“This sales tax revenue sharing plan is designed to encourage commercial growth. There is much potential in this county,”
- Tony Hay

82. Tom Lehrer is 82, not 72.

A few weeks back we celebrated Kent resident Kathy Freston’s 80th birthday and in lieu of gifts folk were asked to donate to a fund to create a scholarship so that people in need could attend acting classes taught by Lora Lee Ecobelli at the Cultural Center on Lake Carmel. All together more than $1600 was raised!

Did you know you could rate individual posts at the News That Matters blogsite? Well, you can! There’s a “Thumb’s Up/Thumb’s Down rating system available for each post or comment. Visit and use it.

Kent has a pandhandle. Yes it does. It’s a section of land running west from the Taconic State Parkway that, aside from Hortontown Road, mainly contains Fahnestock State Park and joins Putnam Valley along Route 301. The panhandle was separated off from Philipstown in 1877 but does anyone know why? I don’t, but I’m hoping someone out there does.

In any case, don’t get all excited since the Bondi/Hay plan doesn’t kick in until the county gets all it wants first and then whatever dribs and drabs might be left may find their way back to your town. Nelsonville getting as little as $2500 and Carmel getting somewhere around $200,000, assuming the economy rebounds.

The countdown to Thursday’s Tea Bagger rally in Carmel is well underway as part time Assemblyman and full time demagogue, Greg “Lock and Load” Ball, and his hired gang of outside agitators, bring their obsolete and un-thought out ideas to the steps of the County courthouse. I have a list of scheduled speakers here somewhere but it’s the same old, same old group of “we’ve heard it all before’s”, nothing new to say, no actual solutions, hot air blowing politicians and politician wannabees. And no, they won’t let Jeff Green speak. What’s with that?

Peekskill’s right-wing blogger Anthony Bazzo, who is having a long-standing love affair with Ball, Leibell and Co., reprinted an article from the North County News about low-level drug busts down his way and then concluded;

“With the federal Governemnt, [sic] state governemt, [sic] county governemnt [sic] and Peekskill government all controled [sic] by Democrat, [sic] one could conclude that democratic economic policies are forcing senior citizens to sell drugs to make ends meet.”

It’s guys like that that make it so hard for me to be a Republican.

• Is There No Balm In Gilead?
• Builder’s blasting in Carmel is a bomb in Gilead
• How you can help Lori Kemp

Some comments:

ER: “I called the DA and will write the letter too….thanks Jeff for the reminders.”

MR: “Will definitely write the letter in support of Lori, and call the DA. Injustice is injustice…Thanks for posting Jeff.”

MG: “I sent a letter to Levy today with a close letting him know that he alone has the power to make a profound difference in this case and that he is being watched by countless residents in the area.”

And a letter from LE closes by saying,

“Little did I know that Lori Kemp’s family home next door would suffer the horrific impacts of unregulated blasting. This entire project and the case against Ms. Kemp have been a complete travesty of sound development and waste of taxpayer money. Please see that all charges against Ms. Kemp are dropped as soon as possible.”

Are you getting the idea? Good. Now, write!

Thanks to the efforts of Orange County resident Kate Ahmadi who labored to see signs placed on the Newburgh-Beacon bridge, travelers now know they are in an important place. Thanks Kate, for putting us on the map.

· Percentage of U.S. total income in 1976 that went to the top 1% of American households: 8.9.
· Percentage in 2007: 23.5.
· Only other year since 1913 that the top 1 percent’s share was that high: 1928.
· Combined net worth of the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans in 2007: $1.5 trillion.
· Combined net worth of the poorest 50% of American households: $1.6 trillion.
· U.S. minimum wage, per hour: $7.25.
· Average hourly wage in 1972, adjusted for inflation: $20.06.
· In 2008: $18.52.

Read More Here

Tea Baggers rate lower than any political movement and the IRS ranks higher than either major political party. Huh. Well, coming from FOX I’m sure there’s something wrong with the numbers but since FOX fans believe in the Gospel of FOX I’m wondering what Glenn Beck is going to have to say and how Rush Limbaugh will spin all this.

1. Beacon Institute will present two environmental programs
2. Making my neighborhood more walkable, sociable, sustainable, and safe
3. The Towns That Chocolate Built
4. Up, Up and Away in a Cable Car
5. Secure a healthier future, close Indian Point
6. Poughkeepsie Town flea market must get DEC’s green light
7. Town police train to deal with emotionally-disturbed people
8. U.S. must progress past status quo
9. Name-calling, threats hinder public debate

Beacon Institute will present two environmental programs

BEACON — In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries will present two events. Hudson River environmentalist John Cronin will speak at a Thursday program, and on Sunday, folk singer and activist Pete Seeger will discuss his book, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”

Both programs will take place at the Center for Environmental Innovation and Education at Denning’s Point in Beacon.

