And then ....

There is the weather .....

Which up here ....

Is actually warmish ....

And so ....

"Travelers still stranded in Denver"

By CHASE SQUIRES, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:55 a.m., Friday, December 22, 2006

DENVER -- A makeshift shelter of cardboard boxes sprang up near a United Airlines ticket counter as hundreds of holiday travelers found ways to cope after being stranded at the Denver airport by a blizzard.

Denver International Airport -- the nation's fifth-busiest -- was expected to begin limited operations at noon Friday, almost two days after a blizzard forced it to close runways.

More than 2,000 flights have been canceled, according to airline officials, creating a ripple effect that disrupted air travel around the country as the holiday crush began to build.

Two of the airport's six runways were set to open first, followed by a third runway Friday night.

For those stranded in Denver and flying standby because they were unable to rebook a flight, finding a spot on crowded planes filled with holiday travelers could prove impossible this weekend.

Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said the airline has 65,000 bumped passengers to move systemwide and the airline is already 90 percent booked for the holidays.

"Do the math," he said.

United Airlines spokesman Jeff Kovick said it could be days before some people are able to get a flight out.

"We're asking for their patience as we work to get people where they need to be as soon as we safely can," he said.

Near the cardboard shelter, cobbled together from boxes that workers used to carry blankets to hand out to stranded passengers, Jackson, Wyo., teacher Joanna Snyder and others searched in vain for information.

"It's all rumor," she said.

An estimated 4,700 travelers spent Wednesday night at the airport.

By Thursday evening, however, many had found hotel rooms.

Among the 1,500 to 2,000 travelers remaining at the airport and hunkering down for their second night was Michele Bermudez.

Bermudez had to change planes in Denver on Wednesday while on her way from Tennessee to California and ended up at the terminal after spending eight hours in an airplane on the runway.

"I finally had to buy a T-shirt and some sweat pants," she said, showing off a souvenir shirt with the brightly-colored emblem reading "Denver."

It was the biggest snowstorm to hit Colorado since a March blizzard in 2003 that shut down the region and killed six.

The storm brought life to a standstill for 3.8 million people along the Front Range -- a 170-mile urban corridor along the eastern edge of the Rockies that includes Denver.

Police and National Guard soldiers rescued hundreds of people stuck in cars.

Other Guard patrols took people to critical medical appointments.

Some mountain areas got more than 3 feet of snow, and up to 25 inches fell in the Denver metropolitan area.

Despite the slick roads and deep drifts, there were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries.

In Wyoming, however, a woman died while walking for help after her car became stuck in the snow, officials said.

In Kansas, a woman was hit by a tractor-trailer on an icy road.

Denver's normally bustling downtown began showing signs of life as the sun came out Thursday afternoon.

Mail delivery across the region was suspended, however, and many malls were closed on what should have been one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Aviation analyst Michael Boyd criticized the airport's handling of the snowstorm.

"With six runways, not even one can be open within a few hours?"

"There's something wrong at DIA," he said.

"Minneapolis doesn't have that problem, Salt Lake doesn't have that problem."

Airport spokesman Steve Snyder said plows were running during the storm, but the snow came fast and winds whipped drifts up to 5 feet high under the wings of grounded planes.

Plow managers expected to have two runways cleared by noon Friday.

Other areas that needed to be cleared included deicing areas, taxi areas and stretches of tarmac.

Ticket crews, Transportation Security Agency workers and other logistics still had to arranged before the airport could open.

"You can't just turn an airport on with a switch," Snyder said.

------

Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.

Yes, indeed .....

This powerful REPUBLICAN lawyer F. Stewart Jones ......

Can openly, blatantly and publicly make this threat .....

To these federal prosecuutors .....

Who are nosing around the finances of POWERFUL REPUBLICAN NEW YORK STATE SENATOR JOSEPH "BIG JOE" BRUNO ....

Because F. Stewart Jones ......

Lovingly known up here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of New York by his street name "EFF" .....

"EFF" HOLDS A TRUMP CARD ......

That being a December 2005 decision by the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ......

That makes it plain as day .....

That the SELLING OF PROTECTION .....

By elected public officials in New York State .....

IS ACCEPTABLE .....

TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA .....

And what makes this a real TRUMP CARD for F. Stewart Jones in this case ......

Where "BIG JOE" Bruno is allegedly under investigation by the FBI .....

IS THAT THIS "ARRANGEMENT" WAS ACCEPTABLE ......

TO THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK .....

At the time the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City made its ruling on this issue ......

Upholding the right of elected public officials in the State of New York to confer upon certain individuals the status of "PROTECTED PERSON" .....

And so .....

It is our expectation ......

That right now .....

As we are speaking in here .....

F. Stewart Jones .....

The REPUBLICAN lawyer who holds the TRUMP CARD for Joe Bruno ......

Is working his contacts diligently ......

Using this TRUMP CARD from a federal district court judge appointed to that position by none other than REPUBLICAN George W. Bush ....

To get a federal judge .....

To squash this investigation of REPUBLICAN New York State Senator Joseph "BIG JOE" Bruno .....

On the grounds .....

That "BIG JOE" Bruno .....

Is only engaging in conduct ......

That has already been approved .....

By the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ....

And so ....

"Bruno defends his dealings - 'We've followed the letter of the law,' says Senate GOP majority leader"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006

ALBANY -- Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno Friday defended himself amid reports he collected consulting fees from a suspected lobbyist who led a company that got state grants from Bruno.

"Everything that we have done has been disclosed properly," Bruno told a reporter who asked him to discuss a Times Union report that Bruno's consulting company received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Jared Abbruzzese, a businessman and friend of the senator's.

The FBI is investigating the relationship between Abbruzzese and Bruno, R-Brunswick.

The Loudonville businessman is also suspected of violating lobbying laws by providing his aircraft to the senator while promoting horse racing legislation in 2005.

"I'm a businessman and what I do as a businessman we've followed the letter of the law," Bruno said when pressed about his relationship with Abbruzzese.

Bruno's remarks came the day the Times Union quoted Abbruzzese's lawyer, E. Stewart Jones Jr., saying his client paid Capital Consulting Group, Bruno's private business, for unspecified services.

A source pegged the payouts to Bruno in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Jones said there was no "quid pro quo" involved in the relationship between Bruno and Abbruzzese.

Bruno has refused to disclose his consulting customers or details of his business dealings, through which he collects income outside his $121,000-per-year legislative salary.

Besides consulting, Bruno also raises and sells thoroughbred horses and promotes a Connecticut investment management firm.

The disclosure of Abbruzzese's payments to Bruno became the latest in a series of stunning developments involving the FBI investigation of Bruno.

The story began Tuesday when Bruno announced the probe of his business dealings.

He has stressed they have been legal and proper.

Evident Technologies Inc., a Troy high-tech company that Abbruzzese directed -- and which his partner, Wayne Barr Jr. continues to direct -- received $500,000 in grants from Bruno's discretionary account.

The grants, which Evident received in 2003 and 2004, were member items, part of the $200 million annual pork account the Legislature and governor secretly split up.

Bruno's grants to Evident were extremely unusual because almost all member items go to nonprofit organizations.

Abbruzzese is being investigated by the state lobbying commission for letting Bruno use his airplane for political and fund-raising events.

Sen. John Bonacic, a Republican from the Hudson Valley and Catskills, said Bruno should have stepped down even before the probe became public.

"I had reservations before this broke," said Bonacic.

"I've got a new comptroller; I've got a new governor-elect."

"I think it would be better for the state of New York to have a new (Senate) majority leader and a new (Assembly) speaker."

"It's become more obvious on our side ... God forbid this man gets indicted, but what I'm reading and seeing it's not sitting right with me."

He said Bruno's predicament hurts the GOP conference.

With a slim 34-28 advantage over the Democrats, the conference doesn't need a distraction or a cloud over its leader, the senator said.

"It's about maintaining the majority," Bonacic said.

"I hope that Joe Bruno is exonerated, that they find no wrongdoing."

"He's a very likable guy."

"But I've watched the patterns when there are investigations."

"It gets dragged out."

Bruno framed the situation differently, calling the investigation "more a media event."

He said he is in good standing with the public and his GOP members.

"I have been elected by the public and my colleagues to govern," he said.

"I would appreciate the press -- if they would just give me an opportunity objectively and fairly to govern."

Three major union leaders in the state issued statements Friday supporting Bruno -- Dennis Rivera, leader of the influential SEIU Local 1999, which represents hospital and health care workers; Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employee's Association; and Denis president of the AFL-CIO.

"Sen. Bruno's lengthy and distinguished career speaks volumes to his character," said Hughes.

"There should be no rush to judgment regarding his ability to lead."

A federal grand jury in Albany subpoenaed a host of records from Bruno; from James Featherstonhaugh as the custodian of Bruno's former land development business, First Grafton Corp.; from Evident Technologies; and from the state lobbying commission.

It also subpoenaed Abbruzzese and his wife Sherrie, and Abbruzzese's numerous businesses.

A spokesman for Empire Racing Associates, a group of horse racing interests that includes Abbruzzese, has not been subpoenaed.

Empire is a bidder seeking the state racing franchise.

Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

Well ....

IF it was the intent of POWER-HOUSE REPUBLICAN LAWYER AND MOUTH-PIECE F. STEWART JONES to rally the troops up here .........

He sure has succeeded .....

If the talk around the various coffee shops up here is any indication .....

"THAT OLD 'EFF', WHY HE SURE IS GOING TO GIVE THEM FEDERAL BOYS WHAT-FOR, ALRIGHT, FOR MESSING AROUND WITH BIG JOE BRUNO, AND ALL HIS MONEY, YESSIRMARIEBOB ..."

"WHY THAT OLD 'EFF', HE'S GOING TO KICK THEM FEDERAL BOY'S BUTTS RIGHT UP AROUND THEIR SHOULDERS, AND THAT'S A FACT, JACK!"

And that pretty well sums up the feelings of what is known up here as "THE IRON DUKE'S LEGION" .....

The army of political "soldiers" that the "IRON DUKE" relies on to maintain HIS "LAW" on the populace up here .....

A "LAW" that is not really written down in any books anywhere .....

Since it need not be ....

As it comes out of the heads of people like F. Stewart Jones AS NEEDED ......

"HERE'S WHAT THE LAW SAYS, BUT HERE IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO, INSTEAD ..."

And people know that people like "OLD EFF" .....

That being this HOT-SHOT REPUBLICAN LAWYER F. STEWART JONES ......

Know where to put a dollar .....

So that it goes to its best use ....

Maintaining "THE LAW" of the "IRON DUKE" .....

And towards that end ....

And this is hearsay, of course .....

Because I have never been admitted that close into the shrouded murkiness of the "LAW OFFICES" of F. Stewart Jones, myself .....

But they say up here ......

That when F. Stewart Jones sneezes .....

And reaches into his pocket for a handerchief .....

That when he pulls it out to blow his nose into it .....

That he is likely to spill out a couple of federal judges onto the floor at the same time .....

Especially the ones that George W. Bush has been polluting, er, wait a minute, placing on the federal bench up here ....

And so ....

But as I say .....

I have never myself been admitted into the shrouded murkiness of F. Stewart Jones' "LAW OFFICES" myself to actually see that happen for myself ...

And so ...

For the moment .....

Since he is running his mouth big-time here .....

Making his threats against these federal prosecutors .....

Who are snooping around in "BIG JOE THE IRON DUKE" Bruno's financial and BID-NESS arrangements ....

We'll just have to take these OLD BOYS and WAGS up here who say that they have witnessed these federal judges come spilling out of F. Stewart Jones' pocket at their word .....

BECAUSE WHY WOULD THEY NEED TO LIE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

And so ....

And as we continue to OUT-SOURCE the processing of OUR financial transactions over to places like India .....

As part of PRESIDENT OF ALL OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD AS WELL FOR LIFE George W. Bush's plan to break the backs of the American people .....

To make us more tractable .....

And willing to work as wage slaves for George W. Bush's CORPORATE SPONSORS ....

We have ....

POTENTIAL MANNA FROM HEAVEN ....

For their SCAM ARTISTS ....

Over there ....

And so ...

"County check used in scam - Albany comptroller says failed India fraud shows need for security enhancements"

By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006

ALBANY -- A resident of India tried to cash a counterfeit Albany County government check for $153,000 at a bank in his homeland, but the scheme was intercepted this week by Bank of America, County Comptroller Michael Conners said Friday.

Before authorizing payment, Bank of America detected the fraud because the bogus check had the same number as a legitimate check issued by the county in September for $125, Conners said.

The comptroller said that check was issued Sept. 27 out of the county's general fund to an elections inspector who lives in Latham, and she cashed it at a local HSBC branch.

On Dec. 18, a county check for $153,000.89, bearing Conners' signature, was deposited in an account at Canara Bank, an Indian bank, by M. Raja Paranthaman, who listed the state of Tamil Nadu as his address.

"It's a counterfeit check, and it's exactly like an Albany County check," Deputy Comptroller Billy Curran said, adding that both checks were numbered 167845.

"That was the reason why the bank picked up on it."

A close inspection of the bogus check reveals an error made by the counterfeiter.

The numeric amount is $153,000.89, but the typewritten words say: "One hundred and fifty three thousand dollars and 50 cents."

Curran speculated that Paranthaman "deposited it in an account, hoping that if it cleared, he could withdraw the money straight away."

"Scams like this are going on all the time."

Curran told Bank of America on Friday to return the check.

Also Friday, Conners turned over information about the scam to the FBI, along with copies of the legitimate check and the phony one.

Besides Conners' signature, the checks have the Albany County seal and the words "Bank of America Government Banking."

Somehow, the Indian con artist got hold of a county check, Curran said.

"He probably has someone over here" helping him.

Conners, whose office authorizes county payments, suspects the swindler took the canceled check issued to the elections inspector, whited out her name and the $125 amount "and made his own check form on a computer, using all the bank routing numbers."

Conners said he is confident no county employee is involved in the fraud.

"The bank always worries about" the potential of a dishonest employee, Conners said.

"If there's something bad going on, they don't want it to be their employee."

"They'd rather see it be a county employee or some other nefarious person doing this."

That's why the comptroller's office wants to institute a "payee positive pay" system under which the bank matches the check number with the date and the amount and the recipient's name.

"If one of those doesn't match," Curran said, "then the bank informs us."

"If someone goes to a teller's window to cash a check and something doesn't agree, then they won't cash that check," Curran said.

"It's a protection against fraud."

The enhanced security measure is awaiting approval from the county executive's office.

DeMare can be reached at 454-5431 or by e-mail at cdemare@timesunion.com.

And up here .....

In the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York .....

PUBLIC SERVICE sure is rewarding .....

If you are a "soldier" .....

In the REPUBLICAN ARMY .....

Of the REPUBLICAN "IRON DUKE" of Rensselaer County ....

The MOST HONORABLE OF ANYBODY "BIG JOE" Bruno .....

And so ....

"Raises for Bruno's staffers"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, December 18, 2006

Some of Bruno's staffers, meanwhile, are faring much better these days, thanks to raises Bruno quietly provided this month.

Making more than Bruno's $121,000 or even the governor's $179,000 salary, according to state Comptroller records, are:

Steven Boggess, secretary of the Senate: $190,000, up 7.7 percent since his last raise in August.

Edward Lurie, legislative affairs director, $180,000, up 7.8 percent from his last raise a year ago.

John McArdle, director of communications, $180,000, up 7.8 percent from his last raise a year ago.

Kenneth Riddett, chief counsel, $180,000, up 7.8 percent from his last raise a year ago, according to state Comptroller's Office records.

Those salaries suggest incoming Senate Finance Secretary Jeff Lovell will receive at least $180,000 when he leaves his post, which pays $175,100, as the policy advisor to Gov. George Pataki in a few days.

Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen said there has been no "final resolution" of the salaries listed.

Contributors: Capitol bureau reporters Elizabeth Benjamin, and James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail jjochnowitz@timesunion.com.

end quotes

Well .....

You know how it is ....

The cost of gas has gone up .....

It costs these boys more to have to drive to "work" in Albany every now and then ....

And there are APPEARANCES to maintain, of course ....

What are the COMMON PEOPLE going to think ....

About having ROYALTY around .....

If we don't treat them all ROYALLY .....

And so ....

After all ....

What kind of a BENIGHTED people .....

Have their ROYALTY .....

Out there living like COMMONERS ....

And so ....

And while we are on the subject .....

Of being able to buy up legislators by the dozen up here in the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York .....

Here comes another "purchaser" now .....

"Union to flex political power - Public Employees Federation intends to become a bigger player in legislative circles"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, December 18, 2006

COLONIE -- Dwarfed by more influential special interests in Albany, the Public Employees Federation's power in the Capitol could get a boost in stature with Kenneth Brynien at the helm.

Elected in July to his first term as PEF president, Brynien has at least three years to achieve that goal.

With 56,000 members, PEF is big, but not particularly large for New York state, where giant organizations such as the Civil Service Employees Association, from which PEF broke away, and the New York State United Teachers hold sway and sometimes have competing interests.

But Brynien, chairman of PEF's Political Action Committee for the past nine years, sees the PAC as a way to emphasize PEF's messages and drive change for civil servants.

The union backed a host of successful political candidates this year, Brynien says, and may have made a difference in a few outcomes.

He thinks PEF is on the verge of winning some of its battles to restrict privatization of government work, improve working conditions for nurses and increase internal promotions over political hiring.

"I want us to be more involved in working with the Legislature in developing legislation," said Brynien, 49, in an interview in his corner office at the union's Latham headquarters.

"Our folks are the clinical, technical employees in the state agencies ... we can help craft the legislation to make it better."

A psychologist in the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Syracuse, Brynien has been vice president of PEF since 1997.

He was part of the team of three-term president Roger Benson, who decided to retire at age 61 last summer.

For the past nine years, Brynien has commuted from central New York to Albany to also lead the union's political action committee.

During his tenure, the PAC budget has doubled to $1.2 million.

The union's political spending, phone bank campaign and leafletting helped several candidates who had some tough challenges, including Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and John Hall, both of whom knocked off incumbent Republicans in Congress.

PEF also helped back state Sen. David Valesky's re-election bid.

The first-term Democrat fended off a heavily funded competitor in Jeff Brown in Syracuse.

As for Republicans, the union helped Sen. Vincent Leibell weather a strong challenge for his seat representing Dutchess, Putnam and part of Westchester counties.

It also put money and other resources behind Yonkers Sen. Nick Spano, whose re-election bid failed.

Brynien said the 2006 elections show what PEF will do in the future -- put money and volunteers behind people who help advance PEF's positions.

And PEF, he said, will work against candidates who are at odds with the union's priorities.

Spano, for instance, sponsored a bill that passed in both chambers in 2006 that called for cost/benefit studies when state agencies propose hiring consultants and outside contractors.

Gov. George Pataki vetoed the measure; Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer hasn't specified his position.

