I have a cold. I’m in a bad mood. But it’s nothing a freshly backed loaf of banana bread (w/brown sugar, raisins and sunflower seeds) and enough orange liqueur can’t handle.

Luckily, I wrote the column below over the weekend.

And it’s not the Anniversary, but we’re close. It’s somewhere around here and so we shall celebrate today anyway!

It’s now more than a decade that News That Matters has been around in one incarnation or another.

Remember back in the olden days when we published at Yahoo and then made the move to Google and then to a comprehensive newsletter published three times a week and a website all our own?

Three websites. Four, actually.

You can find News That Matters at PlanPutnam and at Blogger and Posterous, both as “No Country For Sane Men“. And if you’re on Facebook you can find us there, too.

It’s a little crazy living in the USA right about now and with extremism coming at you from mostly right-angles like a warped isosceles triangle, and you need a source that can dissect the news and get it to you in ways you can genuinely understand. And that’s what we’re here for.

PlanPutnam/News That Matters is also this county’s premiere organizational tool and you know that to be true from the many issues and the many victories we have under our belts. I don’t need to list those successful battles for you know what they are and you know your lives are better for it – and that’s the point.

In case you have forgotten where we’ve been, here, in no particular order, are some reminders culled from the last few years:

The Thirty-Eight Billion Fee

This happens every day to thousands of people across the nation and while Bank of America is the most hideously evil of the lot, many banks play this game and billions of dollars are pulled from the economy and go to subsidize executive bonuses, stock dividends, the purchase of Congressmen and Senators, nifty automated teller machines that work so slowly you have to shave again by the time you’re done using them and which cause traffic tie-ups on Friday evenings that CBS radio reports along with, “…and it’s 40 minutes to The George.”

Chickens, Roads and Highways – A Special Report

As first proposed, the issue was one of safety but the project plans say that PHR is as safe as any other road. Then there was the idea that you’d be able to drive from Kent to Peekskill faster and yet, the accidents that have happened generally did so for people traveling way above the speed limit or tailgating. Then it was planned growth in the project area rated at 2% a year which would by 2029, create traffic and backups similar, I guess, to Route 22′s. But a quick look at a map shows that to be so wrong words cannot describe it.

The Tilly Foster Saga Continues…

What will it cost for taxpayers to cover the utility bills, heating, cooling, electricity, etc., and to maintain the walks and roads in all weather conditions vs. the amount of monies generated from sales taxes? I just don’t believe anyone could raise those kinds of funds through sales taxes alone from the Farm. So why not have a profit sharing arrangement? But that’s not in the contract. While Ann Fanizzi, the contract’s most ardent supporter, dreams that Mr. Whipple will build a bed & breakfast and turn the main lodge into full service restaurant, the county will need to foot the entirety of the utility bills and the maintenance of the roads and walkways leading to and surrounding them. I wish I had such a deal with my landlord!

What Being Sick Costs The Nation

When you are sick and on the job your productivity is down which results in a decline in efficiency. When you are sick and cannot work, especially in a job without paid sick days, the local economy is affected. And what happens when you wait until you simply cannot go on and your illness has advanced? How much money is pulled from the economy then? What of your home and family? Will Verizon or Comcast or NYSEG understand when they don’t get paid because of the cost of dealing with an illness that might have been easily treated at the beginning but that has now gotten out of control? They might. But you’ll be sending smoke signals and watching a blank TV screen by candlelight.Will your town’s tax collector say, “No problem Mrs. Smith, pay us when you can”?

Verizon’s Billing Mysteries

FCC Line Charge. This charge also is known as the Federal Subscriber Line Charge, the Federally-Ordered Subscriber Line Charge, Federal Line Cost Charge, and the FCC Subscriber Line Charge. In reality it’s the missing portion of your basic line charge mentioned above. That $8.79 fee should be, if Verizon were open and honest about their charges, $15.20. But they get to “cheat” to give you the impression your actual costs are lower and that the Fed is responsible for $6.41 of it. They’re misleading you and getting away with it.

Shooting Gazelles – Ball supports “Canned Hunting”

Yet, Assemblyman Greg Ball supports this type of hunting, claiming on the floor of the Assembly that if the New York bans the use of exotic, non-native animals from canned hunts held within the state that the next step is that the state will ban the shooting of white -tailed deer, then the state will take away everyone’s guns and finally we’ll all have chips in our backs. (see the video clip here). He also claims he represents ‘thousands of hunters in his district’ whom, one might assume, has given him their blessing to fight for this abominable practice in their name.

Contractors Ripped Off By Putnam County (NY)

In a previous issue I mentioned that a county Legislator suggested that if I had trouble paying the fee that maybe I shouldn’t be in business. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the economy sucks and those fees amount to a hardship. Or maybe no one should have to pay for the right to earn a living in Putnam County.

News That Matters: The Walkway Edition

Kudos need be sent to the organizers of this event. It’s massive scale and scope must have taken thousands of hours and untold patience. Everything ran so smoothly! Even with tens of thousands of people, thousands of cars, city buses, a dozen marching bands, scores of performers, several parades and assorted marauding clowns, trapeze artists and jugglers, (and yes, you can toss in a bevy of politicians,) there wasn’t a hitch to be seen. In fact, even the weather – which promised rain – cooperated beautifully.

