Uncle Billy Lives Large

Lawmakers operating in culture of corruption
One Central New York senator who hasn't faced a serious challenge in more than a decade uses political contributions to pay for a $38,000 luxury car. Hudson Valley Sen. Bill Larkin, R-Cornwall-on-Hudson, recently jetted down to billionaire Donald Trump's opulent seaside Mar-a-Lago mansion to help collect contributions from gambling industry execs.

Times Herald Record May 28, 2006

A Closer Look

The Uncle took a closer look at Mr. Donnelly’s comment at the post “Blood In The Water.”

There are a number of interesting things to see.

First, Honest Abe Donnelly apparently was going to post under his own name, but then changed that to Anonymous and changed the references to himself to third person, as though he were just a witness to Donnelly’s sterling character.

Aside from being somewhat dishonest, he did it so badly, leaving his own name as well as “Anonymous,” he shows what a moron he really is.

Add to that “Donnelly read the flyer handed to him 5 minutes before he read it." and we see a true idiot at the height of his powers.

And if he didn’t bring in the law firm, who the hell did? Ralphie?

Next he jokes that he’d like a piece of the legal funds. Ha, ha, ha, not!

$200 is a lot for people to pay to get a form filled out, but they are frightened and are vulnerable. To Donnelly, that’s a honey pot and a reason to make jokes. To his neighbors, it’s a desperate attempt to keep there homes affordable.

What a jokester!

Then comes: “Guess Swiller would like to see that hair too.” Donnelly, like Siebold, thinks that other men find him attractive. Once you get past the gag reflex, you might want to ask yourself what that’s about.

And finally: “If you think Swiller can help you, then you need a head doctor, which he needs badly.” As one poster already pointed out, the idea of volunteering to help your neighbors when you could be ripping them off seems crazy to Bob.

What a failure of a human being.

Just Came Over The Transom

Blood In The Water

The Uncle finally made it to a Town Board Meeting and boy, did I pick a winner.

The public comment session was all on the subject of Woodbury Tax Assessor Roland Tiffany's drastic upwards reassessment of Timber Ridge and a few other parts of town.

One speaker said that when she went to see Tiffany he shut her out saying "I refuse to speak with someone who doesn't know what she's talking about." He then called the cops to haul her off. Nice.

Things got scary when Bob Donnelly got up (well, in Donnelly's case "up" is an exageration). The Toad has become Caruso's number two henchman, right after the Ankle Biter.

Donnelley, Caruso and that whole gang smell the fear and anger and are ready to move in and take advantage of it. Donnelly started shilling for a lawyer friend who would file challenges to the reassessment for people for a retainer of $200 each PLUS a 1/3 contigency fee, paid not once, but three years in a row. In other words, he gets your $200 for filing a piece of paper, and if you get your tax bill knocked down $5,000 he gets $5,000. Really Nice!


Gerri Gianzero shut Donnelly down for what was essentially an advertisment for his buddy.

By the way, the Toad must be close to 70 and his hair has prematurely turned jet black. Must be something in the water.

A lawyer named Blum got us next and began by saying 8 or 12 times that he had stood shoulder to shoulder with John Burke and Michael Queenan when they were pushing the Village of Woodbury idea. He congratulated himself at length on what a good job he had done.

Then our boy Swiller got up and began saying that Blum had gotten it wrong on the Village info when the Town Board shut Swiller down saying he was off the topic. Afterwards Swiller said it's K to lie to people, but it's out of bounds to correct them. He then started to warn people that Donnelly is the same guy who goes over to Cornwall to raise money to sue Woodbury over the Brodsky project.

Swiller said it sounded like the people of Timber Ridge were getting shafted, but that they should be careful because it's when people are scared and angry that Ralph and the other sharks show up. They use people's fear to manipulate them into pushing Ralph's own agenda.

Swiller said " you have to ask questions, ask questions, ask questions." He also said that he would post information on the grievance process on his website (www.socaatwork.org) - there's nothing there yet (but the meeting only ended a little while ago).

Eddie Carries KJ's Water

KJ asks Orange County for water towers in new Gonzaga parkland.

