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"There's always somebody who is paid too much, and taxed too little - and it's always somebody else."
- Cullen Hightower
Good Tuesday Morning,
Last week I get a letter from the Fed telling me that my stimulus check was on its way. The letter says:
Based on your filing status, the amount of your stimulus payment is $600 or your 2007 net income tax liability, whichever is less. Net income liability is your tax before credits, including the alternative minim tax, less all non-refundable credits other than the allowable child tax credit.
The worksheet at the top of the page shows:
Your Calculated Stimulus Payment $600
So then, how come the check was for only $485? I paid a lot more in taxes than $485. In fact, I think I earn less and pay more in taxes than anyone I know.
See this video. (not necessarily office safe.) The video doesn't explain the difference, it's just fun.
 If you're a Yankees fan or just have NY license plates, stay out of Falmouth, Mass. Over the weekend a Massachusetts man beat a New Yorker with a baseball bat because he *thought* he was a Yankees fan. The only evidence he had of alleged team loyalty was the NY Plates on his car. It turns out the New Yorker was from Northport, LI, traditionally Mets territory.
The US Department of Interior is now asking Congress to lift its ban on off-shore oil drilling apparently as a way to drill ourselves into energy independence. But the Department either forgot - or forgot to mention - that US oil and gas companies hold valid leases on millions of acres of onshore resources they've never touched. Typical if the American psyche, why use something old and unused when there's a new, shiny bauble just over there? Besides, you will never see an economic impact from whatever they drill offshore (or on, for that matter) since those extra dollars will go directly to shareholders and the campaign coffers of Congressmen who vote their way... and you know that. Drive less. Group chores together. Carpool. Slow down. Ease up on acceleration. Time traffic lights. Keep your tires properly inflated. If you do that you'll be giving the oil companies what they deserve - less of your money.
President Bush insists that a boycott of the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing games would be "an insult to the Chinese" and so he will attend, giving credence and respectability to one of the more totalitarian governments on earth. Nice guy. I'll bet he won't be wearing a Tibetan flag pin on his lapel.
And, while we're on the subject of foreign affairs, Iran today said that any attack will bring ruin and devastation to US interests around the world, international shipping in the Gulf region and the destruction of Tel Aviv. What's (not!) funny about all that is that Iran actually has the capability to do what they claim but policy makers in Washington go on about the business of building a case for all-out war against her. I don't get it.
And also while on the subject of the Middle East, the Iraqi parliament has done something our own Congress has failed to do: they've requested a timetable for a US pull out and an end to the occupation. I wonder if we can vote for Iraqi's for Congress?
To be sure, there are other things going on in this great wide world of ours and here's some of them:
- Light of day (NYJN Editorial)
- Dying bats befuddle scientists
- Croton water to compete Thursday in regional taste-off
- Tunnel would resolve TZB woes
- AIA Reveals Most Effective Greencentives
- An old source to provide new energy
- While U.S. Off-Shore Wind Industry Struggles, Germany Announces 30 New Wind Farms
Light of day NYJN Editorial
New York state's roughly 30-year-old Freedom of Information Law is in desperate need of updating. Fortunately, a collection of bills that would bring the law into the information age and further its purpose of ensuring that government is clear and accessible to the governed has been passed by the state Legislature and is awaiting Gov. David Paterson's signature. The governor, who has said he is a proponent of open government, should waste no time in signing the bevy of bills into law.
As Cara Matthews of the Albany Bureau reported, the bills are far-ranging and diverse, as were their sponsors, who hail from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers throughout the state.
One bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, and state Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, would require the offending agency or government to pay attorney fees to a litigant who successfully sues for violation of the Open Meeting laws.
"I think it will encourage better compliance through better knowledge of the law," said Robert Freeman, executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government.
Another bill, sponsored by the new Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, and upstate Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, would permit the public to ask for documents in a form other than paper, such as electronically. This is not only keeping up with the times - of course records should be made available electronically in this day and age - it also will prohibit agencies from using an old standby excuse that keep some records hidden because they are "too voluminous and burdensome" to copy.
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Dying bats befuddle scientists Michael Risinit
The Journal News
The bats never came home this year to their roost behind the shutters of a raised ranch in nearby Connecticut.
Jim Dreisacker, owner of Westchester Wildlife, a nuisance-wildlife removal company, went recently to place spacers behind the shutters and reposition them to eliminate the bats' cozy resting spot. The "couple of hundred" little brown bats who had spent summers behind the shutters weren't there.