In meetings with Spitzer in coming weeks, Brynien said, he'll urge Spitzer to support the legislation.

He'll also push Spitzer, attorney general-elect Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Alan Hevesi not to make political appointments and instead promote from within.

And he will insist on better work conditions for nurses, the largest single group of professionals, within PEF.

But the legislative work may have to wait.

Brynien and Spitzer will be squaring off in the coming months on a new PEF contract.

Most public employee union contracts, including PEF's, expire April 1.

"That will probably be the main focus for the next several months," said Michael Delpiano, who lost the president's election to Brynien by 750 votes.

Without a huge mandate, Delpiano said, Brynien is under pressure to immediately deliver a good pact.

Alan Lubin, executive vice president of NYSUT, said Brynien has a good base of experience.

He came up through PEF's ranks, spent time in state agencies and led many political campaigns.

Brynien, a father of two grown sons and grandfather to four youngsters who call him "Papi," has a different style than the man he replaced, co-workers say.

He's more personable and more laid back than Benson, a health department scientist, they say.

Brynien says he's spent his career as a psychologist helping people work through problems and speak for themselves.

He grew up on Long Island in Massapequa Park, went to college at the University of Buffalo in the early 1970s and has lived upstate ever since.

His home is still North Syracuse and he rents an apartment during the week in Watervliet.

He's sensitive to the need to revitalize the economy of regions north of New York City, he said, because he's seen so many big employers close shop upstate.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

end quotes

Alan Lubin, executive vice president of NYSUT, said Brynien has a good base of experience.

He came up through PEF's ranks, spent time in state agencies and led many political campaigns.

Hhhhmmmmm ....

SPENT TIME IN STATE AGENCIES .....

And, of course, while "SPENDING TIME" in those state agencies .....

He led many political campaigns .....

WHILE DRAWING A STATE EMPLOYEE'S PAYCHECK .....

Which paycheck carries with it .....

AN INFERENCE .....

That the employee putting that paycheck into his or her pocket .....

ACTUALLY PERFORMED SOME KIND OF LEGITIMATE SERVICE ......

To the people of the State of New York ....

OTHER THAN SIMPLY SPENDING TIME THERE ....

WHILE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN POLTICAL CAMPAIGNS ....

And so ....

And along those same lines .....

"Day of disgrace for Hevesi - Comptroller steps down after pleading guilty to defrauding government"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006

ALBANY -- Alan Hevesi pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of defrauding the government and resigned his post as state comptroller, bringing an end to a three-decade career in public office and closing the book on a scandal that has embroiled the state Capitol since September.

"I apologize to the court."

"Before this issue became a public matter, I did not plan to reimburse the state," a subdued Hevesi told Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick as he agreed to step down immediately and pay a $5,000 fine for using a state employee as a driver and personal servant for his wife.

Hevesi agreed to the plea bargain to avoid indictment and a possible prison sentence for his crime.

Minutes before his plea to the Class E felony, the lowest possible, he was booked, photographed and fingerprinted in the district attorney's office.

He was also required to provide a DNA swab and a $50 database fee.

Following the about half-hour court proceeding, Hevesi left the courthouse and made another brief apology.

"I want to apologize to the people of New York,' he told reporters before being whisked off in a burgundy van.

"It is a sad day today," said District Attorney David Soares, calling it, "a tragic end to what was once a distinguished career."

Soares added that he will likely be prosecuting more public corruption cases through his Public Integrity Unit.

"Since obtaining this conviction, we've received a number of tips," Soares said, although he didn't say who may be under investigation.

Hevesi's admission of guilt was the first time he had publicly said he hadn't planned to reimburse the state for the personal duties performed by his state employee, Nicholas Acquafredda, who worked for Hevesi's wife, Carol, for about three years between 2003 and July this year.

In addition to driving her, Acquafredda performed a number of tasks for Carol Hevesi, according to a deposition released by Soares, including "picking up dishes from the residence of Mrs. Hevesi's sister, driving Mrs. Hevesi to shop at Bloomingdale's while Mr. Acquafredda stayed in the vehicle, picking up items at BJ's Wholesale Club, picking up, and dropping off items from dry cleaning."

He also moved furniture, took out trash and watered plants.

These services, according to the court document, took place at the Hevesi residences in Queens and Somers, Westchester County.

Hevesi is scheduled to return to court Feb. 9, following a probation report.

He asked Herrick if he could regain his right to vote, which is up to the judge's discretion, said Soares' spokeswoman, Rachel McEneny.

Felons in New York are generally denied the right to vote until they have completed their sentences.

The affair began in September when Hevesi's Republican opponent, former Saratoga County Treasurer Chris Callaghan, tipped off reporters that he had heard Hevesi was using a driver for personal reasons.

The tip turned out to be true.

Hevesi apologized and eventually paid back more than $200,000 after an investigation by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office.

The state Ethics Commission in a scathing report said Hevesi hadn't planned to reimburse the state.

It also got a complaint that Hevesi's chief of staff, Jack Chartier, had used a state car to drive former TV star Peggy Lipton, who starred in "The Mod Squad."

Soares declined comment on the Chartier case.

Gov. George Pataki appointed a special investigator, who concluded the Senate would have cause to initiate a removal procedure, akin to an impeachment.

Had that happened by the end of the year, Pataki, a Republican, would have been able to name Hevesi's replacement.

But by resigning, Hevesi, a Democrat, allows the Legislature, dominated numerically by Democrats, to name his successor.

A number of names -- ranging from Democratic Assemblymen Richard Brodsky and Tom DiNapoli to Hevesi's 2002 primary opponent, financier William Mulrow -- have emerged as possible permanent replacements.

For now, Hevesi's first deputy, Thomas Sanzillo, is in charge and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the comptroller's office, which includes processing state payrolls and overseeing the state's $140 billion retirement fund.

Pataki, noting that it took 10 weeks to replace Comptroller Edward Regan when he resigned in 1993, said he may appoint an interim comptroller until a permanent replacement is named.

He said he will work with Spitzer, the governor-elect, in that effort.

Hevesi, 66, will still get the bulk of his pensions, including $104,123 from the state Employees Retirement System, of which he was, as comptroller, the sole trustee, and $62,344 from the Teachers Retirement System from a teaching stint at Queens College.

In addition to serving in the Assembly, Hevesi worked as New York City comptroller.

It was not immediately clear if felony conviction would void the city pension.

Hevesi did not contribute to his retirement while working as state comptroller and will not get a pension from that job, said spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

In the days leading up to Friday's plea, observers had speculated Soares might allow Hevesi to bargain down to a misdemeanor, but Soares said the findings that Acquafredda's tasks went beyond simply driving Hevesi's wife warranted the heavier charges.

He also suggested that it would send a message to other public officials who misuse taxpayer resources.

"It was important to us that it was a felony plea," said Soares.

Hevesi until very recently said he would fight to retain his job, noting that he won re-election with 57 percent of the vote.

He had also maintained that he used the drivers out of security concerns for his wife, who is currently in a nursing home after years of declining health and two suicide attempts.

Hevesi's lawyer, Joel Cohen, said his client decided to plead after consulting with his family.

"The family had an important meeting several days ago," said Cohen.

Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

end quotes

Hevesi should have said that this state employee was really working on his political campaigns .....

While driving his wife around .....

And taking out the trash and stuff like that ....

And nobody up here would have blinked an eye at that ....

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE STATE WORKFORCE IS REALLY FOR .....

To serve as a political "army" .....

A mercenary army to be sure .....

Available for hire .....

As mercenary armies must always be .....

TO THE HIGHEST BIDDERS .....

"Contract work", don't you know ....

HELP YOU TO GET INTO OFFICE ....

HELP YOU TO GET YOUR POLITICAL OPPONENT OUT ....

IF THE GEETUS AND MOOLAH ARE RIGHT ....

And so ...

"Livyjr, in the light of the past experience that people up there where you are have had with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the United States Attorney, and this Senator Joseph Bruno, and a federal Hobbs Act investigation that was apparently suddenly terminated by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York when the name of this Senator Joseph Bruno came into it in connection with questionable practices in the Rensselaer county Department of Health which were having an adverse impact on the lives, health and property of the people of Rensselaer County in New York State ....."

"Could you tell us how people up there feel ..."

"When they see this Rensselaer County lawyer F. Stewart Jones openly and blatantly threatening these federal prosecutors with retaliation against themselves and their employment in the pages of the Albany, New York TIMES UNION newspaper ..."

"And when they see this Senator Bruno himself, in the pages of the same Albany, New York TIMES UNION newspaper ..."

"Calling this alleged federal investigation a MEDIA EVENT ..."

"DO PEOPLE UP THERE THINK THAT SOMEONE IS GAMING THE SYSTEM HERE?"

HHHhhhmmmm .....

GAMING THE SYSTEM .....

Joe Bruno calls a BIG press conference ...

BIG FBI INVESTIGATION, FOLKS .....

BUT IT'S NOTHING .....

And then ....

SHADES OF 1989 .....

The Office of the United States Attorney comes forward and says, "well, how about that, we took a really, really hard look, but there was nothing there ...."

That is what people are expecting, actually .....

Some with GLEE ....

Joe Bruno's PARTISANS ....

And they are many, actually ....

And the rest .....

Well ...

I would say with TREPIDATION .....

Because then ....

CORRUPTION WILL BE STRONGER THAN EVER .....

AND IT WILL BE RIGHT OUT IN PLAIN SIGHT .....

UNTOUCHABLE .....

And this brings us to what many see as F. Stewart Jones' TRUMP CARD ......

Which is the fact that in December of 2005 .....

Just a short year ago .....

The federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City .....

PUT ITS SEAL OF APPROVAL .....

ON THE GRANTING OF "PROTECTED PERSON" STATUS HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ...

BY ELECTED OFFICIALS UP HERE IN RENSSELAER COUNTY ....

WHICH IS JOE BRUNO'S COUNTY .....

AND IF JOE BRUNO IS IN FACT DOLING OUT FAVORS AND PROTECTION HERE .....

IT IS NOT INCONSISTENT WITH WHAT THE FEDERAL SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS ALREADY APPROVED ...

CONDUCT THAT THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ITSELF HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH BACK IN AUGUST OF 2001 .....

THAT BEING THE INTIMIDATION AND REMOVAL OF WITNESSES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

BY THE "STATE" ITSELF ....

ON BEHALF OF ITS "PROTECTED PERSONS" .....

WHO GET THAT WAY .....

BY PROCURING PROTECTION .....

FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS IN NEW YORK STATE ...

And so ....

GIVEN ALL OF THAT PRIOR HISTORY ....

PEOPLE UP HERE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO FAITH OR TRUST WHATSOEVER .....

IN EITHER THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ....

OR THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK .....

And if people up here saw E. Stewart Jones returning from Washington, D.C. with an apologetic Alberto Gonzales in tow .....

To personally apologize to Joe Bruno .....

I DON'T THINK THAT THERE IS A SOUL UP HERE WHO WOULD BE SURPRISED ...

And I actually think that many are expecting exactly that .....

STARTING WITH THE PARTISANS OF JOE BRUNO ....

Who are many ....

And very powerfull .....

And so .....

"Another exercise in futility"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006

Why did President Bush hold a high-profile year-end news conference when he had nothing new to say about solving the biggest problem he faces?

It was because he fears the question asked of President Clinton during his own final years as a scandal-ridden, troubled lame-duck chief executive:

Are you still relevant?

Embarrassingly, Clinton replied (to much amusement and sarcasm) "the president is relevant here."

Turned out later he was correct, but at the time it was problematic.

Bush wanted to beat reporters to the punch.

An unpopular figure who has lost most of the power he arrogantly flaunted his first six years in office, the President met the press he disdains one last time to close out an unhappy year.

But the traditional gesture didn't do a thing for him.

Even his attempts at chummy old-boy humor fell flat.

Too fake.

He insisted that he still wanted to set the national agenda, even though neither the Iraqis nor a majority of American voters think he is doing a good job of that.

The agenda he wants to set here at home sounds remarkably like what the Democrats have been pushing for years and he has been ignoring.

And as for the agenda in Iraq, take your pick of the contradictory things he said.

He has become the king of mush, agile at the skill of political vamping but not at delivering the clear message of a decisive leader confronted with an international crisis of his own making.

The blunt-talking, super-confident President of old has crumbled into a tentative figure who can't decide whether to dig our military deeper into Iraq or get the dickens out before more lives are lost.

"I'm able to help focus people's attention on important issues," he said authoritatively.

Wow.

Well, he certainly did that by invading Iraq and inaccurately claiming that Iraq was connected to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, harbored weapons of mass destruction and would be thrilled to be led by us into a new democratic era in the Middle East.

It is only now, after too much negative evidence and military rebellion, that he is conceding that perhaps it was not a totally clever move.

He has moved from the absolutist attitude of going all-out for victory in Iraq to something far squishier, "not winning but not losing."

There is all sorts of talk that he favors a U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq, but its duration, mission, cost and effectiveness are a murky mess.

It's chief advantage seems to be that the troops could be reduced before the 2008 elections.

If, of course, they had accomplished anything.

The President was not his former self.

Faced with an opposition Congress at last and growing anger about the Iraq war, he insisted he had no regrets and declined reporters' efforts to pry open his soul to find out what might be going on there.

He had insisted in an earlier interview that despite his crumbling presidency he was sleeping well -- unlike the admissions of previous presidents who have admitted to troubled nights over dubious decisions, particularly in time of war.

Instead he fell back on familiar rhetoric promising "my administration can ... fashion a new way forward that can succeed in Iraq."

He offered no clue to that new way, suggesting it is a public relations ploy similar to Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War, which he touted in the 1968 campaign.

That worked in the campaign but didn't work to resolve the war.

Bush was indecisive in his news conference, reflecting the fact that he faces no easy choices in Iraq.

If it also reflects that he has finally moved from the fuzzy world of the Pentagon neocons and Vice President Cheney, during which he made his major mistakes, into the contentious world of bipartisan realpolitic, that would be hopeful.

But he seemed to reject out of hand the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton commission in favor of military advice; now he is edging away from the advice of his military top brass.

What is he thinking?

Is the commander-in-chief thinking seriously at all?

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Bush's confusing remarks suggest he has not come to grips with the urgency for a change in policy in Iraq.

"The President seems lost within his own rhetoric," Reid said.

"He is ... leaving our troops stuck policing a civil war."

Marianne Means can be reached at means@hearstdc.com.

Despite LBJ's efforts to minimize his recent decisions to intensify and widen the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, public and congressional opposition to his policy had increased in March (1965).

Discontent over the president's policy was growing principally on college campuses and among liberal intellectuals.

A STATE DEPARTMENT WHITE PAPER, DESIGNED TO PROVE NORTH VIETNAMESE COMPLICITY IN THE INSURGENCY IN THE SOUTH, WAS WEAK IN ITS ARGUMENT AND SHORT ON EVIDENCE, THE BULK OF WHICH REMAINED CLASSIFIED.

A week prior to (U.S. Ambassador Maxwell) Taylor's arrival in Washington, the students and faculty at the University of Michigan held the first Vietnam War "teach-in" to voice opposition to the president's policy.

IN RESPONSE TO THE GROWING OPPOSITION, LBJ REDOUBLED HIS EFFORT TO PREVENT LEAKS AND TO CONCEAL DEEPENING AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR.

THE PRESIDENT DENIED THAT HIS POLICY HAD CHANGED DRAMATICALLY SINCE HIS ELECTION IN NOVEMBER (1964).

On April 1, an hour before he met with his advisors on Vietnam, he held an impromptu press conference in the White House theater.

Johnson emphasized progress in getting GREAT SOCIETY legislation through Congress.

WHEN ASKED SPECIFICALLY ABOUT HIS VIETNAM POLICY, HE HIGHLIGHTED CONTINUITY WITH PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS, CLAIMING THAT HE WAS SIMPLY HONORING THE COMMITMENT TO THE SOUTHEAST ASIA TREATY ORGANIZATION (SEATO) THAT EISENHOWER AND CONGRESS HAD MADE.

JOHNSON CITED THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION AS EVIDENCE OF CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT FOR HIS POLICY AND STATED THAT HE KNEW OF "NO DIVISION IN THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT" OVER VIETNAM.

To dispel reports that he was discussing major military decisions during Taylor's visit, he denied knowledge of any "far-reaching strategy that is being suggested or promulgated."

HE SAID THAT THOSE WHO PUBLICLY OPPOSED HIS VIETNAM POLICY AND JOURNALISTS WHO SPECULATED ABOUT IT DISREGARDED "OUR SOLDIERS WHO ARE DYING" IN VIETNAM.

From pp.254,55 Dereliction of Duty - Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, AND THE LIES THAT LED TO VIET NAM by H.R. McMaster .....

"Plan for more troops is much too late"

By TRUDY RUBIN
First published: Saturday, December 23, 2006

White House officials are aggressively promoting the idea of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq over the unanimous objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to news reports.

This is the right idea at the wrong time -- put forward for unclear reasons.

The White House has yet to answer the pointed questions of Colin Powell last weekend on CBS's "Face the Nation":

"What mission is it these troops are supposed to accomplish?"

"Is it something that is really accomplishable?"

"Do we have enough troops to accomplish it?"

Or is this one last White House effort to look tough, whether or not it helps Iraq?

Iraq's current chaos traces directly to Donald Rumsfeld's deluded decision to send too few troops to Iraq to stabilize the country.

Rumsfeld just departed with highest honors, as Dick Cheney proclaimed him "the finest secretary of defense" the nation has known.

How ironic that the Bush team wants a troop surge at this very moment.

The number of U.S. troops is indeed an issue.

The White House plan to turn security over to Iraqis is failing.

Iraq's government is weak, and its security forces are divided by sect and penetrated by sectarian militias.

These security forces are often part of the problem, taking part in ethnic cleansing.

In theory, more U.S. troops could improve the situation, by helping to stabilize the Sunni areas of Baghdad and Anbar province.

These areas remain the core of the security problem.

They are often controlled by former senior Baathists and Sunni religious extremists, who have sought to provoke civil war by killing Shiite civilians.

After three years of restraint, Shiite militias now seek revenge against Sunnis, deepening the civil strife.

Those Sunni moderates who don't want to be ruled by extremists are too frightened to stand against them.

Sunni tribal leaders and politicians who participate in the government are being assassinated, and now face the additional threat of Shiite militias.

Serious scholars who support a surge, like Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, argue that an increase in U.S. troops could bring security to Sunni and mixed areas of Baghdad, by clearing out the insurgents.

U.S. troops could then stay on in partnership with Iraqis.

This "clear, hold and build" strategy could, again in theory, permit the return of normal life and services to Sunni areas.

If insurgents were reined in, Sunni moderates would feel less fearful about joining the new system.

And, crucially, if the number of Sunni attacks on Shiites dropped, the Shiite-led government could rein in Shiite militias, slowing down the civil strife.

