When Hillary Clinton began her quest for the Presidency, she was despised by a good half of the electorate-at-large.

Now? In late May 2008? She’s despised by a good half of the Democratic Party, too. Not because she’s a woman. Not because she’s a Clinton. Not because she’s from New York. Not because she’s opinionated and strong.

She’s despised because she’s a sore loser, and she’s playing the feminist victim card in a way that cheapens both words.

Any suggestion that her loss in the primaries has to do with sexism or unfair media treatment is patently false, and truly pathetic. If that’s the message she wants to send to her supporters, so be it. She lost fair and square partly because of the mismanagement of her own campaign. I hope all of this nonsense is somehow worth it for her.

I think that in many ways, Jayvonna Kincannon has Crystal Barton to thank (curse, really) for the fact that she could neither attend her senior prom nor her graduation ceremony.

Jayvonna could have gone to her prom Friday night, and her graduation ceremony, if she had admitted at a suspension hearing Thursday that she hit a teacher at a charity basketball game, according to attorney Cheryl Smith Fisher. But Jayvonna and several witnesses insisted she pulled her arm away after a teacher grabbed it twice, causing the back of her hand to hit the teacher’s.

Anyone who doesn’t believe that Barton has/d it in for Kincannon from the moment this whole issue went public is being naive. The administration was waiting for an excuse to completely fuck Kincannon, and the basketball game incident gave them that opportunity.

We don’t really know what happened at that ballgame, because there are two stories out there. But I suspect Barton’s motives a lot more than Kincannon, who has been victimized enough, thank you very much.

It’s one thing to suspend someone illegally and improperly. It’s another to take away prom and graduation. Those are irreparable harms.

The other day, Governor Paterson declared that New York would recognize gay marriages performed in Canada, Massachusetts, and California.

Naturally, some are up in arms about it. Outgoing crap Congressman Tom Reynolds said,

This is a terrible decision, directed in a secretive and abusive manner, designed to circumvent any sort of public hearing or comment from the New York people. The Governor should full well know the rightful role and prerogative the legislature has in the rule of law in this matter.

Therefore, I am calling on the Governor to suspend this ill-advised executive directive. I intend to call the Catholic Conference, the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, legislative leaders and other interested parties to assist in looking at the options available in helping cease and desist the Governor’s directive.

Frankly, this is yet another example of a New York Governor abusing his power to disregard the legislature, the rule of law and most importantly the people of New York. Whether it is trying to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants or attempting to recognize gay marriages this pattern of circumventing the legislature and the will of the New York people is not only troubling but should not be recognized by the legislative or judicial branch or the public as a whole.

Why?

I mean, why not just consider my Massachusetts marriage invalid in New York State, too? It was entered into outside the purview of New York statute and law, after all.

I understand that there are people who are opposed to this quite strenuously on a variety of grounds. Primary among them is religion. But when you subtract relgion from the argument, what are you left with? What is the reason why we shouldn’t just let gay people get married to each other? Does it really cheapen or weaken heterosexual marriage? Then ban divorce. Is it really equal to letting pedophiles marry kids, or letting people marry pets? Of course not, and it’s just idiotic to suggest that.

Watch liberal pinko commie Bill O’Reilly tackle the issue with a gay marriage opponent:

UPDATE: There’s a debate going on in comments, where some are alleging that Paterson’s directive to state agencies that they recognize same-sex unions entered into legally out-of-state is an improper usurpation of democracy and the rule of law. Naturally, I disagree strenuously.

But I wanted to add that I listened to Paterson’s statement on this issue just now, and to his rationale. For instance, New York State has no such thing as “common-law marriage”, but other states do. We have traditionally recognized the validity of those unions when those couples come to New York.

