News That Matters - August 18, 2008

News That Matters Brought to you by PlanPutnam.Org Good Monday Morning, Other than that it will be a hot and beautiful late summer day, there is little good news this morning. I'm sorry. I don't make the news, I just report it. Today's poll: Is Greg Ball's military career an issue for you in this campaign? Vote here. The League of Women Voters is hosting a Legislative candidates forum this evening at 7PM in the Mahopac Public Library. It could be interesting. And then again, maybe not. Concerned Residents of Carmel & Mahopac will hold a Pre-Primary Candidates Forum on Tuesday, August 19th, at 7:30 PM, also at the Mahopac Library.  The first half of the two hour program will involve the three candidates for Putnam County Legislator for District 8 who will be in attendance at tonight's LWV forum. The second segment will be for the two candidates running for Assemblyman of the 99th Assembly District, John Degnan and Greg Ball. Based on the performance of Mr. Ball's supporters at a similar event in Carmel last week, bring your flame retardant clothes and ear plugs as those folk have a tendency to cause grief for civil discourse. But it should be quite a show and clearly better than any "reality" TV you could be watching at the same time. CRCM has a history of keeping these things under control however and I wish them well with this one. Personally, I'd have the cops out, just in case. The 8th Annual Daniel Nimham Pow Wow was a vast and wonderful success and for those of you who stayed home, you missed a great couple of days here in Putnam County. Yesterday's crowd had people waiting to park as far back as the church, er, chapel, er, "historic structure" built, some say illegally, at the entrance to the county park on Gipsy Trail. The day included Brian Bradley's stellar Birds of Prey show that kept hundreds of people spellbound for an hour and ended with a children's "candy dance". The Town of Kent's Stormwater Management Committee was present and handed out stormwater cause and prevention information to more than 350 people. Their main pull was a small "fishing" tank that attracted children so that the committee could put information into the hands of their parents. Children who 'caught' a fish came away with activity and coloring books on stormwater related themes. Some of those contacts led to lengthy discussions and questions about how best to deal with the problem, some to complaints, but most to a new understanding for residents. The committee had a great presence at the 4H Fair and if you live in that town, look for them again at the Kent Community Day coming in September. Last week Congressman John Hall voted for HR 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act which makes it more difficult for businesses to pay women less than men for equal work. Personally, I'm finding it difficult to believe we even have to have a law like this. 178 members of Congress voted AGAINST equal pay for equal work. (Only 14 Republicans voted for the majority.) Interestingly, today marks the 88th anniversary of Tennessee's ratification of the 19th Amendment, being the 38th state to ratify the right of women to vote. Women can vote, but according to 178 members of Congress they're still not equal. "Bro's before Ho's" as the rappers say. I mentioned on Friday that if the tax meeting at Mohonk that afternoon was any good I'd write about it on Saturday. It wasn't all that good but there was some interesting information that has come from it and I'll lay that out. There were three newspaper articles about it in regional papers (the NY Journal News missed the boat) and all three said, um, nothing other than that between 75 and 100 people got together, blah, blah, blah... Here's the important information you didn't get from the articles: The Fiscal Policy Institutes's Frank Mauro is a genius. Next, as a property owner you are most likely screwed. If you're a renter and earn more than $18,000 a year, you're screwed even more. Few in Albany care much beyond getting re-elected. (That's not news, just a reiteration of what you already know.) The tax cap is bad. The Circuit Breaker is not as bad (unless you rent,) and the only solution upon which everyone agrees is The One, no one has the nerve to push: Kevin Cahill's Equity in Education bill. Every politician and tax activist I've ever spoken to agrees on this yet at the same time each offers their own take on why it cannot be accomplished. What it comes down to is simple: those "leaders" lack the will to get it done and would rather play the game than win the game. They are not on your side. (There! I've just made another few hundred enemies.) Since NY gave up it's graduated income tax back in 1972, we've lost out on about $7 Billion a year in tax collections from the rich - EACH YEAR - and you are making up the difference. The top 1% of New York wage earners bring in the same amount of income as the lowest 50% of wage earners - combined. When politicians in Albany tell you that if you tax the rich they'll move out of state, they're lying. Assemblyman Joel Miller was lying, or just sorely mistaken as the facts backed by Frank Mauro, say otherwise. The facts show that they stay and they pay. When