"Clear, hold and build" worked in two of the few success stories in predominantly Sunni areas, the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar.

The U.S. ground commanders in those cases understood -- even though the Pentagon did not -- that their first priority was to provide security and services for the local population.

Just this week, the Army and Marine Corps released a new counterinsurgency manual, the first in 20 years, that distills the principles for such operations.

Would that the manual had been available years earlier.

But -- here's the key -- when U.S. troops were cut by two-thirds in Mosul after one year, insurgents returned and the city dissolved into chaos.

Tal Afar deteriorated for similar reasons.

"Clear, hold and build" is a long-term strategy, requiring a large number of troops to stay for years.

Their numbers must be sufficient to blanket troubled areas and prevent insurgents from escaping to the next village.

Yet news reports say the White House is considering sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops to Baghdad for six to eight months.

That's not enough time to "hold and build," nor for the Iraqi government to get its act in order.

So it's unclear what would be the troops' purpose, or what they could achieve.

Any boost in numbers would depend on retaining units now in Iraq for a longer time and accelerating the arrival of others.

Powell said this weekend that such a surge "cannot be sustained."

Even if Congress were to expand the size of the Marines and Army, that increase would not come in time to enable an extended surge.

The Joint Chiefs oppose sending more troops because they feel the military has been broken by Rumsfeld.

One Army officer sent me this e-mail, which reflects a much wider feeling in the military:

"The idea of adding 20,000 is criminal."

"It's not enough to do any good, but it's more than enough to bring an already staggering Army to its knees."

If the White House wants to increase troop levels, it must answer Powell's questions:

What indeed is their mission?

What can be accomplished by a brief surge at this late date?

And how does the president plan to man and fund the mission?

This would require President Bush to explain why insufficient troops were sent to begin with, and why he failed to supply the military with the resources it needed to do the job right.

Without such frankness, a skeptical country won't support him, nor would a surge make sense.

Trudy Rubin writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her e-mail address is trubin@phillynews.com.

"Bush undeterred by public, generals or Iraq"

By CARL P. LEUBSDORF

First published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

You've got to say this for President Bush:

He will risk further decline in his popularity to pursue the course he thinks is right in Iraq.

He may even be willing to do so in the face of opposition by some of his military commanders.

And he seems unconcerned over how this will ultimately affect his place in history, even as some historians are already rendering sharply critical judgments.

The President made clear again Wednesday that he won't be deterred by growing public disenchantment with the war, the anti-Republican tide in the elections or by setbacks in Iraq itself.

"We're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted," Bush conceded at his end-of-the-year news conference.

But he reiterated "we're going to succeed" in the struggle with terrorism that he deemed "the calling of our generation."

To do so, he said, "is going to require a sustained commitment from the American people and our military," a commitment that has come under question by both.

Polls show that public confidence continues to drop, and some top military men inside and outside government have expressed doubt that the war can be won militarily.

But when Bush was asked if he was willing to persist in Iraq even if meant going against the will of the American people, he replied, "I am willing to follow a path that leads to victory."

And he sidestepped a question about whether he will, if necessary, overrule military commanders who are skeptical about sending more troops, calling them "bright, capable, smart people whose opinion matters to me a lot."

He refused to say whether, as has been widely reported, his current effort to devise "a new way forward that can succeed in Iraq" will lead to an increase in U.S. forces.

But Bush made clear that beginning to withdraw U.S. troops, as the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended, is about the furthest thing from his mind.

"I want the enemy to understand that this is a tough task but they can't run us out of the Middle East," he said.

"They think it's just a matter of time before America grows weary and leaves, abandons the people of Iraq, for example, and that's not going to happen."

In a sense, the end of the election campaign and the replacement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with Robert Gates have given Bush some breathing space to revise course in Iraq.

Though pressures for withdrawal -- from the polls, the Iraq Study Group and the new Democratic majorities in Congress -- have isolated Bush politically, it's unlikely his critics can keep him from implementing policies that include an increase in troops.

Many lawmakers in both parties favor increasing the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

And even during the Vietnam War, members of Congress were slow to restrict the use of funds to fight it.

Besides, it's nearly two years until the next election.

And though optimism about Iraq is minimal these days, it's always possible that changes in U.S. policy could produce a more positive result than analysts expect.

If that happens, Bush and his Republican Party could reap the political benefit, especially Sen. John McCain, who has urged sending more troops.

Critics would be put on the defensive.

On the other hand, if the proposal Bush plans to formally unveil next month fails to improve a situation he now admits has not gone well, he could put fellow Republicans in a 2008 bind.

As long as most Republicans support the war, potential GOP presidential candidates will be reluctant to stray from that stance.

But they could face severe problems in a general election because so many Democrats and independents want to end it.

Even then, Bush's persistence may delay a definite end to the struggle and withdrawal of most U.S. troops until his successor's presidency.

Bush was asked if his legacy would extend beyond Iraq.

He declined to speculate, noting he's been reading books about George Washington and adding:

"My attitude is, if they're still analyzing No. 1, 43 ought not to worry about it and just do what he thinks is right."

And he observed that "most short-term historians," some of whom have already called him a failure, usually have political views and aren't "exactly objective."'

Still, the success or failure of the war in Iraq is likely to be central in judgments of the George W. Bush presidency.

P. Leubsdorf writes for The Dallas Morning News. His e-mail address is cleubsdorf@dallasnews.com.

"Gingrich reduces God into a tool of politics"

By LINDA P. CAMPBELL
First published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

As this holy season of consummate consumerism gives way to the hopefulness of a new year, beware of Newts bearing pious pronouncements.

At the risk of giving attention where it isn't due, I have to warn that the former U.S. House speaker, who was pushed out the Capitol doors not a moment too soon, is trying to worm his way back into the public consciousness with yet another dubious "Contract With America."

The third plank in the platform promoted by potential presidential wannabe Newt Gingrich reads:

"Recenter on the Creator from Whom all our liberties come."

"We will insist on a judiciary that understands the centrality of God in American history and reasserts the legitimacy of recognizing the Creator in public life."

Call me cynical and paranoid, but I read into that Ten Commandments displays in every public courtroom.

The Lord's Prayer recited in unison in every public school classroom.

Inquisitions into judicial nominees' personal creeds to guarantee hostility toward abortion and gay marriage.

More pointless fights over the essentiality of uttering "under God" to the very survival of the Republic.

And none of that will bring us any closer to liberty and justice for all.

Reducing God to a blatant political tool -- which would be the effect of Gingrich's proposal -- substitutes form for substance.

And it distorts reality about religious freedom in this country.

When did it become illegitimate to recognize the Creator in public life?

President Bush has no fear of praising God and calling for his blessings on the United States.

Neither did Bush's father or Bill Clinton (even if he didn't always act as though the omnipresent one was watching).

What isn't tolerable is, say, a government executive favoring employees who attend the daily Bible study sessions in the office or a military official espousing personal beliefs as though they were policy.

Sure, there are those who would strip "In God we trust" from our money.

I don't support that, but would it have much practical effect on anyone besides counterfeiters?

Making God's name even more ubiquitous in the public lexicon than it already is would generate additional references with all the religious significance of "God save the United States and this honorable court."

Slate.com writer Dahlia Lithwick has described such instances of "ceremonial deism" as invoking the "God of the Hallmark cards."

Symbolically significant to someone, somewhere, maybe, but spiritually bereft.

And what of this notion about "the centrality of God in American history"?

The Founding Fathers recognized the influence of religion on society -- and were justly opposed to government's embracing it.

An examination of his "centrality" in some of our darkest days might leave one wondering.

Was the Lord first and foremost in the minds of the generals and grunts who fought the Civil War?

Probably he was weeping over the blood we shed, our petty brutality and the deep, divisive hatreds born of a fight that managed to keep the Union intact.

Was the herding of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears a fulfillment of God's will?

Did the Creator's mercy motivate the hearts of the Birmingham firefighters who hosed civil rights marchers in 1963 Alabama?

Where is the moral accountability, the sense of humbling guilt, among the administration officials who instigated the inferno that has squandered lives, damaged bodies and minds, fractured families and wreaked havoc that greatly overshadows whatever good our troops and enormously expensive rebuilding efforts have accomplished for Iraq and its people?

Actually, I do believe that powerful spiritual forces are at work in this country -- and they derive from our reverence for religious liberty, not from dictates of Congress, the White House or the courts.

They're evident in the work of lawyers who donate their services to desperate people so that they can pull their lives together.

In the efforts of teachers who put in time, money and whatever else it takes to push and pull struggling students to success.

In the labors of volunteers who build homes to give families a decent place to live.

In the inspiration of ordinary people living responsible lives.

In the gestures large and small of those who implement God's message without needing their government to trumpet it.

What we need from our leaders aren't platitudes and the pretense of promoting "values."

What we need are honesty, integrity and policies that are fair and sensible, and that make it possible for even the least among us to live with dignity.

Because that's the right thing to do.

P. Campbell writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Her e-mail address is lcampbellstar-telegram.com

"Moderates court GOP right wing"

By JONATHAN CHAIT
First published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

Looking over the field of potential Republican presidential candidates, one odd thing jumps out at me:

Many of them have expressed deep hostility to the religious right's point of view in the past, and several are now insisting that they didn't mean a word of it.

One way to look at this is to conclude that they all said or did things they didn't mean, or that they have come around to the social conservative position.

Oddly enough, this is the interpretation many social conservatives seem inclined to accept.

Or there's the other, more logical interpretation:

The Republican Party's governing class is deeply hostile to social conservatism, and its leaders manage to fool the base over and over again.

This delicate situation was thrown into stark relief recently when Bay Windows, a Boston newspaper covering gay and lesbian issues, published an interview it had conducted with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 1994.

Romney, who had characterized the religious right as "extremists," said he essentially had the same position on gay rights as Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and cast himself as an heir to his moderate father, George Romney, the Michigan governor who walked out of the 1964 Republican convention to protest Barry Goldwater.

Those positions seem believable.

Mitt Romney had run as a supporter of abortion rights and legislation protecting gays from on-the-job discrimination.

But he has since reversed both positions, and an adviser insisted that Romney had been "faking it" as a pro-choicer, explaining that he had to do it because social conservatism is unacceptable to the voters of Massachusetts.

But wait a second.

Social liberalism is unacceptable to GOP primary voters, right?

So maybe Romney is faking it now, and all that stuff he said about gay rights and the influence of his moderate father was genuine, no?

This would be bad enough for social conservatives if Romney were the moderate in the race.

But, in fact, he's the current favorite among social conservatives.

Indeed, social conservatives don't even want to hear about Romney's scandalously tolerant past.

Brian Camenker, a right-wing activist who has been sounding the alarm bells about Romney, has gotten a frosty reception from his fellow religious conservatives.

"'Why are you attacking Romney?"' they keep asking him, according to my colleague Ryan Lizza.

"He's better than (Rudolph W.) Giuliani and (John) McCain."'

The GOP primary is a sorry state of affairs for the religious right.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., once described religious-right leaders as "forces of evil" and has mused that he would not support the repeal of Roe vs. Wade.

More recently, McCain, like Romney, has backed off his moderate statements (not surprising, given the furor they provoked).

But McCain is even less credible in his newfound conservatism; only a total naif could believe him now.

A general rule of political life is that when a candidate says something unpopular off the cuff and then takes it back in prepared remarks, you can be sure that the original statement is what the candidate really thinks.

Meanwhile, the other leading contender, Giuliani, is pro-choice, pro-gun-control and pro-gay-rights.

When he left his second wife, Giuliani moved in temporarily with a gay couple.

I have to give Giuliani credit:

Unlike Romney and McCain, he has declined to discover a new set of deeply held social convictions.

But, of course, there's plenty of time until Iowa 2008.

Jonathan Chait writes for the New Republic and the Los Angeles Times, where this article first appeared.

"Investigation of Bruno widens - Grand jury subpoenas records of flight services company whose planes transported Senate leader"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

ALBANY -- A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the records of a private flight services company in connection with a widening investigation of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and a Loudonville businessman whose jets have been used to fly the Republican leader on numerous occasions.

A source with knowledge of the federal investigation said FBI agents are examining travel logs to determine how many times, and for what purposes, Bruno flew aboard private jets that were either owned or leased by Jared E. Abbruzzese, the senator's business associate and close friend.

Mahlon Richards, president of Hudson-based Richmor Aviation, which has a fleet of private aircraft and also provides fuel, hangar space and other services at several small airports, did not return a telephone call seeking comment about the subpoena received by the company.

The state Lobbying Commission, which subpoenaed similar flight records for its investigation into Abbruzzese, has records of about five trips Bruno took aboard Abbruzzese's private aircraft.

But a source said Richmor's records, which do not necessarily contain detailed information on passengers who travel on private jets managed or piloted by the company, may show that Bruno had flown more times than are reflected in the Lobbying Commission's records.

Additionally, some Senate staffers also are being subpoenaed by the grand jury, including members of Bruno's staff, according to sources familiar with the probe.

The FBI's investigation of Bruno's business dealings comes as the senator is seeking to retain his powerful leadership post.

The Times Union reported Friday that the FBI is focusing on hundreds of thousands of dollars Abbruzzese paid to Bruno's private consulting firm.

Federal authorities are examining whether the fees allegedly were an attempt to influence Bruno in his legislative capacities.

E. Stewart Jones, an attorney for Abbruzzese and his wife, Sherrie, confirmed Thursday that Abbruzzese paid money to Bruno's consulting firm.

Bruno has declined to disclose his clients or earnings in the private venture, or what type of consulting work he does.

Jones said Bruno and Abbruzzese are close friends and active entrepreneurs who are being smeared by an exploratory investigation that has yielded no allegations of criminal conduct.

"Most people don't understand how business consulting works and naturally, because of Senator Bruno's position, they draw conclusions that are not consistent with the truth and are fundamentally unfair," Jones said.

"Full cooperation has been a hallmark of our response to this investigation."

Jones called Bruno "the most valuable political figure in this region in the last 50 years" and said information leaked to news organizations about the investigation has damaged Bruno's ability to retain that status.

Abbruzzese and Bruno, along with their families, are very close, Jones said.

He said federal prosecutors have an obligation to break their silence and release information that could clear up some of the mischaracterizations surrounding Bruno's dealings with Abbruzzese.

"Once again, the time frame illustrates the legitimacy of the relationship and the pure innocence of the relationship," Jones said.

"That's information that the government should release if they're the source of all this damning information."

"They should start being fair and start releasing something balanced."

The financial and business records of Abbruzzese and his wife, as well as their various companies and corporations, have been turned over to the FBI.

Federal authorities are said to be examining whether mail fraud or money laundering statutes were violated in connection with the business relationship, according to a source familiar with the case.

Bruno, 77, acknowledged last Tuesday that his "outside business interests" were the subject of an FBI investigation.

The senator said he was complying with subpoenas and "cooperating fully," and confident he has done nothing wrong.

Abbruzzese, 52, is a wealthy horse racing enthusiast involved in numerous business ventures, including a start-up nanotech company that received $500,000 in discretionary grants, called member items, at Bruno's direction.

The company, Evident Technologies, was served last week with a federal grand jury subpoena seeking copies of its records, according to the company's attorney, Daniel J. French, a former U.S. attorney in New York's Northern District.

A source close to the investigation said federal agents also are focusing on Abbruzzese's role as an investor and past director of Empire Racing Associates, which bid on the state's racing franchise that Bruno and other lawmakers plan to award within the next year.

Bruno formed his private firm, Capital Business Consultants, out of his Brunswick home after he sold his telecommunications company in 1990.

Bruno has refused to name any of his various business partners or clients, saying financial disclosure laws that apply to state lawmakers do not require him to make that information public.

He also said discussing the business would violate his clients' right to privacy.

J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.

"Benefit of doubt for Bruno, but need for disclosure is certain"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, December 22, 2006

Alan Hevesi may be chased out of office today to avoid what is arguably a marginal criminal indictment over "Chauffeurgate."

Even two years ago, such dire consequences for admittedly reprehensible behavior would never have happened.

Even more stunning is the news that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into possible conflicts between his political activities and private business dealings.

One Democrat, one Republican.

No one can say that what's going on as the temple crumbles is some sort of partisan hounding.

As hard as it is for veteran pols to accept it, there really is a new day dawning in Albany's political culture -- and that's even before the reform governor takes office.

Except, of course, we don't really know what's going on in Joe Bruno's case.

Maybe he doesn't either, but then that's the way federal investigations work.

Torturously and slowly.

Bruno was trying to be affable and light about it at the late afternoon news conference he called Tuesday to go public about the investigation, but observers say he showed the strain, and that it is only going to get worse.

Bruno has known about FBI inquiries for several months, but having the news out there and snickered about, potentially affecting his daily public business as the second most powerful Republican in the state, and in two weeks, the most powerful, adds new dimension to his problems.

Apparently the FBI has considered Joe Bruno a source of interest since the middle of 2004, which means recent questions raised over member items he steered can't be the source of the investigation, although it is all grist for the federal mill now.

A natural assumption is to imagine the worst for Joe Bruno since the FBI, the Justice Department and a federal grand jury are involved.

But the lesson taught us by former Cohoes Mayor Bobby Signoracci a decade ago is well worth dusting off.

For 33 months Bobby was investigated by the feds over the disappearance of bags of money collected at county Democratic functions during the time he was county chairman.

For the longest time it looked bleak for Bobby.

Three of his business associates did face legal repercussions, but in the end, Signoracci was exonerated, and in writing.

So being investigated is not necessarily the end of the world.

But the other half of the Signoracci lesson is also worth recalling.

Namely, the hell he and his family experienced was excruciating.

His health was severely impacted.

He was an outcast, depressed, alienated from friends, family, business associates.

The stress was awful, the worst thing he lived through in his entire life, he said at the end of it.

For now, fairness dictates that we suspend judgment when it comes to Joe Bruno's alleged or implied conflicts of interest.

But part of a statement he read acknowledging the FBI investigation is fair game, and raises all sorts of flags.

"As a part-time legislator, I and my colleagues are permitted to have outside law practices or business interests."

"My interests outside the Legislature have all been cleared and approved by the Legislative Ethics Committee."

What Bruno doesn't say is that the Legislature wrote those nondisclosure rules for itself.

They no longer fit the new age that's dawning.

Bruno refuses to tell us who his private clients are, and so does Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who is a lawyer.

Yet these two control hundreds of millions of dollars in member items on their own.

That just doesn't cut it anymore.

Legislative reform starts right there: full disclosure.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

It's Christmas Eve ...

A time for PEACE ON EARTH .....

And GOODWILL TOWARDS MAN AND WOMAN .....

And that has absolutely nothing to do with religion, at all .....

Since I don't have one .....

Rather .....

It is just a sentiment of mine ....

And so .....

The best of this season to all alike .....

And Livyjr will be back .....

Tomarrow ....

Or the next day ....

