THE "PORK" IN NEW YORK, Thoughts of an older American on Constitutional Government in the USA Options

[Livyjr]

I have just had a lengthy e-mail conversation with an editor at the Albany, New York Times Union on this issue of "FAITH IN THE SYSTEM" .....

And up this way, I do not know of anyone who has any faith at all in "the SYSTEM" ....

Whether that be the federal government, which has become synonymous with "SHODDY" and "SLIPSHOD" and "DISHONEST" and "UNTRUSTWORTHY" ....

Or the state government here in New York State, which is and has been known as CORRUPT for some long time now ...

Or with local government, which is controlled by the political parties for their own benefit ....

And that discussion with this editor had to do with the Albany Times Union "clipping" the news so that the people who rely on the Albany, New York Times Union for their news, which are the majority of the people in this area where I am corresponding from .....

Are getting an incomplete story, intentionally, as a part of the editorial policy of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

Up here, based on that editorial policy ....

Certain politicians involved in certain activities inimical to the public interest, and specifically, to the public health and well-being, do not get talked about in the pages of the Albany, New York Times Union, which is one of the chief reasons that this thread is running ....

To track that process along as it is happening ....

Which brings us back to my opening post in here, about translating discussion in a forum such as this down to some type of positive action at the local level, when a forum such as this is not well known, or is not known at all, at that local level ....

So that people remain unaware of what is going on in their own communities because the main newspaper has a CODE OF SILENCE in place, when it comes to certain news and certain politicians .....

That is one of the reasons that older people up this way tell younger people to leave this state and never look back ....

Because nothing will ever change when it is the news media themselves who are promoting ignorance ....

Instead of attempting to inform ....

And to uncover abuses by elected officials that put the public into jeopardy ....

Which is what the e-mail conversation with the Albany, Times Union editor was about ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

Comment by John Galt — March 13, 2007 @ 5:13 pm

Right over here, across the Hudson River from Albany, in “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno’s own personal fiefdom of Rensselaer County …

We had a disabled Viet Nam veteran who had been rehabilitated from a nasty head wound as a public health engineer …

And he got to digging around, at the behest of then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod into MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE and GROSS NEGLIGENCE in the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which was REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED at that time according to a TU article by reporter Tim O’Brien on October 12, 1988 …

And in the course of that investigation, in or about the summer of 1988, this engineer began the process of bringing charges against the “IRON DUKE” himself for alleged Public Health Law violations, misdemeanors, in connection with the “IRON DUKE’S” Windfield Subdivision on Bulson Road in Brunswick, New York …

And the “IRON DUKE” had the engineer slapped silly …

BANG!

You’re gone!

And he was ….

And when the Federal Bureau of Investigation came sniffing around in 1989 in connection with all of that business, the local word is that they got sent back to Albany like whipped dogs, howling and yipping and ki-yiying, with their tails tucked between their legs, allegedly for sniffing too close to the “IRON DUKE” ….

So when we think of the New York State Legislature after reading Assemblyman Brodsky’s empty article in the New York Times ….

We think of how the “IRON DUKE”, a member of that Legislature at the time, was able to simply reach right out and crush this disabled veteran like a Coors beer can and fling him out the open window and into the ditch besides the road ….

With no one saying a word about it …

A lot of power that New York State Legislature gave to “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno that would let him get away with that …

Is our thought on that matter …

A LOT OF POWER, INDEED ….

And this wasn’t any kind of secret …

This all happened right out in the clear light of day …

With TV cameras there capturing the whole thing for posterity sake ….

And then, in August of 2001, Rensselaer County effected a FINAL SOLUTION against this same engineer by having a local political doctor issue an INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDER for this engineer, SIGHT-UNSEEN ….

Which would be a violation of the law if it wasn’t being done for POLITICAL RETALIATION purposes ….

Because once again this engineer was digging around where his nose just didn’t belong, according to Rensselaer County …

So they had him snatched right out of the lobby of the Stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001 based on a FRAUDULENT INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ORDER signed by that political doctor over there in Troy, despite the fact that he did not know this engineer from Adam, never having ever seen him, before committing him ….

And they had the engineer placed into involuntary psychiatric confinement ….

And that was the end of the engineer ….

And no one in the New York State Legislature ever raised an eyebrow about that ….

IT IS A PERK OF THE POSITION, AFTER ALL …

And this Mr. Brodsky cannot deny that ….

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE being able to have POLITICAL ENEMIES removed at the drop of a hat, like that …

After all, it is actually when “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer became the “STEAMROLLER” ….

Long before he “STEAMROLLED” Jim Tedisco just recently ….

When he “STEAMROLLED” this disabled veteran in 2005 and kept him out of federal court ….

By having his assistant attorney generals do some HINKY stuff with the evidence ….

Like burying a sworn affidavit of an Albany Police officer who was an eye-witness to this unlawful confinement …

And still, none of that bothered anyone in the New York State Legislature ….

And so ….

There’s our thoughts on that Brodsky NY TIMES article ….

Empty as it was ….

And so …

Ever since the beginning days of OUR America, the power of words and the power of the "press" have been "issues", in and of themselves ....

And they remain so, right on down to our present times, as this recent business with "Scooter" Libby revealed ....

And generally, the argument goes in favor of "freedom of the press", meaning the media .....

"THE MEDIA CANNOT BE RESTRAINED, OR OUR FREEDOM WILL BE THREATENED" goes the mantra .....

But will it be, really?

OR DOES MANIPULATION OF THE NEWS AND OUTRIGHT DISSEMINATION OF PROPAGANDA THROUGH THE NEWS MEDIA THREATEN OUR FREEDOM EVEN MORE?

That is one of the underlying issues that this thread seeks to consider ...

Since it is in fact at the heart of WHERE we are right now in the State of New York ....

With a corrupt, dysfuntional government that does not protect US, the citizens, from much of anything at all, and especially from itself, as this above "letter" to the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union from a member of our community up here in New York State reveals ....

And this exchange with this editor of the Albany, New York Times Union that I reference right above here stems directly from a response to that "John Galt letter", as we call it, that was itself posted in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union as follows:

Comment by topo gigio — March 13, 2007 @ 9:05 pm

It appears that Mr. Galt is referring to Paul Plante.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/4715/pl...etnamvetwc5.jpg

This was before my time.

But admittedly, it’s an interesting story.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

Now, stepping over into the twin realms of "ethics" and "fairness", or as FOX NEWS calls it, "FAIR AND BALANCED", as it applies to this e-mail conversation that I had with this Albany, Times Union editor ....

When this topo gigio made this post above here in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union on March 13, 2007 at 9:05 pm ....

Did topo gigio then "open a door", as it were, to some discussion on the contents of the article itself, which has a direct link to it that is now a part of the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union that anyone anywhere here in America, or the candid world, for that matter, can follow to read the article itself, which is from the same Albany, New York Times Union newspaper, dated January 10, 1988?

As citizens of this state up here, it is our collective belief that yes, indeed, by bringing the article itself into the present web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union, that topo gigio, who is unknown to us, did in fact "open up the door" to discussion of the contents of that very article ....

And here is where the present controversy with the editor of the Albany, New York Times Union begins .....

Or began, anyway ....

When this editor from the Albany, New York Times Union CENSORED a reply from John Galt concerning this very Albany, New York Times Union article from January 10, 1988 AND HOW WHAT IS STATED IN THAT ARTICLE FROM NEARLY TWENTY YEARS AGO IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO what is going on in the State of New York today, in terms of the excessive costs that we property tax payers have to bear for treating sick people through our state MEDICAID program, on top of the property taxes that we are paying for a county health department, that in the words of the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION in a March 16, 1989 Report based upon a review of substantial evidence, concluded:

According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales.

According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development.

In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!

Now, I do not know about anyone else out there, but up here, out in the country, anyway, I suppose it could be said that we are a conservative crowd, perhaps somber, and maybe some would even call us dour, although that might be misplaced ....

And one of our chief characteristics is that WE REMEMBER ......

Which probably comes from the fact that life in the country is more simple and basic than life in the cities, or suburbs ....

And those of us who grow things or heat with wood HAVE TO REMEMBER .....

Because to grow something, you have to know when to plant it, and to plant something, you have to know when to plow the ground, and to know when to plow the ground up here, you have to have some kind of recollection of what you and your neighbors did last year, and the year before that and on and on and on ...

And to heat your home with wood, you have to remember this year how much wood it REALLY did take last year, and then you have to remember how bad last year's winter really was, etc. ...

And so ....

With respect to this Albany, New York Times Union article from January 10, 1988, entitled "Developers see a zealot in new county health officer" by Laurie Anderson, a staff writer for the Albany, New York Times Union at that time who, upon information and belief, subsequently quit the Albany, New York Times Union in DISGUST at what she was being required to do by her "bosses" at the Albany, New York Times Union as a "condition of her employment" there ....

We do in fact remember those times very well .....

AS A DIRECT ASSAULT ON US, AND AS A DIRECT ASSAULT ON THE VERY NOTION OR CONCEPT THAT THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THROUGH OUR STATE CONSTITUTION IN SECTION 3 OF ARTICLE XVII, HAS AN OBLIGATION TO THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF OUR HEALTH, BEFORE THE PROTECTION OF THE PROFITS OF THE CORPORATIONS WHO BUY AND SELL OUR STATE GOVERNMENT UP HERE EVERY DAY, AS IF IT WERE JUST ANOTHER COMMODITY ON THE MARKET, WHICH IT IS IN FACT:

§ 3. The protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefor shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions and in such manner, and by such means as the legislature shall from time to time determine.

And so ....

To be continued ....

[Livyjr]

Ever since the beginning days of OUR America, the power of words and the power of the "press" have been "issues", in and of themselves ....

And they remain so, right on down to our present times, as this recent business with "Scooter" Libby revealed ....