Racists Rear Their Ugly Heads in Putnam Again

The misinformation contained in the copy on the website is astonishing in its one-sided shortsightedness and includes a link to an outside website where, if Mexicans were Jews, would read, “Die Juden sind ünser unglück”. No matter that the Comptroller of the State of Texas, among others of equal high position across the nation claim that undocumented workers contribute more to the system in taxes than they use, and that recent immigrants – legal and illegal – have *created* tens of thousands of new jobs, this linked website continues the same lies, mistruths and…. shit. It’s just pure White Supremacist shit.

Kent’s ‘panhandle’

Early maps show Philipstown being more recatngularish from when it was divvied up among the Philipse Family. The 1892 USGS map shows the current westernmost line of Kent, the line that runs along the Philisptown Pike (Route 301) AND the *old* town line as well. That line is missing from the 1941 map which has the current town lines in position.

Questions:

1) When did Kent acquire Hortowntown and,
2) Why?

[Ed note: this article was posted on October 3, 2006 and has still not been answered!]

Tales from the Trail

Why? Well, I added up all the possible promised blocks of votes and it turns out – at best – they represent about 15% of the voters. That’s right: the special interest groups and the armchair politicians and the folk who are in this only for the [insert turgid reference here] added together leave the remaining %85 of the voters unrepresented. But, for such a small group, they sure are organized! And Loud. And they have money.

A TEA Party on the Hill

For the past several weeks the region had been bombarded by an ever-increasing barrage of signs, snail mails, emails and robocalls announcing an event that was either a “RibFest!”, a People’s Convention, a Free BBQ or a rally for Greg Ball and Steve Katz… it all depended on which signs you saw or which advert you read or which phone call you got as they all had slightly different information and I reported on this confusion several days ago. But that didn’t seem to bother the 300 people who attended on Saturday.

Selecting an ESCO

Over half of NYSEG electricity supply customers who didn’t voice their choice last year don’t know their current supply pricing option. And while that may suck for them, it’s been great for us. We thank those customers for not having degrees in Advanced Rocket Science and praise their inability to figure out what their options are. NYSEG has always firmly believed that offering you the best choice is a simple matter of confusing the heck out of you. We are proud to continue that tradition because, face it, you have no choice!

Corporate Welfare, Putnam Style

If I were a better writer and could match the skills of even the most middling of authors, life in Putnam County would make quite excellent reading. But so few publishers would believe what I had written as genuine they’d have to place my book in the fiction section of bookstores and the fantasy section of libraries. But I can assure you that what we experience here as residents is real and genuine even though it reads – and too often feels – as if we’re living in a 1950′s Central American Banana Republic. In only a very few other places around the world, perhaps in one of those central Asian “stans” no one can pronounce, could we write about the depths of malfeasance that passes for government in our bucolic 240 square miles. If Voltaire or Shalom Aleichem were alive today even they could not have surpassed the fantastical mysteries and ironies that abound in our every day lives. Welcome to Putnam County, New York.

Controversy in Pawling? It Depends

At a meeting on July 2nd, 2008, Supervisor Coursen mentioned, after yet another round of public and pointed criticism from Mr. Carey, that the minutes from a recently held Comprehensive Plan meeting had not yet been posted to the town’s website due to a backlog on the Planning Board clerk’s desk. With the meeting continuing on, Supervisor Coursen rose from the dais to get a glass of water when Mr. Carey met her on the side and offered to come into town hall and post those minutes on his own. While that’s a nice thing to offer, what responsible entity would allow a political enemy, especially – and note this – the chair of a political party, access to a town’s website?

Pulte Homes, Adam Levy and Justice Putnam Style

Pulte Homes, Adam Levy and Justice Putnam Style: For what the Town of Carmel and Putnam County has done over the years to Lori Kemp you’d think agents from the human rights court in the Hague would descend from the heavens and arrest anyone who has ever sat on a board in that town. But that didn’t happen for too seldom do those who deserve justice get actually it.

The Great Tefillin Scare

On a short-haul flight the other day a 17 year old kid put on his tefflin to pray. A flight attendant asked what he was doing, “praying,” he replied. She notified the pilot. In the flight attendant’s description she said “…it had wires running from it and going up to his fingers,” What she didn’t know was that they go directly to God! but, I digress…

Breaking News: Putnam’s Most Out Person Accused of Autophobia

In a stunning revelation, Putnam County’s most ‘out’ political figure was accused by an alleged staffer from the Nan Hayworth campaign of making accusatory slurs against himself based on his sexual orientation.

Remember when…

From the Patterson Crossing Scoping Session: January 2005

A Walk on the new Cornwall Hill DEC property: Summer 2004

Choices for Sustainable Living Conference: November 2005

Putnam Valley Dems Election Night Celebration: November 2005

FrOGS Announces NAWCA Grant: October 2002. Dave Tobias and Mike Griffin.

Croton Watershed Meeting: October 2004

Charlie Silver – Chief Watershed Scientist, Jim Tierney – Watershed Inspector General,
Peter Lehner, Chief Environmental Attorney. All work for the State Attorney General’s Office

And some Pictures of the Day shots: (Click on them – they get bigger!)

Ice Pond

Dean Road DEP property

Bear Mt. Bridge from Anthony’s Nose

Glynwood from Fahnestock State Park

Daniel Nimham Pow Wow

Thunderstorm over eastern Putnam from Shenandoah Mt.

Bull Hill (Mt. Taurus) from Round Hill in Fahnestock Park

The Kent “Cow”

Collaborative Concepts Out door Art Exhibit at Saunders’ Farm

There more. There’s nearly eighteen-thousand articles and posts since we began and that we’ve lasted as long as we have is a testament to my insanity – and your perseverance. Let’s keep that going.

