I know your minds are on many issues that are more important than public safety. Issues such as picking up the pieces of the Leibell puzzle and trying to figure out what your future holds with MaryEllen Odell as your new county executive, and how many more quasi-legal explosions you’ll allow on the once verdant hillside above Stoneleigh Avenue. In comparison, the issue I would like to bring to you now is nothing but a trifle. It’s only about public safety and saving money so I’m sure you’re not all that interested, but here goes: [...] [Read More]

Good Monday Morning,

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is what our Iranian friends had to say about it. Never Again.

I’m still looking for a place to move with the dog.

Received 05/01/11 10:59PM

Robert McGuigan Jr.
5 Mountain Drive
Mahopac, NY 10541

h – 845-628-3506
c – 845-269-8003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 2, 2001

Former Putnam County Legislator Robert (Bobby) McGuigan Jr., a resident of Mahopac, announces his candidacy today for Legislator, District #8, which he served  with distinction for 12 years. McGuigan served as Chairman of the Legislature and was also Deputy Chairman and served on every standing committee. Mr. McGuigan stated, “In politics you need to step back and re-evaluate your position to serve your constituents effectively. I have the years of experience and know County Government inside out, but I also have the benefit of a respite and as a self employed businessman I know the struggle and pressure families in Putnam are feeling in order to make ends meet.”

Over the past three years our Country and County has faced the worst economic down turn since the great depression. He claims that the tools put in place during his tenure provided a safety net that spared the County from a total break down that other municipalities faced. McGuigan stated, “My voting record reflects I took votes based on what was right, voting no to pay raises and reigning in on spending proved to be wise votes. I didn’t always win popularity contests, but it was my job to be fiscally responsible.”

McGuigan, a 1975 Mahopac High School graduate, was first elected at the age of 38, was always cognizant of the need to rein the Counties budget while keeping in place the vital programs. The 53 year old self employed local business man, a taxpaying homeowner and the father of 4 children, ages 16 thru 29 with two in college and living at home is cognizant of the burden placed on so many because of high taxes, mandates and municipal mismanagement. McGuigan’s record reflects the ability to work with representatives from all levels of government across party lines to secure funding aid for the County.

McGuigan continued, “I pride myself with a history of working side by side with Putnam Counties 40 departments including the managers and employees that keep our County running like a fine tuned clock. I also look forward to re-establishing my professional working relationship with Putnam’s elected officials who provide for the Health, Safety and Welfare of our residents. Now more than ever, collectively working together, we can do the work of the people in a concise way. “The time is now to be part of a solution, not the confusion”, which under the wrong makeup of the Legislature will have a negative impact for years to come. McGuigan places a strong emphasis on “his common sense approach to lead us to more prosperous times ahead. I have the years of experience in government and my evaluation from a business perspective will bring much needed leadership, a fresh vision and the experience needed in challenging times.”

Mr. McGuigan feels that 2012 will prove to be a turning point for the County with a new County Executive after over 20 years. The Legislature will find itself in transition ratifying new department heads and exploring new policies. With the hopes of a new financial norm each vote will be critical and must be cast independently with the public interest put above all.

Through consensus building and respectful dialogue I pledge to contribute even when my position may not be popular; Government can only work when many ideas are debated. I have always governed by the quote, “listen to people tempered with compassion” and “pledge to continue respecting the will of the people”.

According to the newspapers some folks over in Jolly Old England got married the other day and I’m pleased to say I know nothing about it.

Accurate weather forecasting saved countless lives from the tornadoes that crossed the south and even though 300 died, without advanced warnings many more might have. It was the careful and complex forecasting abilities that gave many enough notice to take safe shelter.

The United States has the most complete weather forecast network in the world but that has been seriously undermined by recent actions in Congress in which the Republican party has voted to slash federal funding to maintain that edge. Yes, even Alabama’s Congressional delegation voted to slash funding for advanced warning and radar systems. And had their cuts already taken place…

Giving it Up for Vinnie Leibell

More than a million letters have made it to the judge presiding over former Senator Leibell’s case, at least it seems like that many based on news reports. For each time you open the funny papers more letters have arrived and all apparently pleading with the judge to be lenient come sentencing.

