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Good Thursday Morning,

Today, in 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech before 200,000 demonstrators at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

"I don't own a cell phone or a pager. I just hang around everyone I know, all the time. If someone wants to get a hold of me, they just say 'Mitch,' and I say 'what?' and turn my head slightly." - Mitch Hedberg

Democrats meeting in Denver last evening made history by choosing the first black American to achieve the presidential nomination from a major political party. The vote to do so ended a two year primary battle. Two years! Can you believe it? Just hang on, all this will be over in another couple of months, and I for one, can't wait. I don't even care who wins, I'm just tired of the constant barrage of media coverage that offers nothing and no real information about the candidates' positions. It's all the same blather with no real choice. Imagine if the Democrats had balls and allowed Denis Kucinich to run?

Both Senators, Obama and McCain, keep moving their positions towards what they perceive as the political center so that in the end the only difference between them is the way they cut their hair. The vote that matters is for Congress and the question is, should Democrats be rewarded for two years of acquiescing to the nations most unpopular President, a man whose policies have led to a rapid decay of the American Empire and the greatest disparity of income in our history? I'll leave that up to you. Some of my readers actually support the President's policies but I have to imagine it's a lonely place to be.

There were two interesting - and somewhat competing articles in the Putnam County Courier, sometimes known as the "Camarda Gazette". In an editorial, the paper pushes Patterson Crossing as the solution to everything from acne to hemorrhoids and promises that completion of the mall will not only solve our national energy crises and have Israeli's and Palestinians dancing the hora in the rose-petal covered streets of Tel Aviv. The County Executive promises, however, that if PC isn't built that county property taxes will rise, as if they won't go up in any case with normally increasing costs for product and services.

Yet in another article, Putnam's ex-IDA Chief Kevin Bailey says,

"Small business will succeed since the mom and pop stores have had to learn how to compete with the big box stores. When the large stores moved into our neighboring counties of Dutchess and Westchester, small business was concerned about surviving. The little guys learned how to compete. Big box stores have major flaws and small business can exploit those imperfections. Most people enjoy shopping in a smaller business because service is so much better. Price may be a few cents more but service is worth something today. Besides, most small businessmen and businesswomen give back to their community,"

Then he goes on to say that big box stores be placed at...

"strategic locations along the interstate highway system. People tell me I am contradicting myself since I am a fan of small business. When a larger business opens off an interstate highway, shoppers will flock to that enterprise thus adding a customer base to nearby small business establishments. Everyone is a winner!"

Tell that to Dill's. If traffic is drawn to the Interstates it means - logically - they're drawn *away* from traditional small business locations.

We still don't know when it was and who was in the room when the Patterson Chamber of Commerce voted to endorse Patterson Crossing. My sources tell me it was an "executive decision" and that the membership wasn't asked. Sweet, eh?

Assemblyman Ball and challenger John Degnan met in Yorktown last evening for another debate. The JN has an article about it (see below) but I'm waiting for sponsor Bruce Apar's take on the matter. I'm sure it was exciting.

My neighbor is flying over the house again. And again. And again. He likes to do things like flips and loop-de-loops and fly skywards to stall speed then cutting the engine in again. I really hope he doesn't crash in the field. If he does, I'll have to put the jeep into 4-wheel to get over the mangled wreckage just to get out of here. What a pain.

My dinner last night, (and largely for the past few weeks), came from locally grown and produced foods. Was yours? If not, please take a look at your spending habits. Supporting local agriculture, farmer's markets and the like, is the best way to fight dependence on foreign energy sources. Besides, it's healthier. Honest.

Anyway, that's it for this morning... now, the News:

Ball and Degnan again clash at debate
Wind Energy Bumps Into Power Grid’s Limits
The Numbers Prove it: We're Building Smarter
Meeting to focus on well-testing plan
Green Roofs Offer More Than Color for the Skyline
The World Spends $300 Billion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels
Judges consider whether FBI violated free speech

Ball and Degnan again clash at debate

Michael Risinit
The Journal News

YORKTOWN - Term limits. That was Assemblyman Greg Ball's answer last night when asked during a debate with his Republican opponent what dream legislation he would like to see passed in Albany.

"The New York state Legislature is dysfunctional," Ball, R-Patterson, said. "The problem is too much power is concentrated in too few hands."

He didn't offer a number on how many terms were enough. But John Degnan, his opponent in the upcoming GOP primary, would most likely argue that this term, Ball's first, should be his last.

"Wouldn't it be great if anybody listened to Mr. Ball in the Assembly?" asked Degnan, faulting Ball for not being the lead sponsor on any legislation that passed. "He's persona non grata in the body he's been elected to."