Since July 18, 2000

10637 messages at the old Yahoo site
3508 messages at Google.
3738 messages posted to PlanPutnam/News That Matters

17,883 posts/messages/comments!

You’re going to need me for the next four years.

JmG

Don't die without sharing your PIN numbers.

That seems to be the lesson learned from Verizon's recent botched handling of a deceased man's account.

Bill Young of Calvin, W.Va died in June 2009, but Verizon Wireless continued to bill him until February 2010.

Young's daughter, Cynthia Lacy produced a death certificate for the company to certify her father's passing, but that wasn't enough for Verizon.

She was told by a Verizon representative that without her father's PIN (personal identification number), she was not allowed access to the account, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

The Florida paper recounted the conversation Lacy allegedly had with Verizon:

'Well, there's nothing else I can do for you,' the representative said before laughing and hanging up the phone.

via Verizon Bills Dead Man Bill Young, Says ‘Death Certificate’ Not Enough To Cancel Service.

It’s war!

I got my phone bill from Verizon the other day as many of you did as well. I’d like you all to open to the part where it has the Breakdown of Charges and specifically, “Taxes, Fees and Other Verizon Charges”. Let’s take a look:

Yo Wait! Before we do, remember that New York gave Verizon permission to raise their rates recently because they had lost business to their competition. So, rather than improve service and attract more customers in that good old American Capitalist way, they went begging to the State and the State said, “yeah, sure.” And keep in mind that an increase in the basic rate (which was $2 a month per line) also represents an increase in sales tax receipts for the state.

Back to our regularly scheduled rant…

Federal Tax	.20
NY State/Local Sales Tax	2.81
911 Surcharge	.35
Federal USF Surcharge	.97
USF – Long Distance	.99
Surcharge(s)	1.14
FCC Line Charge	6.41
Total Taxes, Fees & Other Verizon Charges	$12.87

This is based on a bill totaling $59.99 bringing the total amount to $72.86. That’s a lot of money for a  telephone. That bill includes $8.79 as a Basic charge… but we’ll see just how much bullshit that really is…

The USF Surcharge should be combined with the USF- Long Distance surcharge as they are one and the same. In effect, they are both charges that Verizon makes you pay for their participation in the Universal Service Fund which is geared towards providing schools, libraries, rural America and the poor with telephone service though, being poor myself I somehow don’t seem to qualify. Contributions to the fund are set to estimated quarterly earnings so you should see it shift and change each quarter. Your mandatory contribution (remember, it’s not a tax) raised $7.1 billion in 2008.

The Fed requires that interstate communications providers pay into this account but there is nothing in the code that requires them to pass the cost on to you, at least not as a “fee”.

In essence, however, though Verizon collects this from you and sends it to the Fed, the Fed uses it to subsidize programs which means the money goes directly BACK to Verizon. In one hand and into the other… directly. And for the record, the High Cost component of the USAC has seen some $4 billion returned directly to phone companies as subsidies.

Surcharge(s). Who the hell knows?

FCC Line Charge. This charge also is known as the Federal Subscriber Line Charge, the Federally-Ordered Subscriber Line Charge, Federal Line Cost Charge, and the FCC Subscriber Line Charge. In reality it’s the missing portion of your basic line charge mentioned above. That $8.79 fee should be, if Verizon were open and honest about their charges, $15.20. But they get to “cheat” to give you the impression your actual costs are lower and that the Fed is responsible for $6.41 of it. They’re misleading you and getting away with it.

Verizon tells me this charge is mandated by the FCC and must be collected in order to satisfy the Fed but I honestly cannot find independent confirmation of that. Instead, what I’ve found is that the “FCC” part is a cheat to encourage you to believe that money is somehow going to Washington DC as a fee or tax or corporate bribe or something. But the truth is that it’s none of those things. It is, in fact, a charge to you by Verizon to provide a line to your home. The only FCC part of it is that the FCC has mandated it’s maximum which was $6.44 in 2007.

This charge does not go to fund the FCC. It’s not a tax nor a surcharge. It is simply another revenue stream for Verizon. But Verizon tells me that it is Federally mandated and so I looked it up and sure enough, in USC Title 47 §201 it reads:

(b) All charges, practices, classifications, and regulations for and in connection with such communication service, shall be just and reasonable, and any such charge, practice, classification, or regulation that is unjust or unreasonable is declared to be unlawful…

So, it doesn’t say diddly about the charge and only that Verizon can charge. The FCC however, has set the maximum (as stated above) and that’s the only thing the FCC has to do with the FCC Line Charge.

Someone at another time might have said that Verizon has fabricated their bill to reflect something that it is not. That was at another time. For this time I’ll say this: Verizon has fabricated their bill to make you think the FCC wants your money when in reality they’re nothing more than a money sucking corporation that needs your tax dollars to pay their stockholders because they can’t seem to turn a profit by providing good service at an affordable price.

Sue me.

But even if we assume that the total $12.87 are taxes alone, on a $60 bill that’s still a lot of often hidden taxes and each and every one of us is paying it and we’re doing so quite happily. It really is time to break a few dishes around here and I’m open to suggestions. How many more tax breaks, kickbacks and forced subsidies do taxpayers need to give to Corporate America? When is it enough?

“…this Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.” — US Supreme Court: Citizens United vs FEC

Good Friday morning,

Weather reports for the next few days are calling for windy and very cold conditions with sub-zero wind chills especially at night and in the mornings.