And so ....

"News needs to replace balance with truth"

By MARTIN KAPLAN
First published: Monday, December 25, 2006

Everyone says we need a national debate on Iraq.

Left, right, politicos, pundits, editorial writers, academics.

If ever there was a universally held position, it's the belief that holding a national debate on Iraq is just the thing for what ails us in the Middle East.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who coined the term "freedom fries," has called for it.

So has Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., repeatedly.

Conservative columnist William Rusher believes "the stage is set for a national debate."

Liberal evangelical Jim Wallis thinks that what we really need is a "new national debate on Iraq."

The only one not joining the parade seems to be President Bush, but that may just be because his Iraq "listening tour" has caused a scheduling conflict.

It's not just Iraq.

From health care to education, immigration to entitlements, there's hardly an issue on the national radar screen that hasn't been nominated for a cleansing and clarifying national debate.

But what would a national debate on anything really look like?

How would it be any different from what we're already doing now?

Imagine the elements of a national debate on Iraq, and then ask whether what's going on today fits the bill.

Analysts offering opposing views on television shows?

Check.

Dueling op-ed pieces?

Check. Senators and representatives making floor speeches?

Check.

Presidential candidates staking out positions, and critics taking them on?

Check.

Magazines and journals offering thoughtful, conflicting takes?

Check.

A take-no-prisoners brawl in the blogosphere?

Check.

Public opinion polls?

You can't go to the restroom without tripping over a new one.

Thousands of people in the streets?

Well, it's not like the Vietnam War era -- without a draft, it won't ever be -- but plenty of cities have seen plenty of passionate marchers.

So why, despite all appearances of actually having a national debate right now, do people keep insisting that we mount one?

Perhaps it's because the mainstream media are too timid to declare the difference between right and wrong.

Imagine if journalism consisted of more than a collage of conflicting talking points.

Imagine the difference it would make if more brand-name reporters broke from the bizarre straitjacket of "balance," which equates fairness with putting all disputants on equal epistemological footing, no matter how deceitful or moronic they may be.

There's a market for news that weighs counterclaims and assesses truth value.

It just hasn't kept up with demand.

No wonder Jon Stewart has such a loyal audience:

He has a point of view, and it's rooted in the reality-based -- not the ideology-based -- world.

Anyone who's watched a presidential debate knows how useless they are for deciding our country's direction.

The coming presidential primary season, which will stretch for more than a year, will be the scene of multicandidate cattle calls in which entrants will moo canned messages, spring scripted attacks, ignore interlocutors' questions and declare inevitable victories.

The debates are also useless for finding common ground.

There are no points to be scored with nuance.

We're a nation of 300 million, which means there's one political party for every 150 million points of view.

Politicians behave the way they do for a reason:

Wedge issues work.

Bipartisan consensus is a mug's game.

The base is what counts.

Swing votes win elections.

Food fights win ratings.

Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has been calling for a series of Lincoln-Douglas debates across the nation.

I'd like that.

I'd also like a pony, an end to racism, a cure for cancer and a date with Scarlett Johansson.

The actual Lincoln-Douglas debates drew huge crowds and galvanized public attention; Newt's would make C-SPAN, and maybe Fox, but most people would get them in 12-second snippets.

Besides, it's tough to imagine Newt and his opponent (John McCain?) actually coming up with anything that they haven't broadcast in the news-and-gasbag venues to which they already enjoy full access.

Maybe we don't need a national debate.

Maybe what we really need are leaders with more character, followers with more discrimination, deciders who hear as well as listen and media that know the difference between the public interest and what the public is interested in.

National debates nicely fulfill the circus part of the bread-and-circuses formula of modern public life.

Like psychoanalysis, national debates are basically interminable.

And in our postmodern era, they do a nice job substituting for the hard work of actually figuring out what's true and what's good.

Martin Kaplan is associate dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School, where he directs the Norman Lear Center. He wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times.

"Man speaks out after Sept. 11 acquittal"

By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer

Sun Dec 24, 12:30 PM ET

LA MESA, Calif. - Ten days after jets destroyed the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon, Osama Awadallah was detained by FBI agents.

He had never even gotten a parking ticket, but he was from Jordan — and he had met two of the hijackers.

The 21-year-old community college student, one of hundreds of Muslim men picked up in the frenzied dragnet following the attacks, was whisked to New York to testify as a material witness before a grand jury.

That set off a five-year legal ordeal that ended last month with Awadallah's acquittal on perjury charges.

He was never accused of involvement in terrorism but was charged with lying about how well he knew one of the hijackers.

In spite of his experience, he is moving ahead with long-held plans to apply for U.S. citizenship.

He graduated with honors last spring from San Diego State University, is looking for a computer technician job and is studying for graduate school entrance exams.

"I want to move on from this, find my lucky girl and just be like every other American," he said recently at a restaurant in this San Diego suburb.

An observant Muslim, he politely declined to shake hands with a female reporter.

He began with brusque questions about why he was being interviewed, but quickly relaxed in conversation.

"I watch what I say, who I'm talking to these days," he said.

"The real effect is in trusting people."

Awadallah grew up in Jordan while his father and three older brothers came to San Diego to start a courier business.

In 1999, he joined his father — by then a naturalized U.S. citizen — as a legal resident.

He found a mosque, got a job at a gas station and took English classes before enrolling at Grossmont College in the fall of 2000.

At the gas station, Awadallah briefly worked with a Saudi named Nawaf al-Hazmi.

A friend of al-Hazmi's, another Saudi named Khalid al-Mihdhar, sometimes stopped by the station.

On Sept. 11, 2001, he turned on the TV just as a hijacked American Airlines airliner slammed into the Pentagon with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar on board.

"It was unbelievable, like a movie or something," Awadallah said.

"I couldn't believe that was happening."

On Sept. 21, the FBI picked him up for questioning because agents found his phone number on a piece of paper in a car registered to al-Hazmi.

Awadallah says the agents promised he would be back in time for noon prayers.

He didn't get home until that December.

Instead, Awadallah says, he was flown to New York, placed in solitary confinement with no access to his family or his lawyer, repeatedly strip-searched and subjected to bruising physical force by guards.

"Suddenly all these fingers were pointing at me, people were telling me I was responsible for 4,000 deaths," Awadallah said.

"That I cannot forget."

"It's impossible for anyone to imagine how that feels."

Taken before the grand jury in shackles, Awadallah said he had met al-Hazmi in San Diego but denied knowing al-Mihdhar until prosecutors confronted him with an assignment notebook for his English class in which he had written both men's names.

Prosecutors charged him with two counts of perjury, alleging he had withheld potentially critical information about the hijackers.

Defense attorneys said he had simply been confused, that he was tired, disoriented and struggling to understand legal terms in English.

In December 2001 he was released on $500,000 bail and returned to San Diego, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.

His friends at school and at his mosque avoided him.

"They thought if they walked with me they'd get in trouble, and there were other people who even thought I was working for the government," he said.

His case finally went to trial last April, ending in a mistrial after a lone juror held out against conviction.

In November, a second jury found him not guilty.

Awadallah has sued the government, alleging he was wrongly detained and mistreated by guards.

Elizabeth Wolstein, an assistant U.S. attorney in the case, declined to comment.

"I'm happy for myself because of the verdict, but I think I should fight for my rights," Awadallah said.

"My whole life has been affected."

end quotes

"I watch what I say, who I'm talking to these days," he said.

"The real effect is in trusting people."

And from my own experiences up here in the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York .....

I would say that many, many people up here feel the same ....

THEY WATCH WHO THEY ARE TALKING TO, AT ALL .....

TO THE POINT OF NOT TALKING, TO ANYONE, PERIOD ....

BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUST .......

And these people that I am referring to are AMERICANS .....

People who were born here .....

Up here .....

ON 8-22-01 ......

BEFORE 9-11 went down ......

One of OUR American citizens up here was forcibly taken into custody at the Stratton Veteran's Administration Hospital in the city of Albany, New York ....

And was placed is secure psychiatric confinement at that facility .....

LOCKED IN A CAGE AS A DANGEROUS WILD ANIMAL WOULD BE .....

BASED ON A FRAUDULENT "PSYCHIATRIC ARREST ORDER" THAT WAS ISSUED BY A CORPORATE DOCTOR IN THE CITY OF TROY, NEW YORK .....

WHO HAD NEVER SEEN THIS INDIVIDUAL .....

HAD NEVER MET THIS INDIVIDUAL .....

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY .....

HAD NEVER EXAMINED THIS INDIVIDUAL AS A MEDICAL DOCTOR .....

And thus .....

HAD VIOLATED THE LAW IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

AS IT IS WRITTEN .....

BUT ......

DESPITE ANY OF THAT "PROCEDURAL BULL ****" .....

WAS PROTECTED BY THE OFFICE OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY .....

THAT BEING "BIG JOE" BRUNO'S SON, KENNY "BOY" BRUNO .....

THE OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ELIOT "BIG EL DA MAN" SPITZER ....

THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ...

WHICH IS A PART OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED DEPARTMENT OF MOCKING JUSTICE .....

AND ONE OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S MINIONS SITTING AS A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK .....

LEGEND OR MYTH OR WHATEVER TELLS US THAT JESUS WAS BORN THIS DAY INTO SIMILAR TIMES OF OPPRESSION .....

IN THE LIVES OF COMMON, ORDINARY PEOPLE .....

BY A TYRANNICAL "WORLD LEADER" IN A DECADENT CITY IN A FAR-OFF DISTANT LAND .....

AND HISTORY TELLS US .....

THAT SOME THIRTY-TWO OR SO YEARS LATER .....

JESUS GOT NAILED TO A TREE ....

AND WAS HUNG THERE TO DIE .....

BY THE OPPRESSORS FROM THAT FAR-OFF DACADENT CITY .....

FOR FAILING TO ACKNOWLEDGE SOME PUFFED-UP BUFFOON IN ROME AS HIS LORD AND MASTER DOWN HERE ON EARTH ....

JUST AS PEOPLE IN IRAQ ARE DYING BECAUSE THEY FAIL TO BOW DOWN TO GEORGE W. BUSH AS THEIR GOD HERE ON EARTH .....

AND JUST AS THIS DISABLED VETERAN WAS LOCKED IN A CAGE AT THE STRATTON VA HOSPITAL IN THE CITY OF ALBANY, NEW YORK .....

FOR FAILING TO ACKNOWLEDGE A REPUBLICAN AS HIS "GOD" HERE IN THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

AND SO .....

NOT MUCH HAS REALLY CHANGED IN ALL THAT TIME THAT WE CAN SEE UP HERE ...

EXCEPT THAT NOW ....

UP HERE, ANYWAY .....

TRUTH-SPEAKERS AREN'T ACTUALLY NAILED TO TREES, ANYMORE .....

THEY ARE CONFINED AS WILD, DANGEROUS ANIMALS, INSTEAD .....

IN CORPORATE MENTAL INSTITUTIONS .....

And so ......

If you are going to deliver us, God ......

From oppression ......

Now would be as good a time as any ......

ESPECIALLY UP HERE IN THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

And so .....

"Bush follows in father's footsteps"

By JAMES P. PINKERTON
First published: Tuesday, December 26, 2006

President Bush is willing to raise taxes.

That reality was a big surprise to me 16 years ago, in 1990, when I was working in the White House.

It's less of a surprise to me in 2006, when I am on the outside -- because, after a while, you learn to identify the warning signs.

In 1990, the former President Bush broke his word on taxes, and he broke his own presidency.

In 2006, his son, President Bush, seems poised to destroy what little remains of his presidency.

In both cases, both Bushes have been willing to talk about "process" and "common ground."

But, when it comes to taxes, the opposing Democrats know two things:

First, the Republicans have a winning issue on taxes -- specifically, when they promise not to raise taxes.

Second, if taxes are indeed to be raised, the Democrats want the Republicans to go first and say that taxes are "on the table."

In other words, Democrats want Republicans to take the blame.

So here's the "on the table" language, right on the front page of Wednesday's Washington Post:

"Signaling a new flexibility on issues in the wake of the Democrats' wins, Bush said he is willing to discuss Democratic ideas for solving the Social Security problem, including tax increases."

The President is quoted as adding, "I don't see how you can move forward without people feeling comfortable about putting ideas on the table."

Those are the magic words the Democrats were waiting to hear.

As Post reporter Michael Fletcher explains, Bush's "new flexibility" is "part of a larger White House plan to renew the effort to tame the rising costs of government entitlement programs as the nation's population ages."

And so, the Post reporter added, the administration is willing to consider "higher payroll taxes."

The Post, of course, has never met a tax increase it didn't like, and the Powertown paper is not above trying to cajole Republicans into generating more revenue for its Beltway readership.

But a look at the transcript confirms The Post's interpretation.

Asked whether tax increases are on the table, Bush answered that the Democrats "can come to the table and talk about them."

In D.C., that's code for opening up a discussion that leads, inevitably, to a tax increase.

I know, because I was there the last time this happened.

It was May 3, 1990, when then-President Bush was asked if he would consider a tax hike, in light of his famous "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge from his victorious 1988 campaign.

At that 1990 news conference, a reporter reminded Bush, "I haven't heard any 'read my lips.' "

To which the president responded, referring to the tax-hike-hungry Democrats, "No, you haven't heard it, because I'm going to sit down and talk to them."

In other words, Bush was agreeing to put away the powerful "no new taxes" pledge.

So the Democrats were free to talk about what they had always wanted, a tax increase -- and Bush was free to destroy his own conservative, limited-government base.

Which is exactly what happened.

The president "negotiated" a real tax increase in return for illusory spending cuts, culminating in party-busting budget votes in October 1990.

Meanwhile, burdened by this new tax increase, the economy sank into recession, spending ballooned and the 41st president was soundly defeated for re-election in 1992.

So it's deja vu for me to see this President Bush about to repeat the same losing process.

As he said at last Wednesday's press conference, he wants to find "bipartisan cooperation" on Social Security financing.

Advisers are telling Bush that such bargaining will result in a solid domestic-policy legacy, as well as the shoring up of congressional support for the Iraq war.

But history tells me that, if he raises taxes, he will demolish -- as did his father before him -- what little remains of his presidency.

James P. Pinkerton writes for Newsday.

end quotes

George W. Bush demolish what little is left of his third-rate presidency?

I actually didn't realize that there was anything left to demolish .....

The man has absolutely no credibility .....

No reputation for integrity .....

Or thoughtfulness .....

He is lacking in compassion .....

And direction .....

I see him personally as the WORST president this nation has ever had .....

A world-class BUFFOON .....

Who is not a leader, at all .....

So ......

What really is there to demolish ...

When there does not appear to be anything of substance even there?

That must be one of those epistemological or metaphysical questions that only those "FROM WITHIN THE BELTWAY" can answer .....

Because the answer would be so arcane and esoteric that mere commoners won't even understand the language of the "ANSWER" .....

Let alone the content .....

And so ...

And getting away from politics and war for a moment .....

And taking a look at something completely different .....

We have ....

"Prehistoric giant's remains found in Europe"

New York Times
First published: Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Fossils of a giant dinosaur have been uncovered in Spain and they appear to be remains of the largest terrestrial animal known to have lived in Europe, paleontologists reported last week.

The dinosaur, which lived about 150 million years ago, is estimated to have weighed 40 to 48 tons.

Its humerus, the long bone in the forelimb from the shoulder to the elbow, is as large as an adult human.

The dinosaur's length has yet to be determined, but the researchers said it had an extremely long neck and tail and a robust body and stout limbs.

The Spanish discoverers concluded that the animal was an early sauropod, one of the plant-eating dinosaurs that grew to enormous sizes, and is similar in some respects to Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, commonly found in fossil beds in North America, and Paralititan, from Egypt.

The extinct animal, named Turiasaurus riodevensis, was found near Teruel, Spain, about 150 miles east of Madrid.

In a report in the current issue of the journal Science, Rafael Royo-Torres and colleagues at the Teruel-Dinopolis Museum of Paleontology, in Teruel, said the animal was different enough from others to be classified as "a member of a hitherto unrecognized" branch of primitive sauropods.

The other researchers on the team are Alberto Cobos and Luis Alcala.

end quotes

A robust body .....

And STOUT LIMBS .....

Sounds a lot like California Governor AH-nold S. .....

But I don't think Ah-nold is a plant-eater ......

He is probably more carniverous .....

Like Dick Cheney .....

Who also sports a robust body .....

And stout limbs ....

And so .....

Boy ......

Science can be so fascinating .....

Especially when it gives us hints ....

As to the evolutionary path ....

That the AMERICAN POLITICIAN has been slowly evolving along ......

And so .....

"Budget cuts hit county Democrats - Legislative staffers lose jobs after reductions made in county budget"

By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, December 26, 2006

TROY -- It wasn't a Merry Christmas in the county Legislature's Democratic minority office where Minority Leader Ginny O'Brien announced layoffs for 2007.

The office's budget was cut back from $150,000 to $80,000 for next year, forcing O'Brien to lay off one part-time legislative aide and one full-time legislative aide.

She also cut the salaries of the office's three remaining staffers.

Spokeswoman Sue Steele will keep her job, but take a pay cut.

The county faced an $11 million budget gap for 2007, which resulted in a 15 percent property tax increase and budget cuts across all departments.

But O'Brien said the Democrats' budget was reduced more than most.

"I think it's just a matter of equity."

"I'm very upset about decisions that had to be made in our office."

"The reason we had to do that is that we were cut 49 percent, far deeper than any other department and the only thing I can think of is political," O'Brien said.

But Majority Leader Bob Mirch said cuts in that office were no different than anywhere else.

There was an excessive amount of staff there, he said.

There are six Democratic legislators and five staffers, including four legislative aides and an attorney.

Levels of staffing in the majority office were not immediately available, but spokesman Richard Crist said that office will also lose at least one staffer in 2007.

Crist could not provide the amount of the majority office's total 2007 budget, but he said it was reduced by $116,301 for 2007.

He also said the office worked with fewer staffers than usual in 2006, generating $80,000 in savings.

O'Brien called the Democratic office budget reduction mean and vengeful, noting that she had to announce the layoffs less than a week before Christmas.

She said her department was willing to take a budget cut, but not one of this magnitude.

She said she pleaded with each of the 13 Republican legislators to roll back the cut.

Mirch said the cut wasn't personal and residents would see that in 2007 when each resolution for spending would be deeply scrutinized.

"We cut many departments in county government and the reality is, there will probably be more cuts during the year," Mirch said.

Kate Perry can be reached at 454-5092 or by e-mail at kperry@timesunion.com.

end quotes

RENSSELAER COUNTY GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK IS A GREAT BIG JOKE ......

ON US .....

WE PAY FOR A SHADOW .....

A "GOVERNMENT" THAT IS NOT REALLY THERE ......

JUST A BUNCH OF POLITICIANS .....

ON THE MAKE ......

LIKE BOBBY MIRCH .....

