side pocket, and quick-drew it whenever a bunch of bees just started hovering around me, looking for something to sting. It was pretty effective at murdering them, but was quite ineffective at keeping them away in the first place. I mean, I can see a bee hovering over a can of sweet soda or something, but these retarded bastards were hovering over cans of beer! I want to taste the honey they make from harvesting shit out of a beer can.

Fall can’t come soon enough.

Figmo’s got a great post up on Buffalo Rising rebutting the comments left by a teacher in a previous comment thread. The word meritocracy is used. I like that; it’s the type of word that makes public employees in places like Buffalo rush for their dictionaries.

The favorite argument of charter school haters is that they “take money out of the district”.

Yeah, but you’re forgetting that each kid in charter school is one less kid the district has to teach.

Given that the budget now stands at close to $20,000 per pupil, I hardly think that money is the problem.

Teachers are working without a contract. Negotiations are ongoing. Although the BTF had agreed to a single insurer, they balked when Williams added the condition that the BTF drop its arbitration against the district. That’s what you do when you negotiate a settlement - you agree to forego and dismiss whatever concomitant action is pending in an adversarial forum.

I thought Poloncarz did a great job, despite Whalen’s filibustering.

Whalen made an ass of himself by calling Poloncarz “young and naive”. That coming from a guy who’s touting his experience in public office going back to 1976. Yeah, he’ll be independent. Mm hmm. Yup. Sure.

I’m glad Mansouri’s name came up, but I’m bummed that no one mentioned the $31,000 from him, his companies, and his companies’ employees that have gone directly into Whalen’s campaign chest. Mansouri’s resume is, of course, besides the point. The point is his ties to Joel Giambra and his apparent thwarting of the campaign finance laws, among other things.

A brief summary of some of Whalen’s filibustering: I swore in Joel Giambra, but I think he’s been a terrible CE. Joel is my protege. So is Tim Russert (!?) who is not running for any sort of public office at all, but he’s an Irishman from South Buffalo, so I’ll gratuitously mention the fact that I, too, am an Irishman from South Buffalo. And I was comptroller during the boom years and intense, rapid economic and population growth that Buffalo experienced during 1976-1989. (/sarcasm)

Arrogant, cocky, self-righteous, retired to Florida, and old-school = Whalen

Confident, smart, humble, New Buffalonian, and new ideas = Poloncarz.

Today at 11am on WBEN-AM 930:

Prof. Kevin Hardwick will have on all four candidates for Erie County comptroller. Including Poloncarz and Whalen.

The Perfesser doesn’t take phone calls anymore, but I hope that the issues of experience versus independence, and fresh ideas from young candidates gets some discussion.

This morning, the Buffalo News proved exactly why it sucks that we have only one paper. Evidently, Giambra’s and the Partnership’s Kool-Aid still hasn’t worn off the editorial board of the News.

This morning, the News endorsed Whalen over Poloncarz for the democratic nomination for county comptroller. Take a glance at Whalen’s website, and tell me what he’s going to do for the county. (The answer is: there is no such information.) Now take a glance at Poloncarz’s, which is jam-packed with information.

The News says that Poloncarz is also impressive, but Whalen’s got the experience.

The choice isn’t about experience. It’s about independence. If the past year of Erie County fiscal idiocy has taught us anything, it’s that the county comptroller must be independent from Joel Giambra and his administration. Give the chance, Giambra will cut taxes to zilcho and increase spending whilst hiring every relative who doesn’t yet have a cushy county job.

But the News is inconsistent. 4 years ago, it endorsed Jeff Swiatek over Nancy Naples because …

… of his independence from Joel Giambra.

4 years ago, before the county budget crisis, the News thought that independence trumped experience. We found out that they were right then.

Now, the News is greasing Giambra’s ass and instead endorsing experience over independence. Because there’s no way anyone can, with a straight face, say that Whalen will be independent from his buddy Joel Giambra. Remember: the News endorsed Giambra both times. Here’s some more Kool-Aid. Glug, glug.