The standard neighbor deal applies: Check in on anyone you know who is living alone or is elderly or infirm. Don’t think that single 34 year old former high school football player and current NYC fireman will be fine. The loss of household heat over night, a slip in the shower… Anything can go wrong.

Tonight’s full Moon is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. It’s a “perigee Moon,” as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than other full Moons you’ll see later in 2010. Mars is also having a close encounter with Earth, and tonight it will join the Moon for an all-night-long conjunction. Don’t miss it! Sky maps and images can be found at http://spaceweather.com.

There have been three notable deaths over the past few days. For one, author J.D. Salinger. If anyone has been to High School, the intensely private Mr. Salinger was part of your life – whether you wanted him to be or not.

His tale of teenage angst, “The Catcher in the Rye“, has been required reading in many school districts across the land and even banned in a quite a few. Between 1960 and 1981 “The Catcher in the Rye” was the most banned book in American schools and the tenth most frequently challenged book between 1990 and 1999 and remained so as late as 2005. Interestingly, in communities where the book was banned from classrooms, libraries saw a marked increase in requests. We are a very strange nation.

Second, we’ve lost one of our nation’s most astute and important historians, Professor and WWII veteran, Howard Zinn.

Mr. Zinn’s books have tasked several generations of Americans to reconsider the way they’ve been taught their own history, to seek verification from, and to question the authority of those who teach us using the standard model. He once said, “They have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from the history of the 20th century, from a hundred years of retaliation, vengeance, war, a hundred years of terrorism and counter-terrorism, of violence met with violence in an unending cycle of stupidity.” His voice will truly be missed.

The most recent is that of Scottish musician Alistair Hulett who died at 57 years old for want of a liver transplant at a hospital in Glasgow.

Alistair’s reach has been everywhere from politics to Australian punk rock and he has toured the world playing with notable musicians such as Dave Swarbrick, David Rovics, Niamh Parsons and James Fagan. His acoustic version of The Internationale has moved thousands and is more than worth a listen.

Hudson Valley State Assemblyman Frank Skartados has submitted legislation that would transfer authority for the Walkway Over The Hudson to the NY Bridge and Tunnel Authority. The legislation gives control, not of the walkway itself which will remain with Parks and Rec, but the superstructure on which it rests. We smell an EZPass lane somewhere in our pedestrian and bicycling future.

“You have pushed some great buttons in this edition. The Verizon bill under the guise of full disclosure has made understanding it impossible; but you have shed bright light on the issue.  Thanks.”

You’re most welcome. I hope others were equally entertained and informed. But more than that, I hope this spurs you to some kind of action. Call Verizon’s billing support line and tell them what you now know to be true. They will argue with you. They will give you the Company Line. Take it, then tell the operator that when their shift is over to go home and look it up themselves but not at the Verizon website(!) but from any other independent source. Make them promise they will.

On Wednesday’s lead-in quote by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, reader LR wrote:

“Your quote from the Palestinian source is also in my opinion inflammatory and does nothing to bring people together, instead it divides.”

Well, yes, that was the point. That’s exactly what Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had in mind when he spoke those words last weekend. But it’s also important that you know that kind of talk goes on at the highest levels of governments… and not just in Palestine or Malaysia.

On Wednesday’s link to the TSA video shot by a guy at the Detroit airport, reader JG wrote:

“That TSA video is scary to watch.  It is all for the good of the public but maybe not all good for the public.”

The good part is that you should know your rights. The bad part is that the TSA has no clue what your rights are and where their place is.

“The Reliable Source found that a New York political action committee started by Ball — which later transferred its entire treasury to his campaign — netted as much as $10,000 by selling tickets to the 2005 Courage Cup. That’s four times the amount the polo match raised that year for its prominently advertised beneficiary, Work to Ride, a Philadelphia charity that teaches poor kids to play polo. ”

and

“I thought the money was going to kids,” said Andrew McKenna.”I’d be pretty [infuriated] if I found out this was for a political race.”

and

“I don’t recall supporting him,” said Eden Ellis, an acquaintance of Ball’s who remembered hearing about his political aspirations but didn’t know how $50 in her name ended up in CUEG’s filings. “I think I would have remembered that.”

Since he has not sued the Washington Post nor was a retraction posted, we must assume their reporting was accurate. He’ll fit in well with the State Senate.

The Progressive Caucus in the House of Representative is caught in a canoe without a paddle and the  waterfall is rapidly approaching.

Many of my Democratic Party friends were enthused by the President’s speech the other night. But we’re still in Afghanistan, gays still cannot serve openly in the military and are being discharged at an alarming rate, and health care “reform” has turned into a trillion dollar handout to insurance companies who are already making millions. They say, “be patient”. I say, “Don’t blame me. I voted for Nader”

The Artslink fund is a combination of State support through the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program and county support through the Putnam Arts Fund.

Each year, a panel of artists, educators, business and community members reviews the many requests submitted by local arts groups through the Putnam Arts Council.  The panel then recommends funding for the projects it feels reach a broad audience, generate the most benefit to the community and support the professional development of artists and arts groups.