WHO, LIKE HIS POLITICAL MENTOR AND LIEGE-LORD, JOSEPH, "THE IRON DUKE" BRUNO .....

SEES THE COUNTY TREASURY .....

AS BELONGING TO HIM ......

OR TO "HIS POCKET", ANYWAY ....

A GREAT HUGE "FEED TROUGH" ....

FOR BOBBY AND THE REPUBLICANS TO WALLOW IN ....

Which it really is .....

In reality, anyway ....

DESPITE SOME EMPTY WORDS ON PIECES OF SCRAP PAPER .....

CALLED CONSTITUTIONS, CHARTERS AND LAWS .....

And so ...

DERELICTION OF DUTY REDUX!

WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE .....

And yes .....

AMERICA DID GET FOOLED AGAIN .....

"Bush in Texas to rethink Iraq course"

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:15 p.m., Tuesday, December 26, 2006

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush went to his ranch Tuesday to rethink U.S. involvement in Iraq as his spokesman hailed a Baghdad court's decision upholding the death sentence for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Bush, saddled with low approval ratings for his handling of Iraq, will host a National Security Council meeting on Thursday at the ranch, but is not expected to make any final decision on what he says will be a new way forward in Iraq.

Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley will attend the meeting.

Stanzel said there could be other National Security Council meetings before the president makes up his mind and delivers a speech to announce his decisions.

The speech is expected before the State of the Union address on Jan. 23.

Bush is under mounting pressure to change U.S. involvement in Iraq where violence continued to escalate this month.

On Tuesday, the U.S. military reported that seven more American soldiers had died, pushing the U.S. military death toll for the month to 90.

With five days remaining in the month, December is already the second deadliest month for the U.S. military this year, behind the 105 soldiers killed in October.

The latest deaths also brought the number of U.S. military members killed since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,978 -- five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Stanzel said Bush continues to question advisers and think through the consequences of various U.S. actions.

"Our forces, coalition forces in Iraq are continuing to take the fight to the enemy, and the president will announce a new way forward when he's comfortable" with his decision, he said.

Bush spent the Christmas holiday with his family at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

When he arrived in Texas, about 50 well-wishers, squinting in the sunshine, welcomed him as he walked down the steps of the plane with first lady Laura Bush and her mother, Jenna Welch.

And while George W. Bush is fixin' to get with gettin' comfortable with his decision on the NEWEST NEW WAY FORWARD for IRAQINAM .....

We have the consequences of George's BUNGLING all around us, here in OUR America .....

And especially in OUR economy .....

And so ....

"Home prices growth slowest since 1997"

By VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer

46 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Prices of single-family homes across the nation rose in October at the slowest rate in almost a decade, a housing index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's showed, giving more evidence of the housing market's deceleration, which has affected many parts of the broader economy.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index showed a 2.4 percent year-over-year increase in the price of a single-family home based on prices of existing homes tracked over time in 10 metropolitan markets.

For its 20-city composite index, prices grew 2.9 percent, the slowest rate ever for that data, according to the S&P index committee chairman, David Blitzer.

"Home price gains are continuing their steep deceleration," said Chief Economist Robert Shiller of MacroMarkets LLC.

"We can clearly see that the monthly price declines are wide spread nationally."

The growth rate of the 10-city composite index is sharply below the 3.7 percent rise posted in September and the slowest since a 2 percent growth rate in February 1997, according to S&P.

In addition to the overall composite index, the housing indicator also measures the health of existing home sales in 20 major markets in the U.S.

The S&P added 10 additional markets this month.

Among the worst performing markets were Detroit, Boston, Cleveland, San Diego and San Francisco.

Seattle and Portland, meanwhile, posted strong annual returns.

Analysts predict continued slowing of sales amid a bloated inventory of homes.

The data is consistent with a report from the National Association of Realtors, which showed a tiny increase in sales of existing homes in October as the median home price fell by a record amount.

The realtors association showed that the median sale price dropped to $221,000 in October, a decline of 3.5 percent from a year ago.

That was the biggest year-over-year price decline on record.

Meanwhile, the inventory of unsold homes in October reached the second-highest level ever recorded.

At the pace homes were being sold in October, it would take 7.4 months to sell the currently available homes.

The Federal Reserve has been closely watching the housing market as it tries to slow the economy's growth without pushing it into a recession.

The Fed has left rates unchanged for the past four meetings, after raising rates 17 straight times since 2004.

At its last meeting on Dec. 12, a statement from the Fed said, "Economic growth has slowed over the course of the year, partly reflecting a substantial cooling of the housing market."

In recent quarters, economists had said the housing slump was creating a drag on the economy and pulling down gross domestic product growth.

U.S. GDP fell to 2 percent in the third quarter amid a cooling real estate market.

"Bruno probe was months in making - Subpoena details grand jury efforts to probe Senate leader's flight linked to a business associate"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The U.S. grand jury investigating the link between Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and a suspected lobbyist has been taking testimony since at least April 13, according to a subpoena disclosed Tuesday.

The Temporary State Commission on Lobbying received a notice to provide information to the grand jury in Albany on March 14, giving commission staff a month to provide investigative material it had collected on Bruno, according to a subpoena released by the commission under the state Freedom of Information Law.

The subpoena says commission members would be asked to talk about their investigation of the Dec. 1, 2005, flight Bruno took to LaGuardia Airport from Schenectady County Airport.

On that day, Bruno was denied use of Gov. George Pataki's aircraft to attend meetings in New York City.

Instead, the Brunswick Republican leader took a plane made available from Richmor Aviation, which handles planes owned by Jared Abbruzzese, a businessman who has used Bruno's private consulting business.

Abbruzzese also is the former co-chairman of Evident Technologies Inc., which received $500,000 in state grants, called member items, from Bruno.

The FBI has issued subpoenas to Bruno and Abbruzzese as part of the grand jury investigation, according to Bruno and a lawyer for Abbruzzese.

Bruno has said his business dealings have been legal and Abbruzzese's lawyer, E. Stewart Jones Jr., said the relationship has been "legitimate" and "explainable."

The Richmor trip record for the Dec. 1, 2005, flight says, "Mr. Abbruzzesse (sic) is paying for the senator's portion," according to Lobbying Commission investigation records that are part of a court case involving Abbruzzese's attempts to avoid testifying in the lobbying case.

He has maintained that he is not a lobbyist covered by the lobbying law, although the commission alleges he was lobbying to change racing laws.

On Tuesday, Empire Racing Associates said Abbruzzese, who was a director of the group, is divesting his investment and separating from the organization.

Empire is a bidder seeking the state thoroughbred racing franchise.

Empire leaders have been distancing themselves from Abbruzzese since he became the target of the Lobbying Commission for lending his plane to Bruno.

The flight record for the trip a year ago says Bruno took top staffers along -- John McArdle, director of communications for the Senate Republicans; Kenneth Riddett, chief counsel for the majority conference; Edward Lurie, legislative affairs director; and Steven Boggess, secretary of the Senate.

A Senate spokesman, Matthew Walter, said no Senate central staff members, including the four recorded as taking the Bruno trip, have been subpoenaed.

"I would defer everything to Richmor headquarters," said Mark Macomber, a pilot on the flight.

"I'm not at liberty to say anything."

Mahlon Richards, an owner of Richmor, refused to comment on the federal probe.

The Lobbying Commission's subpoena is one of a series that have been served by the FBI in connection with the matter, but it apparently is one of the earliest.

"We just turned over documents," said David Grandeau, executive director of the Lobbying Commission.

The subpoena called for materials collected by the Lobbying Commission as part of its investigation into Abbruzzese, of Loudonville.

The commission suspects he is a lobbyist who did not register as required under lobbying laws and who may have given Bruno a gift -- plane rides -- beyond the legal limit of $74.99.

Bruno's spokesmen have said his Senate campaign committee paid for the December flight and other flights arranged by Richmor aboard planes tied to Abbruzzese in 2005, including a flight to Kentucky with staff members and Abbruzzese's business partner, and a flight to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28 with Abbruzzese.

The investigation is creating division within the Senate Republican conference.

On Tuesday, Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, wrote to his colleagues in the majority conference complaining about Bruno's leadership and the grand jury probe.

"As a former prosecutor, I fully understand that people are innocent until proven guilty in the criminal justice system," Bonacic wrote.

"The leader is entitled to remain silent, he is entitled not to publicly divulge his outside business contacts."

"He can grant member items to companies whose principals later hire his consulting firm for legitimate services."

"None of those actions or activities may account for a crime."

"I hope they do not."

Bonacic said so far 150 news articles have been generated on the Bruno probe and more stories are likely.

"Had all of this broken on Nov. 1, there is a strong chance we would be in the Senate minority," he wrote.

"We need new leadership."

Walter would not comment on the letter.

But two Senate Republican members contacted the Times Union within minutes of Walter's refusal.

Sen. Kenneth LaValle of Port Jefferson and Sen. Martin Golden of Brooklyn said Bonacic's letter does not reflect the sentiments of most members of the conference.

"I don't know why Sen. Bonacic, and I like John Bonacic, would do divisive things," LaValle said, adding that history will show Bruno to be the best majority leader ever.

"Bonacic is a lone ranger on this," Golden said.

"I don't think you're going to find too many people supportive of the letter."

"Joe Bruno will be elected overwhelmingly Jan. 3."

Separately, Sen. Michael A.L. Balboni, R-Nassau County, who is joining Democratic governor-elect Eliot Spitzer's administration, praised Bruno and said he will vote for him to lead the Senate again.

"It's currently an investigation and nothing else," said Balboni, a lawyer.

Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Forked tongues - Top generals in Iraq change their tune and now support a surge of U.S. troops"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, December 27, 2006

How many troops does the U.S. need to secure Iraq?

The nearly 140,000 who are already there, or a surge of some 30,000 additional troops now under consideration by President Bush and his new defense secretary, Robert Gates?

The answer ought to be simple enough.

Just ask the commanders on the ground, as Mr. Bush has said so often in the past.

Listen to their expert advice and follow it.

Only it isn't as simple as that.

Either the generals aren't being candid with the White House, or they are saying what they think Mr. Bush wants to hear.

Either way, they are failing the American public and they troops they lead.

Earlier this month, Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, told a Senate hearing that sending more American troops to Iraq in general, and Baghdad in particular, would be a mistake.

More troops, he argued, would take the pressure off the new Iraqi government to train and deploy police and military forces capable of standing up to the extremists -- including sectarian leaders waging a religious war, as well as al-Qaida followers -- who are carrying out suicide attacks that kill dozens of Iraqis, and a steadily mounting toll of American troops, every day.

That view was echoed by other commanders on the ground, including Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno and others.

Only now, Gen. Casey, who has been mentioned frequently as likely to succeed Gen. Abizaid early next year, has had a change of heart.

Now he says he's comfortable with a troop surge after all.

All of a sudden, the consensus among U.S. commanders in Iraq coincides with the policy shift that Mr. Bush is expected to announce soon.

How convenient, and how incredible.

Talk about losing credibility.

It's hard to imagine anyone taking Gens. Casey, Odierno or others at their word anymore.

And neither will Mr. Bush when he says he stands ready to follow what his commanders in Iraq recommend.

To the contrary, Mr. Bush seems more like the president who ignored expert advice in the rush to war in 2003 -- stubbornly intent on going it alone.

And the economy .....

"Area housing market softens less than feared - Sales of single-family houses this year off 1 percent instead of steeper decline that Realtors expected"

By ERIC ANDERSON, Deputy business editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, December 27, 2006

ALBANY -- Local real estate officials say the housing market may be softening, but not by as much as they originally feared.

While sales of single-family houses in the Capital Region in November were down 11 percent from a year earlier, the tally for the year to date is off just 1 percent.

"We thought we'd be off 5 or 6 percent" in 2006 from the record sales of 2005, said James Ader, chief executive officer of the Greater Capital Association of Realtors Inc.

"This has still been a very solid market in the Capital Region in spite of what we've heard about the housing market."

And median prices -- the price at which half the houses sell for more and half for less -- were up in each of the six area counties in which the association tracks sales, although the price was down for the region as a whole.

Prices didn't meet Realtors' expectations.

"While we looked for appreciation in the 6 percent to 8 percent range, we cannot be disappointed in what we have experienced, especially in light of the national housing picture," Ader said.

The counties with the highest median prices -- Albany and Saratoga -- saw the steepest declines in sales, with Albany County sales down 28 percent from November 2005 and Saratoga County sales off 22 percent.

The median price in Albany County climbed 7 percent to $205,000, while in Saratoga County it was up 2 percent to $250,000.

Overall in the Capital Region, the median price was down 1 percent in November to $187,100.

So far this year, the median price is up 5 percent.

In Rensselaer County, the median price was up 7 percent to $177,000, while the number of sales climbed 21 percent.

In Schenectady County, sales were off 12 percent, but the median price was up 10 percent, to $149,950.

The median price climbed 27 percent in November to $152,300 in Schoharie County, while in Montgomery County it was up 9 percent to $97,000.

In Schoharie County, the number of homes sold fell by four to 17, while in Montgomery County, it nearly doubled to 23.

The number of houses listed for sale throughout the region stood at 5,545 Tuesday, a comfortable figure for the market, Ader said.

"It's not so high that buyers have an immediate advantage when they enter the market," he said.

"And it's not so thin that sellers hold all the cards."

While the housing market may be softening elsewhere, some expect the Capital Region to remain relatively healthy.

Last week, an Oneonta bank holding company said it was acquiring a Clifton Park mortgage banker in part because of the economic growth it expects in the region's technology sector.

The Realtors' group, meanwhile, is predicting a slower 2007.

"We think sales will be down a little bit more this coming year," Ader said.

But prices, he added, "will continue to appreciate."

Eric Anderson can be reached at 454-5323 or by e-mail at eanderson@timesunion.com.

From Edith Hamilton who wrote in 1958 at 91.

“Is it rational that now when young people may have to face problems harder than we face, is it reasonable that with the atomic age before them, at this time we are giving up the study of how the Greeks and Romans prevailed magnificently in a barbaric world ....."

"The study, too, of how that triumph ended ....."

"How a slackness and a softness finally came over them to their ruin?"

"In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security, a comfortable life, and they lost all – security, comfort and freedom.”

WANT, WANT, WANT, GOTS TO HAVE .....

Yes, indeed .....

You guessed it .....

The REPUBLICAN-controlled New York State Senate ......

The "HOME" .....

Of the "IRON DUKE" of Rensselaer County in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of New York ....

The INESTIMABLE Joseph "BIG JOE" Bruno .....

A man rumored to wear a set of pants each day with at least FIFTY POCKETS in them .....

Just in case somebody might have something for one of them ...

And "BIG JOE" is a man who wants to accomodate .....

So there always should be an empty one waiting .....

A "pocket", that is ....

With FIFTY of them waiting to be filled each day ....

Our "BIG JOE" don't want no one turned away, after all ...

That has something for "BIG JOE'S" pocket .....

And so ....

"GOP senator calls for ouster of Republican NY Senate leader"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:35 p.m., Wednesday, December 27, 2006

ALBANY -- A GOP state senator has called for the ouster of fellow Republican Joseph Bruno as Senate majority leader because of Bruno's announcement last week that he is the subject of a federal investigation.

In a letter sent Tuesday to his Senate colleagues, John Bonacic of Orange County included a raft of news stories about the Bruno investigation -- Bonacic said it was a sample from the 150 or more such articles that have appeared -- and a warning that Democrats will use them as election fodder.

"We all should be familiar with each of these 150 articles, as well as the associated TV news video coverage on dozens of television stations," Bonacic wrote.

"If the leader remains the leader, we will all be seeing them in the 2008 election cycle."

"We need new leadership," Bonacic wrote.

"The success of our majority is more important than the interests of any member."

Bruno's office said Wednesday he had no comment on the letter.

A Bonacic aide said the senator was traveling Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

But one Bruno loyalist, Sen. William Larkin, denounced Bonacic's letter and the attached articles as "11 pages of garbage."

Bruno, who staged a coup against fellow Republican Ralph Marino to become Senate majority leader in late 1994, stunned colleagues last week when he told a state Capitol news conference that his private business activities are under investigation by the FBI.

Among other things, Bruno runs a private consulting business.

Bruno said he has done nothing wrong and was cooperating with the investigation that he said began in the spring of this year.

While most of Bruno's fellow Republican senators have either publicly supported him or kept quiet about the probe, there was behind-the-scenes grumbling that he should have informed his colleagues much earlier about the probe.

Bonacic broke ranks, however, and told a reporter that Bruno should step aside as majority leader while the investigation continues.

On Tuesday, Bonacic went a step further, formally calling on his colleagues to remove Bruno.

The investigation appears to center on Bruno's dealings with businessman Jared Abbruzzese and some of his associates.

Bruno directed $500,000 in state grants over the past two years to a private company linked to Abbruzzese.

"Had all this broken on November 1, there is a strong chance we would be in the Senate minority," Bonacic wrote.

"One cannot claim to be the leader of a conference, with the goal of strengthening that conference, when he conceals issues of significance from that conference."

"The leader can dismiss this as a 'media event,'" added Bonacic, referring to a Bruno statement about coverage of the probe.

"The FBI is not a media event."

"A federal grand jury is not a media event."

In the November election, the Senate GOP lost one seat on top of the three lost in the 2004 elections.

As of Jan. 1, the GOP will control 34 of the Senate's 62 seats, with Democrats holding 28.

The two main Republican contenders to replace Bruno should he be forced aside are thought to be Sen. Dean Skelos of Nassau County on Long Island and Sen. Thomas Libous of Binghamton.

Libous said he intends to support Bruno when the Senate votes Jan. 3 on the majority leader's job.

Skelos, the chamber's deputy majority leader, did not immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press to determine his position.

"I think Sen. Bonacic is a stalking horse for someone, but I don't know who," said Larkin, who -- like Bonacic -- represents Orange County.

------

Associated Press Writer Mark Johnson in Albany contributed to this report.

"Congress can only get better"

By JACK Z. SMITH
First published: Thursday, December 28, 2006

One has to wonder: Do the 535 members of Congress have a clue as to how inept, lazy, greedy, unethical, fiscally irresponsible and childishly partisan they look to most Americans?

Take Congress' budget deliberations.

The 109th Congress adjourned Dec. 9 without having passed nine of 11 appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Why can't Congress adopt a new budget on time, as city councils and school boards do routinely?

The best printable adjective with which to describe the 109th Congress is lazy.

It was in session scarcely more than 100 days this year and rarely distinguished itself when it was.

Many of its biggest headline-makers were those convicted, charged, being investigated or suspected of criminal or unethical acts.

This year also revealed just how closely some members of Congress were tied to sleazeball lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has done his bit for good government by going to prison.

Statesmanship seems a quaint relic.

Most members of Congress are unwilling to consistently tackle big, tough, vital issues such as Social Security reform, tax reform, immigration reform and federal budget deficits in an open-minded, dead-serious and bipartisan manner.