Officials of the Village of Kiryas Joel have asked Orange County for permission to erect two water towers on a half acre of land on the county’s Gonzaga property in Blooming Grove. The land is going to be developed into the newest county park.

County Executive Edward Diana Wednesday brought the village’s request to the Physical Services Committee of the county legislature.

He told lawmakers the village needs the towers for fire suppression and water pressure. “This is water that already exists from their wells,” he said. “This is just storage tanks that would store the water; there would be no increase in the water that they have.” This would have nothing to do with the exploration of new water, Diana said.

In return for the water towers, the village has offered to let the county tap into their supply for parkland use.

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/KJ_wtr_twr-18May06.htm
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Wonder what former Parks Commissioner, Graham Skea, thinks of this?

Junior G-Men, Take Note

Feds want your help in weeding out public corruption in the Hudson Valley
The US Attorney and FBI Friday announced a stepped up effort to investigate and prosecute public corruption in the Hudson Valley region and it includes a public tips line for anyone who may have information pointing in that direction.
FBI Agent James Margolin said they are not targeting any specific case, but rather, seeking to determine if the public knows of anything crooked going on in the counties of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Westchester, Orange and Sullivan.
“The announcement (Friday) is really to solicit information from the public on matters involving public corruption of which they may be aware, to solicit new information, because we are in the business of collecting information and the public is often our source for information about matters relating to public corruption or other crimes over which we have investigative jurisdiction,” he said.
As part of the effort, the feds announced the creation of a corruption hotline – 1-877-ENDGRAFT (1-877-363-4723) – through which members of the public can call and report potential abuses of the public trust by public officials. The hotline is “the latest example of the federal government’s commitment to a partnership with the public to expose corruption at all levels of government,” said Michael Garcia, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The six northern counties that are included within the Southern District of New York cover approximately 3,500 square miles and are home to more than two million people. The six counties also contain some 170 cities, towns and villages.

Collect Calls

USA Today May 10 2006

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

Get Your Table Before They're All Snapped Up

Larkin campaign to hold cocktail buffet fundraiser
NEW WINDSOR — A cocktail buffet to benefit the re-election campaign of state Sen. William Larkin, R-New Windsor, will be held Thursday at Anthony's Pier 9.

Larkin is seeking a ninth term in the Senate in November. Prior to being elected to the Senate, he served 12 years in the Assembly.

He represents the 39th District, which covers parts of Ulster County, including the City of Kingston, as well as the towns of Esopus, Lloyd, Marlborough, Plattekill and parts of Orange County.

The fundraiser runs 7-9 p.m. Reservations can be made by calling Ralph or Jeanette Caruso at 845-928-2059.

And Now For Something Completely Different

The Uncle isn’t generally against scaring kids. It can be a hell of a lot of fun, but...

The Uncle’s sister, Aunt Fred (our parents weren’t at their best when it came to naming children), smokes cigarettes.

Now, I’m not thrilled about that, it smells bad, it burns holes in stuff, it costs a lot and it will probably hurt her health.

She only smokes outdoors, away from possible victims of second-hand smoke, but even so...

The problem is her son. The Uncle’s nephew is certain that his mom will die, probably soon, from smoking

and he is scared out of his wits.

He was told something in school and whatever it was that was actually said, what he heard was that cigarettes will kill you.

Not "may" but "will."

And that isn’t true.

Far too many people are cutting their lives short by smoking, but not every smoker will die from it. Some will die early due to something else. Some will live long, long lives, seemingly healthy and happy. Why? Go know. But it happens.

So, what’s my point?

If kids think that smoking is bad for their parents and nag them to stop, that might be a good thing.

But if they come away from school certain that its going to kill their folks, probably later that day...

They’re going to be scared to death

and

they are going to think that someone is lying to them.