And generally, the argument goes in favor of "freedom of the press", meaning the media .....

"THE MEDIA CANNOT BE RESTRAINED, OR OUR FREEDOM WILL BE THREATENED" goes the mantra .....

But will it be, really?

OR DOES MANIPULATION OF THE NEWS AND OUTRIGHT DISSEMINATION OF PROPAGANDA THROUGH THE NEWS MEDIA THREATEN OUR FREEDOM EVEN MORE?

That is one of the underlying issues that this thread seeks to consider ...

Since it is in fact at the heart of WHERE we are right now in the State of New York ....

With a corrupt, dysfuntional government that does not protect US, the citizens, from much of anything at all, and especially from itself, as this above "letter" to the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union from a member of our community up here in New York State reveals ....

And this exchange with this editor of the Albany, New York Times Union that I reference right above here stems directly from a response to that "John Galt letter", as we call it, that was itself posted in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union as follows:

Comment by topo gigio — March 13, 2007 @ 9:05 pm

It appears that Mr. Galt is referring to Paul Plante.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/4715/pl...etnamvetwc5.jpg

This was before my time.

But admittedly, it’s an interesting story.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

Now, stepping over into the twin realms of "ethics" and "fairness", or as FOX NEWS calls it, "FAIR AND BALANCED", as it applies to this e-mail conversation that I had with this Albany, Times Union editor ....

When this topo gigio made this post above here in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union on March 13, 2007 at 9:05 pm ....

Did topo gigio then "open a door", as it were, to some discussion on the contents of the article itself, which has a direct link to it that is now a part of the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union that anyone anywhere here in America, or the candid world, for that matter, can follow to read the article itself, which is from the same Albany, New York Times Union newspaper, dated January 10, 1988?

As citizens of this state up here, it is our collective belief that yes, indeed, by bringing the article itself into the present web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union, that topo gigio, who is unknown to us, did in fact "open up the door" to discussion of the contents of that very article ....

And here is where the present controversy with the editor of the Albany, New York Times Union begins .....

Or began, anyway ....

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

Comment by John Galt — March 23, 2007 @ 6:33 pm

John Galt thinks this was one of the most incredible exercises in democracy that he has seen in his lifetime ….

This is like the forum of Rome in here in the latter days of the Republic, before it all went up in flames in a civil war that many in Rome never saw the other side of …..

Had cooler heads prevailed back then, well, whoever does really know ….

But John Galt knows that when voices are stifled ….

Out come the weapons, and when the weapons come out, it might be a long time before peace reigns again ….

And so ….

The wise among us resort to measures like this, voicing our thoughts and opinions in an open forum such as this, which serves as a safety valve on society ….

And so …

In concluding, I did present the editor with what I perceived to be an issue, that being his independence, and I must say that my hat is off right now to the TU and its staff, all included ….

My faith was restored today, in this newspaper as an institution of civilization, here where we all live our lives ….

This is something that we country folks will tell our children and grandchildren about, that we were alive today in OUR America to see such a thing as this happen …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4157#comments

[Livyjr]

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Comment by John Galt — March 23, 2007 @ 8:03 am

At the risk of further infuriating those in here who like posts to be of as few words as possible, I would start off by quoting directly from the BILL OF RIGHTS of OUR state Constitution, which goes back in time, to a time when perhaps we were not so free as we are today, although that assertion is very much open to debate in here, right now today:

“We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.

§ 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.”

Now, as a simple country person who has studied our state history extensively, starting right in kindergarten on the first day of school after the close of WWII, when the teacher, a woman, told us children in no uncertain terms that we were not there to fool around, to the contrary, we were there to learn WHAT it was that we were a part of, and what it was that we were to inherit, and maintain, and not destroy, in the spirit of those who shed some blood to give us OUR collective liberty here in NYS in the first place, I hold those words in OUR NYS BILL OF RIGHTS to be OUR organic law anywhere in the state of New York, 24/7, be it “in here”, in CYBERSPACE, or “out there”, wherever that may be …

And it must be noted that in the language of OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, which George W. Bush cannot strike down in his capacity as OVERLORD OF EVERY POSSIBLE THING THAT THERE IS OR MIGHT BE IN OUR LIVES, the “right” of the citizen to speak freely, AND TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE for that speech before a JURY of his or her peers is held to be paramount, BEFORE that of the “press”, or as it is called today, the “media” ….

Which as the editor points out, might cause some problems in this new venue, where in large part, we have some degree of anonymity ….

And this brings us to the question raised: “I haven’t reached any conclusions about this, but I do wonder whether a laissez-faire approach to moderation fosters engagement, or hurts it.”

The obvious answer to that is that there is NO ANSWER, only conjectures and opinions, of which there will be a multitude, I am sure, because that is what life is, here in New York State, “out there”, be it in a coffe shop, or a convenient store parking lot, or wherever …

Most people that I talk to about BLOGGING say that they do not bother with even trying to follow it, because most of the comments are so undecipherable or arcane or couched in such an esoteric, thick dialect of gibberish that it is a waste of time to even “tune in”, and truthfully, they may have a point …

However, my reply is that the “baby then goes out with the bath water”, and by default, by not participating, they are the losers …

The alternative, then, is to come in here and risk attack, but how is that any different than making a statement in public and being attacked, perhaps physically?

I was in Viet Nam when that Calley dude was brought up on charges for My Lai, and it happened that I was standing near a bunch of officers who were grousing that such a thing should never have happened to an officer in the US Army, and my reply as an infantryman to them was that Calley deserved the treatment that we would give to a chicken-killing dog back home, because officers like him got grunts like us killed in retaliation, and if a major had not walked into the room when he did, who knows what the increase in American KIA’s would have been in that situation …

And so it goes …

Here in NYS, I let the NY Constitution BILL OF RIGHTS be my guide, and when asked about this by younger people, I give them an actual copy of OUR Constitution, and I ask them to spend some time pondering just the PREAMBLE, and if they don’t like god, or GOD, cross out that part, so that it reads:

“We The People of the State of New York, GRATEFUL FOR OUR FREEDOM, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.”

When newspaper editors, or the “media” start censoring us, as just might be the case in here with respect to an issue that topo gigio raised by bringing in what may well be a biased and contrived TU article by staff writer Laurie Anderson from January 10, 1988 that relates directly to the high property taxes that we older country folk are being forced to pay TODAY for a county health department that state health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod determined was corrupt back in 1986, along with excessive MEDICAID costs to treat sick people, and further property taxes that subsidize developers by making us have to pay for the “improvements” to subdivisions that our laws stated were theirs to bear, then a question arises as to whether or not we might be back-sliding, here in NYS, with respect to the BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM that are discussed in the PREAMBLE to OUR state Constitution ….

As an older citizen, I have to wonder what type of conflict of interest might be at work in here, where the Hearst Corporation, parent of the Times Union, is itself a member of the NYS Business Council with whom “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer met with at Bolton Landing on Lake George on September 21, 2006, while still attorney general, with a duty to OUR Constitution, to inform the members of the NYS Business Council, including the Hearst Corporation that the “STEAMROLLER” intended to make NYS the best place in the world to do business ….

OUR Constitution goes back to the Declaration of Independence, and since that time, it has in fact been amended several times, and with respect to health and protection of the environment, especially, along with Worker’s Compensation, those amendments have been BECAUSE OF ravages caused to us, our health, and our environment, BECAUSE OF BUSINESS ….

And BUSINESS has not been happy about this, which is what this TU article by staff writer Laurie Anderson from January 10, 1988 provided to us in here by topo gigio is really all about ….

And it is what is contained in that article that brings us right square into the times that we are in right now, out here in the country, anyway, WHERE OUR VOICES are not heard, outside of a BLOG like this, or thankfully, a BLOG like COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE, where we country folk are given the freedom to discuss these issues of importance to ourselves, WITHOUT THE SPECTER of CORPORATE CENSORSHIP that might in fact be lurking in here ….

My thoughts, anyway ….

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4157#comments

[Livyjr]

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Comment by John Galt — March 23, 2007 @ 8:03 am

When newspaper editors, or the “media” start censoring us, as just might be the case in here with respect to an issue that topo gigio raised by bringing in what may well be a biased and contrived TU article by staff writer Laurie Anderson from January 10, 1988 that relates directly to the high property taxes that we older country folk are being forced to pay TODAY for a county health department that state health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod determined was corrupt back in 1986, along with excessive MEDICAID costs to treat sick people, and further property taxes that subsidize developers by making us have to pay for the “improvements” to subdivisions that our laws stated were theirs to bear, then a question arises as to whether or not we might be back-sliding, here in NYS, with respect to the BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM that are discussed in the PREAMBLE to OUR state Constitution ….

As an older citizen, I have to wonder what type of conflict of interest might be at work in here, where the Hearst Corporation, parent of the Times Union, is itself a member of the NYS Business Council with whom “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer met with at Bolton Landing on Lake George on September 21, 2006, while still attorney general, with a duty to OUR Constitution, to inform the members of the NYS Business Council, including the Hearst Corporation that the “STEAMROLLER” intended to make NYS the best place in the world to do business ….

OUR Constitution goes back to the Declaration of Independence, and since that time, it has in fact been amended several times, and with respect to health and protection of the environment, especially, along with Worker’s Compensation, those amendments have been BECAUSE OF ravages caused to us, our health, and our environment, BECAUSE OF BUSINESS ….

And BUSINESS has not been happy about this, which is what this TU article by staff writer Laurie Anderson from January 10, 1988 provided to us in here by topo gigio is really all about ….

And it is what is contained in that article that brings us right square into the times that we are in right now, out here in the country, anyway, WHERE OUR VOICES are not heard, outside of a BLOG like this, or thankfully, a BLOG like COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE, where we country folk are given the freedom to discuss these issues of importance to ourselves, WITHOUT THE SPECTER of CORPORATE CENSORSHIP that might in fact be lurking in here ….