But my head is spinning from all this hypocrisy.

On the one hand we have a mass of people who are complaining that Albany is corrupt, that politicians in general are corrupt and that you can’t trust government at any level.

On the other hand you have many of the same people saying that every politician is corrupt EXCEPT Senator Leibell. Oh, yeah, there’s that bribery thing but he’s not responsible for his actions, it’s just the way Albany is so why punish him for what everyone is doing?

I’m sure he’s a saint. I’m sure he’s a good family man. You know as well as I that hundreds of organizations around the district have benefited from his largesse with pork and state dollars and all of that is undoubtedly true. But that’s not the issue here: the issue was personal gain, that the Senator benefited financially from all that wonderful work and that’s the problem.

My opinion: You can’t have it both ways and protecting Senator Leibell and others who have followed (or were led) down that path gives every other politician an excuse to continue on with the status quo of bribery and corruption and all that goes with it.

Sure the [fill in organization name here] got their [fill in project here] built. But we all know they had to use the Senator’s personal [fill in service or company here] and that contract turned into a direct campaign donation meaning that monies that should have gone into [fill in project here] were skimmed off and ended in the Senator’s pocket. Is this the norm in government? If it is, then we cannot be lenient if we want change to take place.

Look, I’m not picking on Vinnie Leibell, he just happens to be the local poster child for all you’ve been saying is wrong with Albany. If we were in another district, Joe Bruno’s for instance, we’d be talking about him.

Peter Fluchere, a local appraiser, writes: “I would ask that now during this difficult time for the Leibell family, he be allowed to come home to then and, as the court feels appropriate, to have him provide a community service for which all would benefit.”

Valerie Hickman, Putnam’s Tourism Director writes, “I would also hope that you would find some compassion for a man who has contributed and will continue to contribute to the well being of his fellow man.”

Nicholas Spano writes, “When news of the investigation and indictment of Mr. Leibell reached his colleagues both in and out of government, the reaction was truly one of surprise. It appeared markedly out of character with the person that I and others had observed.”

County Clerk Dennis Sant writes, “Vinnie is the most charitable, generous, dedicated public servant I have ever worked with.”

And in a letter to the Editor dated January 5, 2011, Jim Baker of Kent wrote, “He would have made an excellent County Executive. I wonder of we have not created, in Albany, a system whereby the only effective voices allowed are those the inner circle can ambush at will.“

If you wrote a letter asking the judge to be lenient in his sentencing then I’d better never hear you complain about corrupt politicians ever again. Never, never never never never again.

Blast!

The Town of Carmel has proposed a new blasting ordinance which is a little late as the damage has already been done. After a recent public hearing some changes were made and they’re outlined below:

Under Section D: Pre-blast Inspection, the town has added a post-blast inspection and a new part 3 and 4 that says; (underlined is new. strike through words were removed.)

(1) When the any actual blast will location is proposed or planned to occur within a five hundred (500)

foot radius of any existing home, structure, roadway, pool, utility or other facility, including but not

limited to septic systems, sewer lines/mains/collectors, water distribution mains or services and/or

water wells and distribution lines, the Building Inspector may shall require est that a pre-blast

inspection be performed by the applicant. The pre-blast inspection should provide reports,

photographs and other video documentation delineating the existing conditions of such buildings,

structures, utilities or facilities. The cost of said inspections shall be born by the applicant and/or

permittee.

(2) Upon review of the pre-blast inspection reports and field visits, the Building Inspector may

determine that a blasting plan be prepared.

