To run for governor on the GOP ticket.

That ticket’s rest pretty crowded as it is. I can’t imagine Trump would be interested, and I can’t believe that this is what passes for deep political thought in Albany.

“Gee, whom can we put up against Spitzer?”

“Weld? Too preppy/WASPy”
“Manning? Too tall.”
“Faso? Who?”
“Golisano? He makes Pataki cry.”

“I know - Trump!”

We need some neon signage at Empire Plaza.

Just look at it. What a great symbol for our unresponsive and inflexible State government.

Trying to get from 46th & Broadway to 43rd and Park tonight:

Up to 47th to cross Times Square in the rain/snow mix.

Over to 6th. Can’t go across 47th. 48th is closed, too. Have to go up (UP!) to 49th. Cops were having an overtime field day. Ask them a question, get an abrupt answer without anyone looking at you.

Got a nice nighttime view of the Rockefeller Center tree, over to 5th, down to 48th, down Park and finally to Grand Central. (Some pix to follow).

It was about 32 degrees, and mostly raining, but some snow mixed in. People were streaming into Times Square to stand in the rain/snow for 7 hours and watch a ball drop.

Thanks, but I’ll do it from under a roof with a bathroom nearby. You’ve got to be nuts or a tourist to do the Times Square thing.

Holy Shit.

Could this be the reason why the Main Place Mall is such a dilapidated, awful, empty piece of dreck?

Indabuff has Byron Brown’s inaugural address in podcast format here.

Good luck to Mayor Brown.

The News (not yet online) has a few people saying that Tony wasn’t such a bad mayor, after all. Maybe not bad - mediocre, but not “bad”.

Jim O makes an excellent point:

So, I have to ask Larry Quinn and Brian Lipke–how would you guys know what a good mayor looks like anyway? You have both been involved in running the show around these parts. Instead of trying to put a brave face on a failed politician, you should instead look to your own responsibility for the mess we are in.

I see it’s snowing in town today.

We drove a long way last night, and saw stars in the sky for the first time in weeks. Literally weeks. This morning, we saw an actual sunrise. I love the snow, but I needed a clear-sky fix.

Again - Happy New Year to you all.

In Bushworld, warrantless spying on US persons (which is not only illegal, but repugnant to the Constitution itself) is okelee-dokelee.

Our press reporting on that News is very, very bad and worthy of jail. (Note that Craig wishes for the jailing of NY Times reporters - not for the adminstration leaker of the information itself. But if you read the quoted text, the Justice Dept is investigating the leak - not the Times’ reporting of it.)

Under normal circumstances, it would be the domestic spying that would cause someone to be thrown in the slammer.

Bob Barr, of all people, was quite eloquent and succinct on what’s going on:

Two of the most powerful moments of political déjà vu I have ever experienced took place recently in the context of the Bush administration’s defense of presidentially ordered electronic spying on American citizens.

First, in the best tradition of former President Bill Clinton’s classic, “it-all-depends-on-what-the-meaning-of-is-is” defense, President Bush responded to a question at a White House news conference about what now appears to be a clear violation of federal electronic monitoring laws by trying to argue that he had not ordered the National Security Agency to “monitor” phone and e-mail communications of American citizens without court order; he had merely ordered them to “detect” improper communications.

This example of presidential phrase parsing was followed quickly by the president’s press secretary, Scott McLellan, dead-panning to reporters that when Bush said a couple of years ago that he would never allow the NSA to monitor Americans without a court order, what he really meant was something different than what he actually said. If McLellan’s last name had been McCurry, and the topic an illicit relationship with a White House intern rather than illegal spying on American citizens, I could have easily been listening to a White House news conference at the height of the Clinton impeachment scandal.

And, much like the most die-hard Clinton defender ca. 1999, I’ll bet that a majority of Republicans/Conservatives have massive reservations about warrantless domestic spying. [Insert slippery slope argument here]. But their obeisance and fealty to W. Bush prevent them from giving voice to those reservations.

At least in 1999, Democrats pretty uniformly condemned the President’s conduct with Lewinsky - they just thought it didn’t give rise to impeachment. In 2005, few Republicans seem to take issue with the obvious Constitutional problems with what the NSA has been doing.

Just remember - someday, a Democratic administration will be in office again. When that happens, will Republicans be just as pleased with NSA domestic warrantless eavesdropping as they are today?