Furthermore, Paterson’s order is based on a February 1st 4th Appellate Division decision, (penned by Republican Supreme Court Justice Erin Peradotto), in the case of Martinez v. County of Monroe, linked to here. (.pdf) The key point and rationale:

For well over a century, New York has recognized marriages solemnized outside of New York unless they fall into two categories of exception: (1) marriage, the recognition of which is prohibited by the “positive law” of New York and (2) marriages involving incest or polygamy, both of which fall within the prohibitions of “natural law” (Matter of May, 305 NY 486, 491; see Moore v Hegeman, 92 NY 521, 524; Thorp v Thorp, 90 NY 602, 605; see generally Van Voorhis v Brintnall, 86 NY 18, 24-26). Thus, if a marriage is valid in the place where it was entered, “it is to be recognized as such in the courts of this State, unless contrary to the prohibitions of natural law or the express prohibitions of a statute” (Moore, 92 NY at 524; see also Thorp, 90 NY at 606; Van Voorhis, 86 NY at 25-26). Under that “marriage-recognition” rule, New York has recognized a marriage between an uncle and his niece “by the half blood” (May, 305 NY at 488), common-law marriages valid under the laws of other states (see Matter of Mott v Duncan Petroleum Trans., 51 NY2d 289, 292-293), a marriage valid under the law of the Province of Ontario, Canada of a man and a woman both under the age of 18 (see Donohue v Donohue, 63 Misc 111, 112-113), and a “proxy marriage” valid in the District of Columbia (Fernandes v Fernandes, 275 App Div 777), all of which would have been invalid if solemnized in New York.

We conclude that plaintiff’s marriage does not fall within either of the two exceptions to the marriage-recognition rule. “[A]bsent any New York statute expressing clearly the Legislature’s intent to regulate within this State marriages of its domiciliaries solemnized abroad, there is no positive law in this jurisdiction” to prohibit recognition of a marriage that would have been invalid if solemnized in New York (May, 305 NY at 493 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see also Van Voorhis, 86 NY at 37). The Legislature has not enacted legislation to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages validly entered into outside of New York, and we thus conclude that the positive law exception to the general rule of foreign marriage recognition is not applicable in this case.

(Emphasis added.) So, as you can see, there is not only legal precedent, but legal justification and rationale for what Paterson did, which is merely to implement the holding of the 4th Department across all state agencies and entities.

That’s how a democracy works.

The ACLU has an ongoing FOIA demand and lawsuit for documents related to the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas.

Below is a page from a CIA Office of the Inspector General review of the CIA’s interrogation and detention program.

So, we know they waterboarded suspects, and the rest, as the ACLU suggests, is left up to one’s imagination.

This sort of governmental transparency and openness is reminiscent of Buffalo’s own City Hall. See here, and here, and here.

At least the City of Buffalo is in good company.

Also - as an aside - the City’s FOIL policy is a story in and of itself. An administration that ran on CitiStat and transparency has implemented GIGO on one, and completely shut down the other.

And furthermore, the audit of the Mayor’s Impact Team underscores the complete ineffectiveness - or possibly gaming of - CitiStat, which is only as good as the information it is fed. Seems as if the system can be rigged to spit out whatever predetermined conclusion the administration wants - it all depends on the data going in. Its failure to discover longstanding malfeasance in that department leads one to wonder what other events of colossal FAIL remain undetected.

According to Autoblog, Honda is selling a crazy amount of Civics lately because they get great gas mileage. By contrast, the hulking Ridgeline and new Pilot aren’t expected to sell quite as well.

Later this year, Honda is expected to add another 2,000 jobs as it begins to build Civics in Indiana, as well. That plant will be Honda’s seventh in North America. Honda has sold 34,163 units of the Civic in North America through April of this year, which is 8.2% more Civics sold on average per day than in 2007. For comparison’s sake, Toyota has sold 32,435 Corollas, Ford has sold 23,850 Foci and Chevy has sold 18,636 Cobalts so far this year.

By contrast, domestic automakers are pretty much caught off-guard by the sudden demand for fuel efficiency over body-on-rail behemoths.

In the article, Autoblog said that the switch from building Ridgeline/Civics would be “effortless”. The first commenter called bullshit,

Effortlessly? Do you work for Honda PR?

