Saturday, October 29, 2011

10-29-11: shady clients, shady firm, fire, clock, farms

Stuyvesant has an $80,000 budget short fall because they paid Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna to go after me. Special prosecutor, special tax. This relates to the story about the Ponzi scheme in that we have two examples of Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna accepting shady clients: the Town of Stuyvesant and Christopher Bass.

Trick or Treat in The Fields Sculpture Park Saturday, October 29 4:30 PM -6:30 PM Omi International Arts Center will host our second annual Trick or Treat in The Fields Sculpture Park. Please join us on Saturday October 29th, from 4:30-6:30 PM

Remember Scott Murphy?
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/85050/scott-murphy-returns-to-washington/

Terrible fire in Ghent.

Copake Clock historic place officially.

Farm Bureau news.



 Kinderhook Farm 

Tatiana giving a demonstration about hay quality for sheep and goats at Cornell symposium this weekend. 


"unscrupulous attorneys" of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna

Di Febbo also told the judge he was disgusted that investors' money had been used to pay what he characterized as "unscrupulous attorneys" as he referenced attorney Leslie Apple of Albany, who had done work for Bass, and an attorney Di Febbo identified as Jacob S. Frenkel of Maryland.

Apple, of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, allegedly traveled to Europe to check out Bass' investment projects, records show. Apple did not respond to requests for comment. Some investors have said they were comforted by Apple's involvement with Bass, who had told them their investments had been vetted by lawyers. Frenkel could not be reached for comment.

 Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/High-living-con-man-invoked-God-stole-5-3-2239235.php#ixzz1c9stSTte

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

this crap happens every day

Did you read this?

This basic scheme is so simple, so corrupt, you have to wonder how it could happen. I'll you how: it's standard practice.

Open season on taxpayer money at the local level in New York State. That's why I had to file a Federal lawsuit.

Corruption is rampant and you better think that this IS in fact happening where you live.

Now, let me cross link my two blogs on sunshineonthehudson.com I have a post about an unexplained spike in traffic.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

the anti-stimulus: taxpayer money spent to make the economy worse

Dialogue One: Family with Kids

"I know you don't want to move to suburbs but I just can't have two kids in this small apartment all the time."

"How about we get a weekend house in the country? It would be cheaper than selling our apartment and buying one with a third bedroom. Do you like the Catskills?"

"Too woodsy. I like open space, farms."

"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."

"Any other ideas?"

Dialogue Two: Farmer

"We are looking for 100+ flat acres and we need to be within 3 hours of the farmers market in Union Square, good schools, tractor parts in the area, and a somewhere to process frozen vegetables."

"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."

"Any other ideas?"

Dialogue Three: Freelancer

"Now that I only have to come into the office once a week for scheduling and review, you mean I can live anywhere as long as I can get to Midtown once a week? Have any suggestions where I can go, somewhere rural, with good schools, an active cultural scene, maybe surrounded by farmland?"

"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart."

"Any other ideas?"

Dialogue Three: Empty Nesters


"Your retired already and I will in a few years. Why don't we get that place in the country we always wanted, sell our big house here in Westchester, get a little studio in Manhattan and some land upstate?"

"Good idea. Where would we go in the country?"

"Columbia County? I hear the government just spent 2.5 million to subsidize an A&W Root Beer Restaurant and is planning to move the county offices into an old Walmart now that the county has a brand new great big Walmart."

"Any other ideas?"

killing jobs in the name of creating jobs

How do I know that this 2.5 million dollar government investment in the economy is counter productive? Let's consider:
“This will definitely turn [Greenport and the county] into a destination market,” said Harbalwant Singh, developer and owner of the property. Greenport Crossings’ first phase got underway Monday; it includes the construction of a Mobil gas station, a convenience store and an A&W Root Beer Restaurant with its own small store. The cost of this phase is $2.5 million dollars, and is expected to create 15 full-time jobs as soon as it is completed in the spring. 
So, an A&W Root Beer Restaurant is what Columbia County needs? We need it so badly that the government has to help it exist?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Will an A&W Root Beer Restaurant make the county more or less attractive to second home buyers from New York City?

2. What is the number one industry in Columbia County?

3. What else could you have done with 2.5 million dollars?

4. At $166,000 per job, is this a good deal even in the limited frame of the development itself?

What about an frozen food processing plant that could help local agriculture? Agriculture, unlike an A&W Root Beer Restaurant, is compatible with our main industry, second home owning.

What about preserving open space and creating more Hudson River access? While not producing jobs directly, something like that would encourage more second home owners to believe in the county long term. The home owners would then invest more than 2.5 million in the economy and create more than 15 jobs.

What about, instead of making something new and ugly, we preserve something beautiful and old, like an old factory building in Hudson? People from the city would like to see old beautiful things, not an A&W Root Beer Restaurant.

How about instead of an A&W Root Beer Restaurant we invest in education, so people not only come on the weekend but stay all week and keep their kids here? Or art: would people from the city like the area better if there were another art institution to add to the list we already have?