The 2010 Artslink recipients are:

• Aery Theatre Co. (sponsored by Garrison Landing Assoc.) for the 20/20 one-act play competition and festival at the Depot Theater in Garrison.
• Arts on the Lake for a full  production of the original musical “Troll-Loll-La” – new work by local professionals (Kent) (See Sunday below)
• Brewster Theater Co. for main stage & small stage productions and workshops at several locations – both free or affordable (Brewster area)
• Chapel of Our Lady Restoration Inc. for the 2010 music series of 7 concerts, both classical and jazz, by professional musicians in Cold Spring
• Collaborative Concepts for the 4th Annual outdoor sculpture exhibit on the rolling pastures of Saunders Farm in Garrison
• Desmond Fish Library for 3 series of photography workshops for children, teens & adults in different aspects of the medium in Garrison
• Doansburg Chamber Ensemble for the 2010 season of 6 chamber ensembles and two chamber orchestra concerts (county wide)
• Garrison Art Center for the School Invitational Theme Exhibit of students work from many area schools at Garrison Art Center
• Hudson Valley Shakespeare for “Family Night” ticket packages with  pre-show interactive workshops at Boscobel in Garrison
• Mahopac Public Library for “BAMM Mixed Bag” a series of 7 concerts by a wide variety of established & emerging artists at the library
• Nimham Mountain Singers for the cultural activities at the 10th Annual Daniel Nimham Intertribal Pow Wow at Veteran’s Park in Kent
• Nowodworski Foundation (sponsored by Brewster Library) for  project “SITE You Picasso” art workshops and exhibits for children at Brewster Library
• Philipstown Performing Arts for 2 full stage productions- original play by Richard Knipe and Three Penny Opera at the Depot Theater in Garrison
• Prelude Ballet Ensemble for a new ballet program to be performed free at a variety of venues, often with the West./Putnam Youth Symphony, designed to capture new ballet audiences
• Putnam Chorale for 2010 season of full concerts and chamber Ensemble performances & 2 community “sing alongs” (county-wide)
• Putnam Symphony Orchestra for a spring concert of music from opera and ballet favorites by full orchestra at the Performing Arts Center in Brewster
• Sunset Reading Series (sponsored by Butterfield Library) for 4literary readings at the Chapel of Our Lady Restoration, Inc. in Cold Spring.

Saturday:

Community Flea Market at the PV Grange

10AM – 4PM – Tables $12.50 in advance. $15 at the door. Proceeds to the Grange. Call Mary Mercedes for more information at 845.216.1934. The PV Grange is at Adams’ Cors at the corner of Mill Street and Peekskill Hollow Road.

Michelle LeBlanc

7:30PM to 10:30PM – Michelle will be playing Saturday nights starting January 16th at the Hudson House Inn in Cold Spring on Saturday evenings through February. Featuring jazz guitarist Steve Lamattina. The Inn is at 2 Main Street, Cold Spring NY  10516 Call 845 265 9355 for dinner reservations. The historic Hudson House Inn has world class food and offers elegant lodging overlooking the Hudson River and Storm King Mountain. Cold Spring is a charming getaway destination with wonderful river views, shops and antiques. Cold Spring’s Metro North train stop is only minutes away. www.hudsonhouseinn.com

Sunday:

Open Cast Call

The Bare Bones Theatre Company, is preparing an April production of Troll-Loll-La!, an original musical based on Norwegian folktales by Tony Howarth and Sheldon Gartner, at the Cultural Center on Lake Carmel. Open auditions for a cast of 18 will be held at the Center at 640 Route 52, in Kent on Sunday, January 31, starting at 1 p.m.

Troll-Loll-La!, which had a well-received reading at the Center in November 2008, will be directed by Howarth, with choreography by Bart Cook.  The musical director will be composer Gartner. Rehearsals are expected to begin February 6 and will be held mostly on weekends.  Performances are scheduled for April 9, 10, 11 at the Lake Carmel Cultural Center, home of Arts on the Lake.

Singers are asked to prepare a song for the audition and bring sheet music of the song for the accompanist.  Candidates will also be asked to read short selections from the script, which will be available at the audition.  Auditions will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Characters include: FREDDIE, 16-20; KRISTINA, 16-20;  FREDDIE’S mother; KRISTINA’S father; PETER and PAUL, Freddie’s older brothers; STORYTELLER; A THREE-HEADED TROLL; THREE SPECTRES; TROLL MOTHER and her adult daughter, BABY TROLL; THE OLD WOMAN OF THE WOODS; THE WEST WIND; CHORUS of six; and several non-singing roles.

Further information is available by email to barebones300@aol.com or by leaving message at the Art Center, 845 228-2685.

Into the Future:

Saturday, February 6

Molly Mason and Jay Ungar in Concert

8PM – Join Molly Mason and Jay Ungar in concert at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon for fundraising concert to benefit the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action at Manhattanville College. 477 Main Street, Beacon. $20. Call 845.831.4988 for more information.

Teatown’s Hudson River EagleFest:

6th Annual Regional Celebration. 9:00am-4:00pm at Croton Point Park Major Sponsors: Friends of Westchester County Parks, Westchester County Parks, Club Fit. With additional support from TD Bank, Westchester County,  Croton-on-Hudson, and all EagleFest Collaborating Organizations.

EagleFest Headquarters and all theaters will be located in heated tents at Westchester County’s Croton Point Park. Free parking and shuttle buses from outlying lots, including a shuttle bus from Metro North’s Croton-Harmon Train Station. Ticket holders for all shows should allow at least 30 minutes for parking and shuttle rides.

EagleFest 2010 Features:

• Birds of Prey Shows in the Eagle Theater Tent
• Eagle Exploration Bus Tours
• Collaborators exhibits with educational displays
• Children’s area – with interactive games, crafts, and hands-on discoveries
• Additional presentations in the Eaglet Theater Tent
• Eagle Viewing Along the Hudson River
• And so much more!