Instead, they focus on less politically perilous activities such as granting tax breaks to special-interest groups that in turn shower them with campaign donations.

A partisan rancor pervades Congress.

It seems that every important issue divides predominantly along party lines, whether it is Social Security or fuel-economy standards for vehicles.

As a result, little of great import gets done.

A recent Cox News Service story contained this damning remark from Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution and co-author of "The Broken Branch," a book about the malfunctioning Congress:

"The 109th Congress vies for the title of the all-time worst Congress."

"It spent little time in session, it failed to pass budget resolutions and appropriations bills, there was no serious oversight of the disaster in Iraq, there were no substantive policy achievements and corrupt members were forced from Congress."

A major contributor to the excessively vitriolic and petty partisanship between Republicans and Democrats is the decline of political moderates in Washington, most notably in the GOP.

A recent Washington Post article, published after the Democrats' impressive victories in the Nov. 7 elections, said the 110th Congress convening in January could have "the fewest moderates since the 19th century," based on an analysis of voting records by professors Keith Poole of the University of California at San Diego and Howard Rosenthal of New York University.

Eight of the House's 20 most moderate Republicans lost their seats, the article said.

The study defined a moderate as someone "whose votes consistently fall near the middle of the political spectrum on both fiscal and social issues."

Almost half of House Republicans were moderates 30 years ago, compared to well less than 10 percent today, Poole concluded.

The partisan polarization has been worsened greatly by hyperaggressive, socially conservative Republicans such as the now-departed Tom DeLay, who faces pending criminal charges back in Texas, and by President Bush, a right-wing ideologue who, contrary to his 2000 campaign pledge, has been a divider and not a uniter.

(He now says he's The Decider, but he's having a devil of a time deciding what to do about the mess in Iraq.)

I am confident that the 110th Congress will perform better simply because it would be difficult to do any worse.

There are some principled members of Congress who truly want to tackle the big, tough issues.

It's just a shame they're so badly outnumbered by numerous lackluster colleagues.

Jack Z. Smith writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His e-mail address is jzsmith@star-telegram.com.

"It is our duty to oppose wrongs of government"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, December 28, 2006

It might come as a shock to Michael Brown ("Support the country instead of bashing Bush," Dec. 19) to learn that dissent is a time-honored tradition in our political culture extending back to our English roots.

During America's War for Independence, the British press regularly and vociferously criticized his majesty's government for its conduct and prosecution of a military campaign to suppress the revolt.

If such vigorous dissent was permitted under a monarchy, how much more so should it be practiced in a democracy, a system where each citizen is invested with the authority and responsibility to hold the government accountable?

In the case of Iraq, we have a moral obligation to oppose this war of aggression that is proving toxic to our nation and so lethal to Iraqis.

I urge all Americans to consider joining with their fellow citizens in our nation's Capitol on Jan. 27 to hold our government accountable for its wanton and criminal acts.

MARTIN M.

Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...date=12/28/2006

"Reaction to Hevesi situation is entertaining"

Letters to the editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, December 28, 2006

As someone who has worked in and around New York state politics for nearly 20 years, I wasn't at all surprised to hear about Alan Hevesi using a state employee to chauffeur his disabled wife.

As far as I was concerned, it was just standard operating procedure among the multitude of overbearing and arrogant state office holders, who seem to see their coterie of door openers and satchel carriers as just one of many well-deserved perquisites.

What I was surprised to see is the faux dismay and over-the-top reaction at Hevesi's action.

It brings to mind that famous scene in "Casablanca" in Rick's Cafe when Captain Renault says, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" while a croupier hands the good captain a wad of cash.

JEFF W.

Nassau

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...date=12/28/2006

"Bush now needs to heed advice"

By TOM TEEPEN
First published: Friday, December 22, 2006

There was something a bit nutty about President Bush's recent listening tour of his own administration.

His own administration?

It was as if he had just figured out, after six years that he has a State Department and a Defense Department, and it occurred to him that maybe he ought to talk to some of the people in them.

The President's visits were ballyhooed with every attention-getting device short of drum rolls and trumpet flourishes.

All of this, we were told, was in the service of the President perfecting his announcement, postponed from soon to sooner or later, of a "new way forward" in Iraq.

Forward, that is, from Mission Accomplished.

Actually, Bush, and Rumsfeld, had been hearing from the State and Defense departments all along, but each was so in the thrall of his own idee fixe that neither could pay attention.

Bush, by attacking and occupying Iraq, would treat the Middle East to peace and democracy, the most awesome bringer of light since the Big Guy.

And by conquering Iraq with only a relative handful of troops but lots and lots of gee-whiz high-tech stuff, Rumsfeld would validate his new, smaller video-game Army.

Neither bothered to heed memos from the experienced hands in State and Defense who were warning that a U.S. invasion could ignite horrendous internal problems in Iraq unless we prepared a detailed post-combat plan.

And it quickly became apparent that any dissenters would pay for their apostasy.

For testifying to Congress that an Iraq invasion and occupation would require, for success, hundreds of thousands of troops, the respected Army general, Eric Shinseki, was mustered out.

The President's flurry of largely superfluous activity has made it clear that the nation is seeing the outfall of a family psychodrama more than an open-minded search for a policy.

Item by item, the President has been dismissing the recommendations of the independent Iraq Study Group.

How dare Poppy try to save the kid's tail by contriving a conclave of elders, led no less by daddy's own secretary of state, to tender sensible -- ah, but rankling -- options.

As the President gropes for a way out of Iraq, it appears that the first principle for adoption is that the new way forward must not seem to endorse the study group's conclusions or even suggest that its deliberations were called for in the first place.

Tom Teepen writes for Cox Newspapers. His e-mail address is teepencolumn@earthlink.net.

And as the TRUE COST .....

Of "LOOK THE OTHER WAY AND SEE NOTHING" GROWTH AT ANY COST .....

Finally comes home .....

To affluent, trendy and upscale Bethlehem, New York .......

"Wal-Mart gives police little to smile about - 3-year-old Bethlehem store proves to be more of a drain on department resources than anticipated"

By MARC PARRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, December 28, 2006

BETHLEHEM -- The pitch for a new shopping center predicted a modest impact on police: maybe four or five calls a month.

The reality is the Wal-Mart that came to town sometimes generates that many calls a day.

After three years in business, the largest store at Bethlehem Town Center is now a constant destination for police in this affluent Albany suburb.

The Wal-Mart supercenter, which enjoyed a property tax break of nearly $50,000 in 2006, has taxed cops to the tune of 1,175 calls for service since 2004.

Shoplifting.

Lockouts.

Drugs.

Accidents.

Fights.

Guns.

These are a sampling of the calls Bethlehem police get on average more than 30 times a month, according to a Times Union analysis of three years of calls for service to the store on Route 9W in Glenmont.

"He was extremely low on his estimate," Bethlehem Police Lt. Thomas Heffernan said of the police call projection from the developer, Nigro Companies.

Bethlehem's experience with big-box crime offers a lesson for other towns facing Wal-Mart proposals.

The world's largest retailer has 14 stores in and around the Capital Region.

It recently abandoned plans for a supercenter in Rotterdam.

Nationally, one union-backed group often critical of Wal-Mart raised the issue of police calls in a study titled "Crime and Wal-Mart -- 'Is Wal-Mart Safe?' "

The review of 551 stores, condemned by Wal-Mart as a selectively sampled attack, found an average of 269 reported incidents per Wal-Mart in 2004.

The Glenmont Wal-Mart exceeded that by more than 100 calls, with a yearly average of 392.

In part, the calls are growing pains that come with a broader transformation along the Route 9W corridor -- the primary growth area in recent decades for a town eager to expand its commercial tax base.

"It's turning from the bedroom community into more of a commercial community such as Colonie," said Officer Michael Berben, vice president of the Bethlehem Police Officers Union.

"I could see within 10 or 20 years 9W being like Wolf Road."

Today, what was vacant land is now a 200,000-square-foot store.

Within Wal-Mart's warehouse-style walls, you can have a pedicure and grab some Dunkin' Donuts, buy a 61-inch television for $2,300 or an eight-pack of hot dogs for 68 cents.

The advantages for Bethlehem amount to much more than cheap wieners, though.

Wal-Mart contributed more than $240,000 in school taxes in 2006.

It also generates sales tax, brings in customers who spend their money with other local businesses and attracts new retailers.

The Bethlehem Town Center -- home to Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and three smaller tenants -- will expand in January with Staples, PetSmart and Panera Bread.

"It contributes to the overall economy of the town," George Leveille, Bethlehem's director of economic development and planning, said of Wal-Mart.

"I think the net economic benefits are greater than any costs that would be incurred by the public sector."

Yet the costs are hard to ignore.

Wal-Mart is attracting a criminal element from around the area that includes gang members, drug addicts and thieves, one police source said.

Shoplifting and other theft led to 207 calls to police over the past three years.

One crook even stole a Wal-Mart vest to pass as an employee.

In another common scam, thieves stuff garbage pails and other large containers with items like expensive baby food, DVDs and small televisions.

They pay for the container and sell the booty on the black market, the source said.

Sexual shenanigans also may have taken place in the parking lot, according to at least one report.

Employee theft also repeatedly brings police to Wal-Mart, in one call for allegedly stealing over $1,000.

Other calls came in for an employee suspected of gang activity, a fired worker out of control, and an ex-employee who yanked a woman's hair.

Authorities charged one employee with assault for punching a man in the store "several times with a closed fist," drawing blood and cutting his eye, according to a police report.

Altogether, Wal-Mart's 1,175 calls for service dwarfed the 618 calls generated by Kmart, Price Chopper and other stores in the nearby Town Squire plaza over the same three-year period, according to police records.

The same Capital District Transportation Authority bus line serves both Town Squire and Wal-Mart.

The route runs from the Greyhound station in Albany through the South End and out to Glenmont.

Police typically dispatch two cars to shoplifting calls.

Making the arrest, booking the shoplifter and writing up the incidents can take an hour, usually two.

Lt. Heffernan acknowledged the constant calls from Wal-Mart affected his department.

But he did not consider that impact "significant."

He reserved that word for more severe episodes like the 2004 Porco murder and the 2000 Normans Kill landslide.

That Wal-Mart would generate so many calls isn't surprising, he said, considering it is the largest store in town.

The 43-officer Police Department has not made any staffing level changes specific to Wal-Mart, he said.

He also pointed out that Wal-Mart's call volume may be inflated by incidents like accidents that happen in front of the store but are listed at its address in police records.

People locked out of cars accounted for 146 calls.

"I think it's important for people to know that it's not just criminal activity," Heffernan said.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber said employees are trained to notify authorities whenever they see suspicious or potentially dangerous situations.

Outside the store "safety is a much more difficult issue," Weber said, but the store works with authorities to fine-tune things like lighting and security cameras.

Looked at another way, the volume of calls to Wal-Mart reveals only part of the impact on law enforcement.

The numbers don't take into account people arrested in traffic stops elsewhere in town whose reason for coming to Bethlehem was Wal-Mart, Berben said.

"The addition of Wal-Mart in the town of Bethlehem has led to a measurable increase in crime," the union official said, "which supports a need for additional police personnel."

Back in 2001, Nigro Companies predicted a possible "minor impact" on police staffing levels.

That came in its draft environmental impact statement for the Bethlehem Town Center, the same document that estimated four to five new police calls a month.

Nigro Vice President Steven Powers told the Times Union that the figures stemmed from the firm's past projects as well as its engineer.

He pointed to the Glenville and Halfmoon Wal-Marts.

The firm's impact study also pointed to a 2000 letter from the Bethlehem police chief, though the letter's significance is unclear.

"The only way we can project those things is based on previous projects and previous experience," Powers said.

"I can't predict the future in terms of a different area of the Capital District."

But during the approval process several residents predicted developer John Nigro's estimates would prove way off mark.

Meeting minutes show Michael Trout of Selkirk said this at a packed public hearing in 2001:

"Mr. Nigro at one point said off the top of his head he thought maybe four to five additional police calls a month."

"Based on the large center of this type that I'm familiar with, I think he is underestimating by about a factor of 10."

The project's final environmental impact statement took such concerns into account.

It estimated, based on a comparison with Colonie's Latham Farms, that the entire Bethlehem shopping complex might anticipate 21 calls per month.

Looking just at calls to Wal-Mart, that was still low by about 10 calls.

Parry can be reached at 454-5057 or by e-mail at mparry@timesunion.com.

"Bush likely to boost troop level - President looks at adding 17,000-20,000 soldiers, mostly around Baghdad"

By DAVID S. CLOUD and JEFF ZELENY

First published: Friday, December 29, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering an increase in troop levels in Iraq of between 17,000 and 20,000, which would be accomplished in part by delaying the departure of two Marine regiments now deployed in Anbar province, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

The option was among those discussed in Crawford, Texas, on Thursday as President Bush met there with his national security team, and it has emerged as a likely course as he considers a strategy shift in Iraq, the officials said.

Most of the additional troops probably would be employed in and around Baghdad, the officials said.

With the continuing high levels of violence there, senior officials increasingly say additional U.S. forces will be needed as soon as possible to clear neighborhoods and to conduct other combat operations to regain control of the capital, rather than primarily to train Iraqi forces.

"The mission that most people are settling on has to do with using them in a security role to quell violence in Baghdad and the surrounding area," said a senior Pentagon official involved in the planning.

Any plan to add to U.S. forces in Baghdad would have to be negotiated with the government of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, which has expressed interest in using Iraqi forces, not American ones, to assert more control over the capital.

The idea of extending the deployments of two Marine units has emerged in part because most of the Marines in Iraq are on seven-month rotations and keeping them there longer is considered more palatable than holding over Army brigades, which are already serving tours of a year or longer, one official said.

Additional troops would come from sending into Iraq a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division headed for the region next month and possibly by speeding up the deployment of several Army brigades now scheduled to go to Iraq by next spring.

But officials said a brigade of the 1st Armored Division now in Anbar province would probably go home as planned in January, because the unit had already been kept in Iraq more than 40 days beyond its scheduled tour.

Other options remain under consideration, officials said, noting a decision to speed up deployment schedules would put more strain on Army and Marine equipment and personnel.

But other options, like mobilizing reserve units, would take months, officials said.

After meeting with his top military and diplomatic advisers at his Texas ranch, Bush said his administration was making "good progress" in crafting a revised Iraq strategy.

But he said he intended to consult with Congress when it convenes next week before presenting his plan to the nation.

"I fully understand it's important to have both Republicans and Democrats understanding the importance of this mission," Bush said, speaking to reporters after a three-hour meeting.

"It's important for the American people to understand success in Iraq is vital for our own security."

The meeting, according to a senior administration official, focused on the security, economic and political situation in Iraq.

But the bulk of the discussions focused on the security issue and the option of sending more U.S. troops to Baghdad, the official said.

How additional U.S. troops would be employed in Baghdad remains a central point of discussion among Bush's top advisers and top ground commanders in Iraq, officials said.

But two officials said there was growing agreement that most would not be attached to American teams training Iraqi army and police units, because doing so would not necessarily yield the quick improvements in security the White House wants.

But it is also unclear to what extent the additional forces would be employed to curb the power of militias associated with Shiite groups that form a key constituency for al-Maliki.

The two units whose stay could be extended are the Marines' 5th and 7th Regiment combat teams in Anbar province, which are scheduled to begin leaving Iraq in February when two replacement regiments are due, officials said.

It is unclear which Army brigades could be sent early.

A 3,500-soldier brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., is scheduled to arrive in Iraq in mid-January, followed in subsequent months by units from the 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Riley, Kan., and the Second Infantry Division, at Fort Lewis, Wash.

The 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Benning, Ga., is scheduled to go to Iraq this spring, according to a spokesman, Kevin Larson.

THE WAR IN VIETNAM .....

WAS NOT LOST ....

IN THE FIELD .....

Nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times .....

Or on college campuses ......

IT WAS LOST IN WASHINGTON, D.C. .....

EVEN BEFORE AMERICANS ASSUMED SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FIGHTING IN 1965 .....

AND BEFORE THEY REALIZED THE COUNTRY WAS AT WAR .....

INDEED ....

EVEN BEFORE THE FIRST AMERICAN UNITS WERE DEPLOYED .....

THE DISASTER IN VIETNAM WAS NOT THE RESULT OF IMPERSONAL FORCES .....

BUT A UNIQUELY HUMAN FAILURE .....

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHICH WAS SHARED BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON ......

AND HIS PRINCIPAL MILITARY AND CIVILIAN ADVISERS.

THE FAILINGS WERE MANY ......

AND REINFORCING:

ARROGANCE ....

WEAKNESS .....

LYING IN PURSUIT OF SELF-INTEREST .....

AND ABOVE ALL .....

THE ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ....

- Pages 333,334, Dereliction of Duty - Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, AND THE LIES THAT LED TO VIET NAM by H.R. McMaster ......

From pp. xviii and xix of the Preface to War Comes to Long An - Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province by Jeffrey Race .....

The subject matter of this study - a war - and the duty of a scholar - to speak truth - have similarly required me to report many brutal actions and many unpleasant conclusions.

The reader will, I trust, restrain the urge to flay the messenger who brings the bad news.

Related to the ethical question is the problem of terminology.

TO USE THE TERM "VIETCONG" IS HARD TO JUSTIFY.

IT MEANS LITERALLY, "VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST," WHEREAS MOST OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE THE SAIGON GOVERNMENT ARE OUTSIDE THE LAO DONG PARTY (since 1961 in the South called the People's Revolutionary Party).

ON THE OTHER HAND, THE TERM "INSURGENT" IS EQUALLY MISLEADING.

The term implies an uprising against a legally constituted authority, WHEN IN FACT BECAUSE OF A WHOLE SERIES OF FRAUDULENT ELECTIONS AND COUPS D'ETAT NEITHER THE DIEM REGIME NOR ITS SUCCESSORS THROUGH 1965 COULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED ANY MORE "LEGALLY CONSTITUTED" THAN COULD THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LAO DONG PARTY IN THE SOUTH.

LIKEWISE, THE TERM "INSURGENCY" CARRIES THE MISLEADING CONNOTATION OF AN UPRISING AGAINST AN "ESTABLISHED" AUTHORITY.

Yet successive central governments have been "established" only in the sense of occupying a number of buildings in the principal cities and in the province and district capitals.

A STUDY SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND WHY THE "ESTABLISHED" GOVERNMENT DECLINED IS THUS MISDIRECTED FROM THE START.

The question is, why one of two competing leaderships was capable of establishing a stronger movement in the rural areas.

THE TERM WHICH I HAVE SELECTED - REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT - HAS ITS OWN DRAWBACKS.

IT IS SOMWHAT LONGER, AND IT MAY OFFEND SOME WHO PREFER NOT TO THINK OF AN ADVERSARY OF THE UNITED STATES IN THIS WAY.