(3) The Building Inspector shall require post-blast inspection with regard to all blast locations

which occur within a five hundred (500) foot radius of any existing home, structure, roadway,

pool, utility or other facility, including but not limited to septic systems, sewer

lines/mains/collectors, water distribution mains or services and/or water wells and distribution

lines. Such post-blast inspection shall be in accordance with the requirements of section D(1)

herein and shall be completed within 12 (twelve) months of completion of all blasting activity.

(4) The Building Inspector, in his discretion may direct or require potable water testing be

conducted and that the cost of said testing be born by the applicant and/or permittee.

 

As you can see, there’s not a single substantive change (with the exception of a post-blast inspection) from the original proposal though I am sure the Carmel Town Board will say otherwise and say otherwise and say otherwise!

Though Hawaii became the US’s 50th state on August 21, 1959, there’s a two-year period during which it’s not really, exactly a state, but an almost state. Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 thus falling short of official statehood. Therefore he cannot be President. Why the Liberal, Left-wing media didn’t figure that out is beyond me.

So, that resolves it. Barack Obama, birth certificate and all, must step down from the Presidency freeing the White House of a Black Man.

The previous article was brought to you by the Tin Foil Hat Brigade, Inc.,

The following article is brought to you by the Tin Foil Hat Brigade, Inc.,

This is from Free Republic:

Utter, unmitigated BS. A cover-up of gargantuan proportions.Ok, so let me see if I have this correct. They just admitted that the COLB they have been saying was official and legit for the last years was indeed a fake, right?

Was he also a citizen of Kenya? Do you want a citizen of Kenya as president?

Thus far, and I will keep checking, but I find no evidence of the doctor who signed this COLB as ever existing. Will keep going thru Hawaiian records….

Yes, this is different from the OTHER COLB that has been foisted upon us for the last 3 years. BUT, it is still lacking information, such as length & weight of the baby. And why is it on this funky green background and looking like it is part of a roll of paper document? If it is from microfiche, you know it doesn’t look like that. What gives?

AND the signature of the issuing registrar is NOT on the document but on the fakey green background. Something is not right here.

the ink on this form is too fresh for me.

And now, The News:

1. NYC DEP punked by the Yes Men
2. Putnam developer runs to daylight
3. Man dies in Connecticut after being shot with stun gun
4. Voyager probes set to enter interstellar space
5. Sharp Drop in American Enthusiasm for Free Market, Poll Shows
6. Group Behind King James Bible Congressional Resolution Thinks Obama Might Be Antichrist
7. Canada’s Impressive World Leadership Record
8. Docs warn men with mental ‘short penis syndrome’ against unproven pills, creams, pumps, surgery

No, the sticker above — which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been spotted near public faucets around New York City lately — isn’t the work of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. It’s part of a pretty slick anti-fracking campaign, complete with a website (www.nyc-dep.org) dressed up to look almost exactly like the DEP’s actual site. There’s also a fake “DEP” video, with instructions on how to tell if your water is safe. (Hint: Try to set it on fire.)

The stickers, and the official-looking fake website that goes along with them, appear to be the work of the Yes Men, a group of activist merry pranksters that specialize in the art of the well-played anti-corporate hoax. Just last month, they gulled the Associated Press into running a story declaring that General Electric would be returning its $3.2 billion tax refund to the U.S. government. And back in 2000, they famously impersonated the World Trade Organization via a fake website (www.gatt.org) that earned them an invitation to speak at a seminar on international trade in Austria. (A rather extraordinary drama then unfolded, in which the Yes Men’s “WTO representative” spoke at the seminar, was hit in the face with a pie, and subsequently “died.”)

Read More

Putnam developer runs to daylight

By Bill Fallon

Hang in there. You’ll know soon enough if the recovery is real.

Paul Camarda, president of “a small company that does big things,” Carmel-based Camarda Realty Investments L.L.C., said we should know what the next couple of years hold by July 1. The economy has notched gains, but it remains “fragile, just tracking along,” he said. If the recovery fails to gain sufficient traction in the next two months, the presidential election threatens to stall everything.

Camarda spoke to 25 business people recently in White Plains at a breakfast hosted by the Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors.