No, I’m quite sure there will be quite a bit of money and effort going into this

The responses pretty uniformly reply, yes effortlessly:

By pressing a switch the programs for the robots change, the track system gets narrower, the arms get closer and production changes from a Pilot to a Civic. Ive seen it done.

10 years ago a flex plant was one where two vehicles off of the same platform were built simultaneously, like a Camry or Avalon or Silverado and Tahoe. Now you can get completely unrelated in every possible way vehicles made on the same line.

and

About 10 years ago they began redesigning all of their assembly lines to be able to assemble any model that is currently in production, so that they can do exactly what the article discusses.

There are still logistics involved, but nothing like the wholesale re-configuration that would be required in a traditional older style plant.

and

So much for “Buy American”. Ford and GM are firing American workers, while Honda gives them jobs back. “Support America, buy Japanese” should be the new slogan.

You get the idea. There’s also an interesting discussion about legacy costs for US manufacturers versus merit pay employed by Japanese non-union shops.

Via Richard Florida’s blog, this essay:

Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.

The surprising thing is how different these messages can be. New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer.

What I like about Boston (or rather Cambridge) is that the message there is: you should be smarter. You really should get around to reading all those books you’ve been meaning to.

When you ask what message a city sends, you sometimes get surprising answers. As much as they respect brains in Silicon Valley, the message the Valley sends is: you should be more powerful.

(Read the whole thing here)

What is Buffalo saying?

HT Ben Smith

This story in the Buffalo News is frustrating as all hell. My own town of Clarence has two quaint little shopping districts - the Four Corners and the Hollow - and then there’s Transit Road. Two of three of those are walkable. Guess which.

I honestly cannot fathom why anyone in suburban Buffalo would be opposed to the idea of a walkable neighborhood. Would it kill people to be able to walk down to a corner store or florist or dry cleaner or coffee shop? I’m lucky. I can do that. There are loads of people who can’t, and I’m shocked that a lot of them don’t want to.

Walkable neighborhoods don’t just give you exercise and gas savings. Walkability helps build community. You see your neighbors. You walk by their homes. You become a regular at a local business. Buffalo’s suburbs need more - not less - walkability and mixed-use neighborhoods. But the suburbs aren’t the only victims. Any shops at Waterfront Village?

The Town Centre development that Benderson wants to build in Amherst is a start. It will feature retail, hotel, residential, and commercial in the complex. In Lewiston, there’s the Village at Oxbow - the first new walkable community being planned and built in WNY. I guess, as per the News article, it behooves those of us who support these sustainable, walkable communities to show up at town board meetings and speak in support of them.

How much Buffalo area progress has been stanched by an exceedingly vocal and obnoxious minority>

New York’s Enhanced Driver’s License - it’s fortified with vitamin proof-of-citizenship.

New York is the second state to have an enhanced drivers’ license approved by the Department of duct tape Homeland Security. In order to obtain the new license, you’ll need to present proof of citizenship at your local DMV, and pay $30 on top of the regular charge for a license. In return, you’ll get the new license, which will have your information embedded in an RFID chip, which will be automatically read by the border patrol’s computer.

The licenses will be available beginning in August and will look a bit different from regular licenses. Now, if they could integrate this program into Nexus, it would be teh awesome.

The paranoid lunatic fringe need not apply.

(Photo courtesy Glenda @ Flickr)

Something funny onto this sign.

Via Bruce Andriatch’s column today, I find this recount of Kevin Gaughan’s “The Cost” tour’s stop in the Village of Blasdell:

we arrived in Blasdell last night with heads high and spirits even higher. As we entered village hall, though, Mayor Ernie Jewett summoned me to his office and changed everything. He said that I could not use the word “consolidation” or “dissolution” in my presentation. If I did, he would end the meeting and have me removed from the hall.

Two of my students from UB Law School, Lindsay Heckler and Dan Lesniewski, were along last night. Dan was outraged by Jewett’s stricture. Lindsay seemed almost saddened at the notion that anyone, let alone a public official, would attempt to curtail another’s right to free speech.