NEVERTHELESS IT POINTS DIRECTLY TO WHAT CREATED THE SUCCESS OF THE MOVEMENT - THE FACT THAT IT REPRESENTED A SOCIAL REVOLUTION.

MOREOVER, IT PERMITS AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE LEADERSHIP OF THE MOVEMENT (the Lao Dong Party) AND THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERSHIP, WHICH IS NONCOMMUNIST.

"Spitzer faces scandal-scarred state government"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
Last updated: 10:52 a.m., Saturday, December 30, 2006

ALBANY -- In the week before Christmas, New York's state comptroller pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned the office to which he had just been re-elected.

A day earlier, the Republican leader of the state Senate announced he was under investigation by the FBI.

The week before that, a state senator from the Bronx, Democrat Efrain Gonzalez Jr., pleaded not guilty to charges that he was using charity groups in a scheme to steal more than $400,000 in state money.

In October, a powerful state Assembly member and major labor leader, Brian McLaughlin of Queens, was indicted on racketeering charges, accused of stealing more than $2.2 million.

In July, state Assemblywoman Diane Gordon was arraigned on bribery charges after prosecutors said they videotaped the Brooklyn Democrat demanding a developer build her a $500,000 house in return for her assistance on a land deal.

Questionable ethics, corruption and plain old thievery have become the hot topics at the state Capitol as state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer prepares to take over as New York's 54th governor.

"It's not a whiff, it's a stench," said Lee Miringoff, head of Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion.

"Stench is the word I would use."

"In the last few years, it's been unprecedented," said government watchdog Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Democrat Spitzer comes into office off a landslide victory fueled in large part by his successful crackdown as attorney general on mutual fund managers and other Wall Street institutions, consumer-popular initiatives that earned him the moniker "the Sheriff of Wall Street."

Spitzer has been afforded, according to Miringoff, an excellent opportunity to push ethics reform in Albany.

The governor-elect has called it a priority.

"What better time for the Sheriff of Wall Street to show up," said Miringoff.

"It's an agenda he would like to have and now it has actually come his way."

"The puck is sitting right in front of the net and they've pulled the goalie."

Whether Spitzer will really find it that easy to score in his attempt to reform the culture of Albany remains to be seen.

He will need the cooperation of the leaders of the state Legislature, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat.

In the past, both leaders and outgoing Republican Gov. George Pataki have all come up with proposals to overhaul the state's campaign finance laws, ethics statutes and lobbying regulations.

They have all pledged their commitment and then, most often, failed to agree on the details.

Some, like Horner, have long doubted how much the powers that be are committed to altering the landscape and thus making it potentially easier to topple those very same powers that be.

"It is the rope-a-dope strategy of debating the details," said Horner.

Added to the mix for 2007 is the fact that Bruno has said he is under federal investigation for his private business dealings.

He has said he has done nothing wrong, but it has come out that he directed $500,000 in state grants to a private company linked to one of his business colleagues.

Thus far, Bruno has refused to make public a list of clients who have hired his private consulting business, how much income he received from them or what services he performed for them.

Such public disclosure is not legally required.

Silver, who is on the payroll of a Manhattan law firm, has also refused to make public how much he makes from that job or his client list.

Spitzer and Pataki, on the other hand, have regularly allowed the news media to look over their income tax returns.

That is not legally required and does not provide a complete picture of their financial dealings.

It does, however, provide the public with information about their top government leaders that has been resisted up until now by legislative leaders.

But with the problems facing Bruno and the Dec. 22 conviction-resignation of Comptroller Alan Hevesi stemming from his use of a state employee as a driver-companion for his wife, Miringoff and Horner believe the climate may be ripe for change.

"The public wants things to change and if there's public interest, it makes it easier to get things done," Horner said.

"It's an opportunity for Spitzer," said Miringoff.

"It's tailor-made for him."

------

Marc Humbert has covered New York state politics and government for The Associated Press for more than 25 years. He can be reached via e-mail at mhumbert(at)ap.org.

"Top area Democrats wait for Spitzer's call - So far, no high-profile administration jobs have gone to local officials"

By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, December 30, 2006

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings is in.

No, he's out, but Sen. Neil Breslin is on his way there.

No, no, that's not right, it's Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton who is leaving office.

For weeks, the names of those local Democratic honchos and others have briefly bubbled to the surface as the ephemeral speculation of local Democrats mixing and matching the names of Capital Region colleagues potentially bound for the administration of Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer.

So far, Spitzer has announced the nominations of seven commissioners and more than a dozen other appointments, including budget director, for his inner circle.

But none of those high-profile jobs have gone to Capital Region Democrats.

Most local Democratic observers expect it will take months for Spitzer to fill his administration and they expect few local Democrats to get top spots.

"The people that are talking don't know what's going on and the people that do aren't talking," said Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, who served as a regional coordinator for Spitzer's campaign.

So what does Savage know?

"I don't know what's going on," she said.

"You've got to ask me more specific questions."

For the first time in 12 years, the governor's office will be in the hands of a different party when Spitzer, a Democrat, is sworn in Monday.

With the change in administration will come the power to fill thousands of patronage positions within the state government.

Many area Democrats have anticipated Spitzer's election for months and drooled over the promise of a smorgasbord of high-paying state jobs.

But a number of ranking Democrats privately say jobs going to local officials and party members has gotten little serious discussion.

One Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity said the inroads the party has made in upstate cities and the state's suburban towns could be weakened if Spitzer raids the local leadership.

"I don't think Eliot Spitzer can go into every town and take the top people," the source said.

"You have to keep the understructure."

Most insiders expect Spitzer will fill the bulwark of his administration with his staff from the attorney general's office, people who worked for former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and some members of the state Assembly.

Locally, speculation has included jobs going to Assemblyman Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam; former Troy Comptroller and Brunswick Democratic town Chairman Martin Dunbar; and Joseph Rabito, Albany's commissioner of development and planning.

Several Schenectady County Democrats insist that Stratton remains on Spitzer's radar.

One source speculated he could end up leading the governor's Office for Small Cities.

(Former Schenectady Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski held the second-in-command post in that agency when he first went to work for Gov. George Pataki.)

Stratton has declined to comment on his future and did not return a phone call for this story.

A number of Democrats who talked would only speak about potential appointments if given anonymity, fearing that being identified would either harm an ally's chance of landing a job or jeopardize their own opportunities.

But many said the seeming silence could simply be the byproduct of a fledgling search expected to take months.

A number of Republicans from Rensselaer County, which is the home county of state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and was the home of GOP state Chairman William Powers, eventually went to work for the Pataki administration.

John Sweeney, who went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of the first local Republicans chosen for Pataki's staff, taking the position of counsel to the state Office of Employee Relations when the governor took office in 1995.

He had been an executive director of the state GOP.

But it took months before a number of other top-level Rensselaer County Republicans got jobs.

Former County Executive John Buono was rumored for months to be in line for a top job, but it wasn't until May 1995 that he was formally picked to become the executive director of the state Dormitory Authority.

Several of Buono's top aides in the county government eventually followed him to the state.

Spitzer's insistence that job applicants send resumes to his transition team's Web site, http://www.transitionny.org, has added a wrinkle to the hiring process and has potentially stymied the power of the politically connected trying to get jobs for friends.

Thousands of resumes have reportedly poured in through the Web site.

"He's got a pretty significant team sifting through them right now," U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, said.

"I think he's going to put a pretty impressive team together," McNulty said.

Some local Democrats have grumbled about the pace of hiring, but McNulty said he suspected the resumes were helping the transition team quickly build an expansive list of candidates.

"They ought to take their time."

"These are pretty significant positions," he said.

Still party insiders expect leaders around the state to have input in the hires.

Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany, said he feared an ongoing political struggle over Frank Commisso's chairmanship of the Albany County Democrats would lead Spitzer's team to look elsewhere.

He worried the incoming governor's team would size up that power struggle and decide:

"Let's give it to Utica, I don't want to get into the middle of that."

All that said, serving as an appointee for an elected official can be short-lived:

Job status is tied directly to the boss's electoral future.

If he or she loses, you lose.

Right now, nobody knows that better than local Republicans scrambling for jobs.

Republican Mike Iacobucci retired in November from his $60,000-a-year job as director of business services at Empire State Development rather than face the ax.

"It was time to get out."

"The administration was changing, so I just thought I'd beat them to the punch before I got the letter," said Iacobucci, a former Schenectady County Legislature Democrat who changed parties when he landed the state job.

"When you take the job, you know it's coming anyway," he said.

"You just wait for them to put the bullet in the gun."

"I know mine had my name on it."

Iacobucci spent the Christmas season working a sales job at Macy's in Rotterdam Square mall.

Mike Goodwin can be reached at 454-5465 or by e-mail at mgoodwin@timesunion.com

"Bruno's friend turns records over to FBI"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, December 29, 2006

ALBANY -- A Chatham veterinarian and close friend of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno is providing horse ownership records to the FBI, a source familiar with the broadening investigation of Bruno said Thursday.

Jerry Bilinski, 62, is providing records for a U.S. grand jury looking into links between Bruno, a horse breeder, and Jared Abbruzzese, who with partner Wayne Barr Jr., owns and races horses.

Bilinski is a principal of Excelsior Racing Associates, a bidder on the franchise to run races at the three NYRA tracks.

He would not take calls Thursday.

"Spitzer prepares to take over after 12 years of Republican rule"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
Last updated: 11:02 a.m., Saturday, December 30, 2006

ALBANY -- Calling himself "the new CEO of the state," Eliot Spitzer says he has a "sense of excitement and anticipation" as he prepares to take over as New York's 54th governor on New Year's Day.

That doesn't mean there aren't tough times ahead for the man who gained fame by taking on powerful Wall Street interests as the state's hard-charging attorney general, Spitzer told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview on the eve of his elevation to New York's top state government job.

"You don't run for an office like this without preparing yourself for both the enormity of it and the difficulty of it, but that doesn't mean you don't break out in a cold sweat sometimes," the millionaire lawyer from New York City told the AP.

"There's an enormous amount to be done, so we'd better put on our body armor," he said.

"The stakes are big and the battles will be tough."

Spitzer, a Democrat, easily beat former state Assembly Republican Minority Leader John Faso Nov. 7 to win the office being vacated by George Pataki, who after three, four-year terms is eyeing a run for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.

Spitzer faces the same divided state Legislature that the last Democratic governor, Mario Cuomo, and Pataki dealt with -- a Republican-led Senate and a Democratic-controlled state Assembly.

The notoriously gridlocked Legislature in 2004 earned the title of the nation's most dysfunctional.

Spitzer said he believes he can work with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, but he also says he will reach beyond them to rank-and-file lawmakers to move his agenda.

"All elected officials deserve to be heard," Spitzer said.

While there has been speculation Spitzer's ascendancy could lead to the ouster of Bruno or Silver -- or both -- the governor-elect said he won't assist any overthrows in the short term.

"There are no proxy battles planned right now," he said.

"To continue the metaphor, I guess we had our proxy vote on November 7 and we got a new CEO."

"There is a new CEO of the state and I'm going to run the state with my partners."

Nonetheless, Spitzer made it clear he plans to be the senior partner, saying he would "certainly do what a governor is supposed to do, which is to take the helm and say here are the priorities."

Spitzer said the biggest impediment is simply trying to change the status quo given the power of special interests in New York, including those inside and outside government.

"It's not that dissimilar from a corporate setting -- an executive who may not be performing well yet is often very difficult to unseat," he said.

"What I will lay out in the inaugural address on Monday as well as in the State of the State (address on Wednesday) will really focus on the twin arguments that government needs to be changed and the economy needs to be revitalized," he told the AP.

And while Spitzer's campaign slogan was "On day one, everything changes," he said Friday, "You can't pick too many battles, too many overarching objectives."

As part of his grand plan, Spitzer said he would push for new limits on Medicaid spending that already consumes more than $45 billion of the state's $115 billion budget, improve the state's education system and deal with the costs of doing business in New York state by overhauling the workers' compensation and unemployment insurance systems.

He said he will stick to his campaign pledge not to raise taxes.

"We cannot, as a state, afford to raise taxes now because we would lose our competitive position with respect to other states, nations and economies which we're competing with," he said.

Spitzer said he was open to entreaties from county officials that they be allowed to raise cigarette taxes to raise money.

"We'll look at it for the counties, but the state is not raising taxes," he said.

Spitzer was to take the official oath of office shortly before midnight Sunday in a private ceremony at the Executive Mansion in Albany.

A more formal inaugural ceremony, including his formal address, was scheduled for noon outside the Capitol on New Year's Day.

The outdoor ceremony, the state's first, was a contrast to a glitzy show put on by Pataki on New Year's Day 1995 as he filled an Albany sports arena with music, pomp and a celebrity audience that included radio shock jock Howard Stern.

For guests to the Spitzer inauguration, there was going to be plenty of New York's cuisine.

The Anchor Bar was bringing its famous chicken wings from Buffalo, while the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse was offering up its ribs and pulled pork.

There was to be cheesecake from Junior's in Brooklyn, spiedies (skewer-roasted beef cubes) from Lupo's in Binghamton and even the "garbage plate" -- a hot dog or hamburger heaped with home fries, macaroni salad, baked beans and meat sauce -- from Nick Tahou's in Rochester.

Spitzer also planned a 5 p.m. concert at Albany's Times Union Center arena featuring James Taylor and Natalie Merchant.

"Bruno friend draws scrutiny from FBI - Senate majority leader, business associate have tangled relationship"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, December 31, 2006

ALBANY -- Sherrie and Jared Abbruzzese might seem to have it made.

A mansion in Loudonville.

Country club memberships.

His and hers Cadillacs and Mercedeses in their fleet of eight high-end cars.

Jets.

A 27-foot boat.

Horses.

People still talk about the 50th-birthday party thrown a couple years ago for "Jerry," as he is called, at the couple's 9,600-square-foot home, estimating it cost at least $100,000.

He is known to toss down $100 tips at the prestigious Schuyler Meadows Club, where he is an enthusiastic if average golfer.

But now Abbruzzese, 52, is being scrutinized in an FBI probe that has found he paid Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees.

Interviews and a review of court documents reveal that his business dealings have included accusations of fraud and deceit, and even a multimillion-dollar judgment that threatened to take his home until that ruling was reversed.

In recent years the entrepreneur has been dogged by complaints of deceiving stockholders and fleecing investors.

None of those complaints has ever been sustained in court.

Abbruzzese and his local lawyers have refused repeated interview requests, and there was no response when reporters attempted to reach him at his home.

Flashy and outspoken, the businessman is described by associates as a "close friend" and business associate of Bruno, the state's most powerful Republican politician.

But beyond friendship, their relationship is a tangled web of public money and private enterprise that has now drawn the attention of law enforcement.

Bruno and Abbruzzese share a love of thoroughbred horses and for business.

Bruno has declined to discuss Abbruzzese, although the senator has acknowledged that the FBI is probing his own private business dealings, which include serving as a consultant to Abbruzzese.

The disclosure of the federal grand jury's investigation has heightened interest in Abbruzzese's troubled history in business.

In one 2002 lawsuit in Texas, a jury found Abbruzzese liable for a $9 million fraud, but an appeals court overturned the verdict -- and then Abbruzzese, without admitting guilt, agreed to settle the matter out of court.

The settlement occurred shortly after a $5 million judgment was filed against Abbruzzese in state Supreme Court in Albany.

In those two related cases, Thomas Dixon and David E. Webb, two executives of a company acquired by Abbruzzese's CAI Wireless, an Albany-based telecommunications venture, alleged in federal court in Texas that Abbruzzese deceived them by persuading them to forfeit stock options Abbruzzese allegedly knew could soon become extremely valuable.

They said he persuaded them to quit in 1999 and take a modest severance package just as WorldCom Inc. was preparing to acquire all the stock of CAI Wireless.

Later, WorldCom collapsed in scandal and declared bankruptcy, but not before buying CAI for $414 million at $28 per share.

Dixon's and Webb's stock options would have allowed them to buy that stock at 87 cents a share.

Meanwhile, Abbruzzese and his wife, major shareholders of CAI, walked away wealthy, according to federal records.

"There's a strong case that could be made that Jerry ended up getting victimized," says Abbruzzese's lawyer, Christopher Rentzel, who casts him as "the last man standing" in that case.

Armed with their then-valid jury verdict, Dixon and Webb filed suit in Albany to foreclose on Abbruzzese's home, an eight-bedroom mansion assessed in 2003 at $1.5 million.

They alleged Abbruzzese had fraudulently conveyed title to the home to his wife, Sherrie, to keep it out of their reach.

After their verdict was overturned, Dixon's and Webb's foreclosure was stayed in court while Abbruzzese agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of his settlement by Jan. 15, according to court records.

In another recent case, Abbruzzese was sued in Delaware by the largest stockholder of Motient Corp., a wireless mobile data service business, for allegedly steering millions of dollars in business to other businesses he controlled, including his own Albany investment service and Tejas Inc., a small Texas investment advisory service whose shares are publicly traded.

The stockholder alleged in the suit that Tejas provided Abbruzzese with at least 100,000 shares of Tejas stock for delivering business to Tejas while shareholders of Motient were not made aware of that conflict of interest.

At the time, Abbruzzese had left his role as a director at Motient.

He became a director of Tejas, which acquired his Albany company.

Bruno purchased stock in Tejas a couple of years ago, according to a public document.

The purchase came around the time other records show Bruno used Abbruzzese's airplane and occasionally flew with Abbruzzese.

But the Motient lawsuit was dismissed by a Delaware judge who described it as "at best ... a weak claim of corporate waste."

The judge said the stockholder had failed to prove allegations that Motient directors, including Abbruzzese, lacked independence and made imprudent decisions.

In that case, the suing stockholder alleged that Motient was being managed by an associate of Abbruzzese, Gary Singer, who was supposed to be banned for life from serving as an officer of a publicly traded company.

A convicted felon, Singer had served prison time for fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

Investors in Abbruzzese's CAI Wireless enterprise also sued in 1996 and 1997.

Abbruzzese, who was chairman of CAI, was accused by stockholders in a lawsuit of selling his stock while pumping up the company to investors with misrepresentations, omissions and unrealistically positive public announcements.

The company later sought protection from creditors in bankruptcy court and merged with MCI WorldCom Inc.

The stockholder suit was settled out of court for $3 million, $2.2 million of which went to the shareholders, according to plaintiffs' lawyer Michael C. Spencer and court records.

The settlement said the defendants, including Abbruzzese, continued to deny allegations of wrongdoing and liability.

The liability insurance company for the directors and officers paid out the money as part of the settlement in July 1998, Spencer said.

Abbruzzese also owned about a 15 percent stake in Evident Technologies Inc., a high-tech startup business based in a historic building in downtown Troy, and was Evident's co-chairman.