Cronin, touted by Time Magazine as a “hero for the planet,” has had a 35-year career as an environmental leader. Cronin, working as a commercial fisherman, advocate, professor, author and filmmaker, was the Hudson Riverkeeper from 1983 to 2000.

He is director and CEO of the Beacon Institute and a senior fellow for environmental studies at Pace University.

Cronin’s call to action about the emerging water crisis is titled “Brains vs. Brawn: the Future of the World’s Water.”

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Making my neighborhood more walkable, sociable, sustainable, and safe

This weekend, I wrote a somewhat abstract post about how America’s built spaces prevent many Americans from connecting with the supportive social networks essential to health and happiness. Let’s zoom from the lofty down to the concrete. Let’s talk about my neighborhood.

I live in the Bitter Lake area of Seattle. (In the early 20th century, an adjacent sawmill dumped so much tannic acid into the lake that horses wouldn’t drink the water — thus the name.) It’s zoned as an “urban village,” but at least for now that designation is, er, aspirational. Most of it isn’t mixed use, but it’s not quite suburban. I guess it’s one of those “inner-ring suburbs” you hear about. It was developed in the 1950s-’70s. Here’s my bit (with current public space in green):

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The Towns That Chocolate Built

When iconic American chocolate-makers Hershey announced an (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to take over the equally iconic British confectionery company, Cadbury, most discussion revolved around one of two things: business reporters focused on the stock price implications of any deal, while the food media conducted taste tests, and were joined by patriotic British journalists in their anxiety that Hershey might meddle with Cadbury’s infinitely superior formula.

Until I received my copy of the second issue of a new British food quarterly, Fire and Knives, however, I had not considered the urban planning implications of a potential Hershey/Cadbury merger. In a short article, food writer Douglas Blyde pays a visit to Bournville, the purpose-built model town built and owned by Cadbury to house its factory and employees:

In 1879, aged 40, George [Cadbury] opened the “factory in a garden”—the exotically-named Bournville, with a factory and twenty-four cottages built by the Bourn brook on Birmingham’s greenfield outskirts. His stated goal was of “alleviating the evils which arise from the insanitary and insufficient housing accommodation supplied to large numbers of the working classes, and of securing to workers in factories some of the advantages of outdoor village life, with opportunities for the natural and healthful occupation of cultivating the soil.

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Up, Up and Away in a Cable Car

Cable cars, also known as ropeways or aerial tramways, don’t get much respect. These types of transportation systems, in which a cabin or other conveyance is suspended from a fixed cable and pulled by another cable, are often thought of as tourist-movers. But cable cars can have some practical applications in urban settings. They are especially useful where inclines are too steep for conventional mass transit and where they can serve as feeders to bus and metro systems. They have been successfully applied in growing cities of the developing world, where slums are often clustered on precipitous hills surrounding urban centers.

Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, a ropeway engineering company, published a brochure, “Aerial Ropeways as an Innovation Solution for Urban Transport,” that outlines many of the benefits of cable car systems, including the following:

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Secure a healthier future, close Indian Point

A NYJN Editorial

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has taken a major and historic step toward ending the rape of the Hudson River by Indian Point. For the past 30 years, Indian Point’s reactors have decimated the ecosystem by using enormous amounts of Hudson River water as a free resource to cool the reactors, and as a dump for waste heat and radioactive materials.

Based on a thorough review, the DEC concluded that Entergy cannot demonstrate compliance with the Clean Water Act and denied a water quality permit, which is a federal license requirement.

This could mean Indian Point’s days are numbered since Entergy is required to have this permit to be relicensed for 20 more years. The current licenses expire in 2013 for unit 2 and 2015 for unit 3. Entergy must decide whether the cost of installing the required cooling system and repairing the leaking, broken and aged plant is viable.

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Poughkeepsie Town flea market must get DEC’s green light

Plans for an indoor flea market have been approved by Town of Poughkeepsie officials, but environmental concerns must be addressed before it can open at the former Fargo Manufacturing site off Salt Point Turnpike.

Officials said the Planning Board on Thursday granted site- plan approval for the project. Town Director of Municipal Development Neil Wilson said the approval was contingent upon the site gaining a clean bill of health from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Fargo, a maker of parts for the electric utility industry, was in business for more than eight decades before it closed in 2000.

According to the DEC Web site, an underground storage tank at Fargo leaked and left soil and groundwater contaminated by waste oil and solvents. That could lead to harmful vapors entering the building.

