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Good Thursday Morning,
It's going to be another glorious summer day with a 50% chance of thunderstorms later this afternoon. Expect a sunny high of 79 or so with good air quality.
Keep in mind that as you harvest your gardens, toss the refuse into your compost pile. If you don't have a compost pile, send me a note and I'll help you get one set up. There's no reason not to have one and many good reasons you should.
Here's a professional painter's tip for homeowners: if you live in a wood-sided home, it probably needs to be painted and I happen to know the right guy for the job. Besides, a decent paint job will caulk holes and cracks sealing your home against the coming winter thus lowering your heating bills - and you know where they're going to be this winter...
 The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 50 to 100 meteors per hour. Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius. It's a grand sight. For a while the Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn.
You'll remember a couple years back when I got really sick and sought out a doctor in this county - any doctor - that would see me on a sliding scale and found none. Then I searched for a walk-in clinic only to find that Putnam County does not have one. A call to the county social services office seeking advice came up with the response that I should try Danbury or Poughkeepsie and use a fake name. I eventually ended up in the emergency room at Putnam County hospital and left with a multi-thousand dollar bill that left me financially devastated. I wrote about that in this column on several occasions and it seems the county legislature is finally taking up the issue. There's a Journal News editorial below with more about the story.
The Journal News reports this morning that the Town of Carmel was unable to sell the old Grange Hall on McAlpin Avenue. They were hoping to earn for $100,000 for the two story building within walking distance of their town center and historical society. The problem is that they went about it all wrong! What they should have done is offered to it an out of state developer along with $25 million in tax breaks. At least they have a lot for the new police station they're going to have to build. It's too bad they tore down the old firehouse, a building which could have been remodeled for that purpose. But progress marches on and that site is now a parking lot sitting next to an architectural oddity.
Kieran Lalor (yes, we're back to him this morning), is bitching and moaning about Congress taking a vacation this August. Somehow, this yearly vacation has slipped his mind over the years and he's realizing it now - apparently for the first time. With all his kvetching he hasn't noticed that this past congress has worked 5 day weeks since the session began which is a far cry from the Sue Kelly, Republican majority days, when they worked - on average - 2.5 days each week. I have no idea what this man wants but he's getting more annoying by the day.
But Congressman Hall is not basking in the sun at St. Tropez. Since the vacation began he's been working here in the district visiting with veteran's organizations (a fact Mr. Lalor, a veteran himself, pointedly ignores), and meeting with local oil companies seeking a way to bring home heating oil prices down. I really do wish Mr. Lalor would spend as much time opening his eyes as he does opening his mouth.
It seems Bruce Ivins is not the first person the FBI has pushed to the edge. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Robert Christie, 72, was fingered as a suspect in an FBI probe of a casino bank robber. And, even though he was innocent with rock-solid alibi's, the FBI didn't care, insisting he "fit the profile" developed from casual observations by a casino worker and blurry bank surveillance photos. They monitored his every move and then, when they couldn't stand it any more, arrested him out of his car in the middle of heavy highway traffic. Christie spent 10 days in jail and two months under house arrest before the charges were dropped late in December 2007 with the conviction of, um, the real bank robber.
Since the Government has determined that waterboarding does not qualify as torture, you can try it out yourself. Head on down to Coney Island where Steve Powers' Waterboard Thrill Ride awaits. The theme? 'It Don't Gitmo Better'.
In case you've forgotten, we're at war with Afghanistan. Oh yeah? Well, the 500th US soldier has died there and no one noticed.
It looks like the price of cardio-vascular disease is going up. McDonald's has hinted at additional price hikes of about 4%.
63 years ago today the sun rose over the city of Hiroshima, Japan, which was a smoking ruin from the August 6th bombing that left 140,000 citizens dead and destroying or seriously damaging 90% of the city. This scene would be repeated two days later on August 9th in Nagasaki killing an additional 75,000. This follows the February 13-15th bombing of the open city of Dresden, Germany, in which 40,000 citizens were killed. Since then, we've managed to stop killing so many in one day but our wars and quasi-wars kill many more... it just takes more time, is all.