Read More

Wind Energy Bumps Into Power Grid’s Limits

By MATTHEW L. WALD

When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.

That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.

“We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,” said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

While the United States today gets barely 1 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, many experts are starting to think that figure could hit 20 percent.

Achieving that would require moving large amounts of power over long distances, from the windy, lightly populated plains in the middle of the country to the coasts where many people live. Builders are also contemplating immense solar-power stations in the nation’s deserts that would pose the same transmission problems.

Read More

The Numbers Prove it: We're Building Smarter

Energy Star-Certified Homes Defy The Sagging Real Estate Market

At the end of the day, the way the economy impacts most people concerns their own bottom line. Whether a developer or buyer of a home, it all basically boils down to how much I can make and how much I can save. Or, as this was defined in the 1992 presidential election, "It's the economy, stupid."

The following information just released by the New York State Builders' Association (NYSBA) may clarify some of the economic impact recently caused by going green, (or at the least, Energy Star certified): "Preliminary figures for the NYSERDA program show that the market share for 2008 of ENERGY STAR homes will exceed last year's record of 17.4 percent of all homes built, as compared to permits issued. Through July, over 1,500 ENERGY STAR homes were completed during the year, resulting in more than $1.5 million in builder incentives. This translates to about 25 percent more homes and builder incentive dollars than at this point in 2007."

Builders in upstate New York alone have delivered 12,500 ENERGY STAR homes and received nearly $14 million in incentives.

Read More

Meeting to focus on well-testing plan

Steinhaus sets Thursday hearing
By Jenny Lee
Poughkeepsie Journal

Dutchess County residents will get a chance to voice their opinion on a proposed mandatory well-testing law at a public hearing Thursday.

Executive William Steinhaus has called the meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday in the County Office Building, City of Poughkeepsie.

Dutchess has about 30,000 private wells, according to county officials.

Steinhaus has 30 days to take action on the law, since he received it during the second week of August. Last year, Steinhaus vetoed a similar measure.

The law would require the seller of a home with a private well to test it before the closing of a sale and then send the results to the Health Department.

Read More

Green Roofs Offer More Than Color for the Skyline

By KEN BELSON
The thousands of recently planted green and purple shrublike sedum lining the roof of Con Edison’s training center in Long Island City look a bit out of place in the shadow of Manhattan’s skyline.

But the tiny absorbent leaves and modest but hardy roots of the sedum — typically found in desert climates — are at the center of a growing effort to reduce greenhouse gases, rainwater runoff and electricity demand in New York.

This month, Gov. David A. Paterson approved tax abatements to developers and building owners who install green roofs, or a layer of vegetation and rock that absorbs rainwater, insulates buildings and extends the lives of roofs. Sedum, which soaks up water quickly and releases it slowly, is an ideal plant for the job.

Europe has had green roofs for decades, and cities like Chicago and Seattle have added many of them in recent years. But there are fewer in New York because of the cost of installing them compared with the benefits, which can be hard to quantify. The new one-year abatements, though, can cut as much as $100,000 a year from a building’s taxes, and are expected to turn what has largely been a hidden luxury into a standard feature of a little-seen part of the city’s landscape.

“This is just the beginning,” said Kari Elwell Katzander, a partner in Mingo Design, a landscape design firm in Manhattan that works on green roofs. “It’s not just about the green roof. This transcends into various ways to make buildings more green.”

Read More

The World Spends $300 Billion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels

The Cost of Eliminating Fossil Fuels? Maybe No More than the Cost of Burning Them
August 27, 2008 at 8:57AM by Dan Shapley

The world is spending $300 billion every year to subsidize fossil fuels that pollute the air, wreck the climate ... and run the world's economy.

So what if we, as taxpayers, stopped spending $300 billion on coal, oil and natural gas, and started spending it instead on wind, sun and water?

That's the question at the heart of a new report from the United Nations Environment Program, which concludes that eliminating fuel subsidies would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but might just inspire new economic growth. (Further, it concludes that fossil fuels subsidies sold as a way to help the poor keep the lights on actually do more to help the rich.)

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Judges consider whether FBI violated free speech

Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:12pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A panel of federal appeals court judges pushed a U.S. government lawyer on Wednesday to answer why FBI letters sent out to Internet service providers seeking information should remain secret.

A panel of three judges from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether a provision of the Patriot Act, which requires people who are formally contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for information to keep it a secret, is constitutional.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in 2004 on behalf of an undisclosed Internet service provider against the U.S. government challenging the so-called National Security Letters (NSL) as well as gag orders placed on the recipients.

The appeals courts on Wednesday questioned a lawyer representing the U.S. government on whether the FBI violated free speech rights in placing the gag orders.

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