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Town police train to deal with emotionally-disturbed people

Town of Poughkeepsie police officers are receiving training on how to handle encounters with emotionally disturbed people.

Police Chief Thomas Mauro said two officers recently received 35 hours of instructor-level training on the subject, which is recommended and provided by the state Office of Mental Health and the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The two officers will train the rest of the 87-member department.

“The department’s overall objectives are to provide a more in-depth examination of frequently encountered mental illnesses,” Mauro said. “In addition, the training program is designed to increase officers’ understanding of the behavioral symptoms of emotional disturbance.”

Dealing with emotionally disturbed people and those suffering from mental illnesses can be challenging for officers responding to such calls.

Mauro said the training should help protect officers and the public.

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U.S. must progress past status quo

The year-long health-care reform debate has once again highlighted the Republicans’ longstanding tendency to favor corporate interests over consumer interests. But the debate has exposed more than that. When not one congressional Republican votes for a bill that they’ve negotiated for a year and that contains more than 200 Republican amendments, it shows them up as not bargaining in good faith, but rather acting as a group to keep the status quo, which the voters rejected in 2008.

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Name-calling, threats hinder public debate

“I haven’t seen this sort of mean spirit in a very, very long time. People are downright mean to each other. We cannot engage in a civil dialogue or civil discussion.” That’s a pretty strong indictment of the current political climate, considering that the man who made it, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., experienced such ugliness as a hero of the 1960s clashes over civil rights.

Lewis’ remarks came Thursday at a Nyack NAACP fundraising and recruitment dinner. In the heat of the battle over health-care reform in March, Lewis heard the “n-word” as he walked by protesters near Capitol Hill; Rep. Barney Frank, who is openly gay, was called a derogatory name. Another congressman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., reported being spit on.

The heated rhetoric has spilled over into incidents that are no longer just about decorum. The FBI is handling a threefold increase in threats against members of Congress, the Washington Post reported Friday. Three arrests have been made, including that of a man accused of leaving a threatening phone message, “I want to kill you,” for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

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Joe Greico’s Out On A Limb
All types of tree work, all aspects of lawn maintenance, snow plowing, lot clearing, excavation, retaining walls, stump grinding. 82 Hortontown Rd. Kent Cliffs, NY 10512 greico@verizon.net T- (914)224-3049 F- (845)231-0815

Good Wednesday Morning,

If the sly is clear this evening take a look upwards to see the International Space Station overhead. It will be  closest (226 miles above us) at 7:09PM but watch a moment earlier to watch it rise from the southwest.

Andy DeStefano has dropped out of the Sheriff’s race citing family problems that will take him out of the country for a time. Personally, I’m not sorry to see him go. Regular, long-term readers of the Brewster10509 list will remember he had some pretty nasty things to say about me and my friends and our ability to speak our minds on national issues and his respect for the same. This leaves Sheriff Smith and Judge Borkowski in the Republican primary next Tuesday.

For other primaries the county Board of Elections has posted a list of candidates names who will appear in various races across the county. Though sample ballots are not yet posted, the list of candidates can be found here. (PDF) It’s a special thing for me to see my name posted for the Independence Party primary here in Kent as I never thought I’d see the day I’d be running for office. I’m telling you, one day I’m going to write a book entitled, “Local Politics And The People Who Really Run Your Town”.

It’s a good thing many local school districts refused to broadcast the President’s speech to school children yesterday. Here are some outrageously socialistic quotes from the speech:

“At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”

“But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. “

“And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”

If you have the stomach to read more of that socialist claptrap, you can do so here. Personal responsibility? Staying in school? The nerve of that man!

While we’re protecting children from the evils of personal responsibility and public education, pretty much anyone paying attention knows the DARE program does not work.

The program’s own studies show that students who complete the program are statistically more likely to engage in dangerous substance abuse later in life than those who complete other programs. One of the programs that does work and that can save communities money by taking police out of our classrooms and putting them back on the streets is called “Communities that Care“.

According to a study recently completed by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, communities who have engaged the program show a 37% decline in teenage binge drinking, hard drug use and other anti-social behavior. You can learn more about Communities that Care here, here and here.

And, while we were away…

Boy Scouts are no longer allowed to carry scouting knives in England, not even to camps or to meetings. The official scouting news said, “Scouting helps to prepare young people with valuable life skills, while keeping them safe by not carrying knives.” Next, no helping little old ladies cross the street.