2006 will prove to be a very turbulent one for this Administration.

Have a Happy New Year, dear reader.

Look who’s using Wordpress now.

As an aside - this kind of shit is ubiquitous with Bauerle & Beach.

Donn Esmonde names his peeps of 2005.

Debbie Bowers (Helping women in Iraq)
Darlene Torbenson (Amherst citizen who led fight for sinking home victims)
Chris Koch (New Era Cap)
Donald Lockwood (Miracle Pizza Delivery Guy)
Donna Fernandes (Zoo Leader)

See ya later, your Honor.

Let’s see what the next guy can do.

Here’s today’s topic for the outraged snowbird wannabes who will call into Bauerle & Beach.

If Albany and our governor actually cared about economic growth and serving the people, they wouldn’t have just rammed a casino into downtown Buffalo by decree.

The governor has the power to negotiate the compact with the Senecas, and the legislature had the power to vote yea or nay on the compact. There was one step that was missing, though. It wasn’t a judicially or legislatively mandated step, but it would have been the politically apt and clever step.

What we needed was a couple of ballot questions. Referenda.

There should have been a citywide referendum on placing the Casino somewhere within City limits, and there should have been a countywide referendum on placing the Casino anywhere in Erie County at all.

The lawsuit is grounded in the following:

The Senecas claim the Seneca Nation Settlement Act offers legal justification for building a casino in Buffalo. The act was cited by Norton when she allowed the Niagara Falls and Buffalo casinos to go forward.

The lawsuit will argue the act does not apply to Buffalo, and that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act should have been implemented instead. That act requires an examination of the possible effects of a casino on a community.

Former Rep. John J. LaFalce, a co-sponsor of the Settlement Act, has written Norton claiming it was never intended to be used for purchasing casinos.

The lawsuit will also charge an environmental assessment required by the National Environmental Policy Act, which was conducted in Niagara Falls before the Seneca Niagara Casino opened there, should have been conducted in Buffalo.

And it will claim the federal government failed to follow the Historic Preservation Act, which requires consultation between federal and state preservation officials for properties on or eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

That’s all very interesting. Will it block the casino? Who knows. It may - may justify a temporary injunction so the issues can at least get reviewed.

Bauerle criticizes the lawsuit proponents/casino opponents who also say that “The people haven’t been heard on this.” I.e., there haven’t been any referenda. Bauerle argues that the people have been heard. On his show & “Sandy Beach”’s show. Because the 20-30 callers each show gets on a given day have been pretty much in favor of the casino.

There’s a fascinating discussion about regionalism and the upstate environment being had between three separate upstate blogs - Balogh, NYCO, and York Staters (here and here).

Not Gaughan-type City-County regionalism - the discussion is more of a sort of cantonal regional patriotism of upstaters for upstate.

I only had a top 8 anyway, so now it’s a top 9.

I think it came out in 2004, but I only picked it up the other day and it’s still 2005. So there.

9. The Killers, Hot Fuss.

Catchy shit that’s reminiscent of Duran Duran at their peak.

The Spree is co-sponsoring a competition on its blog. Tell your worst dating horror story for fun & prizes.

The author of the winning entry (as voted on by webpoll) will receive:

*2 tickets to opening night of the new comedy
BAD DATES at Studio Arena on Friday, January 13, 2006
*Pre-show dinner for 2 at Buffalo Chophouse ($150 gift certificate)
*After-theater drinks and dessert at the Brownstone Seafood House &
Oyster Bar ($50 gift certificate)
*A Spree Goody Bag (including a 1-year subscription to Buffalo Spree and other surprises.

You have until January 6th to enter, and there are only 16 comments so far.

(I write for the Spree, but no money changed hands in exchange for this plug).

Whilst I lament the abnormally mild weather we’ve had lately (that lake isn’t frozen, is it?), if you need a snow fix you could do a lot worse than Florence:

The New Buffalo Enforcers are “pissed off and ready to roll“.

Their targets are slumlords and do-nothing developers.

The hotel is opening, and Craig posts about it in a hopeful tone. Certainly, I can’t imagine the hoteliers on the New York side cam remember a time when the whole city was sold out, so that’s a plus. But I don’t know that there’s enough of an effort being made by the City, or the Senecas, to coax casino guests to patronize other establishments in the area. The very nature of most casinos is to keep people in and spending money.