“It’s all about psyche,” he said. “Until housing moves, we’ll never see a revival in real estate across the board. If the homeowner has the psychological knowledge that the value of his home won’t drop anymore, he’ll spend.”

One problem: “There’s a lot of s**t out there in plain English that’s never going to sell,” Camarda said. “In Nevada, they’re tearing down new subdivisions.”

Camarda’s developments include Patterson Crossing, Gateway Summit, Stateline Retail Center, Kent Business Center, Taconic Center and Union Place, all in Putnam County.

Patterson Crossing won all approvals last fall. It features 410,000 square feet of retail and an additional 8,220 square feet of office space. Camarda estimates 50,000 cars pass its Route 311/I-84 Exit 18 location every day.

Gateway Summit on Route 6 in Carmel also possesses its approvals. Its plat foresees a 123-room hotel set to break ground in June, 300 housing units, 22,600 square feet of retail and 6,000 square feet of office space.

Stateline Retail Center in Brewster won its approvals last year and foresees 195,800 square feet of retail space and 14,800 square feet of office space one mile from the Connecticut border. During his address, Camarda, who lives in Ridgefield, Conn., but who serves on the boards of several prominent Putnam businesses, said New York license plates are common at Danbury (Conn.) Fair Mall, but very few Connecticut cars shop in New York.

Read More

Man dies in Connecticut after being shot with stun gun

May 1, 2011

Voyager probes set to enter interstellar space

Canada’s Impressive World Leadership Record

by Adam Daifallah for Hudson New York

Those who care about support for democracies abroad and who want a strong ally for the U.S. and freedom around the world ought to be hoping that Canada’s current Conservative Government, under the leadership of Stephen Harper, wins a majority in the election this Monday.

Back in the mid-1980s, it was easy – even fashionable – to mock Canada. It is still often wrongly perceived as a backwater, where people travel by dogsled, enjoy paying high taxes and make good bacon. As late as 1995, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Canada’s dangerously high debt levels made it “an honorary member of the Third World.”

Those who have been paying attention know a different story. Canada today is no laughing matter. It has come out of the economic crisis in better shape than any other G8 country. Its taxes are comparatively low, especially for corporations. It is on track to balance its budget far earlier than the U.S. And on the foreign policy front, Canada has outshone all of its Western allies in its robust defense of democracy, freedom and human rights abroad.

Much of the credit, particularly in the foreign policy realm, is due to to Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which is up for reelection on Monday.

Read More

Docs warn men with mental ‘short penis syndrome’ against unproven pills, creams, pumps, surgery

Men, are you worried about your ahem, shortcomings? According to the researchers, you shouldn’t be.

Men with “short penis syndrome” often have perfectly average-sized genitalia but believe strongly that they are inadequate.

“Penile size is a matter of great interest among men who are affected by ‘short penis syndrome’ or just believe themselves to have a small penis, even though the dimensions of the organ fall within the normal range,” stated University of Turin urologists Marco Oderda and Paolo Gontero in British Journal of Urology International, where their work is published this month.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic are warning men who are obsessed with the size of their penises to think twice before investing time and money into pills, pumps and procedures that are as likely to disappoint as they are to cause harm.

Read More

h – 845-628-3506
c – 845-269-8003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MAY 2, 2001

Former Putnam County Legislator Robert (Bobby) McGuigan Jr., a resident of Mahopac, announces his candidacy today for Legislator, District #8, which he served  with distinction for 12 years. McGuigan served as Chairman of the Legislature and was also Deputy Chairman and served on every standing committee. Mr. McGuigan stated, “In politics you need to step back and re-evaluate your position to serve your constituents effectively. I have the years of experience and know County Government inside out, but I also have the benefit of a respite and as a self employed businessman I know the struggle and pressure families in Putnam are feeling in order to make ends meet.”

