Clear As Mud

"Ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh—it's got to be all about job creation too. "
Sarah Palin in CBS interview

Questionable Election In KJ? You're Kidding!

Surrogate Court judge candidates file lawsuits
By Oliver Mackson
September 20, 2008 6:00 AM
GOSHEN — The race for Orange County Surrogate Court is taking a detour into state Supreme Court, with the two candidates each filing suit over the result of last week’s Independence Party primary.
Republican Robert Onofry won the right to appear on the crucial small-party ballot line. But Democrat Stephen Hunter sued Thursday, asking Supreme Court Justice Joseph G. Owen to throw out the results because polls closed 15 to 20 minutes early in the Village of Kiryas Joel on primary night. Hunter also contends that there were “obvious irregularities” at other polling stations.
Onofry fired back on Friday with a countersuit, asking Owen to order three disputed absentee ballots to be opened and counted.

Show Me The Money

Audit requested for Kiryas Joel’s $10.5M center
By Chris Mckenna
September 11, 2008 6:00 AM
BLOOMING GROVE — Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun announced Wednesday that she has asked the state comptroller and attorney general to investigate a Kiryas Joel building project that has gotten $10.5 million in state and federal grants.
The Blooming Grove Republican wants the two Democratic officials to audit the project to see if the funds were properly spent. She released copies of her identical letters to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, both dated Aug. 25. Her request follows a Times Herald-Record story July 20 that reported on the project that got no-strings-attached state grants. Village officials estimated the project would cost $3.5 million and be finished by 2004 when they applied for their first state grant in 2001. The cost has since ballooned to $11.4 million, paid for largely with discretionary grants from then-Gov. Pataki and other allies.

Sarah Palin, An Early Scorecard

With the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Veep candidate, McCain has certainly shaken up the race.

Here are some early thoughts on the possible pluses and minuses of the pick:

STEALING THE THUNDER GRADE: A+
The announcement, coming only half a day after Barack Obama’s night at the Dem’s convention, grabbed the headlines and the political chatter away from what most commentators are calling a brilliant speech.

A SECRET OR A SWITCH? GRADE: Incomplete
Was Gov. Palin McCain’s choice all along (or at least all week) or did he make a last minute switch in reaction to Obama’s performance? The answer is sure to emerge within the next few weeks.
If it was the choice all along, McCain gets A+ for keeping secrets.
If it was a switch, McCain gets an F for allowing the Dem’s to scare him into making what will be seen as a desperation play.

VETTED? GRADE: Incomplete
If Gov. Palin was a late choice, was she fully vetted?
The purpose for vetting process is to find out any possible embarrassments in the candidates past – did he duck the draft, did she write an outrageous book, what about drugs, drunk driving, membership in the Communist Party?
If she was vetted (or not vetted, but squeaky clean), no problem. If not, rut roh.

POSITIONS GRADE: Mixed
Governor Palin’s conservative positions on abortion and other social issues and her NRA membership will help McCain with his base (and probably won’t have much effect on moderates).
Her support for a Windfall Profits Tax on oil companies may give McCain a bit of agita.
Her environmental record is somewhat mixed - pro-drilling in protected areas, anti-polar bear protection, but on most other environmental issues (and as an out-doors-woman and hunter) has a green record.

IMAGE GRADE: A+ (but final grade isn’t in)
Reformer, young, attractive, son headed for Iraq. May have an ethics problem back in Juneau, but could prove minor.

ONE HEART BEAT FACTOR GRADE: F
Mayor of a small town, less than two years as Governor – this throws the “Obama is inexperienced argument” out the window. No national or foreign affairs bona fides.
Vice-Presidential inexperience is not usually a giant factor, but McCain’s age and health make the “one heart beat away from the Presidency” factor extremely important.
If she survives the debate with Biden (even if she loses on points) this will be a victory. If she gets blown out of the water the pain will come.

THE GENDER FACTOR GRADE B
McCain will get points for the novelty of the choice. Some female independents (and perhaps some number of unhappy Hillary Dem’s) will be won over. However, if the choice ends up being framed as a desperation move or as pandering, it will hurt. Pandering is the heart of politics, but you’re not allowed to be seen doing it.
McCain may lose some anti-female Neanderthals to Bob Barr or “None-of-the-above.”