But to cast Mayor Jewett’s order in a constitutional context elevates his small gesture beyond its worth. Jewett acted out of fear. Fear of having residents learn that perhaps there’s a better way to govern than his; fear that citizens would connect the dots between too much government and too little growth; and fear that a system that’s served him better than it has served residents might be forced to change.

The once proud Village of Blasdell today bears more resemblance to an abandoned community. In the over 30 years since the steel industry that sustained it collapsed, no government and no politician has reversed its painful decline. If you are under 18 or over 65 and live in Blasdell, according to the most recent U.S. Census, you likely live near or under the poverty line. And no matter what your age, the value your home, the number of your neighbors, and the quality of your life have all declined.

Against that painful backdrop, last night Ernie Jewett refused to discuss the need for reform. As far more powerful politicians throughout history have learned, though, while he can ban the idea of change in his chambers, he cannot banish it from the minds of citizens.

Constitutional issues of prior restraint of political speech aside, the entire community should be outraged at this sheer, patent idiocy. Gaughan’s advocacy for downsizing and consolidation is dangerous to a certain class of people which thrives on waste, redundancy, and ignorance. What Mr. Jewett did by prohibiting Gaughan from bringing up consolidation is underscore its very need. We don’t need small-minded emperors running needless political entities which serve to spend taxpayer money in unsustainable ways. What harm is there if the villages of Hamburg and Blasdell are no more? I don’t really know. But I do know that there’s great harm in prohibiting the discussion of that topic.

Andriatch spoke with Mr. Jewett:

Asked about the matter the following day, Jewett offered this response: “Mr. Gaughan was invited to speak about his previous presentations to all the boards, village and town. And he was told that it was the unanimous decision of the [Blasdell] Board of Trustees that he was welcome to talk about downsizing, and he was told he was not allowed to talk about dissolving the village.”

Why is that?

“Why is that?” Jewett said, repeating the question as if shocked that it needed to be asked. “Because the village is willing to listen to any way that we can better serve our constituents, but that’s a decision that the board feels is up to the village residents and the board.”

The mayor noted that Blasdell already has taken steps to consolidate some services, including merging its building department with the Town of Hamburg’s. And he is open to other ways to save taxpayers money.

Asked if refusing to allow a speaker to use a word or espouse an idea might have been overkill, Jewett reiterated that Gaughan was invited to speak about downsizing.

Perhaps, Mr. Jewett, the best way for you to serve your constituents would be to make them constituents of a different political corporate entity. Sounds to me as if you inadvertently made that case for Mr. Gaughan.

The Erie Canal Harbor Terminal park is now open for sightseeing. The transformation from gravel parking lot and 70s era museum facility to historical recreation/interpretation of what was once there is truly phenomenal. Not just because it looks nice, but because it is a major downtown waterfront project that engendered controversy yet somehow managed to get done.

So far.

There’s a boardwalk, informational signs, a waterfall, a park, and the naval museum. There’s a hot dog stand, too. These are all positive steps towards an improved, attractive inner harbor. Now comes another hard part.

The historical aspect of this area gets people there, but now it’s important to keep people there and getting them to spend their money. In order to do that, we need buildings and shops and bars and restaurants. Bass Pro or no Bass Pro, it’s important that Benderson and the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation begin making palpable progress on the remainder of the Canal Side project. That means bringing the Aud down, bringing the Donovan down, and starting work on what will be on that block under the Skyway.

So, cheer this progress, and it is truly amazing that any of this got done at all in this town - a town that will take any mediocre non-event - like the removal of driftwood from an unswimmable beach, or the fact that the marina is open 12 months per year instead of 7, or where the mayor holds a press conference to announce pay & display parking meters. The inner harbor project is moving. There is something built there.

But realize that it’s only the 1st out of 4 quarters.

Since I arrived in Buffalo, Griffin had become something of a shadow of his former self - he served briefly on the common council, tried to recall Masiello, and ran for County Executive. He was certainly an icon and a legend.

Consider this an open thread for you to note one thing about him that you remember most.

Say what you want about Olbermann, but he’s one of the very, very few cable commentators who doesn’t scream at you, doesn’t rely on flash and graphics, and otherwise isn’t a caricature of himself. Good for him for what he’s doing - being intelligent and speaking to you like a grownup. Regardless of whether you agree with him or not.

And the best part of this commentary comes at around the 8 minute mark, when he lists of the myriad things we have “forgiven” Clinton over the course of the primary, in spite of her easy morphs into victim mode.

The City of Vallejo, California files for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy protection. The deets:

The Vallejo City Council unanimously agreed May 6 to begin bankruptcy filings after months of negotiations with city public employee union negotiators. Several meetings between city and union negotiators after the May 6 vote didn’t break the stalemate. City finance officials attribute Vallejo’s looming $16 million deficit for the coming year to a plummeting housing market and the cost of ballooning public safety employee contracts. Officials expect the city’s general fund to run out of money June 30 and hope Chapter 9 bankruptcy will protect the city from its creditors while it works out a long-term plan to pull out of debt and continue to pay its employees. City officials rejected a union proposal its representatives say offered a two-year plan to avoid bankruptcy and even build city reserves through assumed new revenue sources and union concessions.

Sometimes, it’s heartening just to get confirmation that we’re not the only place with problems.

Posted by Christopher Smith 

Clearly, Governor Paterson has taken care of the significant and pressing issues in Albany and has moved on to pardoning hip hop legend, Slick Rick.

“Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years,” Paterson said in a statement on Friday.

Under federal law, legal immigrants to the United States convicted of an aggravated felony or a weapon offense must be deported. For certain offenses, deportation can be avoided by a Governor’s pardon. But for weapon offenses, a non-citizen must make an appeal before an immigration court.

Like the NY Lottery - hey, you never know.

This has to be one of the dumbest things said on the campaign trail this year. The fact that it was said by the candidate who’s got the experience - the one who’s been fully vetted - the one who’s ready to lead on day one, makes it all the stupider.

Her apology:

“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,” the former first lady said.

“Sorry if it was offensive” does-not-equal “sorry I said something offensive”.

Of all the things in the whole world she could have brought up as an excuse for staying in a race she’s already lost, arguing that RFK wasn’t shot and killed until June is probably the last one on the list. It is offensive not only because dredging up RFK’s assassination is in poor taste this week, with news of Teddy Kennedy’s illness. It is offensive because bringing up the specter of assassination is beyond the pale - well beyond anything normal people would discuss as part of a primary campaign. It’s like taking being at a romantic dinner at Olivers, pulling your pants down, hopping up on the table, squatting, and taking a shit right there in the middle of the table.

Seriously, Mrs. Clinton, the race is over for you. Drop out now while you still have a political career.

UPDATE: Even the argument itself is fallacious, regardless of its offensiveness. In 1992, the New York Times noted that, by March 20th, Paul Tsongas was running out of money and pulled out of the race. He said,

the alternative was to play the role of spoiler.” ‘That Is Not Worthy’…”That is not what I’m about,” he continued. “That is not worthy. I did not survive my ordeals in order to be the agent of the re-election of George Bush.”

In the meantime, the (Bill) Clinton campaign argued that the mathematics made him the inevitable nominee:

Mr. Clinton is already close to the halfway mark in the number of delegates needed to win the nomination and has a 7-to-1 edge over Mr. Brown, who is running a maverick, anti-establishment campaign. Many Democrats said that barring an unexpected collapse by Mr. Clinton’s campaign, it is difficult to see how Mr. Brown can overtake the Governor.

“It certainly brings it much closer to a conclusion,” said Ronald H. Brown, the Democratic national chairman. “You could argue that it’s theoretically possible for Jerry Brown to mount a come-from-behind challenge, but the math and the reality of Bill Clinton’s momentum certainly work against him.”

And note that in 1992, the New Hampshire primary took place during the second half of February - not in January.

As Marc Ambinder argues,

For those who contend that Clinton was referring to competitive contests or example, why didn’t she bring up Ted Kennedy in 1980? Or Gary Hart in 1984? I think she was pointing to primary races where the eventual nominee was unknown at this point in the cycle…. But 1984 would apply more, her husband was the de-facto nominee at this point, and the compressed calender really renders such comparisons null and void.