Over the past three years our Country and County has faced the worst economic down turn since the great depression. He claims that the tools put in place during his tenure provided a safety net that spared the County from a total break down that other municipalities faced. McGuigan stated, “My voting record reflects I took votes based on what was right, voting no to pay raises and reigning in on spending proved to be wise votes. I didn’t always win popularity contests, but it was my job to be fiscally responsible.”

McGuigan, a 1975 Mahopac High School graduate, was first elected at the age of 38, was always cognizant of the need to rein the Counties budget while keeping in place the vital programs. The 53 year old self employed local business man, a taxpaying homeowner and the father of 4 children, ages 16 thru 29 with two in college and living at home is cognizant of the burden placed on so many because of high taxes, mandates and municipal mismanagement. McGuigan’s record reflects the ability to work with representatives from all levels of government across party lines to secure funding aid for the County.

McGuigan continued, “I pride myself with a history of working side by side with Putnam Counties 40 departments including the managers and employees that keep our County running like a fine tuned clock. I also look forward to re-establishing my professional working relationship with Putnam’s elected officials who provide for the Health, Safety and Welfare of our residents. Now more than ever, collectively working together, we can do the work of the people in a concise way. “The time is now to be part of a solution, not the confusion”, which under the wrong makeup of the Legislature will have a negative impact for years to come. McGuigan places a strong emphasis on “his common sense approach to lead us to more prosperous times ahead. I have the years of experience in government and my evaluation from a business perspective will bring much needed leadership, a fresh vision and the experience needed in challenging times.”

Mr. McGuigan feels that 2012 will prove to be a turning point for the County with a new County Executive after over 20 years. The Legislature will find itself in transition ratifying new department heads and exploring new policies. With the hopes of a new financial norm each vote will be critical and must be cast independently with the public interest put above all.

Through consensus building and respectful dialogue I pledge to contribute even when my position may not be popular; Government can only work when many ideas are debated. I have always governed by the quote, “listen to people tempered with compassion” and “pledge to continue respecting the will of the people”.

Sunday, April 3, 2011 – Sunken Mine Road, Fahnestock State Park.

April Fools?

Last Friday I ran a story: Ball Resigns Senate Seat to Run For Congress and hundreds of people read it at the website and hundreds more on social networking sites and various news feeds. It was tagged as an April Fool’s joke in the same vein as my article a few years back about then Senator Leibell moving a bill to ban divorce in NY State.
Though the Senator Who Shall Not Be Named has not resigned his Senate seat to run for Congress it’s pretty clear to anyone paying attention that the race is on. It might behoove (I love that word!) Nan Hayworth to move a little to the center otherwise that extreme right-hand corner is going to get awfully crowded.

A Nightmare on Croton Falls Road

And of course, Norman Marino and Paul Jonke are involved. It’s like it never ends in that most corrupt of Putnam County towns. Read the Journal News article here.

Why are rents still so high?

According to the latest Census information, Putnam County has 3,183 vacant homes/apartments, a 36% increase since 2000 and around 8% of the total homes in the county. With those kinds of numbers you’d think rents in this county would have come down a bit but for reasons that aren’t exactly clear to me and for which real estate agents have no explanation, not only have they remained high, but have increased over the years. Does anyone have an explanation?

Spreading the Word

If you’ve not been spreading the word about News That Matters you need to start! Send your friends this link: [http://feeds.feedburner.com/planputnam/MQQK] and their newsreader will automatically pull in each published  issue.

Eating Healthy. Eating Locally.

It’s that time of year again where local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are beginning to take orders for the summer. If you work at or are a member of a CSA farm in the area, send along their information so we can keep our listings up to date and spread the good food.

Snap Quiz!

Q: What do Maryellen O’dell, Joe Capasso and Vinnie Tamagna all have in common?

A: Greg Ball.

Where’s Nan?

Last Friday morning in what has been assumed was a grand April Fool’s joke, radio host Brian Lehrer hosted Congresswoman Nan Hayworth on his 10AM show on WNYC, 93.9FM. I’ll point you to the comments section of WNYC’s website where you will see that, similar to her performance in Patterson a couple of weeks ago, she’s a vacuous hole of non-information, gross assumptions and party talking-points.