Call Teatown at 914 762-2912 x110 to purchase tickets or for more informationAdmission to EagleFest Headquarters and River Sites is free, but a donation of $2 per person is suggested.

Bird Of Prey Shows, $5 per person
Eagle Exploration Bus Tours, $20 per person (ages 12+)

Saturday, March 6

Work on the Appalachian Trail

From Tim Messerich: So, I am a little bit a head of the game. Just wanted to let you know. Trail work starts on March 6 on the Appalachian Trail in Fahnestock State Park. So those who don’t know we have formed a club RPHCV.We are a member club of NY/NJ Trail Conference.We take care of RPHC on the AT plus do all kinds of great trail work projects. Oh, I almost forgot, our annual big trail work and campout is in July. The food Man, The food! Join our club, Our dues are cheap. Hope to see you on the trail, RPHCV. Call 845-297-9573 http://timtrek.mikentim.com

CCE Spring Garden School

Putnam Cornell Cooperative Extension Services. Their annual Spring Garden School will be held March 6 at the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison. Just when you’re ready for an end-of-winter break, our four classes will make a great day:

* Seed starting
* All-nature pest control
* Dealing with deer and other 4-legged critter
* Basic Garden Design

Hands-on learning plus lecture-style in a friendly environment.  The fee for the whole day is only $15 per person — and you can save $5 if you bring a friend (2 people = $25).  Be an early bird and sign up now. More information is here.

“[Jews] had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes [sic] and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole governments to ransom. Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.”

Yeah, we’re back. If you read to the end of Monday’s column you’ll know it was just a joke. But not only did I receive a number of responses but it seems there were enough key words/phrases that the column was picked up by right-wing blogs. If that’s what it takes to get new readers maybe I’m on to something? Heck, with Limbaugh, Beck, Gannett and Ailes’ all in competition for extreme right-wing readers and viewers I might as well get in their game too.

If you live in the southwestern corner of the county the wailing you should be hearing at about 10:30 this morning is just Indian Point testing their sirens.

The NYJN reports this morning that debt collectors have become more aggressive. Tell me about it. Four times a day, every day save Sunday, they call. As early as 8:15 AM and as late as 8:30 PM. I don’t answer since they won’t say “why” they are calling and they don’t leave messages. So a note: if you’re a debt collector and you’re looking for money from me please leave a message. Then I’ll call you back.

One of the things I find interesting about debt collectors is that if you’re a major bank you can tap your local Congressman for a huge taxpayer funded donation or you can walk away from your obligations with no pain and no penalty. (See the article below.) But if you’re a poor sap stuck in the morass of the recession there’s no one you can call for help.

While the Bush Administration was happy to give direct cash handouts to Wall Street there were no provisions for direct cash handouts to you and/or me nor were there concessions forced from the recipients to make life a little easier for you and me. The tea baggers are blaming Obama when, more honestly and properly, they should be hanging Bush and Cheney in effigy.

For those of you who support the Supreme Court decision handing the electoral process over to the highest bidder as an extension of “free speech”, answer me this: Since you’re all about supporting free speech are there any forms of political speech you don’t support? Write and say which ones.

Average life expectancy vs per capita spending on health care vs visits to the doctor. And you still think the American health care <cough, cough> system is nifty neato? Check this out.

While we’re talking about Health Care, Indymedia Boston is claiming that Israel’s field hospital in Haiti is there for only one reason: to harvest organs.

The TSA’s manual says that people are allowed to film or photograph their operations so long as the filming does not interfere with their work. Fair enough. But then why did the TSA harass a guy in Detroit for doing just that? Watch these videos to find out. Actually, it becomes pretty clear that TSA hasn’t a clue what’s going on. It’s your rights that are being violated but apparently you simply do not care. Maybe you will when the agent behind the screen titters while you stand in the full-body scanner?

There’s a Tea Bag rally schedule for April 15th in Carmel hosted by Greg Ball. Do you think they’ll invite me to speak? They should. I’ve been fighting their issues for decades and though they keep missing the mark and hitting everything BUT the target they are generally shooting in the right direction.

It’s war!

I got my phone bill from Verizon the other day as many of you did as well. I’d like you all to open to the part where it has the Breakdown of Charges and specifically, “Taxes, Fees and Other Verizon Charges”. Let’s take a look:

Yo Wait! Before we do, remember that New York gave Verizon permission to raise their rates recently because they had lost business to their competition. So, rather than improve service and attract more customers in that good old American Capitalist way, they went begging to the State and the State said, “yeah, sure.” And keep in mind that an increase in the basic rate (which was $2 a month per line) also represents an increase in sales tax receipts for the state.

Back to our regularly scheduled rant…

Federal Tax	.20
NY State/Local Sales Tax	2.81
911 Surcharge	.35
Federal USF Surcharge	.97
USF – Long Distance	.99
Surcharge(s)	1.14
FCC Line Charge	6.41
Total Taxes, Fees & Other Verizon Charges	$12.87

This is based on a bill totaling $59.99 bringing the total amount to $72.86. That’s a lot of money for a  telephone. That bill includes $8.79 as a Basic charge… but we’ll see just how much bullshit that really is…

The USF Surcharge should be combined with the USF- Long Distance surcharge as they are one and the same. In effect, they are both charges that Verizon makes you pay for their participation in the Universal Service Fund which is geared towards providing schools, libraries, rural America and the poor with telephone service though, being poor myself I somehow don’t seem to qualify. Contributions to the fund are set to estimated quarterly earnings so you should see it shift and change each quarter. Your mandatory contribution (remember, it’s not a tax) raised $7.1 billion in 2008.