A twelve year old student in Southhaven, Mississippi had his cell phone confiscated when he received a text message from his father who was away, traveling, on business. After the phone was confiscated (school rules) The contents of the phone were searched by the principal and finally the police (against school rules) who expelled the boy for “gang-related activity” found on the phone. That activity included a picture of him and a friend dancing in the bathroom, his friend holding a BB gun across his chest. A civil rights lawsuit is pending.

Gary Crutchley was taking pictures of children going down an inflatable slide recently when the slide operator told him to stop. A women in the queue argued he would be posting them to a pedophile website. Police were called. Mayhem ensued. The problem was, they were his own children. Said Mr. Crutchley,  “It is very sad when every man with a camera enjoying a Sunday afternoon out in the park with his children is automatically assumed to be a pervert.”

Website Watch:

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. While that may sound voyeuristic, it is quite moving and often reaffirming. One of those postcards is reproduced here ->

A friend of mine commented a while back that he believes I “discriminate” against conservatives by not running any stories from their point of view. I mentioned that I’m allowed to do that just as FOXNews is allowed to broadcast fiction as fact and myth as reality. Nevertheless, in deference to him I’m posting a story below that should satisfy his need for inclusion in these pages.

1. Inn for tourists being discussed for downtown Carmel
2. Downtown to get upscale China shop
3. Home tied to West Point Foundry preserved
4. Pawling man dies in crash with deer
5. Giving Single-Payer a Second Look
6. An Idyllic Pool Becomes the Scene of a Battle
7. The Wilderness Act: A ‘Down Payment on Forever’
8. The Claim: Cinnamon Oil Kills Bacteria.
9. For Peat’s Sake: Alternative Growing Media
10. Court document swears Kenyan birth cert legit
11. Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance
12. Fire chief shot by cop in Ark. court over tickets

Inn for tourists being discussed for downtown Carmel

Robert Marchant
rmarchan@lohud.com

Tony Porto Jr. gets calls all the time: ”How can I get a room at the inn?”

Alas, said Porto, there is no room at Smalley’s Inn in Carmel. The place where three generations of his family have worked since the 1960s is a family restaurant, with no hotel accommodations. But Porto said the time has come for a more creative approach, and he is looking to remake and restore the Carmel landmark with a historic flavor, and he wants to challenge business and government leaders to do more to make the hamlet an attractive destination for visitors.

“We need business here,” Porto said. “And it could bring something back to the town.”

Porto has met with a number of Putnam County officials, who are helping to find funding that may be available for the kind of historic restoration and economic development projects Porto is considering.

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Downtown to get upscale China shop

Marcela Rojas
mrojas@lohud.com

BREWSTER – Bob Dumont has no doubt that high-end crystal, china and flatware has a place on Main Street.

The owner of the Bowl Company said he firmly believes in the motto, “If you build it, they will come,” because he saw how well-heeled women from Westchester County would make their way through an alleyway to purchase the Wedgwood and Waterford items he sold from his warehouse.

In the past four years, Dumont operated his Internet shipping business – and periodic warehouse sales – at 86 Main St., a site with no street access behind a deli.

But in February, Dumont moved to 162 Main St. so he could expand his operations and offer a retail component. The Bowl Company store will open its doors tomorrow.

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Home tied to West Point Foundry preserved

Michael Risinit
mrisinit@lohud.com

COLD SPRING – The wide floorboards of William Kemble’s Cold Spring home may have shook as artillery shells were test fired and exploded against Crow’s Nest, a peak on the west side of the Hudson River.

He, his wife, Margaret, and their seven children would have heard the clanking of the massive trip hammer at nearby West Point Foundry, which Kemble co-founded with his brother, Gouverneur Kemble. Outside the home’s floor-to-ceiling windows, Parrott guns – named for the foundry’s superintendent and prized for their accuracy – rolled to the river’s edge on rail cars and were loaded onto ships, bound for Civil War battlefields.

The noise, the smoke and the bustle of wartime industry now are replaced by the rumble of a passing Metro-North train, the wind and a desire to preserve history.

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Pawling man dies in crash with deer

Supervisor’s husband was riding motorcycle

By John Davis
Poughkeepsie Journal

PAWLING – Town residents are mourning the sudden death of Jeffrey Coursen, husband of town Supervisor Beth Coursen.

He was was killed Friday evening when the motorcycle he was riding on North Quaker Hill Road collided with a deer.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family in this time,” Councilman Mike Mayer said Saturday.

Coursen, 53, was driving a 2001 Suzuki motorcycle westbound on North Quaker Hill Road, near Berry Lane, when a deer entered the roadway from the north side, onto the path of the motorcycle, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office said.

