No Country For Sane Men: News That Matters - Friday, July 2, 2010

News That Matters

News That Matters
Brought to you (Almost Daily) by PlanPutnam.Org

Good Friday Morning,

It's been one hell of a week over here at the Asylum and to celebrate its end we're having an informal gathering this evening at about 7:30PM and you are all welcome and encouraged to drop in.

Bring a snack and something to drink.

We'll have the fire-pit a blaze to ward off the evening chill and to welcome high summer and the start of the Independence Day weekend.

Bring your kids if you like (we'll keep the debauchery to a low level as we always do,) and your friendly dogs, too. And a tent or sleeping bag if you're drinking anything other than sugary soft drinks.

The weather promises to be clear and cool, perfect for a night under the stars - and the skies out here in western Kent can be truly stunning...

Directions, for those who need them, are here. RSVP's are not necessary.

Kudos:

Thanks to MS and WA and DB for their support.
To the Town of Kent Highway Department for maintaining my overly-traveled rural road as best they can.
To Greg Ball for keeping us all entertained.
To the PC Legislature for deciding not to give corporate welfare to developers.
To the Putnam County Sheriff's Department for busting a guy for taking a leak at a gas station.
To the NYJN for thinking it was news and bringing local journalism to a new low.
To Eric Arctender for introducing me to tapenade.
To supporters of Nan Hayworth for believing that spending a trillion dollars a year fighting wars we cannot win is more important than health care, education, research, infrastructure and other programs.
To the Town of Carmel for having not one, but two! BP gas stations a thousand feet away from each other.
To Russia for forgetting that the Cold War ended 25 years ago.
To Louis Farrakhan for being, well, ungrateful.
To the NY State Senate for abrogating their rights as representatives of the public.
To Joel Tyner for displaying genuine progressive political action.
To the guy in Nigeria who keeps offering me $12,000,000 of I just send him a few thousand to cover his costs.
To the Poughkeepsie Journal for their headline, "Gay picks Grizzlies over Knicks, others", which sadly had nothing to do with anything of genuine interest unless you're a sports fanatic.
To County Legislator Tony Fusco for sending me 9 invites to his fund raiser this week.
To my dog, Acosta, for understanding why his daily feed rations were cut this week.
To my cat, Ulysseys, for leaving 'hairballs' all over the floor this morning.
And to the customer service rep at Verizon Wireless for restoring my faith in customer service reps (with the exception of the CS reps at Bank of America who, I am sure, still suck.)

Putnam Freecycle advertisement of the week:

Madagascar-Hissing-Cockroaches. Yes, I am offering cockroaches (not the kind you find in someone's dirty house)as pets. We got them a couple of years ago from Freecycle and we have had a blast with them. My son was 10 when we got them but now he is ready to move on to a pet that needs some more care and is a bit more loving.

We are offering 4 cockroaches in a 10 gallon tank with all of the trimings and woodchips needed. They only need water and a carrott every few days. Below is the link for info. To my surpirse [sic] I spent a lot of time watching them and was entertained.

Easy pick up on my deck. I don't need to be home to say goodbye to them.

Here is a link for good info.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/madagascar-hissing-cockroach.html

Email responses only. I may quiz you on your knowledge so I know they are going to a good home.

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate and Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner is currently on a walk from Wall Street to Albany to encourage the state legislature to keep the $16 billion in stock transfer taxes they return each year to Wall Street.

On his way through Putnam County he was interviewed by the PCNR and Cablevision at the entrance to Boscobel on Route 9D in Philipstown and by Alan Chartok of WAMC radio yesterday morning.

Joel stayed here at the Asylum Wednesday night before I brought him back to where I'd picked him up so that he could continue his journey, reaching Albany early next week.

Here's a tentative schedule for the rest of his 150-mile "Walk for Main Street Not Wall Street":

[Joel will be stopping for press conferences in front of schools, hospitals, town halls, city halls, libraries, etc.]

-- Today, Fri. July 2nd: Dutchess County [in front of Beacon City Hall, Wapp. Village Hall, Pok. City Hall, hosp.'s]

-- Sat. July 3rd: Dutchess County (in front of Hyde Park, Rhinebeck, Red Hook schools, ND Hospital)

-- Sun. July 4th: Columbia County (in front of Germantown, Hudson, Kinderhook schools; C. M. Hospital]

-- Mon. July 5th: Rensselaer County (Schodack/Castleton, East Greenbush, Rensselaer schools)

-- Tues. July 6th: Albany (in front of New York State Legislative Office Building from Swan St. steps)

Remember, Joel is walking 150 miles in 11 days to build even more support for a millionaires tax and at least partial re-implementation of a small stock transfer tax on Wall Street to balance the budget-- and cut OUR taxes!

You're not hearing that from Andrew Cuomo, are you?

Here's a list of local Farmer's Markets available for this season.
If you know of any not listed here, please write and tell me.

Brewster Farmer's Market at Peaceable Road and Route 6 from 9AM - 2PM each Wednesday and Saturday. WIC & SNP welcome. Sponsors: the Coalition for a Better Brewster and the Village of Brewster.

Cascade Farm is in Patterson on Harmony Road just north of Route 292 and just west of the traffic light at Route 311. Their farm stand is open on Saturdays from 9 until noon. Call 845.878.3258 for information.

Cold Spring Farmer's Market is open on Saturdays, May through October, from 8:30 AM until 1:30PM at 44 Chestnut Street in Cold Spring.

Kent Farmer's Market is open at the old Police offices (now the Recreation Department) on Saturday's from mid-morning to early afternoons.

Putnam Valley Farmer's Market is now open from 3PM until 7PM on Wednesdays at the Lake Peekskill Community Center. Mill Street and Peekskill Hollow Road. And, the Friday Market is open from 3 P.M. to 7P.M., starts on June 26th at Tompkins Corners Methodist Church, 729 Peekskill Hollow Rd. and will go to October 16th.
Don't forget to come home with some of Eric's incredible tapenade!

Ryder Farm is in Southeast on Starr Ridge Road just about 2 miles below the Route 6 traffic light (Citgo Station). The Ryder farm stand is open 24 hours a day as a pay-as-you-go operation.

This list is also available at the website here.

If you're not coming to the bonfire this evening here at the Asylum, there are few other events you may like to attend.

Music at China Pond

A String Trio of Arturo Delmoni (violin), Susan Pray (viola) and Peter Sanders (cello) from the New York City Ballet Orchestra at Lincoln Center will play a program of baroque, classical, romantic and 20th century music - Bach, Mozart, Piston, Dohnanyi and Beethoven.

This performance will take place at the Sedgewood Boathouse (1026 Barrett Circle West) in Western Kent and is also supported by the Friends of Classical Music at Arts on the Lake.

More information on that can be found here.

And, of course, fireworks displays will be held throughout the Valley and the Highlands over the weekend to celebrate the 4th of July Independence Day holiday. Lake Carmel, Cold Spring (From West Point) on Sunday evening (usually around 9:15PM) and other venues

Subscribe to the News That Matters RSS Feed and stay up-to-date.