Ari and His Buttons

Times Herald Record
"My View"
May 05, 2006
Record touches lots of 'hot buttons' on Kiryas Joel
By Ari Felberman

The Record included the Kiryas Joel administrator in its list of "The Record's Most Powerful." In the write-up, you noted that Kiryas Joel was a "hot-button topic" and that brings me to my point: Unlike the Orange County Human Rights Commission, which avoided the "hot-button topic," the Record seems to enjoy pressing the "hot button."
Cases in point: You write that developer Jonah Mandelbaum built hundreds of units with hundreds more on the drawing board. You then write that developer Nachman Kanovsky - ¦ built close to 1,000 homes, almost all eventually bought by Orthodox Jews." If the religious beliefs of home buyers is newsworthy, why didn't you enlighten us about the religious beliefs of the buyers of Jonah Mandelbaum's "hundreds of units"?
The "hot button" is getting warm.
You named five individual builders who, together, built thousands of units in Orange County in just the past few years and called them "powerful." On the other hand, the housing units built in Kiryas Joel are dubbed "uncontrolled growth," which will cause Kiryas Joel to "own Orange County."
The "hot button" is getting hot.
You then write, - ¦ when KJ has 50,000 people and owns Orange County, King Szegedin will rule us all." This statement is sadly tantamount to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. This incendiary statement implies that growth in Orange County, outside Kiryas Joel, has come to a complete halt, and that just isn't so. As a matter of fact, 40 years from now, when Kiryas Joel will have 50,000 people, Orange County may have 1 million people! So how do you figure that Kiryas Joel would rule?
Besides the point that Kiryas Joel never had any designs or desires to rule anyone, Kiryas Joel never even put up a candidate to run in Town of Monroe or in County Legislature elections when they would have won hands-down.
The "hot button" is getting hotter.
You threw in the mix these juicy statements: "the indomitable KJ machine," "dashing off screeds" and "conjures projects few other municipal leaders would contemplate." You portrayed the Kiryas Joel leadership as omnipotent in a "Cardinal Richelieu" sense when in reality it should be seen for what it is - forthright and caring.
Let's face facts. Hasidic communities aren't welcomed with open arms anywhere in Orange County. As such, Hasidic Jews wishing to live in Orange County have but one choice, the Village of Kiryas Joel. Village leaders are cognizant of their responsibilities and act accordingly. They remember how they struggled to provide their residents services that other county residents take for granted, whether it's water, sewer or education for the village's handicapped children.
Yet, after all its accomplishments, Kiryas Joel never sought to expand its power base, not very Richelieu-esque.
The "hot button" is getting red hot.
Jews the world over recently celebrated Passover without fear of the infamous "blood libels" or their repercussions. The civilized world now knows that the "blood libels" were baseless. But how many tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered before the now-civilized world became enlightened? Fear-mongering, especially on "hot-button topics," can be extremely dangerous.
Kiryas Joel residents extend their hand in friendship to their neighbors to jointly build a better Orange County.

Ari Felberman is government relations coordinator for the Village of Kiryas Joel.

Oh how I miss $3.00 a gallon gasoline!

According to gasprices.com, the lowest current price in the Monroe area is $3.14.

And the people cry out "why doesn’t the government do something?"

They forget. The government did do something. They set a national energy policy. Don’t you remember?

Way back in the Spring of 2001 Vice President Cheney headed up a task force that set the country’s energy policy.

Representatives of all the gas and oil companies took part.

And do you know what was discussed?

No.

You don’t.

That’s classified.

But we do know that George Bush was prepared for a surge in gas prices. He discussed that before the 2000 election. He had a plan.

"In 2000, when he was seeking the Republican nomination for president and oil was nearing $28 a barrel, Bush criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said the president must ‘jawbone’ oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154734,00.html

So much for jawbones.

But not to worry. Congress has a plan too. They want to give each and every one of us $100.

Here’s how Washington works. First Congress takes money from corporations and does what the corporations want. Then, if we get unhappy, they take our tax dollars and try to bribe us with our own money.

Neat.

Part of the same bill would open the Alaska Oil Reserve. All 5 months worth.

And guess where that Alaskan oil would go.

Certainly the same place all other Alaskan oil goes. Onto tankers headed to Japan and China.

Meanwhile the Democrats plan is almost as screwy. They want to cut the 18 and a half cents a gallon federal tax on gas that goes to keeping our highways from falling apart.

And when we have to rebuild those highways we get to remember that maintaining is cheaper than replacing.

And the Bush administration has proposed tripling the tax exemption that applies to Hummers but not to compacts.

Yay for us!