You can read News That Matters online either from PlanPutnam or directly here at Blogspot.
And now, the News:
- Get ready for invasion of Kent (JN Letter)
- Paying now . . . or later (Health Care in Putnam County)
- $40,000 to help Tivoli buy land for park
- The Future of Shopping Malls: An Image Essay
- New zoning plan on the horizon (Rhinebeck)
- So Make a Fuel-Efficient Luxury Car
- No Tax for Open Space (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- A Potion to Beat Back ‘Frankenfish’ (Orange County, NY)
Get ready for invasion of Kent Sit back, relax, close your eyes and willingly suspend your disbelief. The time is October 1492, Columbus has landed and laid claim to America. The natives didn't have a clue.
More than 500 years later, instead of Queen Isabella's cannon backing up an adventurer's claim, it's a battery of $300-an-hour lawyers with pens razor-sharp, set to enforce another illegal land seizure. Seventeen acres in the town of Kent will soon become part of Patterson, in order that the destruction of New York City watershed in eastern Putnam proceed unfettered.
Make no doubt about it. Those 17 acres in Kent that control the entranceway to the all-but-done deal Patterson Crossing are history. We know too well what happened to the original Americans when they resisted the white man's claim to Manifest Destiny. Now those words have seamlessly morphed into "eminent domain," and threatening lawsuits hover over Kent Town Hall like giant alien bed bugs.
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Paying now . . . or later Putnam Legislature
takes note of the high
cost of doing nothing
Here's what Putnam residents who don't have medical insurance, or the wherewithal to pay a private doctor, can do when they need medical care in the county: They can wait -that is, wait until the problem goes away. How about preventative care? That's out of the question for the uninsured and underinsured. They tough it out through early symptoms of illness. Of course, when those options fail and the pain or complications become too severe to ignore, there's always the most expensive option, a trip to the emergency room at Putnam Hospital Center.
None of these is a good choices for residents, or for the health-care system. The bottom line should be familiar to everyone by now: Everyone picks up the tab for the uninsured, too often that emergency room bill, often higher still because inattention have worsened conditions.
Red the full editorial here
$40,000 to help Tivoli buy land for park Scenic Hudson grant will cover fees for CSX deal
By Rasheed Oluwa
Poughkeepsie Journal
TIVOLI - A $40,000 grant from Scenic Hudson will help the village complete the purchase of property for a riverfront park.
Last month, Scenic Hudson announced it was giving the village a $40,000 grant to help its purchase of nearly 3 acres of riverfront property.
This year, village officials announced a plan to obtain the property from the railroad company CSX. In essence, CSX is giving the property to the village, according to state Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R-Tivoli.
"The $40,000 covers legal and engineering fees associated with the transaction," said Molinaro, who worked on the project when he served as Tivoli's mayor.
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The Future of Shopping Malls: An Image Essay WorldChanging Team
August 6, 2008 1:00 PM
By Morgan Greenseth
Mall culture in the United States -- at least as we know it -- is coming to an end. Last month, the fall of Steve & Barry's became the next addition to a series of recent retailer bankruptcies we've been witnessing across the nation. This trend is likely to continue, as the U.S. economic downturn causes people to reduce their trips to stores and to shop less, forcing more shops to close and leaving malls deserted.
According to an article that ran in The Economist at the end of 2007:
In the past half century ... [malls] have transformed shopping habits, urban economies and teenage speech. America now has some 1,100 enclosed shopping malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres. Clones have appeared from Chennai to Martinique. Yet the mall's story is far from triumphal. Invented by a European socialist who hated cars and came to deride his own creation, it has a murky future. While malls continue to multiply outside America, they are gradually dying in the country that pioneered them.
Deadmalls, a site dedicated to these failing malls, tracks closings and developments, and even allows you to locate malls that are dying in your own town.