So, Who asked you?

“I’m concerned about the total lack of accuracy in the reporting on this site. Ive [sic] been to meetings which were later described on this site, and there was no connection to reality in the reporting. They would say “so and so was not there”, but that person would be standing right next to the ‘reporter’ at the meeting. Then they quote someone in the article, but that person did not say what was reported. So it seems this site gives the fictional account of the news.”

“Phony nonprofit intended to mislead viewers, but still uses “.org” designation even though it’s not a non-profit org. Website owner badgers viewers for cash contributions. Provides filtered and edited news feeds, mostly promoting the opinion and business interests of the site owner. Don’t waste your time.”

PlanPutnam has been listed on Alexa for years and now two comments coming just days apart? Are local political operatives *that* afraid I may run for office again this year? My campaign account is still active…

Mr. N. is a little peeved that I may have failed to report on his words of wisdom at a meeting when others had more important things to say. Or I didn’t feel it necessary to feed his nascent political career. Or something. But if I became upset about being edited out of public meetings my head would have exploded ten years ago reading the Putnam Times, the FOX Courier and the Journal News.

[Ed note: the Times is slowly coming around. I fear however, the only way I'll show up in the FOX Courier or the Journal News is after my arrest for running a prostitution ring at a convention of Mormon Shriners in Fescus, Missouri.]

Mr. B., who I must assume is not the same Mr. B serving as the county election commissioner, is now forbidden to read the newsletter unless he contributes to the effort. Does his time have no value? But I would like him to walk into the local Hessmart and help himself to the newspapers on the rack without paying for them. As for his “filtered and edited news feeds” I certainly encourage him to violate copyright laws and deluge his readers with the full content of anything and everything that crosses his mind. Like when the attorneys come knocking.

But now that Bob has mentioned it… Easter and Passover are getting awfully close and the family is coming… You know what to do. (No, don’t call Mr. B.)

Call your favorite house painter at 845 554-5119 or visit Taconicarts.

Who is to blame for high gasoline prices?

Kyle at the Sunoco in Ludingtonville. It’s his fault. He admits it, he says so and he doesn’t mind you knowing. If you stop in and he’s working tell him you know, too.

Fly fishing season began this weekend.

And now, The News:

1. The Millionaire Migration Myth: Don’t Fall for This Anti-Tax Scare Tactic
2. Volunteers Needed Researching Juvenile Eels in Hudson River Streams
3. Clash of Rural Character and Taxpayer Costs
4. Many Low-Wage Jobs Seen as Failing to Meet Basic Needs
5. Green Roofs
6. Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes
7. Bay Area has couple of small nuclear reactors

The Millionaire Migration Myth: Don’t Fall for This Anti-Tax Scare Tactic

April 1, 2011

By Carl Davis

Virtually every state in the country has a tax system that heavily favors1 the rich. Despite this fact, only a handful of states responded to the revenue slump brought on by the Great Recession with any sort of tax increase on this favored group. What gives? With so many states looking for ways to balance their budgets, why isn’t there more interest in finally making the rich pay their fair share?

The answer lies partially in one of the most effective, yet most absurd anti-tax scare tactics to be used in recent memory: the so-called “millionaire migration” epidemic. State lawmakers across the country have heard again and again that wealthy taxpayers will pull up stakes and move in response to just about any progressive state tax increase. In most cases, however, even a cursory look at the facts shows that these fears are unjustified. With tax day nearly upon us once again, let’s take just a moment to make those facts known.

In New York, it was a business-backed group called the Partnership for New York City that first began spreading misinformation about the state’s income tax surcharge on the rich. In a February report2, the Partnership claimed that

“New York’s high taxes risk pushing jobs, tax revenue, and talent to neighboring states. …Since the imposition of New York’s surcharge in 2009, there has been a 9.4% decrease in the state’s taxpayers who are worth $1 million or more, decreasing from 381,786 in 2007 to 345,892 in 2009.”