Even if her point is legitimate, surely she is aware of the sensitivity of the subject.

Obama has done exactly the right thing over the last week or so - pretend Clinton doesn’t exist. Yes, his campaign issued a statement calling what Clinton said, “unfortunate” and said it “has no place in this campaign.” Other than that, Obama has been looking more presidential than either McCain or Clinton this past week, easily morphing from defense to offense whenever McCain attacks him, and by mounting a general election campaign.

Posted by Christopher Smith 

I just spent an hour discussing the sub-prime mortgage crisis with a group of people and it is becoming increasingly clear to me that 99.9% of people have no clue what this crisis is all about.  Since it is a major campaign issue and of significant consequence to our national economy, it’s an issue about which we should all have a base level of understanding.

A few months ago, someone wrote this instructional primer on the mortgage crisis and uploaded it to Google Docs for the world to see.  It’s irreverent, graphic, and does a pretty damn good job of breaking a very complicated issue down to consumable bits of information.

Click Here to give it a read

Posted by Christopher Smith

Sometimes, it takes Al-Jazeera to help us see our country as it really is. This is a phenomenal piece about race in America and the forces that Barack Obama will face in the general election. It really doesn’t have anything to do with Hillary or some ginned up story of her or her husband as race-baiters. It’s about the deep scars this nation bears from centuries of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow.

What do you make of it?

My long weekend begins today, so posting will be appropriately light, although Mr. Buffalo Geek might hop on if he’s so inclined.

So, consider:

McKinley High School Principal Crystal Barton ought to start talking about what’s going on. Jayvonna Kincannon, on the other hand, is in desperate need of a time out.

County Executive Chris Collins says he’s not a political animal, but the evidence shows otherwise. Not that there’s anything wrong with a politician acting politically, but why keep up the charade?

I wonder why DA Candidate Ken Case is so untouchable, but the Erie County Democratic Committee unanimously endorsed Frank Sedita III - son of the Supreme Court Justice and grandson of the Mayor. There is no question whatsoever that Sedita is an outstanding prosecutor, and chances are that, as 1st Assistant, he has had much experience helping to run that office. I’m sure he’s a good pick, but would love to know why Case wasn’t.

I want to begin dispelling a myth - I think the conventional wisdom out there holds that the people at WNYMedia.net are snarky, sarcastic snipers and gripers, and don’t try to do helpful things. That could not be further from the truth, and I’ll put the civic activism of our members and writers up against anyone. Our people have been involved with Buffalo Homecoming, Broadway-Fillmore Alive, the Central Terminal, the WNY Coalition for Progress, anti-Flipping efforts on the East Side, Revitalize Buffalo, Santa’s Park, South Buffalo improvements, Buffalo ReUse, Buffalo’s dog park at LaSalle - just to name a few. Thesis: it’s perfectly ok to snarkily gripe when you’re out there trying to implement change. Frankly, it’s perfectly ok to snarkily gripe no matter what.

The American Axle strike is now over. The Tonawanda plant will close, but the Cheektowaga plant will stay open. For now. Probably not for very long.

The Erie Canal Harbor park officially opens today. You can go there and cross the truss bridge, look at the excavated canal terminus, read some historical facts about the canal, go to the park along the water, walk along the board walk, go to the naval museum, and see some ruins. It’s quite pretty and very well built. There are most certainly very pretty things to see - the problem is that there is nothing to do there. Construction on Canal Side’s retail, commercial, and residential phases can’t begin soon enough.

John McCain is a newbie when it comes to attracting the religious whacko vote, and has - in one week - had to repudiate Rev. John Hagee, who had some very strange things to say about Hitler, and now Rod Parsley, who has some very interesting things to say about America’s founding, is a raging homophobe, and can cure disease with his touch. Maybe the Reverend A-hole Parsley could be Surgeon General.

Finally, a LOLCat:

more cat pictures