My thoughts, anyway ….

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4157#comments

Well, it's now the "DAY AFTER" this continuing "experiment in democracy" which is going on ....

Not only in here, but also in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ......

And being "slow" as we countryfolks are in our various deliberations about this or that ...

We older folks up here are still pondering and contemplating what has gone on in the last few days, both "in here", in this thread, in this forum ....

As well as in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

With respect to the actual CENSORSHIP of comments made by John Galt in the web-edition of the Heart Corporation-owned Albany, New York Times Union concerning the contents an article published in the pages of the Albany, New York Times Union back in January of 1988 ....

Which news item from nearly twenty years ago was made relevant to "THE CLIMATE OF FEAR, RETRIBUTION AND RETALIATION" which exists in the State of New York today ....

By the fact that another poster in the web-edition of the Albany, New York brought that article into the on-going discussion in that forum by posting a link to that article, which now brings it to the attention of the "world-at-large", since the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union is now available to anyone, anywhere, thanks to the same miracle of the internet which similarly makes this thread available and accessible to that same world ...

And as I in particular am a "slow thinker", it is taking me some time to develop this "line of thought" ....

So I ask for some patience on the part of those who might read this words ....

But right now, the "point of departure" for this line of our thinking up here stems from these following words printed in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union yesterday morning by that individual, Jay Jochnowitz, the State Editor of the Albany, New York Times Union since 2000 ...

Who according to his short "bio" in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union is a "Long Island transplant ... Ironically, has issues with authority ... In spare time, pretends he's a cowboy."

From JJ: This and several other comments below mention the anonymity issue.

I should have been more clear on why I injected that point.

I have no desire or intention to remove anonymity from the blog.

I raised it only to lay the foundation for the point that anonymity frees some people of any sense of responsibility for what they say.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4157#comments

And there I shall rest, for the moment, anyway ....

To develop this train of thought on "SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY" BY THE "MEDIA" ITSELF a little further ....

Since this train of thought has to do directly with the HARM that the Albany, New York Times Union, and other "news media" have been able to do to the lives and livelihoods of individuals who would not "TOE THE PARTY LINE" up this way, and serve as POLITICAL WHORES ....

Instead of professional engineers ....

As the law of this state required them to do ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

And staying with this on-going experiment in democracy that is happening both in here, and in the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

We have ...

Comment by Beavis — March 24, 2007 @ 1:20 pm:

Please kill the comments.

If people want to be heard, have them take the time and effort to create their OWN blog.

They should generate the content, then take the hits from the peanut gallery.

JOHN GALT REPLIES:

With respect to “killing the comments”, that sounds very much like what George W. Bush and his crowd of societal fringe elements here in America are trying to do, which has “THE JUDGE”, Bert Gonzales, in a bit of controversy right now, along with Bush-judge Gary L. Sharpe in the federal Northern District of New York .... …

But that is a different story, in a different place, in a BLOG all its own, with over 38,000 hits now .... …

And so ... …

More to the point, with respect to this concept of a PEANUT GALLERY in here which many posters, including this Beavis above here, seem to be pushing, John Galt is reminded of what John Galt’s kindergarten tacher told him and the rest of the class right in the opening minutes of the first day about what it means to be an “American” .... …

And it must be considered that this was in 1950 or so, right after WWII, when most if not all adults knew some or many from that war who were either outright dead, and so were missing from society at that point, or who were maimed, forever .... …

And we children were told, and I never forget this, especially today, when no one is “authorized” to speak, about anything, and we are getting lied to, in the pages of the NY Times, by “press poodles” like Dame Judith Miller ....

Was that all of these dead people no longer among us, and all these maimed people who were right there for everyone to see in the small community where I was from, got that way by going over to Germany to fight a man named Hitler ....

And the key thing that she told us, which back then was supposed to differentiate an “American” from a “German” was that Americans were individuals who thought for themselves, and that OUR school system EXISTED TO FORCE THAT PROCESS, to make us into individuals who had to think for themselves, since “GROUPTHINK” was not going to be relied on, either there, or out in the world into which we would soon enough be going, to get us along ...

So that unlike Germany, America could never have a Hitler, because we were individuals with minds of our own, who could never be gulled, en masse, into giving up our individual thought processes to a dictator like Hitler ....

OR ANY DICTATOR, OR “STEAMROLLER” OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND OUR RIGHTS .... …

Each of us had to do that for him or herself, THINK BEFORE DOING, and that was why we were there, to start that process, right then and there, that day .... …

And what she told us about Hitler and these Germans, is that Hitler was able to become a dictator and suspend law, and was able to do all of the things he did that caused our people to have to go over there to fight and die to stop him, was because some 80 MILLION GERMANS constituted one great big “hive mentality” that let him do just as he pleased, so long as he did it to others, and not to them ....

A great big PEANUT GALLERY, is how I recall her putting it ....

Where everyone says “YES, MASTER”, when the master speaks ....

And yes, as I recall the kindergarten teacher telling us, one of the very first things this Hitler did was to “kill the comments”, by the simple expedient of killing anyone who would comment .... …

Which proved costly, and inefficient, compared to how the Russians did things, by simply locking the commenters up in GULAGS as mental patients ...

Which is the approach that “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer has opted to take in NYS today ....

Something for which he has in fact already received approval from Bush-judge Gary L. Sharpe in the federal Northern District of New York ..... …

But as I said, that is the subject of another BLOG, in another place, and any PEANUT out there who wishes to go and have at it with the contents of that BLOG is indeed welcome ....

Chew into it all you want ... …

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry700104

Call it untrue .... …

Call it libel .... …

Call it whatever chimes the chimes on your clock for you ... …

That is what we disabled veterans fought for, after all .... …

YOUR LIBERTY, not your freedom .... …

And so ....

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4157#comments…

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Mar 24 2007, 03:10 PM

[Livyjr]

"Winners, losers in Spitzer's health proposals"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, March 25, 2007

Q: What does Gov. Eliot Spitzer want?

A: Spitzer wants to control the growth of the cost of Medicaid, which grew 54 percent between 2000 and 2005.

His proposal still increases Medicaid funding, but only by 1.7 percent.

The $47.6 billion Medicaid budget would be made up of $17.5 billion from the state, $7.1 billion from local government, and $23 billion from the federal government.

Spitzer's plan curbs growth by freezing the reimbursement rates and reducing work-force payments to hospitals and nursing homes.

Spitzer's proposal also reduces reimbursement rates to pharmacists, collects more money through fraud investigations, and taxes hospital and nursing home revenues.

Spitzer's plan would expand Medicaid coverage to more people.

He aims to add about 400,000 uninsured children to Child Health Plus by expanding eligibility from 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to 400 percent.

He'd also add 900,000 adults by streamlining the Medicaid application process.

The governor says his plan will begin to re-orient the health system toward primary and preventive care.

Q: Who loses?

A: Hospitals and nursing homes would lose $423 million.

The average hospital would see a $1.2 million reduction and each nursing home would lose about $700,000.

Also, for every dollar the state cuts, the hospitals and nursing homes lose a federal dollar.

Pharmacists would lose $240 million.

Q: Who wins?

A: Medicaid patients and uninsured children and adults.

Spitzer's plan would cut the number of uninsured by half.

Many of those people already are eligible for Medicaid but failed to file the right paperwork.

Hospitals that serve the most Medicaid patients would see a small financial boost.

Community health centers and home health providers would receive more money for serving uninsured patients.

Spitzer also added $29 million for health screening programs for cancer, diabetes, obesity and lead poisoning.

Middle-class taxpayers also benefit because some of the savings would be used for targeted tax cuts.

Schools, too, gain from the plan because some of the savings go to increases in school aid.

Q: Why does New York spend more money on Medicaid than other states?

A: New York offers more Medicaid services than most states, a strategy that maximizes the dollar-for-dollar match from the federal government.

Insiders actually have a verb for it, saying that New York "Medic-aids" services in pursuit of that federal match.

The U.S. government mandates that states offer a dozen Medicaid services, and states have the option of providing about 20 additional services.

New York offers almost all of those optional services including extended drug coverage, home health care and dentistry.

Other potential contributors to high Medicaid costs are labor costs, an older population and longer hospitals stays.

Q: What's at stake for union and health care workers?

A: Hospital and nursing home leaders predict Spitzer's proposed cuts will cause massive job losses, service reductions and possibly closings.

The Greater New York Hospital Association estimates Spitzer's plan would result in 5,700 hospital layoffs and 9,100 nursing home layoffs.

Spitzer disputes that.

Spitzer's plan to eliminate $61 million from the worker recruitment and retention program will affect the ability of hospitals and nursing homes to pay for raises and training for jobs that are in high demand, like nurses, pharmacists, and X-ray technicians.

Q: Why does the Senate majority oppose Spitzer's plan?

A: Senate Republican leaders assert New York nursing homes and hospitals can't take any more cuts.

Hospitals already have the second lowest profit margins in the nation.

The Republicans proposed a budget that restores $241.1 million to hospitals and $230.4 million to nursing homes.

Q: "Medicaid dollars should follow Medicaid patients," according to Spitzer. What does that mean?

A: The administration identified several programs that distribute Medicaid money to hospitals and nursing homes regardless of whether they serve Medicaid patients.

For example, money for worker recruitment and retention is paid based on the size of a facility's staff, not Medicaid caseload.

Spitzer wants to end this practice, which will most likely favor urban hospitals that serve more Medicaid patients.

Critics argue that 70 percent of Medicaid money pays for the care of the sickest 20 percent of Medicaid patients, showing that most Medicaid money already follows the patients.

So far, Spitzer has targeted $61 million of work-force funds and $36 million for training medical residents who no longer exist, the so-called "phantom GMEs."