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Giving Single-Payer a Second Look

Rep. Anthony Weiner, Congressman from New York

As President Obama prepares to address the nation about his vision for health care reform, we should not overlook the last, best truly transformative change to our health care system: Medicare. We have been staring so intently at the lessons of 1993 that we may have forgotten the universal rule of successful lawmaking: “keep it simple.”

During the eleven town hall meetings I’ve held around my district, I’ve had some direct experience with the anxiety this debate has produced. Much of the fear comes from two groups: those who have Medicare and don’t want it changed and those who have never had a government-run reimbursement system like Medicare and are worried about the impact it will have on their quality of care.

In both cases, a calm, reasoned and vigorous defense of the American single-payer plan is just what the doctor ordered.

The truth is that the United States already uses single-payer systems to cover over 47% of all medical bills through Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Understanding that these single-payer health programs are already a major part of our overall health care system should help us visualize what an actual public plan would look like. These institutions also provide health care to millions of satisfied customers in every community who would heartily agree that the government can build and run programs that work quite well.

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An Idyllic Pool Becomes the Scene of a Battle

By PETER APPLEBOME
RIDGEWOOD, N.J.

When she was growing up in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., in the 1980s, Melinda Cronk and her friends envied the kids in nearby Ridgewood for one simple reason — Graydon Pool, the languorous green park and 2.6-acre natural swimming hole that was Ridgewood’s blissful monument to suburban summers.

In the year before the 100th anniversary of Graydon Park — its pool was established in 1929 — it’s easy to see why. With its sandy beach, its fieldstone walls and particularly its sand-bottom swimming hole filled with 3.8 million gallons of spring water, Graydon Pool seems like an idyllic throwback to a less hurried version of suburban life.

Ms. Cronk still thinks of Graydon as a magical place. But, alas, she no longer thinks it’s a practical one. She lives in Ridgewood but does not pay the modest dues to join Graydon. And, after three years of study, the village task force she heads has decided that the only way to save Graydon is to plow it under and replace it with a more familiar symbol of summer, a blue concrete pool.

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The Wilderness Act: A ‘Down Payment on Forever’

September 6, 2009 at 6:11AM by Jim DiPeso

Why the 45-year-old Wilderness Act is a bipartisan landmark to legislative common sense and the potential
of the human spirit.

Every once in awhile, Congress outdoes itself and gets something really right.

One of those somethings is the Wilderness Act of 1964, whose 45th anniversary was celebrated September 3.

The product of both extraordinary vision and practical politics, the Wilderness Act is what Seattle author and veteran wilderness campaign leader Doug Scott calls the “gold standard” of conservation.
staircase wilderness

The Wilderness Act also is the gold standard of legislative craftsmanship. The law gives ordinary citizens across the country the tools to fight bottom-up campaigns to protect treasured places – forests and deserts, mountains and marshes, spare tundra and verdant tropics.

The passage of time shows that ordinary citizens have put those tools to spectacularly good use. The Wilderness Act included 54 initial wilderness areas covering 9.1 million acres. Today, 45 years later, there are 756 wilderness areas covering nearly 110 million acres in 44 states and Puerto Rico – nearly 5 percent of America’s total land area.

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The Claim: Cinnamon Oil Kills Bacteria.

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

THE FACTS

In a country obsessed with germs and sickness, antibacterial soaps and sanitizers are becoming more and more common. But because such products contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, some researchers recommend sanitizers made with cinnamon oil, which has been shown in many studies to have powerful antimicrobial properties.

A recent study by a team of surgeons, for example, found that a solution made with cinnamon oil killed a number of common and hospital-acquired infections, like streptococcus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The study found it was just as effective as several antiseptics widely used in hospitals. Another study by French researchers in 2008 had similar results, showing that at concentrations of 10 percent or less, cinnamon oil was effective against Staphylococcus, E. coli and several antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

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For Peat’s Sake: Alternative Growing Media

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2009) — Peat, or semi-decayed vegetation matter, has been used by commercial growers and amateur gardeners since the middle of the 20th century. Peat is added to potting soil to help retain moisture and provide additional nutrients. As the demand for peat grew, acres of peat bogs were being drained and destroyed.

Now, concerns about the environmental impact of extracting peat from wetlands are mounting. And as peat supplies are reduced, the cost naturally increases. Diminishing supplies and environmental and economical concerns are encouraging researchers to find viable alternatives to this popular growing medium.

A recent research study led by Federica Larcher and Valentina Scariot of the University of Turin’s Department of Agronomy evaluated five materials as partial peat substitutes. The results, published in HortScience, show these alternatives have potential.

The study focused on growing camellia, a woody plant that prefers acidic soils and is often grown in containers for decorative purposes. Three varieties of camellia (‘Charles Cobb’s', ‘Nuccio’s Pearl’, and ‘Dr. Burnside’ ) were tested using a combination of peat and the following peat alternatives: green compost such as grass clippings and leaves, pumice, coconut husks broken down into fibers, composted coconut “peat”, and pine bark. Each variety was also grown using the standard commercial Sphagnum peat as a control.

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Court document swears Kenyan birth cert legit

Photo of a sign taken at the Anti-Obama rally in Port Jervis. (Times Herald Record)

Owner risks perjury in high-profile case to insist Barack Obama born in Africa

Posted: September 06, 2009
By Drew Zahn
WorldNetDaily

With a scheduled hearing date Tuesday, Lucas Smith, the man who tried to sell an alleged Barack Obama Kenyan birth certificate on eBay, has filed court papers in a high-profile eligibility case insisting – under threat of perjury – that the Obama birth certificate in his possession is the genuine article.

The document above is alleged by Lucas Smith to be Barack Obama’s original, authentic birth certificate from Kenya.

Smith filed his affidavit through California attorney Orly Taitz, who has spearheaded several lawsuits challenging Barack Obama’s constitutional eligibility to serve as president, as part of a case that includes as plaintiff former presidential candidate Alan Keyes.

Taitz posted on her blog Smith’s declaration, which claims he obtained the alleged birth certificate from Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya, and insists it’s real.

“The true and correct photocopy of the birth certificate obtained is attached to this affidavit as Exhibit A,” the declaration reads. “I declare, certify, verify, state and affirm under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing statements of fact and descriptions of circumstances and events are true and correct.”

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Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance

By JENNY ANDERSON

After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one.

The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.

Either way, Wall Street would profit by pocketing sizable fees for creating the bonds, reselling them and subsequently trading them. But some who have studied life settlements warn that insurers might have to raise premiums in the short term if they end up having to pay out more death claims than they had anticipated.

The idea is still in the planning stages. But already “our phones have been ringing off the hook with inquiries,” says Kathleen Tillwitz, a senior vice president at DBRS, which gives risk ratings to investments and is reviewing nine proposals for life-insurance securitizations from private investors and financial firms, including Credit Suisse.

“We’re hoping to get a herd stampeding after the first offering,” said one investment banker not authorized to speak to the news media.

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Fire chief shot by cop in Ark. court over tickets

JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn’t hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.

The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn’t enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.

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Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy has died at the age of 77.

When I started knocking on doors a few weeks ago the first question asked was, “How are you going to cut my taxes?” (A 30 acre theme park built over Lake Carmel called “SybilLand” of course!) and now it’s, “Wow, What great weather!” And I would agree as this week should be the nicest since April.

But what happened to summer? We had spring from April into July then one week of summer and now the typical – but beautiful – late August weather has kicked in. I’m hoping winter doesn’t come around until January if only to give the garden a chance to produce some food.

Over in New Jersey, where municipal leaders almost always live in interesting times Atlantic City councilman John Schultz avoided prison by agreeing to plead guilty in a scheme orchestrated by former council President Craig Callaway to blackmail Councilman Eugene Robinson. The two lured Robinson to a motel room and secretly taped him having sex with a prostitute. Keep in mind, these are the people we elect through a political process that encourages such behavior.

To offer more support to the placement of a composting toilet at Farmers Mills Park in Kent as opposed to an expensive fixture with plumbing, water, septic and leach fields, the Village of Cold Spring is considering their use at the West Point Foundry which is managed by Scenic Hudson. According to Scenic Hudson, the county health department has given its ‘unofficial blessing’ to the plan. Let’s see Kent move in the same direction. It will save tens of thousands of dollars.

For those of you not yet excited about the opening of our region’s newest state park on October 2nd, Walkway Over the Hudson has released it’s schedule of events. On Friday, October 2nd from 7-10PM the weekend kicks off with a Grand Illumination of the Walkway; 1,000 paper lanterns, River of Light Promenade, light exhibition, hot air balloon display and fireworks. Volunteers are being sought to participate in the Grand Illumination which will release 1000 paper lanterns into the sky and should be more than stunning. The new park is only 22 feet wide yet stands 212 feet above the river! More information can be found here and here. The Poughkeepsie Journal covers the story here and a complete schedule can be found here.

