Voters need to wake up!

"The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -Albert Einstein

Typical citizen response to NYS politics (364 days of the year): A pox on all their houses! The Democrats and Republicans are all crooks!

Typical citizen response to NYS politics (Election Day): Huzzah for the Democratic (or Republican) candidate!

Typical NYS newspaper daily editorial (364 days of the year): State and local politics, run by Democrats and Republicans, are broken.

Typical NYS newspaper daily editorial (a few days before Election Day): We endorse x, y and z Democrats and a, b and c Republicans.


When will people wake up and starting voting for (or heaven forbid even considering!) smaller party and independent candidates? You know, people who actually aren't part of the mess everyone decries. Continuing to vote for only for Democrats and Republicans is nothing more than re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. How can you consistently vote for the same old, same old and expect something radically different?

America's own banana republic

"Doesn't anyone here know how to play this game?" -Casey Stengel

During the Rod Blagojevich scandal, the state of Illinois got a national black eye for naked corruption. But New York legislators seems hell bent on putting Illinois (and especially themselves) to shame. Apparently not content with the moniker Most Dysfunctional Legislature in the Nation, they've decided this week to set the bar even lower.

Following the last election, Democrats had a narrow 32-30 majority in the state Senate, made narrower due to the vacancy of the lieutenant governor's position. Republicans, who'd been in power for over 69 of the previous 70 years, naturally weren't too happy. So they decided to engineer a coup, executed yesterday, by picking off two disaffected Democrats... both of whom are ethically challenged even by Albany's pathetic standards.

The result was a farce. Nay, a farce worthy of a banana republic.

The Republicans (with the two Democrats) apparently retook power and did so trumpeting rules changes that would democratize the chamber. Essentially, the Senate GOP wanted to overturn a rigged system that it spent the last several decades erecting, only to suffer by them when the Democrats took power and didn't eradicate them quickly enough for Republican taste.

But who was the GOP 'reform' agenda dependent upon? One Democrat, Hiram Monserrate, has been indicted for allegedly slashing his girlfriend in the face with a piece of broken glass. The other, Pedro Espada, has been heavily fined for violating election law and dilly-dallied in actually paying the fine.

Both dissidents claim they are unhappy with the incompetent former (?) Democratic majority leader Malcolm Smith. They claim disorganization and failure of the Democrats to implement their reform agenda and were probably right in their assessment, even though no one really quite believes that as their motive. They claim that the disorganization prevented them (hold hand over heart) from doing the people's business.

Interesting that they would launch their coup at the most disruptive time possible to (hold hand over heart) doing the people's business: the last week and a half of the legislative session.

I'm sure Espada's motives are purely noble and have nothing to do with the fact that he was made Senate president nor with the fact that he was reportedly pissed off that he couldn't get pork for some groups in his district, because it could not be confirmed that the groups were legitimate non-profits. The New York Times report makes the setup look extremely fishy.

Even more absurd, the coup planning was aided and abetted by former New York billionaire (it's the New York part that's former, not the billionaire part) Tom Golisano who fled to Florida after a PR campaign whining about his personal income taxes. Though Golisano managed to finagle a plum job for one of his close advisors in the newly-Republican chamber. Not sure how other New Yorkers feel about a Floridian, especially one who explicitly gave New York the finger, meddling in their state politics but I'm not too thrilled.

If that's not absurd enough, here's the kicker. Remember Espada? The one who fined for repeatedly violating election law and who was linked to dodgy, supposed non-profits? As the new senate president, he becomes acting lieutenant governor... and will become the state's chief executive if anything happens to the current governor.

In 2004, a parliamentary delegation from Ghana visited Albany. The New York Times described it as follows:

While West Africa in general is not a place where there are functioning governments, much less governments operating in a way the public can scrutinize, the delegation found New York's budget 'opaque.' "Here we have to ask a lot of questions," [the Ghanaian parliament's finance committee chairman] said. "You just really don't know how each allocation is spent. That is quite bleak."

Even five years ago, Albany couldn't even met West African standards of transparency and legislative sanity. It's hard to believe things have gotten even worse.

Shell pays blood money to Ogonis

This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has agreed to pay $15.5 million in blood money to a group of plaintiffs from the Ogoni region of Nigeria. The group had filed a lawsuit in US court alleging Shell's complicity with human rights abuses in the Niger Delta region of the country. The multinational pretended that the agreement was a "humanitarian gesture," presumably thinking that someone might be fooled. If Shell is suddenly concerned with "humanitarianism," perhaps they could stop the toxic gas flaring and other environmental and resulting human devastation that they are causing in the Delta.




Other sources on the story...
-The Independent (UK daily)
-This Day (Nigeria daily)
-AllAfrica.com
-Essay by Ken Saro Wiwa Jr. (background)
-Shell Guilty (pressure group)
-Shell (corporate press release)

Local gay marriage rally

I was interested to read that there was a rally yesterday in Glens Falls in favor of same-sex marriage.

Now, I know we can't criticize opposition to legalization, lest we risk 'violating religious freedom' of gay marriage opponents (supporters not having free speech rights, apparently).