Q: Who are the phantom GMEs?

A: The state pays $1.5 billion annually to train new doctors under the Graduate Medical Education program.

About 10 years ago, according to the Healthcare Association of New York State, the state asked hospitals to reduce the number of medical residents trained, to avoid a national oversupply of doctors.

As an incentive, the state said it would continue the GME payments even if positions were eliminated.

Consequently, some hospitals have no residents, but receive GME money.

Spitzer wants to terminate those payments, saving $80 million.

Hospitals in New York City are hit particularly hard by the cut.

Q: How would Spitzer's plan affect non-Medicaid New Yorkers?

A: All patients may feel the pinch if hospitals and nursing homes lay off workers and reduce services.

Hospital CEOs say they will turn to the privately insured to make up losses they may suffer under Spitzer's cuts.

Indeed, the administration hopes hospitals and nursing homes can squeeze more money out of private insurers who garner more than $1 billion in profits annually.

Spitzer said his insurance superintendent will not allow commercial insurers to pass the rate hikes on to consumers.

However, the superintendent doesn't have that power yet.

Spitzer has proposed legislation to give the insurance superintendent prior approval of rate changes for health insurance.

Q: Are hospitals and nursing homes already underpaid?

A: Everyone agrees that government reimbursement rates for Medicaid-covered services are out of date.

Providers shift money from profitable services to subsidize losing enterprises, like obstetrics, gynecology and primary care.

New York's nursing home industry says it loses $25 a day for every Medicaid patient, which quickly compounds because 76 percent of nursing home patients are on Medicaid.

For every Medicaid patient treated in an emergency room, the hospital receives $125, whether the patient had a sprained ankle or a heart attack.

Other services, like cardiac procedures, may be overpaid.

Spitzer's administration says plenty of hospitals with heavy Medicaid loads are financially strong, so it's an issue of good management.

Still, Spitzer agrees the rates are "out of whack," and he said he will form a panel to review and update reimbursement rates over the next year.

Hospitals say it's unfair to cut their budgets before correcting the rates.

Q: Does this plan cut any money from HMOs and private insurers?

A: Yes.

Spitzer's plan freezes the Medicaid inflation rate for private insurers -- just like the hospitals and nursing homes -- for $200 million in savings.

Observers note that most private insurance plans don't participate in Medicaid because it's unprofitable, so this freeze affects mostly nonprofit plans that ventured into the Medicaid market and a handful of for-profit insurers.

Spitzer also proposes charging private insurers a higher "covered lives assessment."

The assessment is a fee for every individual insured by the plan.

The increase means an additional $75 million to the state, for a total assessment of $850 million.

Q: Won't the 400,000 new children and 900,000 additional adults bust the system?

A: The hospital industry supports the expanded coverage, but also warns that it will increase Medicaid costs.

Between 2000 and 2005, enrollment in Medicaid rose by more than 1 million people, a 54 percent increase; during the same period, the state Medicaid budget grew 54.5 percent.

The counter-argument is that new enrollees are young and healthy, and therefore not as costly.

The administration expects enrollment will increase gradually over several years.

To pay for the new enrollees, Spitzer would allocate an additional $45.3 million in the first year, $131.6 million the second year, and $167.8 million the third year.

Q: Would Spitzer's budget change how people seek health care?

A: In theory, fewer poor people would use hospital emergency rooms for minor health problems because more of them would be insured under Spitzer's plan.

But to fully shift the orientation of health care to a preventive/primary-care focused system, health care providers say patients must be educated to see their doctor regularly, and to spot problems early and seek treatment.

Also, providers say the state must increase the reimbursement rates for primary and preventive care to make the shift economically attractive.

Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary-care providers have not changed in 15 years.

Consequently, many private doctors choose not to treat Medicaid patients.

Q: Is the governor addressing the cost of prescription drugs?

A: New York spends nearly $2 billion annually on prescription drugs, and Spitzer's plan would reduce drug costs by $240 million by lowering the reimbursement rate paid to pharmacists for drugs prescribed to Medicaid patients.

To ease the cuts to pharmacies, the state would increase the dispensing fees for generic drugs, but the state pharmacy association says that barely puts a dent in the loss to pharmacists.

The association says small, independent pharmacies pay higher costs for medicines than chains and mail-order pharmacies and would suffer greatly from the lower reimbursement rates.

Last year, 221 pharmacies closed in New York state.

Spitzer also has proposed expanding the preferred drug program to negotiate better rebates from drug manufacturers.

Q: Does Spitzer's plan address Medicaid fraud?

A: Yes.

The governor's budget adds $4.8 million for 157 new staff in the Medicaid Inspector General's office, including 100 fraud investigators.

The governor proposes legislation that creates a False Claims Act to encourage whistleblowers to reveal fraud and receive a percentage of what the state recoups.

He also wants legislation that would create a Martin Act for health care, similar to the law that gives the state attorney general power to investigate the securities industry -- a power Spitzer used as attorney general to go after corporate fraud.

Spitzer estimates the anti-fraud initiatives would save the state $104 million next year.

-- Cathleen F. Crowley

[Livyjr]

"Bruno Flacks Up in the City - The Senate majority digs in to hold on"

By Azi Paybarah

The Republicans in the State Senate are down to a three-seat majority, and most indications are that it’ll be a matter of time before they lose control altogether.

So where is the party of upstate and the suburbs choosing to make what may be its last stand?

New York City, of course!

Of the Senate Republicans’ four regional offices, only the one in New York City was running with a one-person press operation.

But this month, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno hired two New York City–based assistants and is looking to bring on at least one more.

The Senate majority’s director of public affairs, Lisa Black—who was until recently the sole press staffer of the New York office—confirmed the new hires, and described the increased presence in the 250 Broadway office as an attempt to raise the profile of the four Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2008.

Despite a 5-3 partisan registration disadvantage in the five boroughs, Ms. Black pushed back firmly against the idea that she was operating in enemy territory, citing in particular the long service of veteran Senators Frank Padavan and Serphin Maltese of Queens.

(The other two G.O.P. Senators in the city are Andrew Lanza of Staten Island and Marty Golden of Brooklyn.)

Ms. Black said that the new staff would be tasked with direct outreach, attending neighborhood-association meetings the party might have missed in the past and helping the city’s four Senators promote themselves with things like “teacher-appreciation” events.

There’s another benefit to the having additional help in Mr. Bruno’s New York office, which has a view of City Hall.

“I can literally look out and say, ‘Oh, they’re doing a press conference there.’”

And then, she said, they can respond.

You may reach Azi Paybarah via email at: apaybarah@observer.com .

This column ran on page 8 in the 3/26/2007 edition of The New York Observer.

http://www.nyobserver.com/20070326/2007032..._newsstory4.asp

[Livyjr]

The New York Observer

"Reported Investigation is News to Diaz"

I just got off the phone with state Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., who is reportedly the subject of a federal investigation into voter fraud, along with his son, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr.

Which was all news to the elder Diaz.

"I don't know anything about it."

"They haven't contacted me yet."

"Nobody has called me."

"Nobody has contacted."

"So, I know as much as you do," he said when reached by cell phone just now.

"I have tons of enemies out there trying to get me."

"Because of my position."

"You know, I've been outspoken on certain issues, like gay marriage, abortion."

"All those things."

"I might create enemies."

He continued.

"But to me, this is a political hit."

"I don't know what they're talking about."

I asked him whether he thought the investigation was initially targeted at him or his son.

"My son is a clean guy."

"He's a candidate for borough president."

"I mean, he's not running."

"He's one of the candidates that's been mentioned."

"And you know, me, I've been outspoken in the state Senate."

He went to say, "So, what's going on, I don't know."

"The FBI hasn't contacted me yet."

-- Azi Paybarah

http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2007/03/...ws-to-diaz.html

[Livyjr]

"Weekend budget talks close gaps as deadline nears"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 2:42 p.m., Sunday, March 25, 2007

ALBANY -- With the state budget due in a week, negotiators for Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Assembly and Senate majorities failed to reach critical agreements by Sunday afternoon.

Closed-door talks were scheduled to resume through Sunday, although all sides agreed even a deal early in the week might not leave enough time to print budget bills and approve them in both chambers to pass an on-time budget.

The budget is due Sunday, April 1.

Despite apparent breakthroughs Friday night, negotiators were again bogged down Saturday and Sunday on issues that were being negotiated as a package.

That means there is no agreement on one issue until there is agreement on all, said officials close to the governor and the legislative majorities.

"Our concern has been and continues to be a fair and equal distribution of school aid and property tax relief for the most taxed residents in the country and health care restorations to prevent the pain and suffering of the (Spitzer) budget proposal out there now," said John McArdle, spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

"Staffs are still talking and we continue to press for open conference committees."

There was no immediate comment from spokesmen for Spitzer or Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

The Legislature has passed on-time budgets in the last two years after 20 straight years of missed deadlines.

Late budgets create fiscal uncertainty for school district officials and delay funding for nonprofit groups that run social service programs.

Three key negotiation issues remain:

--How many suburban schools on Long Island and elsewhere will get greater increases in aid despite Spitzer's plan to direct far more of the funding increases to high-needs urban schools;

--How to distribute more than $1 billion in property tax relief;

--How much aid should be "restored" to hospitals and nursing homes to ease Spitzer's health care reform.

All sides acknowledge room for compromise in the key areas.

Specifically, Spitzer last week said he is more committed to driving property tax relief to middle class families than he is to how it is done.

That means he is open to the Senate Republicans' proposal for rebate checks sent directly to taxpayers rather than Spitzer's original plan to increase funding for the state's property tax-mitigating STAR program.

Spitzer may also be open to changes in his school funding program so that wealthier but highly taxed school districts on Long Island get more than his minimum increase of 3 percent, according to a Spitzer official close to negotiations.