Read this:

If Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra needs a Legislature that is sympathetic to his agenda — and we believe he does — then voters need a comptroller who will keep close tabs on how a more unified government uses taxpayer dollars. That person could be former four-time Buffalo City Comptroller Robert Whalen, but his challenger, Mark Poloncarz, is the better bet.

This is not simply a matter of a resume. If that were the only issue, Whelan would have a decided edge, given his thirteen years in office, and his years as a state Supreme Court justice.

Poloncarz, by contrast, holds a law degree, and is a senior associate at Kavinoky & Cook, one of Buffalo’s largest law firms. As a specialist in finance law, though, he is familiar with issues such as contracts and fiscal controls.

More important, Poloncarz may have a quality Whalen seems to lack: independence. More than most elected positions, the office of comptroller requires an even-handed, nonpartisan approach. Much of the job is to act as a fiscal watchdog over other parts of government, regardless of who controls it. When Joel Giambra defeated Dennis Gorski, Whalen closely aligned himself with Giambra’s administration, and even swore Giambra into office. Whalen and Giambra are personal friends, and there is little indication that comptroller Whalen would remain sufficiently independent from Giambra.

Whalen was in Florida - retired - when he was recruited into the Comptroller’s race by Giambra fundraiser and patronage hire Hormoz Mansouri. Whalen’s campaign has raised over $30,000 from Mansouri, his companies, and his companies’ employees. The implication is that Whalen is Giambra’s candidate, and any talk that he will be an independent watchdog is just that - talk.

Remember Giambra’s relationship with Pigeon. In 2001, Pigeon backed Swiatek against Naples. In 2005, Pigeon is backing Whalen against Poloncarz.

Moreover, a vote for Poloncarz must be based, at least in part, on faith. He says he would be independent. But with county Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan actively supporting Poloncarz’s candidacy — and helping him raise money — some observers believe that quality will soon be replaced by partisanship. At some point, it is reasonable to assume, party headquarters will pressure Poloncarz to obstruct Giambra’s agenda. But given what’s happened over the past 2 years, it’s become evident that Giambra’s agenda is one that should have been obstructed by a strong fiscal watchdog. Poloncarz will be better - he’ll be a guarddog.

Still, Poloncarz pledges to maintain his independence, while Whalen has already called his into question. That ought to be a significant issue.

What is more, Poloncarz has aggressive plans for helping the county more efficiently manage its finances. Although Whalen has worked in city government, Poloncarz proposes something rather unique to politics in Western New York - transparency. He has proposed a 10-point plan to oversee the county’s finances, audit them regularly, and to make periodic reports to the legislature and the people of Erie County. His office will be proactive and engaged.

By contrast, a glance at Whalen’s campaign website touts his experience with the city from 1976-1989, but the problems facing Erie County today are quite different from those that faced the City 30 years ago. Whalen has not revealed any plans or programs should he be elected.

Both these candidates are capable; either will do a credible job for county residents. The issue is independence, and through it, public confidence that a real watchdog is in place. While no law says the comptroller has to be of a different party from the executive, the way Whalen has linked himself to Giambra tilts the scale toward Poloncarz.

That could have been how the News phrased its editorial had it chosen to endorse Poloncarz.

The text quoted above is almost verbatim the text of the News’ 2001 endorsement of Swiatek over Naples.

Out of touch & misguided are polite terms for the News’ editorial board.

His primary opponents also bring skills to the job. The party-endorsed candidate is young and personable finance lawyer Mark C. Poloncarz, a first-time candidate who would seek to use his financial analysis experience since 1997 to influence policy-setting. He seems to be running more on a county executive policy platform than a comptroller auditing one.

The News apparently didn’t bother to read Poloncarz’s platform/agenda.

Devoted reader & frequent commenter LC Scotty has his own blog now: http://brisketforchucklehead.blogspot.com/

and “Big Words I Know By Heart”: http://www.tomwaters.blogspot.com/

WHY FEAR INTELLIGENT DESIGN?: In school we learned people once thought the world was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. These at times farcical theories come to mind in the current August furor about “intelligent design” and evolution. Are scientists so insecure that they fear students could possibly fail to make an informed judgment here? Expose them to the theory. Discuss it. Shred it.

No.