Whether the casino is good or bad in Niagara Falls is an irrelevant discussion. It’s there, and it’s not going anywhere. The issues presented now are how the Seneca’s neighbors can capitalize on this new traffic, and the outcome of various eminent domain challenges.

When someone makes an announcement concerning the decrepit Rainbow Centre, then I’ll be convinced that something good is happening.

I know I’m snarky and opinionated, but with the exception of Jim Ostrowski and Joe Illuzzi, I’ve been respectful of every Buffalo blogger, (or tried to be, anyway) - even when we disagree.

I don’t delete comments on this blog unless it’s:

1. Spam
2. A duplicate (re-post)
3. Defamatory; or
4. an accident.

Last week one day I had three comments in the moderation queue, which means it’s waiting for my approval. I have a laundry list of words that bump a comment into moderation. Two valid comments which I had intended to approve were inadvertently deleted. And I fessed up instantly and asked the aggrieved commenters - Carl and David Torke from Fix Buffalo - to re-post their comments.

Carl didn’t have a problem. David’s evidently all bent out of shape about it:

A super snarky suburban blogger has now banned my comments, so high-school - I know. Yet, the blogosphere is a better place with dramatic changes and integration taking place.

Please feel free to peruse David’s end-of-year roundup.

I’m beginning to think we should just call this area a rain forest and get it over with. The rain’s been a real drag. I don’t mind snow, and I don’t mind cold, sunny days. I hate this neverending grey drab 45 degree shit. Give me a good lake effect blast that keeps everyone home for a few days. We’re due, dammit.

Yesterday I took my daughter to the Botanical Garden on/in South Park. It’s being run by volunteers now and there’s lots of work going on to renovate the structure.

They had a poinsetta exhibit all done up for Christmas, and it was surprisingly cool (I’m not really into horticulture). It looks like they even had had a Santa before Christmas, but the area where he sat was still there.

I liked the cactus area - big signs warning you not to touch anything (even the non-prickly plants). We checked out a room with a big tiki thing in the middle of it, and around it there was a “Banana Republic village” train setup. It, too, was done by volunteers and here comes this electric train that looks like a steam engine (complete with Chiquita stickers along the side of it) for the kiddies to enjoy.

When the zoo’s closed, it’s a great alternative.

They had lunch today and made up. The wives came along. No report yet on whether Kindel told his missus to shut up at lunch.

Yes, this is what passes for news during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

A new addition to the NYS blogs - the Political Notebook, written by Rochester political analyst Michael Caputo.

Here’s the article that the News ran this morning on l’affaire Kindel-Mohan.

Choice quotes:

“I’m the victim. I am,” said Kindel, who has been a Town Board member for about two decades. “Dr. Mohan should apologize to me. He’s calling me a racist. He’s got a problem.”

Mohan never called Kindel a racist. False.

Mohan is “insulting the good people of Amherst. This is not a racist town. He is misleading [the general public] about a wonderful community. It’s almost like “Happy Days’ here. It’s a wonderful town.”

“Happy Days” didn’t have a lot of minorities, either. When you’re trying to convince people that you’re not a racist, bringing up a show that took place in the 50s, and had one Japanese character and a couple of Italians won’t win you any multiculti points. In any event, Mohan never expressed or implied that all of Amherst was as culturally tone-deaf as Kindel.

But wait. There’s more.

In a follow-up interview with The Buffalo News, Kindel said Mohan’s background might be to blame for his “misinterpretation” of his comments.

Kindel said he grew up in the ethnically mixed Buffalo neighborhood of Iron Island - a “benefit” that he said Mohan may not have had growing up in India.

“The man must have grown up in a depraved society,” Kindel said. “He’s obviously a brilliant man. He’s a genius, as far as I’m concerned. But he has a major gap in logic where he sees a racist behind every bush.”

Kindel said the media had blown the episode, instigated by the Mohan camp, out of proportion by the media. He then said Mohan should publicly apologize to him and residents.

de·praved (dÄ­-prāvd’) adj.

Morally corrupt; perverted.

Methinks that, in an attempt to remove his foot from his mouth, Mr. Kindel instead rammed it further in, past his ankles.

It’s Christmas in Amherst.

Maybe the explanation for Canadians going postal would be Toronto’s own Doodlebops.

Caillou still takes the prize for being the most loathsome Canadian (Quebecois) export.