The Senate GOP wants to add $538 million for these schools, most of which are in the conference's Long Island power base.

Senate Republicans who have fought Spitzer's $1.4 billion cut in the $45 billion Medicaid system may end up accepting some of Spitzer's reforms if he agrees to phase in his program so big hospitals and nursing homes don't face immediate 1 percent to 5 percent cuts in state aid.

Spitzer proposed a $120.6 billion budget in January.

That's an increase of 7.8 percent -- more than twice the inflation rate.

His plan also includes what he calls reforms to permanently curb Albany's overspending and kowtowing to special interest groups, especially powerful lobbyists in the health care industry.

Spitzer and legislative leaders have since agreed to updated revenue forecasts that provide another $575 million to work with.

The Assembly's Democratic majority proposes a $121.2 billion budget.

The Senate's Republican majority proposes additions that Spitzer's Division of Budget say add up to $3 billion.

But Senate Republicans say that by their accounting, they are adding $1 billion.

[Livyjr]

"Mining Medicaid"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, March 26, 2007

Viewed from one perspective, Governor Spitzer's attempt to reduce Medicaid spending by $1.3 billion through a mixture of cuts and curbs in the program's growth is a necessary, if painful, first step toward overdue reform.

But from another perspective, the $1.3 billion represents a modest savings in a program that is rife with fraud and abuse.

Putting a stop to it could yield much more than $1.3 billion -- indeed, as much as 10 times more.

One way to combat cheating on a large scale would be for New York to follow the lead of other states and enact a False Claims Act, which gives citizens an incentive to blow the whistle on fraud.

Yet for reasons that are difficult to fathom, Senate Republicans stand in the way.

New York's Medicaid is a $46 billion program, and growing.

But how much of that total represents legitimate health care expenses, and how much fraud or abuse?

In 2005, The New York Times and other media looked into the question and came up with some stunning answers.

For example, James Mehmet told the Times that fraud accounts for 10 percent of the state's Medicaid expenditures each year.

He should know.

He was once the state's chief investigator for fraud and abuse.

Then there are the questionable claims for services that, in Mr. Mehmet's estimate, account for 20 to 30 percent in wasteful Medicaid spending each year.

Add it all up and it comes to a staggering $18 billion -- way more than the $1.3 billion Mr. Spitzer hopes to save.

As a former state attorney general, Mr. Spitzer is well aware of the scope of Medicaid fraud in New York.

But cracking down on Medicaid abuse only goes so far.

Despite the praiseworthy efforts of such state agencies as the Office of Substance Abuse Services, which posted a string of successes last year under the leadership of former Rensselaer County Executive Henry Zwack, government alone can't solve the problem.

It needs the help of citizens who are willing to blow the whistle when they see instances of abuse.

A state False Claims Act, which Mr. Spitzer seeks, could yield big savings because it allows the state to receive 50 percent of all money recovered.

(In New York, the state and counties each share 25 percent of the costs of Medicaid, with the federal government picking up 50 percent.)

But Senate Republicans continue to insist that such a law is duplicative.

They point to a federal False Claims Act that already permits states to collect a 50 percent share of all funds recovered.

A state law, they argue, would merely be a gift to the trial lawyers lobby.

Nice try, but it won't wash.

In truth, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has taken steps to encourage states to enact their own False Claims Act legislation by raising the amount of funds that they can recover to 60 percent from 50 percent.

And with $18 billion at stake, that's an incentive New York can't afford to refuse.

[Livyjr]

As a former state attorney general, Mr. Spitzer is well aware of the scope of Medicaid fraud in New York.

But cracking down on Medicaid abuse only goes so far.

Despite the praiseworthy efforts of such state agencies as the Office of Substance Abuse Services, which posted a string of successes last year under the leadership of former Rensselaer County Executive Henry Zwack, government alone can't solve the problem.

It needs the help of citizens who are willing to blow the whistle when they see instances of abuse.

And with respect to why people in the State of New York are very unwilling to "blow the whistle" up here on government fraud and corruption ....

We have, from the WEB-EDITION of the Albany, New York Times Union, as follows:

Comment by LuLu — March 24, 2007 @ 8:56 am: Mayor - point of fact - personal attacks and lies have been posted a here after someone “outed” the blogger who was being attacked and lied about.

That is why it matters.

Comment by topo gigio — March 13, 2007 @ 9:05 pm: It appears that Mr. Galt is referring to Paul Plante.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/4715/pl…etnamvetwc5.jpg

This was before my time. But admittedly, it’s an interesting story.

Comment by John Galt — March 25, 2007 @ 4:20 pm: JOHN GALT REPLIES: We don’t know if the post above here by LuLu about the “outing” refers to this second post by topo gigio, but on the off-chance that it does, we would ask your indulgence to be heard on this matter, as well, since we, the people out here in Rensselaer County are directly affected by this matter of what happened to Paul Plante in 1988, and again on August 22, 2001, when Paul Plante, an honorably discharged, decorated disabled veteran was in fact “seized” and taken into custody in the emergency room lobby of the Stratton VA Hospital in Albany, and was locked in the secure mental facility on the tenth floor of the Stratton VA Hospital like a wild animal, based on a fraudulent involuntary psychiatric commitment order issued to Rensselaer County officials by a medical doctor at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, who had never even laid on eyes on Plante, who himself was nowhere near the Samaritan Hospital, nor had he even been, at the time this doctor issued this fraudulent involuntary commitment order, which by law, can only be issued after a doctor has taken a history of the potential mental patient, and has actually conducted a comprehensive physical and mental examination to confirm a diagnosis, and a need for treatment in a secure facility …

For some long time now, because of what happened to Paul Plante, first in 1988, and then again in 2001, we, the people out here in the countryside have been without a voice to be heard in the halls of OUR government, which really is not ours, at all …

And because of what happened to Paul Plante on August 22, 2001, specifically, we have been stripped of our right “peaceably to assemble and to petition the government, or any department thereof” pursuant to section 9 of the BILL OF RIGHTS of our NYS Constitution, including the NYS Department of Health, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Professional Discipline of the NYS Department of Education by FIAT, because by having Paul Plante declared to be mentally ill and dangerous by this medical doctor at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy on August 22, 2001, 8-22-01, what the State of New York has done is to destroy Paul Plante’s credibility as a licensed professional engineer, forever, and without Paul Plante and his expertise as our witness, we are simply out of court, because you can’t go to court without evidence, and to have evidence, you need corroboration, and investigation, which has to be done by a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York, by law ….

And so …

If we countryfolks were to be asked about it, our opinion of what topo gigio has done by bringing the name of Paul Plante into this forum, out in the open, as it were, in connection with the Albany, New York Times Union article from January 10, 1988, entitled “Developers see a zealot in new county health officer” by TU staff writer Laurie Anderson that one pulls up on topo gigio’s link, in our simple way of looking at life, we would have to say that what we think of as DIVINE PROVIDENCE guided topo gigio to that particular article, out of all of the articles about that period of time in our collective history up here in NYS …

And our reasoning is this …

If one were to take a step backwards, and dispassionately take a look at where we all are right now in the State of New York as the OMEGA, the other end, as it were, or outcome, or aftermath, perhaps, of something that came before, the ALPHA, in our estimation, having “been there”, all of us, through this whole period of time, carefully and quietly watching, the ALPHA would start right exactly there, with the publishing of that Albany, New York Times Union article from January 10, 1988, entitled “Developers see a zealot in new county health officer” by Laurie Anderson ….

And the specific sentence in that article, which serves as a sort of ROSETTA STONE to understand the times that we are in right now, with this BIG PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS in the State of New York, is as follows:

“Plante is involved in several fierce feuds with developers, the most public of which involves (Stephen) Anderson, WHO IS ATTEMPTING TO RALLY the (Rensselaer) county legislature, (REPUBLICAN Rensselaer County Executive John L.) Buono, AND THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO MAKE PLANTE MORE COMPLIANT.”

MAKE PLANTE MORE COMPLIANT ….

COMPLIANT: ready or disposed to comply; SUBMISSIVE

So …..

According to an authoritative source in the State of New York such as the Albany Times Union is, or so we take it to be, in this specific instance of these above words by Laurie Anderson which were in fact published AS FACT by the TU on January 10, 1988, AS OF January 10, 1988, which was ten (10) days AFTER Plante, in his capacity as a health officer in the Rensselaer County Health District, was supposed to begin enforcement of the provisions of the Rensselaer County Municipal Public Health Services Plan pursuant to Title 1 of Article 6 of the NYSPHL, Stephen Anderson, a land developer in Rensselaer County, WAS ATTEMPTING TO RALLY REPUBLICAN RENSSELAER EXECUTIVE JOHN L. BUONO AND DR. DAVID AXELROD, THE NEW YORK STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER, “TO MAKE PLANTE MORE SUBMISSIVE” ….

And we would submit that the road from those times to where we all are right now in the State of New York, with this health crisis, and high property taxes for which we get nothing in return with regard to public health protection, starts right exactly there ….

With the publishing of those very words by the Albany TU on January 10, 1988 ….

And we countryfolks out here are very grateful to topo gigio for retrieving this very article and it is our collective belief that in doing so, topo gigio, who we do not know, has done us all here in the State of New York a great public service by providing a direct link to that very article, especially since our own efforts to locate this same article out in the aether of CYBERSPACE had to date been a failure ….

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4164#comments

[Livyjr]

For anyone just stopping by in here ....

This thread is an "experiment in democracy", just as this COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE FORUM is an experiment .....

And just as OUR America, itself, is really an on-going experiment ....

A "living labratory", as it were ....

And what we are "viewing" in here, right now, to be blunt about it, is "DUELING BLOGS" ....