OVERVIEW
The choice was a definite short term gain, but may be a negative in the long term. What we learn over the next few weeks will decide. Was she a last-minute switch, will it be seen as a fresh idea or a desperation move, did the vetting miss any land mines, is she ready to have every part of her life scrutinized, can she present herself as ready to take over the Presidency?

Anybody think this election isn’t interesting?

See Below

There's a new post about the Cornwall lawsuit against Woodbury, but for some reason it appeared below the one on Sprinkles.

The Uncle knows how to do this blog and for now we are just muddling through.

Apologies

Spinkles

The Pieman has sent the following and since A) the Pieman has juice with the Uncle and B) the Uncle has made known to us all that he has a deep love for his kittycat and C) it's the right thing to do, here it is (please help):

"Sprinkles" is a Whippet, he is all white with tan and black markings on his head, he is probably pretty thin at his point, he did have on a collar with tags. Sprinkles is also tattooed and has a micro-chip.

He was visiting in the Walden area when he ran off two weeks ago. He may have been spotted recently on Route 300 in Newburgh.

If anyone sees him , especially if they know that he is hanging out in a specific area, please call the Newburgh animal control officer, Mary Meyers, at 845 561-3344.

Congrats Ralph and Randazzo

News
Lawsuit filed in hopes of halting Legacy Ridge
By Michael Randall
Times Herald-Record
August 17, 2008 6:00 AM
GOSHEN — A lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court seeks to derail the current version of the proposed Legacy Ridge housing development in the Village of Woodbury.

The plaintiffs are a quartet of Cornwall-based public and private entities: the school board, the Town Board, the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson's board and the Black Rock Fish & Game Club, a private conservation group.

They're suing the Village of Woodbury and its board, the developers of Legacy Ridge and the owners of the property where the development would be built.

Legacy Ridge would put 287 four-bedroom homes on a 749-acre site in the vicinity of Route 32 and Mineral Springs and Trout Brook roads. The homes would be clustered and more than 400 acres would remain green.

That area of Woodbury is in the Cornwall School District.

Cornwall school officials dispute the developers' claim that Legacy Ridge would produce less than one public school-age child per unit.

The district fears the actual impact on its already-crowded schools will be much larger.

But while it was damage to the school district that first prompted the suit, the plaintiffs also claim the project will pollute Woodbury Creek and Moodna Creek, into which the Woodbury flows. Both are popular sites for fishing and other recreational pursuits.

The plaintiffs are asking a state Supreme Court justice to overturn two Woodbury village local laws adopted earlier this year that changed the zoning to allow 287 units. Previous zoning allowed only 155 units.

The suit charges the changes amounted to "illegal spot zoning" to benefit one developer.

They're also asking the judge to overturn the project's final environmental impact statement and the findings statement that supported it.

They claim state environmental law procedures, as well as state general municipal law and even the Village of Woodbury's own codes, were not followed in assessing the plan.

Gerald Jacobowitz, the lawyer for Legacy Ridge, said he couldn't comment because his client has not been served with a copy of the lawsuit yet.

Richard Golden, the lawyer for the Village of Woodbury, was on vacation and couldn't be reached, and a message left for village Mayor Stephanie Berean-Weeks was not returned.


And let us not forget Ralph's front man, Anthony No-Taxation-Without-Representation Incanno, who isn't even registered to vote.

Terrorist Bear Hug?

The Media Is Being Unfair To John McCain

1. It is being reported that McCain joked at the Saddleback Forum that to be rich you have to have $5,000,000. Be fair to McCain. What he really said was that to be rich you need an annual income of $5,000,000.

2. McCain is being slammed for not knowing how many houses he has. That isn't his fault. It's very easy to be confused on this. His own campaign mistakenly thought the number was four. Obama thought it was seven. The Washington Post said eight.

The fact is that they are hard to count. For example, the Sidonna property has 5 or 6 separate full size houses. Do you count that as one home, five, six? And are the three condos houses? They may be million dollar (and more) multi-floor, luxury residences, but they aren't free standing buildings. So do they count?