Google Maps, the mainstay of where you are and how you’re going to get there has added traffic coverage to its maps. And, not just on major interstates. Now they cover major arterials as well. As I’m writing this (about 7:45am) the map shows traffic on Route 6 in the Hamlet of Mahopac, a slowdown on northbound 684, and building traffic on Route 6 as it enters Southeast from Carmel. No surprises there, but it gets better. Built into the system is historic data(!) so you can predict when and where traffic will build to better plan your trips to save time and gas. (Ed Note: at 8:03 AM there’s a slow down on the north-bound Taconic Parkway. 8:12AM – Don’t even go near Route 100 through Somers.)

And now, The News:

1. Hamlet a reminder of E. Fishkill’s rural past
2. When Nature Calls at the Foundry Preserve
3. The incredible shrinking home
4. EPA Orders Village of Port Chester, N.Y. to Fix the Way it Handles Stormwater; Comply with Clean Water Act
5. Swine flu precautions extremely necessary
6. Federal Reserve loses suit demanding transparency
7. DOJ raps NY over abuse at juvenile detention centers
8. Dying for Affordable Health Care – the Uninsured Speak

Hamlet a reminder of E. Fishkill’s rural past

By Anthony P. Musso
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

As surrounding farmland slowly transformed into large, single-family home developments, East Fishkill’s Wiccopee has been the town’s sole hamlet to retain the rural character it featured in the mid-1800s.

A local movement began in 2004 to secure historic designation for the hamlet, which is situated on property originally owned by Beacon’s Madam Catharyna Brett as part of the 1685 Rombout Patent.

Named for American Indians who lived in the region, Wiccopee was also known as Johnsville for a time before reverting to its original moniker. Its historic business district ran along Fishkill Hook/Hook roads, south of Route 52.

In all, 19 buildings in Wiccopee, including the hamlet’s 1825 Methodist Episcopal Church, are included in the town’s survey of historic structures.

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When Nature Calls at the Foundry Preserve

by Michael Mell

The lead agenda item for the July 21, 2009, Cold Spring Village Board meeting was a presentation by Scenic Hudson about their plans for the West Point Foundry Preserve. Of specific concern was their desire to use composting toilets, which do not require running water or a sewer connection. Three of these fixtures are proposed, with a combined capacity of 400 uses a week. Waste would be collected for distribution to composting sites in the area.

At issue is the village code requirement that any sanitary facility (toilet) within 150 feet of a sewer line is required to tie into that line and the location of the proposed toilets falls within this radius. Scenic Hudson attorney George Rodenhausen, of Rapport Meyers Whitbeck Shaw & Rodenhausen, told the board that composting toilets have been successfully used at other parks operated by Scenic Hudson and that they “have no odor . . . and will not damage the site.” He further acknowledged that this is “an alternate way to deal with sewage,” but one that is consistent with “the message of the site.”

The conflict with village code arose during an earlier presentation made to the Cold Spring Planning Board. According to Rodenhausen, the Planning Board agrees in theory with Scenic Hudson’s arguments, but cannot move until the code issue is resolved. The Department of Health, Rodenhausen said, has given its “unofficial blessing” to the project. For planned events, where large numbers of people are expected, additional conventional portable toilets would be used. “If the sewer department signs off,” asked Mr. Rodenhausen, “can the board consider this?” He concluded his arguments by offering to assist the Board in writing an “amendment to the code,” if they chose to move in that direction, and also stipulated that Scenic Hudson would pay any required sewer fees.

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The incredible shrinking home

The size of newly built homes fell in 2008 for the first time in almost 15 years. Is the McMansion era on the wane?

By Les Christie, CNNmoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: August 11, 2009: 3:03 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — For the first time in almost 15 years, the size of new homes built in the United States is shrinking.

New homes are now 7% smaller — or the size of one average-sized room. To be precise, the median square footage of newly built homes fell to 2,065 square feet in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This caps off 2008, when home size fell every quarter, marking first year of declines since 1994. That could indicate that the romance between Americans and morbidly obese McMansions has finally cooled.

“A new ethic is arising right now that will become commonplace — as commonplace as is recycling today, when just a few decades ago it was rarely, if ever, done,” said Sarah Susanka, author of the book, “The Not So Big House.”

“As more and more people build or remodel homes that satisfy in quality rather than quantity, there will be a huge shift in what we perceive as desirable.”

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EPA Orders Village of Port Chester, N.Y. to Fix the Way it Handles Stormwater; Comply with Clean Water Act

Release date: 08/24/2009
Contact Information: John Senn (212) 637-3667, senn.john@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered the village of Port Chester, N.Y. to improve the way it handles run-off from rainwater and correct violations of the federal Clean Water Act after EPA sampling revealed high levels of two types of bacteria in village stormwater. Stormwater, which is from rainfall or melting snow, can pick up debris, chemicals, dirt and other pollutants from surfaces before it flows into a waterbody. Port Chester discharges stormwater into the Byram River, which empties into Long Island Sound.