So I'll simply point out the first two comments on the article that has to do with giving same sex couples the same rights as opposite sex couples.

" Ummmmmmmm.... Thanks for making me lose my breakfast!!! "

and

" Sounds like not much will change for anybody cetrainly (sic) not attitudes. Looks like the this (sic) is really just another ACLU attack on religion disgusied (sic) in a phony equal rights package. "


Though a few other readers did debunk the ACLU attack on religion rubbish.

My blogging friend Bob over at Planet Albany also writes from time to time on gay marriage, though he opposes it. He also writes regular on ethics (or lack thereof) in Albany.

I think it's telling that his essays on ethics usually get few if any comments. His last one on gay marriage got 18. It's a sad commentary that two people who love each other wanting equal rights provokes more outrage than venal politicians.


Correction: In a previous version of this entry, I'd stated that Democratic state Sens. Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Montserrate were opposed to same-sex marriage. According to media reports, Espada is on record as being in favor of gay marriage and Montserrate is undecided. Thanks to reader Louis E. for questioning this.

As if the Jewish people haven't suffered enough

This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..

Foreign Policy blog points out that former Liberian dictator and indicted war criminal Charles Taylor has pretended to convert to Judaism.

This might be surprising, as he used to be a pretend Christian. You may remember his farewell address shortly before fleeing the country rather than be overthrown, where he seemed to compare himself to Jesus Christ.

However, one of his wives [sic] clarified this to the BBC. "No, no, no he hasn't rejected Christianity. He has always been a Christian. He just decided to become a Jew. He wants to follow the two religions," she said.

As Foreign Policy put it: Least. Welcome. Convert. Ever.


Thanks to reader Mark for the tip.

Should cities cater to autos or humans?

CBC Radio's The Current has an interesting discussion on moves in Canada's two largest cities to facilitate commuting by bicycle. Both Toronto and Vancouver shut down a car lane on one of their main streets and turned each into two bike lanes. Not surprisingly, the move to expand transportation options has proved controversial. But as Toronto's mayor rightly pointed out, the purpose of roads is not to move cars, but to move people. I suspect Jim Kunstler would agree.

In addition to the obvious environmental and quality of life costs of society's fetish with the automobile, one of the guests points out the huge economic opportunity costs of so many cars. Expensive urban land that's devoted to ever expanding roads and parking lots is land that's not being devoted to something that produces economic wealth. So we're spending money in order to reduce the possibilities of making money.

The decline and fall of the newsprint empire

Unlike many who see new media as a replacement for, rather than a compliment to, traditional media, I take no joy in the collapse of the American newspaper industry. Newspapers have been way too slow to adapt to changing times. The 1950s model of a newspaper was to be all things to all people. But in 2009, newspapers can no longer compete with TV for immediacy, with the cable for infotainment, with ESPN for sports and with the internet for all of the above.

The mile wide-inch deep model no longer works. I can go to a million different places if I want analysis of President Obama's proposals or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the comics or even a good crossword puzzle. But if I want news of what's happening in my hometown on a daily basis, there's really only one. Local newspapers need to focus on what makes them most unique: LOCAL.

They also need to focus more on news. Real news. In my local Post-Star, the most relevant reporting often gets relegated to online blogs, such as interviews with 'third party' candidates and stories about from where legalized bribes (often referred to as campaign contributions) are coming from. But you can rest assured that public urination and alcohol stings will always make the more widely read print edition.

Given newspapers' failure to adapt to changing times, it's hard to say the pain hasn't been largely self-inflicted. That doesn't mean I welcome it. Newspapers have the potential to play a central role not only in investigative reporting, but in fostering some sense of communal dialogue in a Balkanized, hyperpersonalized society. That's how newspapers like to think of themselves and that's how many used to be. Newspapers are failing because they are not/no longer living up to that potential and consumers are thus looking elsewhere. Unlike in the past, they now have a lot more options.

Speaking of self-inflicted, I see that the print edition of The New York Times has been jacked up to $2 daily and $6 on Sunday. I'm left to wonder whether massive price hikes are the best business model in an industry where consumers are already fleeing in droves.

Update: Washington Post columnist Michael Kinsley speculates on the future of newspapers. American Public Media's The Story did a piece on the demise of Denver's Rocky Mountain News.

Discussion on rehumanizing a corporatized society

The public radio show On Point is having an interesting discussion right now (11:00 am) on the suffocating influence of corporations on society. As the show's website describes it:

Social critic Douglas Rushkoff is ready to think big in response to the economic crisis still rocking the U.S. and the world. Really big.

Rushkoff thinks we got off track as a society a ways back. About 400years back.

He’s not against capitalism. But the form we fell into –corporate capitalism – is killing us, he says. Killing values and communities. Turning us into the “brand that is me.” Turning homes into investments and 401k balances into cold barometers of success or failure.

It doesn’t have to be this way, he says.

The show is being aired locally on North Country Public Radio (a national broadcast list is here) and will eventually be available on demand the On Point website and iTunes.