The Fed requires that interstate communications providers pay into this account but there is nothing in the code that requires them to pass the cost on to you, at least not as a “fee”.

In essence, however, though Verizon collects this from you and sends it to the Fed, the Fed uses it to subsidize programs which means the money goes directly BACK to Verizon. In one hand and into the other… directly. And for the record, the High Cost component of the USAC has seen some $4 billion returned directly to phone companies as subsidies.

Surcharge(s). Who the hell knows?

FCC Line Charge. This charge also is known as the Federal Subscriber Line Charge, the Federally-Ordered Subscriber Line Charge, Federal Line Cost Charge, and the FCC Subscriber Line Charge. In reality it’s the missing portion of your basic line charge mentioned above. That $8.79 fee should be, if Verizon were open and honest about their charges, $15.20. But they get to “cheat” to give you the impression your actual costs are lower and that the Fed is responsible for $6.41 of it. They’re misleading you and getting away with it.

Verizon tells me this charge is mandated by the FCC and must be collected in order to satisfy the Fed but I honestly cannot find independent confirmation of that. Instead, what I’ve found is that the “FCC” part is a cheat to encourage you to believe that money is somehow going to Washington DC as a fee or tax or corporate bribe or something. But the truth is that it’s none of those things. It is, in fact, a charge to you by Verizon to provide a line to your home. The only FCC part of it is that the FCC has mandated it’s maximum which was $6.44 in 2007.

This charge does not go to fund the FCC. It’s not a tax nor a surcharge. It is simply another revenue stream for Verizon. But Verizon tells me that it is Federally mandated and so I looked it up and sure enough, in USC Title 47 §201 it reads:

(b) All charges, practices, classifications, and regulations for and in connection with such communication service, shall be just and reasonable, and any such charge, practice, classification, or regulation that is unjust or unreasonable is declared to be unlawful…

So, it doesn’t say diddly about the charge and only that Verizon can charge. The FCC however, has set the maximum (as stated above) and that’s the only thing the FCC has to do with the FCC Line Charge.

Someone at another time might have said that Verizon has fabricated their bill to reflect something that it is not. That was at another time. For this time I’ll say this: Verizon has fabricated their bill to make you think the FCC wants your money when in reality they’re nothing more than a money sucking corporation that needs your tax dollars to pay their stockholders because they can’t seem to turn a profit by providing good service at an affordable price.

Sue me.

But even if we assume that the total $12.87 are taxes alone, on a $60 bill that’s still a lot of often hidden taxes and each and every one of us is paying it and we’re doing so quite happily. It really is time to break a few dishes around here and I’m open to suggestions. How many more tax breaks, kickbacks and forced subsidies do taxpayers need to give to Corporate America? When is it enough?

1. It’s war!
2. Putnam and Southeast working to close their landfills
3. Eminent Domain Returns to New York
4. A gust of energy
5. California Adopts Mandatory Green Building Codes
6. Nolon and Salkin on Teaching Land Use
7. Corporate developers abandon “underwater” property — why not individuals? Boing Boing
8. Unfree Spirit: NASA’s Mars Rover Appears Stuck for Good
9. ‘Oral sex’ definition prompts dictionary ban in US schools

Putnam and Southeast working to close their landfills

By Michael Risinit • mrisinit@lohud.com

CARMEL — A Putnam County consultant is estimating the county could sell its former landfill property on Old Route 6 for $1.6 million if it could persuade Southeast to consolidate the county’s trash in its soon-to-be-capped landfill.

County Executive Robert Bondi and Southeast Supervisor Michael Rights favor putting the county’s garbage in Southeast. But time is running out to get a consolidation agreement in place between the parties, some of whose members remain cautious.

Both sides are under orders from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to clean up their respective dumps, and Southeast has to decide by next month whether to accept Putnam’s refuse.

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Eminent Domain Returns to New York

In 2005, when the Supreme Court handed down its 5-4 decision in Kelo v. New London in favor of the Connecticut town, it had a ripple effect across the country, with some 43 states changing their eminent domain statutes.In New York, the decision seemed to reverberate in a different direction. Instead of reform, a wave of new eminent domain–driven projects sprang up.

One—Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards arena cum condos plan—verges on groundbreaking while another—Columbia’s proposed Manhattanville campus—has just lost a crucial court case, with others—Willets Point, a casino for Niagra Falls—on the horizon. Now, a clutch of Albany pols are preparing to begin changing what some consider the worst eminent domain laws in the country.

Leading the charge is state Senator Bill Perkins, whose district covers much of Harlem. “I think the forces are coming together for change to take place,” Perkins said. “There is, from my observation, growing interest on a grassroots level.” As chair of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Perkins oversees the main executor of eminent domain in New York, the Empire State Development Corporation.

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A gust of energy

The great hope for powering a sustainable world is renewable energy. The great barrier to powering a sustainable world is the cost and complexity of building a new national transmission grid that will transmit the carbon-free electricity generated by remote wind farms and solar power plants to population centers.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy released a report that concluded the United States could obtain 20 percent of its electricity from wind power by 2030. This week the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory issued a study that shows how the eastern half of the U.S. could obtain as much as 30 percent of its electricity from wind by 2024. The study focused on what transmission geeks call the Eastern Interconnection, six linked regional power grids that run from the Great Plains to the Eastern Seaboard and from the Canadian border to the tip of Florida.