CAN COMMON ORDINARY AMERICAN CITIZENS WITHOUT "MEANS", WITHOUT WEALTH AND POWER, MAKE A DIFFERENCE, FOR THE BETTER, HERE IN OUR AMERICA?

And being older folks, largely, we who gather in here collectively believe that answer is YES ....

Although to be truthful, it is very hard work indeed, and probably it is not for the faint-hearted ....

But then ....

What ever really is?

And so ....

We don't worry about the faint-at-heart, ourselves, for it is our belief system as military veterans, many of us, anyway, that the stronger have a duty of sorts to the weaker, so we don't mind the extra burden, especially since most of us in here are "doing it for our children and grandchildren", in the first place, and the youngest of them cannot even speak yet ....

And so ...

In a lot of ways, what we are attempting to do in here is akin to a couple of people out in a small rowboat lassoing the anchor of a passing aircraft carrier, and then rowing like hell to pull that aircraft carrier ninety degrees from the course it was previously on, and then towing it into port, where it can then be cut up and sold for scrap, so that we can finally have some peace in OUR land, up here ....

And according to the way we countryfolks see life, the only reason that it can't actually be done, is that people tell themselves that it can't be done ...

And so ....

As engineers say, and hopefully others, as well: "The merely difficult, we accomplish right now; the truly impossible just takes a few more minutes to accomplish, once we set our minds to the task" .....

And so ....

Right now, in addition to using this thread to INFORM and EDUCATE and NOTIFY ....

We are also using it as a sort of OVERSIGHT on the Hearst Corporation-owned Albany, New York Times Union BLOG SITE ....

And to be truthful, we are using it as a GOAD, as well, with respect to this issue of CORPORATE CENSORSHIP and PROPAGANDIZING that goes on in the pages of the "BOSSES' RADIO" as we countryfolks call it up here ....

The other day, after one of the members of OUR community was in fact denied entry to the BLOG of the Albany, New York Times Union, we informed the editor that now, we countryfolks HAD OUR OWN NEWSPAPER, here in COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE, where we can operate within the bounds of decency and a kind of self-imposed decorum, WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING STIFLED, OR CENSORED, because we choose to use OPPROBRIUM to embarass our public officials up here who stray far, far outside the bounds that OUR New York State Constitution sets for them ....

And what we said, in essence, was MAKE A CHOICE ....

CENSOR US IN YOUR CORPORATE BLOG, IF YOU WILL, BUT BE ADVISED, THEN, THAT WE ARE GOING TO USE OUR "CITIZEN'S RADIO" IN HERE TO TELL ALL THE CANDID WORLD LISTENING IN ABOUT THAT CENSORSHIP, AND WHY IT IS OF IMPORTANCE FOR US TO INDEED TALK ABOUT THE ISSUE TO THE CANDID WORLD ....

And a LOGJAM broke ....

Just like that ....

Way back in the beginning, when the future of this nation of OURS was not all that secure, or guaranteed, just as it is right now, and always, for that matter, people in OUR America, small as it was back then, and in New York State, as well, knew violence and death and destruction very well, because in truth, that is how we began life as a "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" ....

And as any rational combat veteran can tell you, THERE JUST HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY ....

And outside of force of arms, and cold steel, and automatic weapons, and such, EMBARRASSMENT and OPPROBRIUM are about all there really are ....

IF USED INTELLIGENTLY ....

WHICH IS PART OF WHAT THE "LIVING EXPERIMENT" HERE IN OUR AMERICA IS REALLY ALL ABOUT ....

Which is why "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" is so important, not only here in OUR America, but in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK, especially .....

And so ...

To be continued ....

[Livyjr]

"Spitzer's school BMI plan borders on tyrannical"

Letters to the editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, March 26, 2007

Gov. Eliot Spitzer wants New York schools to grade our kids on their body mass index, BMI.

Kids who have too high a BMI to please the government will get a poor grade.

Kids the government classifies as physically acceptable will get good grades.

This idea teeters on the edge of sanity.

It is none of the government's business whether my son has a high BMI or not.

Whether he eats well or not, whether he exercises or not, is a matter of my parental responsibility, as are things like teaching him to speak well and to be polite and compassionate.

My son's BMI is too high to fit into the governor's physical conformity norm.

In the eyes of Gov. Spitzer, he is not an ideal kid and should be punished with a low grade.

Try explaining the logic in this to a kid who is not only a consistent high honors student, but also a successful athlete who is advancing rapidly in his sport.

He is in much better shape than most of the kids in his school.

But because his ancestors were all big and stocky -- the skinny ones did not survive the harsh climate where we come from -- Gov. Spitzer wants to punish him with a low grade.

When my son heard about this idea, he called the governor "a control freak."

He hit the nail right on the head.

Ideas of enforced physical conformity have been practiced before, in a country six time zones east of New York.

The results were disastrous.

Perhaps the governor should give that some thought before he takes his BMI grade idea any further.

He should also consider the risks of an epidemic of eating disorders among our kids.

After all, that is the only way most kids will be able to comply with the anatomic standards in Gov. Spitzer's dream world.

SVEN R. L.

Saratoga Springs

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=3/26/2007

[Livyjr]

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Comment by topo gigio — March 25, 2007 @ 10:23 pm:

On another matter…lying seems to be the modus operandi for the Bush administration.

Libby lied (and got convicted), Gonzales lied (and hopefully will soon be fired), the administration lied about Tillman to get some mileage out of the football connection, they lied about WMD’s, Rice lied about a lot of things IMHO, Cheney has been lying since the day he was born, Rumsfeld was so arrogant that he even believed his own lies, Bush is either lying or most likely is incredibly stupid as he tells us to just give it a little more time in Iraq for things to “work”.

Actually, lying to the American people has been the way of our government for quite a while now (Nixon lied, Clinton lied though about non-governmental stuff, Ollie North lied).

It certainly is a sad state of affairs that this is what the U.S. has come to represent — a pack of liars.

Cheery, huh?

Comment by John Galt — March 26, 2007 @ 8:51 am:

topo gigio, if one goes back and reads Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen, an authoritive little work about the 1787 federal Constitutional Convention, one actually finds your sentiments echoed in there, by the delegates to the federal Constitutional Convention, many of whom were classically-educated, and so, had extensive knowledge of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the Greek states which existed before Rome ...

And there was much argument, or debate, among those delegates, as to how to “get around” exactly what you are talking about, and their conclusion was that there really is no solution to what is in reality, HUMAN NATURE, or perhaps, human impulses, when people are confronted by POWER, and GREED ....

And in his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emporer, also discusses this topic of lying among people in positions of power, at length ....

And it still comes back to CHOICE, FREE WILL, and the inner strength of character of the individual ...

Which is why freedom of speech and freedom of the press was deemed to be so important here in the “UNITED STATES” of America ....

This America that we are the inheriters of rose out of flames, death and destruction, and as any rational combat veteran, if that is not an oxymoron, can tell you, there just has to be a better way ....

And what came out of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as an alternative, was OPPROBRIUM ....

POINT THE FINGER AT THEM, PULL DOWN THEIR PANTS IN PUBLIC, EMBARRASS THE BE-JAYSUS OUT OF THEM ....

And that is about it, which really brings us right into this present moment, and why an OPEN, UNCENSORED BLOG like this is so important to us common citizens out here in the countryside, where, because of isolation, our voices are never heard ....

America was created as an experiment, NOT A GUARANTEE, if one recalls Ben Franklin’s words on the subject, anyway, and that experiment fails when we all don’t give a damn, anymore, because everybody is lying, in the media, in the government, everywhere ...

Yes, indeed, it can be, AND IS, for us older folks, anyway, VERY DEPRESSING ....

But then, it always has been, and our own history right here in this area tells us that it has been worse, much worse, and yet, we still have prevailed to get through those times, which many of us lived through, and still recall, JE ME SOUVIENS, as the Quebecquois might say ....

And so ....

Us older countryfolks out here were taught way back when that OUR Declaration of Independence was really an OPEN LETTER TO THE CANDID WORLD, telling that CANDID WORLD that this is where we are right now, and this is why it is unsatisfactory to a “civilized people”, so this is where we are going, and that was back in 1776 .....

And this is now 2007, and to us, this BLOG, and others, still serve as OPEN LETTERS TO THE CANDID WORLD, in the same spirit that the original Declaration of Independence was .....

And we older folks out here are using that opportunity to tell the CANDID WORLD where it is that we have gotten to, in the intervening period of time, WHICH IS ALWAYS A MATTER OF PERCEPTION AND OPINION, and what is perceived to be good about it, as well as what is perceived to be wrong, or just plain bad ...

And so ....

Does that type of “venting” to the CANDID WORLD really solve anything?

Whoever does really know, topo gigio, but at least back in 1776, it did get a ball rolling, sort of, anyway,and here we still are, today ....

And so .....

As combat veterans, we were taught to attack right into the heart of that which was attacking you, and by God, or god, some of us got to be pretty good at that .......

And the sharpest weapons that there ever will be, sharper than the finest sword, ARE WORDS, topo gigio .....

And we are not at all afraid to use them in that fashion, if need be .....

Nor are you, from what I can see, anyway .....

And in an intelligent manner, which is an example to all of us, out here in the countrysside, anyway, since us older folks are into “intelligence” and “candor” as a more sure way to survive life than lying is, since lying to yourself in the fall that you have enough firewood to last a long, cold winter is not going to get you far, if in fact, all you have is a little pile of kindling wood ....

And so .....

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4164#comments

[Livyjr]

The Bergen Record

"PA spends millions of commuter dollars on arts"

Sunday, March 25, 2007

By DAVID A. MICHAELS
STAFF WRITER

The Port Authority spent $25 million for the preservation and redevelopment of the Seventh Regiment Armory.

The Port Authority has spent almost $100 million since 2003 to subsidize elite New York City cultural institutions and real-estate developments -- projects that strayed from the bi-state agency's mission to improve transportation in the region.