“Improper management of stormwater can have serious environmental consequences for our harbors, rivers, lakes and streams,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “Long Island Sound is already a stressed waterbody, and run-off is one of the bigger culprits, so it’s important that EPA remains vigilant in holding accountable anyone who doesn’t handle their stormwater properly.”

In June 2008 and April 2009, EPA sampled stormwater at several locations around Port Chester and both times found levels of the bacteria fecal and total coliform that exceeded New York’s state water quality standards. Both bacteria can lead to health problems in people and many aquatic species. Port Chester’s failure to control discharges of the polluted stormwater violated requirements of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, a program under the federal Clean Water Act that regulates stormwater discharges associated with sewer systems. Port Chester also failed to fully implement its stormwater management plan, which New York State requires of municipalities that discharge stormwater.

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Swine flu precautions extremely necessary

The watchwords on dealing with swine flu come down to this: Be alarmed but don’t panic.

Certainly, a special presidential advisory panel just reported some frightening numbers: The group cited a “plausible scenario” of wide-scale infections later this year in the United States leading up to possibly 30,000 to 90,000 deaths, mostly among young children and young adults.

Schools throughout the country, including the mid-Hudson Valley, are taking these matters seriously. On Sunday, the Journal reported on the preparations going on in local schools, ranging from reviewing cleaning procedures, communicating with health officials and educating parents and students about hygiene and prevention. School officials also have talked about contingency plans in the event of a pandemic and will be meeting with Dr. Michael Caldwell, the Dutchess health commissioner, to continue to coordinate an overall strategy geared to prevention.

But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was quick to note Tuesday that massive school closings wouldn’t stop the spread of the virus, touting vaccinations as the best defense against H1N1 flu, more commonly known as the swine flu. Confirmed cases have continued through the summer months when schools are typically closed, but there is a concern that once schools are back in session there will be renewed opportunity for the virus to spread.

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Federal Reserve loses suit demanding transparency

Mon Aug 24, 8:39 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday ruled against an effort by the U.S. Federal Reserve to block disclosure of companies that participated in and securities covered by a series of emergency funding programs as the global credit crisis began to intensify.

In a 47-page opinion, Chief District Judge Loretta Preska of the federal court in Manhattan said the central bank failed to show that disclosure would cause borrowers in the Federal Reserve System to suffer “imminent competitive harm,” by stigmatizing them for using Fed lending programs.

“The board essentially speculates on how a borrower might enter a downward spiral of financial instability if its participation in the Federal Reserve lending programs were to be disclosed,” she wrote. “Conjecture, without evidence of imminent harm, simply fails to meet the board’s burden.”

Monday’s ruling comes as lawmakers and investors demand greater disclosure in how the government manages a series of programs designed to lift the economy out of its deepest recession in decades.

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DOJ raps NY over abuse at juvenile detention centers

August 24, 2009 at 4:14 pm by Irene Jay Liu

Children at four of New York’s juvenile detention centers have faced excessive force and lack of proper mental health treatment in violation of their constitutional rights, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice made public today.

The report details how staff at the four facilities — the Lansing Residential Center and the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center in Lansing, N.Y., and two facilities, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown, N.Y. — have “routinely” used “uncontrolled, unsafe applications of force” to gain control in every type of situation, departing from “generally accepted standards” as well as state policies determined by the state Office of Children and Families.

“Anything from sneaking an extra cookie to initiating a fistfight may result in a full prone restraint with handcuffs,” according to the report.

The report said the excessive use of force has led to an “alarming” number of serious injuries, including concussions, broken or knocked-out teeth, and spinal fractures.

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Dying for Affordable Health Care – the Uninsured Speak

Friday 21 August 2009

by: Ed Pilkington  |  Visit article original @ The Guardian UK

In a week of claim and counter-claim about the merits of healthcare provision in the US and UK, Ed Pilkington travelled to Quindaro, Kansas, to see how the poorest survive.

In the furious debate gripping America over the future of its health system, one voice has been lost amid the shouting. It is that of a distinguished gynaecologist, aged 67, called Dr Joseph Manley.

For 35 years Manley had a thriving health clinic in Kansas. He lived in the most affluent neighbourhood of Kansas City and treated himself to a new Porsche every year. But this is not a story about doctors’ remuneration and their lavish lifestyles.

In the late 1980s he began to have trouble with his own health. He had involuntary muscle movements and difficulty swallowing. Fellow doctors failed to diagnose him, some guessing wrongly that he had post-traumatic stress from having served in the airforce in Vietnam.

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