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New zoning plan on the horizon By: Jan Larraine Cox, Staff Reporter08/07/2008
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Expert Land Planner Randall Arendt addressed highly concerned citizens of Rhinebeck and the Hamlet of Rhinecliff last Friday night and Saturday morning regarding the Rhinebeck Comprehensive Plan and Draft Zoning Code now being worked on by Sally Mazarella, Chair of the Comprehensive Plan Committee for the Town of Rhinebeck. Two weeks ago, Mazarella and committee released a Draft Comprehensive/Zoning Plan, which calls for a maximum of one structure on 20 acres. It can be read on the Town of Rhinebeck Web site at www.rhinebeck-ny.gov.
The plan has enraged large landowners as they feel it favors the large estate developer and devalues the property value of their land. They are calling for a 1:10 acre ratio, and in the case of working farms, a 1:5 acre ratio, in order to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood of Rhinebeck and the already tenuous financial soundness of the working farms, specifically in the National Historic Landmark District.
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So Make a Fuel-Efficient Luxury Car The Fight Over the Nation's Fuel Economy Standards
Photo: With 34 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway, the Ford Escape hybrid was one of several SUVs to rank among the most efficient vehicles -- of any kind -- manufactured in 2008.
There's a fight going on in Washington that will ultimately affect how much you pay for gas.
Congress has demanded that the Bush Administration increase the fuel efficiency of the American automobile fleet, by requiring automakers to make more efficient cars and trucks.
Now that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is writing new rules into law, automakers are complaining that the 2011 model year requirements are too strict, while many car salesmen and environmental advocates are arguing just the opposite. They argue: Americans want to buy fuel-efficient cars, so carmakers will make money by selling them. (See this San Francisco Chronicle story for an overview of the fuel-efficiency fight.)
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No Tax for Open Space By Dan Mckay
Journal Staff Writer
A property tax to fund the purchase of more open space won't make it on the ballot this year after all.
Bernalillo County accidentally left the tax off the ballot two years ago but said it would put the measure before voters this year. That's no longer the plan.
County Manager Thaddeus Lucero said commissioners have renewed the tax at a reduced rate, and with a healthy cash balance already available, there's no need to ask voters for the full amount.
The county will focus mostly on maintenance, not acquisition, of open-space lands for now.
"I didn't think it was prudent to go to the voters and ask them for more money when we have ($12 million) in the bank," Lucero said in an interview.
Open-space supporters, especially in the South Valley, are bitterly disappointed. They say development is consuming more and more agricultural land.
"Acre by acre, we're losing it," said Susan White, an open-space volunteer and former member of the county's now-defunct open-space committee. "If we don't make an effort right now, in 30 years ... the whole valley is going to be paved over."
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A Potion to Beat Back ‘Frankenfish’ By PETER APPLEBOME
WAWAYANDA, N.Y.
No doubt someone would have identified the northern snakeheads around Ridgebury Lake and Catlin Creek sooner or later, even if Bill Thompson had not scooted his golf cart to the edge of the pond behind his house and shot two of them with a .22 in May.
But in this case sooner was definitely better than later. Mr. Thompson notified State Department of Environmental Conservation officials, suspecting that he had shot the weird fish he had heard about on the Discovery Channel. They rushed to his pond. And Tuesday he sat in the same golf cart watching a swarm of workers, technicians and agents dump a fast-acting fish poison into the murky green waters and wade around with nets, scooping out whatever they found alive.
“I don’t like the way it looks or the way it smells, and if you don’t stop them now, it’s going to be all you have,” he said. “There are already thousands of them in there.”
Summer is monster season. Maybe it’s the amazing annual discovery that sharks sometimes bite people. If we’re lucky, sometimes we get a gift like the Montauk Monster, the weird carcass — raccoon? Devil spawn from hell? Hoax? — whose photograph became a worldwide Internet sensation last week. And here in Orange County this summer, as it was in Queens in 2005, it’s the northern snakehead, which is something of a fantasy monster and a real one at the same time.
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