Much of the money came from New Jersey toll payers and PATH riders, but it went to dance studios and an expensive venue for jazz on Manhattan's West Side, a parking garage that may be used by luxury condominium owners in Brooklyn and the renovation of a former nightclub into a Broadway theater.

[u]The payments were administered by the Empire State Development Corp., whose former chairman, Charles A. Gargano, simultaneously served as vice chairman of the Port Authority.

The money was included in a special fund solely controlled by Gargano's boss, former New York Gov. George E. Pataki.

Gargano said the projects helped boost the economy and tourism in the port district, which includes all or part of nine New Jersey counties and eight New York counties.

But former authority employees and scholars -- and even the authority's own top spokesman -- said investments in cultural groups did not square with its core mission to improve regional transportation and even went beyond the agency's license to promote economic development.

"A lot of the projects that have been funded should not have been funded," said Louis J. Gambaccini, a former assistant executive director of the Port Authority and a former New Jersey transportation commissioner.

"They are falling into a very common political trap," Gambaccini said, adding that such projects could be helpful in the short term but dilute the authority's ability to carry out "mega-projects" that improve regional transportation.

Stephen Sigmund, the authority's chief spokesman, also said the grants did not fit the agency's mission.

"They were a product of a bad political deal," Sigmund said.

"It has led to spending in some places that arguably is not the mission of the PA."

The authority did not publicly disclose the list of projects, provoking criticism from lawmakers.

The authority's 2007 budget, which the agency's leaders praised for its transparency, listed only a single number for each special fund -- its total budget.

"This is done in secret," said Richard L. Brodsky, the chairman of the New York State Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.

"One doesn't know why one museum gets [a grant] and another museum doesn't get it."

"They are subject to concern that they are pet projects for people in power."

The Record obtained a partial list of the grants from the authority, then received more complete records from the development corporation.

An examination of those records and interviews revealed:

The agency spent $16.4 million for museums, $25 million to redevelop an armory on the city's East Side, $10.15 million for a visitor center and plant research facility at the New York Botanical Garden, and more than $8 million for New York City libraries.

The authority paid $4 million for neighborhood offices for the Empire State Development Corp.

The offices were shut down earlier this month because they "essentially weren't being used," a spokesman for the development corporation said.

Gargano signed the agreement that directed the grants on behalf of the development corporation at the same time he was a fiduciary of the Port Authority, a potential conflict of interest that reduced the incentive that the authority's money would be put to good use, according to experts in ethics and corporate governance.

Fund stems from feud

The special fund was created seven years ago, after Pataki and former Gov. Christie Whitman ended a paralyzing feud over which state reaped more from the Port Authority.

Their compromise allowed the port to move forward with a $200 million cargo facility for the Maersk Sealand company at Port Newark-Elizabeth, a project viewed as benefiting New Jersey.

In exchange, New York got $250 million for its new fund.

Anthony R. Coscia, the authority's chairman who has moved the agency toward a stricter focus on transportation, declined to comment about individual grants; Coscia, who is from New Jersey, was not on the board when the fund was created.

"These funds were created at a time when the two states could not find common ground on regional needs, and hopefully those times are behind us," Coscia said.

Gargano said all of the grants were made to deserving organizations.

The money went to good causes, he said, because the public benefits from New York's cultural institutions.

Gargano left the development corporation in December but remains vice chairman of the authority.

"We tried to support those projects where the organization was committed, and where they raised the bulk of the money and we filled the gap," he said.

David Catalfamo, a spokesman for Pataki, acknowledged a long-running debate about the authority's role in economic development.

"But no matter where you stand on that issue, these quality projects are all clearly within the broad charter of the authority's mission of enhancing the economic vitality of the port district," Catalfamo said.

Gargano's key role

The organizations that received grants were chosen by Pataki and his aides, Gargano said.

But Gargano had a deep role in the fund's creation and its use, according to interviews and records.

He negotiated with Lewis Eisenberg, who was Port Authority chairman under Whitman, to end the stalemate and create the fund.

Gargano then voted twice, with other authority commissioners, to create and certify the fund.

Gargano also signed the master agreement in December 2003 that reserved the $250 million for the development corporation.

The projects required the approval of the authority's executive director, but former commissioners said his approval would have been perfunctory, because he was a Pataki appointee and the authority had agreed the money would be spent at the governor's direction.

Several former commissioners and experts in ethics and corporate governance said Gargano's dual positions presented a possible conflict of interest.

"It creates the appearance that these things are being selected on grounds other than the kind of criteria that the Port Authority ought to use," said Richard C. Leone, a former Port Authority chairman who is now president of the Century Foundation.

Gargano said there was no conflict because his dual roles both promoted the economic vitality of New York.

"Everything the Port Authority does is to help the economy grow in the region," he said.

But Diane Swanson, an associate professor of business administration at Kansas State University and chair of its Business Ethics Education Initiative, said the arrangement raised questions about whether Gargano could be objective.

"There is no incentive for the money to be used as efficiently as possible," Swanson said.

"What this raises is a lack of proper oversight and control of public money, because the system of checks and balances is either not in place or is in question."

Stretching the mission

Some of the organizations that received grants said they did not know that the money came from the Port Authority.

"We went to the governor of New York state and asked for his help on both of those projects," said Karl Lauby, a spokesman for the New York Botanical Garden, which received $10.15 million for a visitor center and a plant research laboratory.

"Where the state gets the money is their decision."

The state also looked to the Port Authority to fund the preservation of a historic building it owned on Manhattan's East Side.

The authority awarded $25 million to the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, selected by the development corporation to manage the armory.

And the authority funded the development corporation's neighborhood offices, created as a resource for local businesses.

They were closed this month.

"They were very much underused," said development corporation spokesman A.J. Carter.

"Even the busiest of the community network offices averaged 1½ walk-ins a day."

The authority committed $4.3 million to a real estate project near downtown Brooklyn.

The money included $2.3 million to build a parking garage for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's cultural district.

Joe Chan, a former city official who now runs a partnership that oversees the cultural district, said the garage would benefit the authority by encouraging use of mass transit.

Its planned location is near many subway lines.

The garage could be used by residents of a new condominium tower, although the partnership has not decided how many spaces would be reserved, officials said.

Jameson W. Doig, a professor of public affairs at Princeton who wrote a history of the Port Authority, said he did not doubt the importance of such projects, but did not see why the authority should fund them.

The authority's mission statement, published on its Web site, does not mention "economic development."

It stresses the need for "transportation and port commerce facilities" that strengthen "the economic competitiveness of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region."

Governors and their appointees began stretching the authority's mission to include real estate in the 1960s, when the authority built the World Trade Center.

It went even further in the 1970s, when the local economy was at its nadir and the authority built projects such as the Teleport in Staten Island, an office park that has several empty buildings and loses millions of dollars a year.

"Economic development began to be misused as soon as it was championed," Doig said.

E-mail: michaels@northjersey.com

* * *

Port Authority's financial grants

Grants from the Port Authority's special fund for New York transportation, economic development and infrastructure:

• Construction of a new building for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: $1 million

• Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History: $6.5 million

• New dance studios, dressing rooms, offices and public areas for the Ballet Hispanico: $1 million

• Parking garage for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's cultural district: $2.3 million

• Planning and design for the Brooklyn Public Library of Visual and Performing Arts: $2 million

• A new Brooklyn Children's Museum: $1 million

• Construction of the Bronx Library Center and technology for it: $6.15 million

• Development and staffing of several Empire State Development Corp. community offices to provide assistance to local businesses: $4 million

• Purchase of the Farley Post Office Building and conversion to use as a train station: $128 million*

• Improvements to the Guggenheim Museum and its technical services building: $500,000

• Creation of the Chelsea Cove segment of the Hudson River Park: $2.36 million**

• Construction costs for Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall: $3.5 million

• Redesign of a plaza and hall at Lincoln Center: $250,000

• Expansion and renovation of the Museum of Modern Art: $5 million

• Purchase of building for the Museum of Arts & Design: $1.5 million

• Rehabilitation of building for the National Lighthouse Museum: $1.9 million***

• Salaries for curators and improvements at the Bronx Zoo, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and other gardens and aquariums in New York City: $6 million

• Renovation of building facades in New Rochelle's downtown: $250,000

• Construction of a visitor center and plant research laboratory at the New York Botanical Garden: $10.15 million

• Renovation of Studio 54 for the Roundabout Theater: $300,000

• Preservation of the Seventh Regiment Armory: $25 million

• Construction of two piers on the West Harlem Riverfront: $4 million

Source: Empire State Development Corp. records. *Project scheduled to receive other Port Authority funds for a total of $145 million. **Project received other authority funds for a total of $10 million. ***Project has not yet received its funding.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=e...UVFeXk3MTAwMDc4

[Livyjr]

Siena Research Institute
Siena College, Loudonville, NY
www.siena.edu/sri

For Immediate Release: Monday, March 26, 2007
Contact: Steven Greenberg at 518-469-9858

Siena New York Poll:

"Spitzer Support Slides; Still Strong?

Loudonville, NY – After millions of dollars have been spent attacking and defending his budget proposals, Governor Eliot Spitzer remains popular with New York voters, although his favorable rating has fallen from six-to-one positive to three-to-one positive in the last month, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of registered voters released today.

“While Spitzer continues to earn strong public support, the budget battles are moving some New Yorkers from the pro-Spitzer column to the anti-Spitzer column,” said Steven Greenberg, Siena New York Poll spokesman.

“His favorability rating is down 12 points in the past month, while his unfavorable rating is up eight points."

"There has been a similar shift in his job performance rating.”

Less than half of voters – 47 percent – think he’s doing an excellent or good job, down from 58 percent last month, while 39 percent think he’s doing a fair or poor job, up from 24 percent.