"He had them every year for several years," Dreisacker said. "They never came back. There wasn't one bat under one shutter."
The only explanation Dreisacker could think of was "white-nose syndrome," a mysterious affliction killing tens of thousands of bats in the past two years across the Northeast. The cause of the bat mortality, which has been documented in about 20 bat hibernation caves in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, remains unknown. Many of the dead bats were found with a white fungus dusting their muzzles, hence the name of the mystifying malady. The fungus is thought to be a symptom, not the cause of death.
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Croton water to compete Thursday in regional taste-off Anna Mageras
The Journal News
NEW YORK - How good is Westchester's drinking water? In a contest Thursday, the public will determine how its taste compares to that of other water supplies in the metropolitan region.
Croton-on-Hudson - Westchester's finalist - is competing against water from New York City, New Windsor in Orange County, Bethpage Water District in Nassau County and Dix Hills Water District from Suffolk County for the chance to advance to the statewide contest at the New York State Fair in August.
Anyone passing by the Museum of Natural History between 10 and 11 a.m. Thursday can participate in the judging by tasting samples from each of the five contestants in a blind taste test.
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Tunnel would resolve TZB woes NYJN Letter
Yet another editorial on the Tappan Zee Bridge ("Traffic report: Bumpy," Thursday), its deterioration and the traffic delays. How many have there been in the past 10 years? How many more to come?
If the Tappan Tunnel had started when it was proposed, it would be completed now, with no construction-related delays or environmental damage and at a cost less than the combined costs of the Environmental Impact Statement, the redecking and Exit 8. As we go into a failing economy, will we ever learn? Will we have to wait until the bridge falls down completely and even Band-Aids on the deck won't help?
Alexander Saunders
Garrison
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AIA Reveals Most Effective Greencentives July 04, 2008
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has conducted a study to find out which incentives for green building are the most effective. Density bonuses, tax incentives and quick permit processes turned out be the highest ranked tools for encouraging green building.
The AIA, a trade organization, is turning out to be quite asustainable organization. With all the policy options floating around out there, the AIA struck on a great idea by evaluating their effectiveness -- which ones actually work? It’s an important question to answer in order to encourage green building, and to offer guidance for policy makers. There’s no need to waste time implementing policy measures we know to be ineffective. If only people would apply similar analytical principals to renewable energy incentives....
The AIA's report features analysis of more than a dozen incentives, evaluation and examples of where they have been applied. The AIA has been promoting sustainable building practices, now branding itself as a “green architecture” organization. Architects are in a prime position to promote smart design through building plans.
The report is free and available here.
An old source to provide new energy By Tom Pelton
Baltimore Sun
HOLTWOOD, Pa. — The century-old dam on the Susquehanna River doesn't look like an energy source of the future.
Weeds sprout out of cracks in the weathered Holtwood Hydroelectric Dam, 12 miles upriver from Maryland. Inside the generating building, antique brass volt meters look like something from Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Water snakes slither across the floor.
Despite the decrepit appearance, a Pennsylvania power company is planning to spend $350 million to build water-powered turbines next to the dam. The first new hydroelectric power plant in the East in 20 years, it would double the dam's electrical output, providing another 100,000 homes with pollution-free electricity, according to the company.
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While U.S. Off-Shore Wind Industry Struggles, Germany Announces 30 New Wind Farms European Nation Sets Ambitious Renewable Energy Goals
Germany's transport minister, Wolfgang Tiefensee, announced this weekend that his country plans to build up to 30 off-shore wind farms to meet the country's renewable energy targets, reports Der Spiegel. Tiefensee said he hopes to see some 2,000 windmills in the North and Baltic Seas, to provide 11,000 megawatts of electricity.
This announcement comes not long after the UK unveiled plans to construct enough off-shore wind farms to power every home in England by 2020. Denmark has been leading this sector for years.
Berlin reportedly wants to source 25,000 megawatts of energy from wind farms by 2030. The country had recently passed a law designed to raise the percentage of renewable energy from the current 14 percent to 30 percent by 2020. New off-shore projects are expected to cost roughly €1 billion ($1.56 billion) each, and the first one is expected to be off Borkum Island in the North Sea next year.
Wind farms have met with much less NIMBY resistance and less arguments in Europe, perhaps because the continent has a long history of reliance on, and appreciation for, windmills, especially in northern countries. Plus, Europeans are well known for earlier adoption of measures to combat climate change and boost sustainability.
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