Give the guy a break.

3. McCain is being attacked for changing his position on the draft.

At a Town Hall type meeting in New Mexico yesterday, McCain was asked:

"Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disabled veterans, especially in this state, have horrible conditions.... I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have illegal aliens having a Medicaid card that can access specialist top physicians, the best of medical and our vets can't even get to a doctor. These are the people that we tied yellow ribbons for and Bush patted on the back. If we don't reenact the draft I don't think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell."

McCain replied: "Ma'am, let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said and thank you and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans."

Sure, the very last thing that she said was that we needed to reinstate the draft and McCain agreed, but c'mon, she'd been talking for minutes and it was late and McCain kind of drifts off, so there's every chance in the world that he had no idea what she had just said.

Scoring the Scoring

The Rielle Thing?

Sure they all do it (OK, almost all), but it's the little extras that set apart the true over-achievers in adultery (and if you're too young to remember 1969, Google "Chappaquidick").

In John Edwards' case you have to give extra credit for the fact that while he was cheating, his wife was sick with inoperable cancer and that if he'd won the Democratic nomination, the race would now be in a very interesting place.

He earns extra, extra credit for using the phrase "stripped bare" in his public mea culpa.

So plain old adultary won't get you on the list, but if you can come up with just that little bit more you deserve to be mentioned below:

Bill Clinton Adultery, Lying
Extra Credit:
C’mon, you know.
Extra, Extra Credit:
Creative use of tobacco products.


Newt Gingrich Adultery, Lying, Abandonment Of Sick Wife
Extra credit:
Led the House in Clinton's impeachment while continuing to do exactly the same thing Clinton had done.
Cheated on his first wife with the woman who became his second wife, cheated on her with the future number three.
Extra, Extra Credit:
Is reported to have used the same good-old-boy rationalization as Clinton (and many high school juniors): b.j.’s ain’t sex.
Extra, Extra, Extra Credit:
Cheated on, then divorced his first wife while she was ill with cancer (and then refused to pay alimony and child support).

Larry Craig Arrested in men’s room gay sex solicitation sting
Extra Credit:
Anti-gay rights voting record.
Voted to convict in Clinton’s impeachment.
Extra, Extra Credit:
Had his wife and family stand next to him as he denied everything.
Extra, Extra, Extra Credit:
Pled guilty, then tried to withdraw his guilty plea.
Announced his resignation from the senate, then withdrew his resignation.
Began his “I am not gay” statement with the phrase “Thank you very much for coming out today.”
Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra Credit:
Said: “The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.”

Mark Foley Sent lewd Instant Messages to Under-Age Senate Pages
Extra Credit
He made fighting pedophilia and child exploitation central issues in his Congressional career.

David Vitter Prostitution
Extra Credit
Strong backer of abstinence only sex education and denounced same-sex marriage as a threat to marriage which he called “the most important social institution in human history.”
Extra, Extra Credit
Had his wife stand next to him as he admitted he cheated on her.

Eliot Spitzer Prostitution
Extra Credit
Ethics was a central theme in his run for governor.
As Attorney General he prosecuted prostitution cases.
Extra, Extra Credit
Had his wife stand next to him as he admitted he cheated on her.

Gary Hart Adultery, Lying
Extra Credit
Denied that he was having an affair and dared the press to follow him – they did, he was.

John McCain Adultery, Lying, Abandonment Of Crippled Wife
While he was a prisoner in North Vietnam, his first wife Carol, a former model, suffered a crippling and disfiguring auto accident. After he was freed, McCain entered into a series of affairs leading up to his affair with Cindy Hensley, then 25 (18 years younger then McCain) and daughter of a multi-millionaire. A year later he divorced Carol and married Cindy.
Extra Credit
In his book "Worth the Fighting For," McCain lied about when he started seeing Cindy. In the book he claimed that he began seeing Cindy after his 1980 divorce was finalized. In fact, he started the affair in April of 1979, while he still lived with Carol.
Extra, Extra Credit
He applied for a marriage license to Cindy while he was still legally married to Carol.

Priceless

While the Uncle is away on a secret mission, a few of us neices and nephews have stolen the keys to the blog so that we can bring you this: