Albany Dysfunction

Yeah, Gary is cynical

2008-11-03T12:00:00Z

I was out with some friends the weekend before election day. As a group, we remain pretty liberal, but with our middle-aged maturity you’d hope that we are not naive. I was surprised, though, at the extent to which my friends believe that Barack Read More......(read more)

Gay marriage comments

2008-11-03T12:00:00Z

Obama won, yippee, now it will all be better. That’s the second time in a row I’ve used "yippee". In my previous post, I made a glib comment about gay marriage. It’s one thing to think that BHO is the savior of the world, but Read More......(read more)

Vote against incumbents

2008-09-29T12:00:00Z

The economy is in the toilet at all levels. The federal, state and local governments have screwed it up, and the financial institutions have screwed it up. Do you really believe that your own elected officials are the only shining beacons of hope, and Read More......(read more)

Metro school excused from Regents requirements?

2008-09-21T13:53:44Z

Bill Cala, the former superintendent of schools in my home’s district, is a smart guy and I usually like his ideas. A few years ago, he and high school principal Dave Paddock interpreted federal rules to mean that high school students’ families Read More......(read more)

Mainstream media join the club of the harassed at RNC

2008-09-12T12:00:00Z

As an independent blogger, I need to step outside of the NYS box for a bit. I’m a pretty mainstream guy, but I occasionally check out alternative news sources such as <a href="http://www.indymedia.org/">IndyMedia</a>. Usually Read More......(read more)

NYS Fair

2008-08-25T12:00:00Z

My wife and I visited the New York State Fair this past Saturday. My wife loves the Fair, and she knows I don’t get too excited about it. We saw the guys who build circus models - there’s a club for everything. We saw New York native Joan Read More......(read more)

A break from politics

2008-08-08T12:00:00Z

I maintain several bloggish pages on this site, but none are sports related. If I occasionally have an opinion on some sports topic, I usually just let it pass. But the signing of Brett Favre by the Jets seems like a sign for me. I mean, this blog is Read More......(read more)

Oh the ironies of calling for a property tax cap

2008-08-05T12:00:00Z

State legislators and everyone else continue to rant vitriolically (is that a word?) about tax caps. For once, the education lobby is right; they say that the increases have generally been within the proposed four percent anyway. Billionaire Tom Golisano Read More......(read more)

The mislead of Dean Skelos

2008-07-05T12:00:00Z

Dean Skelos, the new NYS Senate (Republican) majority leader, issued a press release that uses the phrase, "...the most important issue facing New Yorkers - skyrocketing property taxes." But this is misleading. Property taxes wouldn’t Read More......(read more)

So long, Joe

2008-06-30T12:00:00Z

Joe Bruno, Republican majority leader of the state Senate, is retiring. At the age of 79, he didn’t want to retain his seat but lose his leadership position if the next election shifts the Senate majority to the Democrats, so, he’s getting Read More......(read more)

Property tax caps and such

2008-06-04T12:00:00Z

The appointed Commission on Property Tax Relief has recommended a 4% cap on property tax growth, and Governor Paterson agrees, but CoPTR apparently did not predict the future of funding and costs. So, if the state were to reduce aid to education or if Read More......(read more)

I Love NY campaign to focus on Upstate

2008-05-07T12:00:00Z

The long-running <a href="http://www.iloveny.com/">"I Love NY"</a> tourism campaign is to expand its promotion of upstate New York attractions, and that’s a good thing. It’s typical for us home-based amateur Read More......(read more)

Governor thinking of changing my STAR rebate?

2008-04-23T12:00:00Z

Like most NYS single-family property owners, I benefit from the New York State School Tax Relief (STAR) program. Essentially, NYS collects tax dollars so that I can receive money to help pay my local (non-NYS) property tazes. The program was intended Read More......(read more)

To think we were worried about traffic light cameras, ha!

2008-03-14T12:00:00Z

Oh, how we pine for those halcyon days when we worried that our privacy was being invaded by traffic light cameras. Thanks to our disgraced *** of a governor, Eliot Spritzer, we are now acutely aware that every bank transaction, no matter the size, is Read More......(read more)

Oh my gosh, my dream about Spitzer and a prostitute was, like, psychic!

2008-03-10T12:00:00Z

Holy cow, my dream of a month ago foretold of Eliot Spitzer’s announcement today that he is the subject of a federal prostitution investigation! Really! Would I lie? Read More......(read more)