Why is it that our own local politicians do not understand our own economy? We are an agricultural and tourism (including second home owners) economy. Those two industries go well together. An A&W Root Beer Restaurant contributes nothing to critical mass in agriculture or open space and second home owning destination purchasing.

In fact, by spending 2.5 million in this way the county is KILLING more than 15 jobs by driving some unknown number of second home owners to SOME OTHER PLACE like Berkshire Massachusetts.

This flawed vision is a boon for the county. Only thing is, its a boon for Berkshire Massachusetts which doesn't need more boon. It's a net loss in business activity for Columbia County.

You don't have to like that second home owners are the back bone of this economy. But they are. Does Michigan hurt the auto industry? Does Los Angeles drive film companies out of town? Does Bolivia try to irradiate cocaine?

No. Your industry is your industry. You know it and you protect it. Only Columbia County tries to destroy its own economy and calls it "Open for Business."


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

10-20-10: spending too much to create too few and the wrong kinds of jobs, more bad development, heroine, food coop, TARP theft, #occupyalbany, job in doing good

Heroine. Columbia County.

Last night: http://acrescoop.com/

The next Acres Co-op Market community meeting will be 6pm (not 6:30pm)
Wednesday, October 19th
at Christ Church Episcopal Parish Hall, 431 Union Street, Hudson, NY

So the government is spending 2.5 million to create 15 jobs? That is unsustainable and unnecesssary.

Politicians doing stuff

 Occupy Albany 

Tell us why you will be at Lafayette Park this Friday, we all are part of the 99% and we all have our own reasons why  






 WGXC: Hands-On Radio 

WGXC is live from the Catskill Community Center every Wednesday for WGXC Afternoon Show from 4-6 p.m.

 Nature Conservancy 

Cool Nature Conservancy Job: Director of Philanthropy-Mid Atlantic Market  


 Chronogram Magazine 

Current economic structures are arguably inadequate. Increasingly, communities are exploring alternatives. That's... 

 Times Union 

Photo: A sign warns passing motorists about exotic animals on the loose from a wildlife preserve October...

10-19-11: occupy albany: occupyalbany.org

Bullies? Youth forum to offer address on bullying: The third annual Dutchess County Youth Forum will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Salt Point campus of the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services. For more information, call Mary K. Fields at the Youth Bureau at 845-486-3660.

Egg swap.

Tumblr Columbia County. Rooster. "We had dinner at the Old Chatham Country Store on Saturday. It was an odd choice for me, because, honestly, I kind of hate the place... And the food? Delightful. Oddly enough, there is very little pretensions to the current locavore craze."

occupyalbany.org

Occupy Albany. Good idea. Better write up. Ask them to pass ethics reform.  Nice photo.


 Occupy Albany 

Occupation date is set for October 21st in Lafayette Park. Starting at noon our first GA will be at 5pm!! RT please!  


Biography of Hon. Jacob W. Hoysradt, 1878. Elisha Bushnell.


Anyone in the board Albany Capital District area? Check this out:http://occupyalbany.org/

occupyalbany.org





I went here and learned: During his campaign, Old Kinderhook (OK) clubs from Van Buren hometown supported the President. The barnacle has the largest penis of any animal.

We're still at war.

Look, movement hijacking in progress.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

copake gripes: sounds familiar


There are several awful smells coming out of Copake and one of them is
decay. The decay is from being RULED by one party for generations.

The old boy network is alive and well in Copake and it is a family business.
Mother-in-laws hire daughter in Laws, brothers hire brothers, none of them
are competent.

This town is going down the crapper and the ol boys don’t care cause they
are on the gravy train.

bald eagle shot in stuyvesant

Here is the story.

Monday, October 17, 2011

10-17-11: Ethics law in Albany, Brennan Center Documents

Ana Coon, 1753-1825. Long life.

 How long for a pistol permit in Columbia County?

Will Copake keep its police department? Audio on this blog.

 We're still at war.

This is a GREAT BLOG.  How did I know about it before?

 Ethics law in New York in the news. This is always interesting to me. "...Brennan Center's highly critical reports of the state Legislature..."

Good tip, Times Union:  New York’s Legislative Ethics Commission, solely responsible for legislative ethics oversight in our state, has never brought a charge against a sitting legislator.

And this was good too. and...  


it is actually a backwards step – rather than not forcing lawyers to disclose outside income as is now the case, the new bill would explicitly exempt lawyers and others from certain reporting requirements.
Brenna Center.... nice tip.

Have to look for those. Film Festival.



 Bernie Sanders 

The 6 largest financial institutions have assets that are equal to 65% of the GDP of the entire U.S. That’s over $9 trillion. 



 WGXC: Hands-On Radio 

Happy soon-to-be Halloween from The Tiki Bar coming up at 6 pm on WGXC 90.7 FM and , Listener supported community radio!




 Salman Rushdie 

Again:I found protesters at  intelligent, caring, idealistic, thoughtful. Much of the hostility they face is the antithesis of all that.


Victor Mendolia added a new photo.