“Spitzer is spending some of the political capital he earned in his record victory,” Greenberg said.

“He’s taken some hits but voters continue to show support and they’re not ready to knock him down.”

For the first time since the November election, New York voters are no longer optimistic about the direction of the State.

They are now evenly divided with 37 percent saying New York is on the right track and 37 percent saying it is headed in the wrong direction.

Downstate voters remains optimistic, while upstate voters are – like before the election – much more pessimistic.

This SRI survey was conducted March 19-22, 2007 by telephone calls to 622 registered New York State voters. It has a margin of error of + 3.9 percentage points. For more information, please call Steven Greenberg at 518-469-9858. Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at: http://www.siena.edu/sri/results/2007/07_Mar_NYPoll.htm

Siena Research Institute
Siena College, Loudonville, NY
www.siena.edu/sri

[Livyjr]

"In Fight Over Spitzer Tax Plan, It’s Loophole vs. Incentive"

By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: March 26, 2007

Executives of big companies doing business in New York knew they were in trouble as soon as Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s budget director invoked the l-word.

To balance the state budget, the governor’s office has proposed closing what it says are loopholes that corporations have used to reduce their tax bills, in some cases for decades.

Eliminating them would increase the state’s corporate tax revenue by about $400 million a year, according to the governor’s estimates.

But many business leaders say there are no loopholes to close.

They argue that the governor is taking aim at established tax practices used as incentives to companies that operate in New York.

The business leaders also point out that Mr. Spitzer pledged not to raise taxes.

Of course, he never said he would not tighten loopholes.

Paul E. Francis, the governor’s budget director, said closing loopholes that are used almost exclusively by a small group of corporations is “good tax policy.”

Some people involved in budget negotiations in Albany said they believed that Gov. Spitzer might propose lowering the overall corporate tax rate — now at 7.5 percent — in a deal to tighten the loopholes.

Mr. Francis declined to comment on that possibility.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other New York City officials have warned that the governor’s proposals could hurt the city’s robust economy.

City business leaders also have been plotting their strategy.

“What I’ve heard is that no single change in the tax structure is going to cause a company to fold up its tent and leave New York,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a coalition of large employers.

“But it’s their judgment of what kind of tax policy and what business environment New York is going to have that drives those decisions.”

Companies in New York City face state and city tax rates that together exceed 17 percent, the highest in the country.

The practices that the Spitzer administration wants to alter or prohibit have helped reduce that tax bite.

Mr. Francis said many businesses had learned to exploit tax loopholes so well that they might be paying too little.

He pointed to one bank that complained that the governor’s proposals would more than double the taxes it pays the state.

If that is true, Mr. Francis said, then some banks are using loopholes to reduce their state taxes to less than half of the 7.5 percent rate.

Allowing them to do that is not fair, Mr. Francis said, because “most corporate taxpayers in New York are companies that don’t take advantage of these kinds of sophisticated tax-minimization techniques.”

Though the changes would not apply to all companies, business leaders say they would affect the city’s biggest employers.

The proposed change that worries them the most would require those employers to file a combined tax return in New York for out-of-state subsidiaries that buy, sell or trade goods and services with each other.

That could mean paying more in state taxes.

The Spitzer administration estimated that such combined reports would bring in an additional $215 million annually, but members of the Partnership for New York City said that estimate was “wildly low.”

Until now, companies have not had to file combined reports to New York as long as these intercompany transactions were conducted at fair-market prices, not at steep discounts that may inflate the profits of sister companies in states where taxes are lower.

Most states allow separate reporting of income by companies, as New York has.

But 17 states, mostly in the West, use a different standard.

They require combined reports for all companies that are part of a “unitary” business — those with a shared purpose and ownership, like all the regional units of a national retail chain.

Fearing that companies have evaded significant amounts of tax, more states have considered switching to a unitary approach, said Joseph Crosby, legislative director for the Council on State Taxation, which represents large corporations.

The West Virginia Legislature has approved a switch, and Massachusetts is considering one, Mr. Crosby said.

“Every year we see half a dozen legislatures propose this, but it usually fails,” Mr. Crosby said.

“It seems like there is some renewed interest now, and these cases may set the tone.”

Officials of the Spitzer administration have said that the changes they are proposing would not amount to adoption of a unitary system, but business leaders disagree, saying that would be the effective result.

The change would alter the business environment that has existed in New York for more than 60 years, said Peter L. Faber, chairman of the committee on taxation and public revenue at the Partnership for New York City.

“All the way back to 1945, New York has held out its refusal to adopt a unitary tax system as an inducement to headquarters companies to locate here,” said Mr. Faber, who is senior counsel at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery.

With this change, he said, “you could have a company with an out-of-state subsidiary that has no operations in New York but sells to New York customers, and that company could be dragged into a New York tax return.”

Corporate executives are concerned not only about the administrative burden of more complex tax filings in Albany, but also about the possibility that the state will claim they owe it considerably more than they have been paying.

Mr. Faber said the reporting change was less of a concern on Wall Street than among media, consumer products and real estate companies, among others.

“Of the proposed loophole closings, this one certainly had the broadest impact and was framed as having the worst potential implications for the economic development objectives of New York State,” Ms. Wylde said.

But Mr. Francis was unmoved by predictions that corporations would relocate — which he called a “red herring” — because of the reporting change.

“The reality is that California hasn’t done too badly, nor has the Western United States in attracting economic growth,” Mr. Francis said.

Ms. Wylde said she had heard complaints from some large media companies about another of the proposed loophole closings.

That one would force companies to report income from some productions, like movies and TV shows, that are exempt from federal tax.

The state estimated that it would take in about $30 million a year from that change, but the members of the Partnership for New York City said the additional revenue would be much higher, Ms. Wylde said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

[Livyjr]

NY Post

"MAKING APRIL FOOL OF SPITZ - GOV. SPITZER Headed for late budget."

March 26, 2007 --

'GOV. Steamroller" is on the brink of suffering his second major defeat - and this one will be his biggest yet.

Sources close to Gov. Spitzer, a self-described "f- - -ing steamroller," said that after a weekend of on-again, off-again staff meetings, there appeared little likelihood that a budget agreement would be in place by the April 1 start of the state's fiscal year.

Some senior Democrats privately blamed Spitzer's aggressive attacks on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) for making an on-time budget virtually impossible.

"The steamroller went up against the boxer, and the boxer punched back hard," said a source close to Spitzer, referring to Bruno's success as a champion pugilist in the Army.

Delivering an on-time budget in a state that hasn't had one for 20 of the last 22 years was a key Spitzer promise during his campaign last year, a symbol, he said, of his determination to end state government's notorious dysfunction.

Sources with firsthand knowledge of the situation said Spitzer had underestimated Bruno's willingness to battle the new governor over his plans to cut Medicaid and shift school-aid funding away from Long Island, a key base of Republican power.

"Shifting school aid from Long Island is like asking the Senate Republicans to commit suicide."

"Did Spitzer really think Joe would agree to that?" a senior state Democrat asked.

Oddly to many, Spitzer so far has held only one public budget meeting, at which he delivered several nasty digs at Bruno's budget plan, thereby hardening Bruno's determination to resist him.

One source said a bitter backroom confrontation between Spitzer and Bruno earlier this month had also strengthened Bruno's determination to battle the governor.

"Joe sees Spitzer as a bully and has concluded that, like a lot of bullies, Spitzer will back down if you fight back," the source said.

Spitzer suffered his first major defeat early last month, when the Legislature picked a new state comptroller over his objections.

*

Some Assembly Democrats are grumbling that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - who for the past 12 years under Republican Gov. George Pataki was the leading figure of his party - hasn't established a strong enough presence at the Capitol this year.

"Shelly seems to be in a bunker and doesn't have a plan for the Assembly Democrats," a well-placed source said.

The Manhattan-based Silver, after years of battling Pataki, has remained largely in the background, deferring to Spitzer and refusing to engage in public budget debates with Bruno, who repeatedly has challenged him to do so.

*

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) is lining up support for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential run - even as Senate Republicans remain neutral.

Insiders say Bruno is waiting for Mayor Bloomberg, who has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Senate Republican campaigns, to make up his mind about running as an independent before deciding whether to endorse Giuliani's bid.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262007/news/...c_u__dicker.htm

[Livyjr]

NY POST

"IT'S ELIOT'S MOVE"

March 26, 2007 --

With just six days to go before the start of the new fiscal year, and with no state-budget deal in sight, New Yorkers are about to see just what their new governor - Eliot "The Steamroller" Spitzer - is made of.

Will he settle for a business-as-usual budget - brokered with special interests to the detriment of the Empire State and its beleaguered taxpayers?

Or will he take command of the process - making it clear that if New York does not have a good budget on April 1, it will have no budget at all?

That is, will he shut state government down - and place the blame where it belongs, at the feet of obstructionist legislative leaders?

At the moment, the principal obstacle is Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who is obstinately insisting on spending $3 billion in make-believe money above Spitzer's own 9 percent hike in outlays.

And no Bruno, no budget.

What next?

Spitzer has three choices:

* Bow to Bruno, putting the state's long-term solvency (and his own legacy) at dire risk.

* Kick the can down the road, extending talks and missing the April 1 deadline - just like in the bad old days.

* Or shut down state agencies - arguing, correctly, that an administration cannot without a budget in place.

If Spitzer hopes to make good on his vow to fix Albany - to "change everything" - his choice is clear:

He must close down New York government.

Tell state employees they're out of work.

Ready the pink slips, as then-Gov. Pataki did in '95.

Tell New Yorkers who depend on state services that, absent a budget, they're out of luck; the services can't be paid for.

And tell them, too, to blame Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver) for the mess.

Let's face it: As critical as this fiscal fight is, there's far more at stake than the 2007-08 state budget.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262007/posto...editorials_.htm