That sounds pretty scary, but the same data3 used by the Partnership shows that every state in the country saw its millionaire population decline between 2007 and 2009, and that a whopping forty-three states experienced declines exceeding New York’s 9.4 percent drop. Apologies for stating the obvious, but these declines were a predictable result of the recent recession.

Making matters worse, the original press release4 accompanying this data made very clear that the U.S. as a whole saw its millionaire population decline by nearly 14 percent between 2007 and 2009. It’s therefore a little strange, to say the least, that the Partnership would interpret New York’s 9.4 percent drop as providing any evidence whatsoever that could be useful in its crusade against taxing high-income earners.

Read More

Volunteers Needed Researching Juvenile Eels in Hudson River Streams

Green Roofs

April 2, 2011

One of the best ways to make a building greener is to literally make it greener.  CAP has the story.

Green roofs, or living roofs, offer a number of important benefits not only to the environment but also to property owners. And while many might think of green roofs as exclusively in the purview of commercial property, home installation can be both practical and economical.

Green roofs are created by using rooftop space to plant a layer of grasses, shrubs, flowers, and other forms of flora and greenery. Typically, green roofs begin with an insulation layer, followed by a waterproof barrier, then by the organic material used to grow the plants. Construction and maintenance of green roofs is inexpensive and they can also last far longer than traditional roofs if the appropriate plants are used.

Although green roofs have been catching on as a part of the growing trend to make our cities and buildings more sustainable, they are in fact nothing new. People around the world built their houses with roofs made of sod or grass for hundreds of years. Though those houses are now seen as relics of antiquity, their construction serves as useful inspiration to guide the design of the sustainable houses of tomorrow.

Read More

Reconsidering the Goldstone Report on Israel and war crimes

By Richard Goldstone, Friday, April , 8:42 PM

We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.

The final report by the U.N. committee of independent experts — chaired by former New York judge Mary McGowan Davis — that followed up on the recommendations of the Goldstone Report has found that “Israel has dedicated significant resources to investigate over 400 allegations of operational misconduct in Gaza” while “the de facto authorities (i.e., Hamas) have not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel.”

Our report found evidence of potential war crimes and “possibly crimes against humanity” by both Israel and Hamas. That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying — its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.

The allegations of intentionality by Israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact-finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion. While the investigations published by the Israeli military and recognized in the U.N. committee’s report have established the validity of some incidents that we investigated in cases involving individual soldiers, they also indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.

For example, the most serious attack the Goldstone Report focused on was the killing of some 29 members of the al-Simouni family in their home. The shelling of the home was apparently the consequence of an Israeli commander’s erroneous interpretation of a drone image, and an Israeli officer is under investigation for having ordered the attack. While the length of this investigation is frustrating, it appears that an appropriate process is underway, and I am confident that if the officer is found to have been negligent, Israel will respond accordingly. The purpose of these investigations, as I have always said, is to ensure accountability for improper actions, not to second-guess, with the benefit of hindsight, commanders making difficult battlefield decisions.

Read More

Bay Area has couple of small nuclear reactors

by David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Read More

In the suit, Eileen Brennan, the town’s account clerk, details what she claims is a hostile work environment perpetuated by Assessor Paul Jonke. Jonke, she said, yells in Town Hall, has carried a gun to work and filed a false sexual-harassment complaint against her. She is seeking $1 million in total damages from both him and the town for enduring his behavior.

A Long Island-based lawyer representing Jonke and the town noted the suit was not a verified complaint, meaning it was signed only by Brennan’s attorney and not by Brennan, who would do so under the penalty of perjury, he claimed. Attorney Michael Miranda all but called the suit a work of fiction. It was filed early in March in state Supreme Court in Carmel.

Read More At: $1M Carmel suit claims assessor creates hostile workplace | The Journal News | lohud.com.