New Jersey taxed their rich last year, tax form aggregates for that earning's group stayed the same meaning that no one moved away. Now Connecticut is inching up on their millionaires and so there's no place for them to go. The political will in Albany to return to a graduated income tax is non-existent and based solely on the amount of campaign donations that come from that socio-economic group and you know where that leaves us? It looks like the NY Public Service Commission is giving utility companies another free handout from your pocket by allowing them to pass on costs of a new carbon trading program. Look for your electric bills to rise from as little as $0.78 a month to... well, they don't know. Thanks to intrepid NtM reporter Dawn Powell, you read the story here before the Journal News grabbed it - again. (they keep doing that!) Putnam Valley has borrowed $300,000 to repair a damaged wall at George's Super Station, a business which is hundreds of thousands of dollars behind in their taxes and still operating without being shut and sold by the county for failure to pay those taxes. There's another (in)famous business in a similar situation, Kent Manor, who is or was reportedly millions behind. (and for whom DEP has jumped through hoops to expedite construction.) How long would it take the county to foreclose on your home if you were behind? Do you think they'd let you slide to the tune of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars? I'm not going to use the words "collusion" or "corruption" so please place whatever words better describe the situation between the "quotation marks". New York State's promised $600,000,000 budget shortfall will likely be made up through higher property taxes at the same time the state promises to enact property tax relief legislation. If that sounds odd to you, a conundrum, ironic or any other word I could pull from the Thesaurus of Disbelief, you're right. John Anderson, 7, from Minneapolis, MN, found himself on the government's terrorist watch and No Fly lists. He discovered his notoriety when his family checked in at the airport on their way to Disney World. Do you feel safer now? I know I do. You just can't trust kids these days. The number of people taking sides in the Ball/Degnan race is getting more impressive by the minute. Not only has the local press taken obvious sides (Degnan's) but you can now add Denis Sant's name to the list where Senator Vincent Leibell and Putnam County DA Adam Levy already reside. Does Greg Ball have any friends left? Nancy Pelosi has decided to allow a vote on oil drilling in our nations' protected preserves and off our shores. To demonstrate just how silly politics in Washington has become, American Thinker, a hard right-wing blog states: "It looks like if [sic] the GOP is going to get a vote on offshore drilling, they are going to have to swallow hard and help fund alternative energy as well..." (emphasis mine). At the same time, their press notes are telling Republicans to inform the American public that they have long been leaders in advocating alternative energy policies. If you're heading to Denver for the Democratic National Convention and you're arrested attempting to use your first amendment rights to stand in a metal cage and peacefully demonstrate, (and odds are you will be arrested), bring an overnight bag. Denver police are in the process of converting an old warehouse several miles from downtown, complete with fencing topped with razor wire and posted signs which read, "Warning! Electric stun devices used in this facility", as a processing center. News reporters who were filming inside "Gitmo on the Platte" were asked to leave by sheriff's deputies. The county once stored voting machines there and decided the warehouse was too decrepit and so moved them elsewhere. It's apparently good enough for people though. Denver insists this will facilitate criminal processing so that you won't have to "wait hours" in order to get back to the business of democracy from a guarded cage, but the devil is in the details. "Of course if the numbers are overwhelming, that's all going to be out the door," said Capt. Frank Gale, a sheriff's spokesman. "If we're inundated with a bunch of civil unrest, it doesn't matter how well we prepare. If we get severe numbers it's going to take us forever" to process those in custody. In other words, if you go to Denver be prepared to spend a very long time in detention. And just like in NYC during the Republican convention, be prepared to spend just as much time as it takes for the convention to end before your release. This is what our democracy has come to. News That Matters is being read far and wide these days. I even get email and page visits from within the hallowed halls of the State House in Albany. And the logs show a growing number of regular readers across the region and the nation. There are now several ways you can access the column. Here, through your daily email (you can sign up in the column above and to the right), at PlanPutnam.org, through Blogspot, Posterous and now at the website, "No Country For Sane Men". Take your pick! As always, your comments are welcome. Happy reading! J

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