“Although significant costs, challenges, and impacts are associated with a 20 percent wind scenario, substantial benefits can be shown to overcome the costs,” the report’s authors wrote. “Such a scenario is unlikely to be realized with a business-as-usual approach, and that a major national commitment to clean, domestic energy sources with desirable environmental attributes would be required.”

Essentially, all we need to do is come up with at least $93 billion for new power lines and infrastructure and get myriad transmission operators and local agencies to cooperate on the design of a new high-voltage grid.

Sounds daunting. But let’s put the numbers in context. The $93 billion is roughly what the U.S. spends in eight months on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Or to use another metric, a little more than what Joe Taxpayer forked over to bail out AIG.

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California Adopts Mandatory Green Building Codes

Last week, California adopted the U.S.’s first mandatory green building codes called Calgreen, which are expected to help the state reach its goal of cutting CO2 emissions by a third by 2020. According to The New York Times’ Green Inc. blog, every new building will have to “reduce water usage by 20 percent and recycle 50 percent of its construction waste instead of sending it to landfills. Commercial buildings will be required to have separate water meters for indoor and outdoor water use. Mandatory inspections of air conditioner, heat and mechanical equipment will be also be instituted for all commercial buildings over 10,000 square feet.”

Tom Sheehy, acting secretary of the state Consumer Services Agency and chair of the California Building Standards Commission, the group that passed the rules, told The San Francisco Chronicle: “This is (something) no other state in the country has done – integrating green construction practices into the very fabric of the construction code. These are simple, cost-effective green practices. California should be proud.”

The California Building Standards Commission unanimously approved by new rules, which also allows cities with stricter codes to keep their independent standards.

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Nolon and Salkin on Teaching Land Use

John Nolon and Patricia Salkin have just published a fantastic piece on teaching land use law and its relationship to Best Practices.  The work of the UGA Land Use Clinic is profiled, as is Chad Emerson’s teaching method.  Here’s the abstract.

The changing dynamics in the field of land use and sustainable community development law demand that land use law professors rethink the way in which we prepare law students to practice law in this area. This needed paradigm shift converges with the growing momentum of the best practices movement which urges law schools to dramatically revise the curricular approach to legal education, arguing that traditional models are no longer effectively serving the goal of producing competent and fully prepared new lawyers. A perfect storm is present and a unique opportunity exists through the application of many “best practices” concepts for land use law faculty to lead the academy in reinventing curriculum and teaching strategies to better prepare students for the practice of law. A brief history of the best practices movement is described in Part II, as well as an assertion as to why land use should be the “poster child” for best practices. Part III reports on an empirical survey of land use law professors conducted by the authors in 2008 that examines, among other things, the opportunities to apply best practices to the subject of land use law. It also offers additional innovative examples of teaching methods that can be effectively utilized within the confines of the traditional classroom, using the land use law course as a model, as well as an example of how the land use law course can be used across the curriculum as a best practices capstone experience. The article concludes in Part IV with the observation that the shortcomings of the traditional casebook approaches to teaching land use within the four walls of the classroom can be easily converted into exciting opportunities that engage student learners, stretch the limits of student creativity, continue to instill and refine a sense of professionalism in law students and, consistent with the findings and recommendations of the Best Practices report and related literature, prepare students to be more effective lawyers when they graduate.

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Corporate developers abandon “underwater” property — why not individuals? Boing Boing

Tishman Speyer Properties and its co-investors just walked away from the largest real-estate deal in US history, simply defaulting on the properties and the loans that bought them and leaving their creditors in the lurch. The properties, Manhattan’s 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, were “under water” (worth less than the debt hanging over them), so the corporate developers elected to simply jettison them.

They’re not alone — Morgan Stanley recently dumped five San Francisco office buildings, stiffing their creditors when the buildings went underwater.

As a business-strategy it makes sense: why repay loans secured by assets that are worth less than the loans? Just turn the assets over and cut your losses.

But individuals are shamed, bullied, and counselled not to do this when it’s their private homes that fall underwater. Everyone from former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to credit counsellors to the Mortgage Bankers Association tell you that defaulting on underwater property is low and dishonest (unless you’re a Wall Street player — then it’s just “protecting shareholder value”).

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Unfree Spirit: NASA’s Mars Rover Appears Stuck for Good

Now designated a stationary science platform, Spirit’s next order of business is bracing for a long, harsh winter

By John Matson

The Mars rover Spirit, which this month passed its sixth anniversary of landing on the Red Planet, will apparently rove no more. NASA announced in a teleconference Tuesday that Spirit, stuck for months in a patch of soft soil known as Troy, has been designated a “stationary research platform”. Spirit has not managed to free itself in a series of extraction maneuvers that began in November, and the rover’s controllers say that their focus must now turn to preparing for the onset of winter in the Martian southern hemisphere—a harsh season, lasting nearly half an Earth year, that Spirit may not survive.

Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, said that Spirit’s driving days are likely finished. He called the rover’s plight “a golfer’s worst nightmare—the sand trap that no matter how many strokes you take, you can’t get out of it.”

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‘Oral sex’ definition prompts dictionary ban in US schools

Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for “oral sex”.

Merriam Webster’s 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the “sexually graphic” entry is “just not age appropriate”, according to the area’s local paper.

The dictionary’s online definition of the term is “oral stimulation of the genitals”. “It’s hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we’ll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature,” district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus told the paper.

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