In 2003 and 2004, Bruno personally earmarked two $250,000 grants in discretionary state funds to the company through Empire State Development Corp.

ESDC, the economic development agency controlled by Gov. George Pataki, separately gave the company another $525,000.

A private proposal by Evident to sell stock from December 2005 says the "Abbruzzese Group" owns 464,756 shares of Evident, including shares held by companies owned or controlled by Abbruzzese, such as Dove Interests LLC and Bazaguma (derived from the names of Abbruzzese's four children) LLC and 15,840 shares held by Sherrie Abbruzzese.

The same document says another Abbruzzese business, Niskayuna Development LLC, was granted the rights to buy 85,000 shares of stock in Evident at a discount for helping to secure Evident assistance from ESDC.

An official with the state economic development agency, Vanessa Cuti, said no record of Abbruzzese's involvement in any of the ESDC grants can be found.

Abbruzzese's business partner, Wayne Barr Jr., is an Evident director and also controls more than 90,000 shares of Evident stock, the document reveals.

Abbruzzese's newest company, Wave Technologies, is based in Corporate Woods office park on Albany's north side.

Abbruzzese also is a horse farm operator and enthusiastic fan of thoroughbred racing.

He led the charge to raise $3 million for Empire Racing Associates, one of the entities bidding to take over the franchise for New York's three thoroughbred racetracks.

The franchise of the New York Racing Association to run the tracks will expire at the end of 2007.

Until this spring, Barr -- Abbruzzese's business partner -- served as Bruno's appointee on the NYRA board of trustees.

NYRA is bidding to hold onto the franchise, competing with Empire and a third venture, Excelsior Associates.

It will be up to Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and the state Legislature -- including, presumably, Bruno -- to determine who will get the lucrative racing franchise.

In October, after Abbruzzese became the target of the lobbying commission for alleged lobbying law breaches related to flights provided to Bruno, he was replaced on the Empire Racing Associates board.

Empire ousted him altogether on Dec. 26 -- after news of the FBI probe surfaced -- saying it will buy out his 6 percent stake.

"I guess he was bringing some negative publicity," said Richard Bomze, president of the New York State Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

Empire Racing includes several large gaming and track operators, including Magna Entertainment, which until late 2005 had employed Kenneth Bruno, the majority leader's son, as a lobbyist.

Timothy Smith, president of the former Friends of New York Racing, said he attended the New York City event where Bruno flew with Abbruzzese's help on Dec. 1, 2005.

It was an annual meeting in Manhattan of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which Smith once led before forming Friends to lobby for racing law improvements.

The Friends group also included Abbruzzese as a director.

At the New York City gathering, Bruno addressed the crowd, joking that he had to leave early to take the train back to Albany, Smith said.

Abbruzzese is a major donor to Republican campaigns, as is Barr.

Barr and Abbruzzese also own and race horses, Abbruzzese through an enterprise known as Weather Watch Farm.

Bruno raises and breeds race horses as well.

Sherrie Abbruzzese, 48, Abbruzzese's wife, who also owns a race horse, paid $90,000 in 2005 for a waterfront lot from First Grafton Corp., a secluded Rensselaer County development in which Sen. Bruno was a 25 percent investor.

The Abbruzzese land is near the property where Kenneth Bruno, a former Rensselaer County district attorney, has built his own home.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

BIG ASSETS

* Real estate: 8-bedroom mansion on 5.27 acres in Loudonville "conservatively" appraised at $1.5 million in 2003.

* Vehicles: 2006 Land Rover; two 2006 Mercedeses; two 2006 Cadillac Escalades; 2002 Mercedes; 2007 Mercedes; and 2005 BMW

* Aircraft: Falcon-20 and Gulfstream-3 jets

* Watercraft: 27-foot Sea Ray

* Horses: thoroughbreds licensed to race in New York

BIG LIABILITIES

* Federal grand jury subpoenas and FBI investigation of his activities

* $5 million judgment obtained by two former business associates of Jared Abbruzzese

* Threat of foreclosure on Loudonville home if 24-month payment plan not completed by Jan. 15

* Lobbying commission investigation of his airplane rides for Sen. Joseph Bruno

* $3 million settlement won by shareholders of CAI Wireless, Abbruzzese's former company

CONFIDENTIAL OFFERING

Evident Technologies, which received a subpoena from the FBI in its investigation of links between Jared Abbruzzese and Sen. Joseph Bruno, was created in 2000 to develop products that could be used in the nanotechology industry.

It is considering becoming a publicly traded company.

Evident sought to raise $10 million from private investors in 2005.

Tejas Securities Group, an affiliate of Tejas Inc., was hired for the stock offering.

Abbruzzese is a director of Tejas Inc., which purchased one of his companies in 2005.

He was also co-chairman of Evident.

Bruno bought stock in Tejas in 2004, according to a public disclosure, and sent $500,000 in state funds to Evident from using his discretionary member item pot between 2002 and 2004.

MAJOR STOCKHOLDER

Confidential offering document shows Abbruzzese Group -- Jared Abbruzzese's companies, his wife Sherrie and affiliates -- owns nearly 15 percent of Evident as of Dec. 1, 2005.

FBI is investigating Abbruzzese's use of and payments to Capital Business Consultants, Bruno's private consulting firm based at his Brunswick home.

RELATED TRANSACTIONS

Abbruzzese received stock warrants from Evident -- certificates giving him the right to pay $10,000 to purchase 85,423 shares of Evident at $4.80 each -- for helping Evident obtain funding from a grant program run by Empire State Development Corp.

One series of Evident shares were priced at $14.38 and another at $10.41, suggesting Abbruzzese could profit by hundreds of thousands of dollars if he exercised his power to buy stock.

A final portion of the warrants became valid if Evident leased space at Russell Sage College.

Bruno helped arrange public funds to support a business incubator program at Russell Sage College used by Evident.

Sources: New York State Depart@@hyphen@@mant of Motor Vehicles, New York Racing & Wagering Board, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Delaware State Court of Chancery, Albany County State Supreme Court, Albany County Clerk's Office, New York Legislative Ethics Commission, landings.com, Evident Technologies Preliminary Confidential Offering Memorandum.

"Business leaders look to Spitzer to revive upstate New York"

By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press
Last updated: 11:22 a.m., Sunday, December 31, 2006

ALBANY -- Business leaders in upstate New York are looking to Gov. Eliot Spitzer for revival of a region hobbled by high taxes and business costs as it struggles to keep people and attract jobs.

Thousands of people left New York state for other parts of the country last year, making it one of only four states that failed to grow since 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released last month.

New York's estimated population on July 1 was 19.3 million, down 9,538 from a year earlier.

That's due in part to the distressed upstate economy.

"Both people and businesses are voting with their feet in upstate New York," said Thom Kraus, chief executive of the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce.

In New York, the average workers compensation case costs $19,737, nearly double the U.S. average of $10,562, a recent study by the Public Policy Institute of New York State found.

The study showed the state's average electricity cost of 11.86 cents per kilowatt-hour is 58 percent higher than the national average 7.49 cents.

Spitzer defeated Republican John Faso in November after a campaign that emphasized trimming both taxes and spending, revitalizing the upstate economy and adding billions of dollars to education.

There is optimism Spitzer can succeed.

Spitzer "spoke consistently and forcefully about these issues and has continued to talk about the need for better economic policy since the election," said Matthew Maguire, spokesman for the Business Council of New York State.

"How effectively the special interests opposing change dig in is impossible to predict, but you can see an energy and momentum behind the possibility of change that is new and refreshing."

Change is much needed, many business owners say.

New Yorkers pay an average of $44 per $1,000 of income in property taxes.

That compares to the average U.S. cost of $33.

State residents pay an average of $42 in income taxes per $1,000 earned, almost double the U.S. average of $22, according to the Public Policy Institute study.

Census figures released earlier this year show that the population of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region fell from 1.19 million in 1990 to 1.15 million in 2005.

The area ranked as the nation's 37th most populous in 1990.

It's now ranked 47th.

In the Syracuse area, the population fell from 660,000 in 1990 to 652,000 in 2005, dropping from 64th to 79th place.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas area grew from 741,000 in 1990 to 1.71 million in 2005.

Phoenix grew from 2.24 million to 3.87 million.

The New York State Economic Development Council released a study in November that found New York is competitive with other states in a number of areas, including incentives offered to businesses, its environment for encouraging innovation, its skilled work force and a strong education system.

But most business owners were pessimistic about the state's ability to attract investment because of high taxes, electricity costs and workers compensation costs, said Brian McMahon, the group's executive director.

The manufacturing sector has been particularly hard hit by those factors in recent years.

In 2000, the industry accounted for more than 745,000 jobs statewide.

That number fell to about 579,000 in 2005.

"If we can make steady, sustained progress on costs, when we have these other assets and advantages, that should form a solid foundation for growth," McMahon said.

Many upstate business leaders say that policies set in Albany may be fine for New York City, not for places like Rochester and Binghamton.

Under legislation to clean up former industrial areas, "you can force a company in Manhattan to spend an enormous amount of money to clean up a site, but then they end up with an incredibly valuable piece of property," Kraus said.

"If you do that in Niagara Falls, at the end of the day, the land is not worth as much."

A collection of upstate New York business groups has formed Unshackle Upstate, an initiative to press Albany for reforms it says will enhance the state's business climate.

The group is pushing to reform the state's $44.5 billion Medicaid program -- by far the country's largest and criticized as rife with fraud -- and the workers compensation system, rated as the second most costly per case in the nation after California.

Unshackle Upstate and others also want to alter or repeal other statutes they say hurt business.

Those include the Wicks Law, which requires multiple contracts on most local construction projects, the Taylor Law, which can give public employee unions advantages in contract negotiations, and the so-called scaffold law, which makes building owners and contractors liable for work site injuries even if workers were at fault.

"Daunting days ahead for Spitzer - Incoming governor faces some major challenges in translating campaign talking points into reality"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, December 31, 2006

ALBANY -- It's time for Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer to walk the walk.

Starting Monday, Spitzer must show how he and legislative leaders will get a balanced, on-time budget.

He must prove that his government will be open and transparent, even as the closed-door, three-men-in-a-room paradigm seems impossible to break.

He must demonstrate leadership in reforming lobbying, campaign financing and politics-as-usual.

He will need to change a culture in which lawmakers are accustomed to stalling, horse-trading and bringing home money for their districts, all under the nearly nonstop pressure of facing re-election every two years.

As the state's 54th governor, Spitzer must show 19 million New Yorkers how things, as he continues to say, will change on "Day One."

"The proof will be in the pudding when you get behind the rhetoric, when the policies have to be implemented" said John Faso, the Republican Spitzer beat in capturing 69 percent of the vote in November.

So far, Faso said, Spitzer seems to be making the right moves, coming up with "top-notch" appointments and smart advisers, while identifying key initiatives.

During this transition period, Spitzer has continued to talk like the "Sheriff of Wall Street," the name he acquired for tackling business corruption during his eight years as attorney general.

But, come Monday, he'll have to act, too.

For instance, he says he won't go along with the typical pork barrel spending of the Legislature, but he hasn't said what he'll do differently other than to require that discretionary grants, or member items, be identified in the budget.

That would require lawmakers to reveal the specific items months before they've done so in the past.

Spitzer hasn't said anything about greater agency oversight of the controversial spending.

Such funds, lawmakers say, have been used by leaders to enforce loyalty and discipline.

Trying to remove that power could put Spitzer immediately at odds with Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

On the thorny -- and financially crucial -- issue of American Indian casinos, Spitzer has to deal particularly with the Oneidas' Turning Stone casino in Verona, which has been operating for nearly two years in alleged violation of state and federal gaming laws.

So far, he has said only that it's a problem he will have to sort out.

And there are other questions.

He has sharply criticized Gov. George Pataki's scores of secretive public authorities.

Now that they will be part of Spitzer's realm, which will he eliminate?

Will he curb their spending and borrowing and release expenditures such as the employee salaries?

On the financial front, how does Spitzer's promise to cut $6 billion from property taxes get done?

How does he honor his commitment to trim Medicaid spending and direct hospital closures?

How does he confront the Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling, which calls for $1.9 billion in extra aid to New York City schools -- especially since Assembly Democrats think that figure is too low?

Other districts, too, will be clamoring for a share of any increase in aid.

Faso said Spitzer's first budget plan, due Feb. 1, and the negotiations leading up to the April 1 start of the fiscal year, will be telling.

Democratic insiders don't expect Spitzer to have smooth sailing, partly because of the institutional tensions between the Legislature and the executive branch, partly because Silver is unwilling to move as swiftly as results-oriented Bruno and Spitzer.

A problem facing Spitzer is the enormous amount of extra cash expected to arrive in Albany because of a good year on Wall Street, Faso said.

Spitzer said he would cut waste and rethink programs so he could afford the property tax relief and education spending he proposes.

But downsizing the budget is easier when there's no money to point to, fiscal analysts say.

"He's going to have to stick to what he said about controlling state spending -- easier to do in hard times," said Elizabeth Lynam, of the Citizens Budget Commission.

Faso said Spitzer will likely have to fend off spending sprees demanded by special interest groups and the Legislature if he's serious about crafting a budget that copes with multibillion-dollar budget gaps in upcoming years.

Spitzer has also promised not to raise taxes.

Douglas Muzzio, a public affairs professor at the City University of New York's Baruch College, said Spitzer will send a clear signal if he fights with the Legislature over revenue projected to be available for budgeting.

Such fights have featured Bruno criticizing the state budget director for being too conservative and Silver suggesting the governor's numbers are politically biased.

"I would expect him initially to try to work with both Silver and Bruno, but at a point soon into his term, they're going to come to loggerheads," Muzzio said.

"He will have to demonstrate, particularly to Silver, that he can work with legislators -- as a challenge to the speaker's authority."

Such strategies can backfire for a governor, as lawmakers are inclined to gather around their leader.

But Spitzer has promised to use his bully pulpit to take his quest for change to the public.

How soon will he do that?

On the political front, Spitzer says he'll fill 1,000 jobs during his first year, but he pledges to be blind to political party registrations.

The Democratic Party, which hasn't had a governor in New York for most of Silver's time as speaker, may be counting on some spoils.

Party friction, which started six months ago at the Buffalo convention when Silver was denied his bid to introduce Spitzer, may ignite a fire before long, some political observers say.

Spitzer has talked about lobbying and ethics reform, and the indictments of several lawmakers in recent years could help him press the cause.

Attention focused on those issues could open his administration to criticism if Spitzer doesn't act promptly.

"He doesn't want to get mired in it," said Dan Walsh, recently retired leader of the Business Council of New York State.

Spitzer, Walsh said, will also have to steer lawmakers away from changing the Berger Commission plan for hospital closings and mergers or risk losing $1.5 billion in federal funds earmarked for the state if it abides by the commission's recommendations.

Tinkering with the plan could also "whittle" the savings it projects from restructuring the health care system, Walsh said.

Several observers, including Walsh, say Spitzer will likely send messages early.

Walsh expects Spitzer to unveil a worker's compensation reform plan in his first State of the State address on Jan. 3, combining restricting permanent partial disability payments with a modest increase in benefits.

The new governor will also send a message by promptly negotiating new contracts with public employee unions, some observers predict.

All contracts expire at the end of March.

The issues will be rapid-fire, those interviewed say, and the public will be comparing Spitzer's campaign promises to his actions.

But with his mandate, he's "riding high and riding strong," said one Republican lobbyist, and shouldn't have to bend to any group.

"I think Eliot Spitzer will prove to do what he says he's going to do," said Thomas Suozzi, the Nassau County executive who unsuccessfully challenged Spitzer in a primary for governor.

"He's got a big challenge ahead of him, but I think he's up to the task."

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

end quotes

DESPITE ALL OF THE NEWSPAPER HYPE ......

AND ALL OF THE PUFFERY .....

ELIOT SPITZER ......

REPRESENTS EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH ALBANY, NEW YORK ......

SINCE HE HAS BEEN ITS LAWYER ....

AND PROTECTOR .....

While serving as Attorney General of the State of New York .....

In REPUBLICAN George Pataki's EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT ....

And so .....

Expecting Eliot Spitzer to clean up Albany ......

Is like expecting an adder to safeguard you in your sleep ......

And so ....

The shame of punishment as pornography

By Sam Leith
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 01/01/2007

You can't beat a good hanging, eh? Ever since the first indications that Saddam Hussein would be hanged "sooner rather than later", the civilised world has taken on the aspect of an over-excited dog making love to a cushion. He's had his possessions sent on! He's been handed over to the Iraqis! Any second! Any second now! Come on... let's see that noose...

What we've been seeing over the past couple of days is the pornographisation of a judicial process. There's no question that Saddam's crimes were terrible. There's no question that, however jury-rigged the legal process by which he was held to account for them, it is proper that he was held to account. But our fever of excitement over that hempen rope is no more than the baying of a mob.

Why, for example, do we seem surprised that the Prime Minister didn't issue some statesmanlike pontification on the subject? What was he supposed to say? Would we have admired him for emerging from a Bee Gee's swimming pool to declare to camera, trunks still dripping: "Tee hee! Snappy-snap-snap went his horrid old neck. Goody gumdrops. I do hope it hurt"? Shades, there, of David Blunkett's uncharming announcement that he was planning to toast Harold Shipman's death with a bottle of bubbly.
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Mr Blair was right to stay silent. The announcement of the death sentence – one greeted, tellingly, with far less excitement than its physical enactment – was the political moment. The rest is theatre.

And, gosh, how we enjoyed it. The formula was unvarying. "All dignity lost," one or other news channel would intone, "the blood-soaked tyrant of Iraq died yesterday, reduced to the status of a common criminal." Aren't the assumptions underpinning that simply bizarre? It seems to suggest that a "common criminal" is a worse thing to be than a mass-murdering despot – that where he really got his comeuppance was in being taken down a peg or two and dying a chav.

And is it true that he lost all dignity? If we were honest, we'd admit that Saddam conducted himself on the scaffold with all the dignity he could be expected to muster. He refused a mask. He stood up straight. He went quietly and prayerfully to his death. Meanwhile, as a colleague points out, what was happening around him – even though the balaclavas were unavoidable – more closely resembled a gang of provos at work in an Armagh back-room than the sober unrolling of a sovereign state's judicial process. Let's not even begin to think about how these images will play with Saddam's Sunni supporters.

Yet editorials and news reports have jeered at Saddam's "stupidity", gloated over his "loss of dignity", and picked over with glee the details of how his guards kept him awake to tease and torture him. We've been hot to download videos and picture galleries of the dictator's last moments; amused to learn that he was denied a last cigarette.

Once we decided Saddam was a "monster" – a monster whom, let's not forget, the West for a long time supported in full knowledge of the nature of his regime – we gave ourselves permission to indulge the basest, most voyeuristic atavism. Cloaked in this murderous sanctimony, we join as one with the crowds who gather weekly in Teheran to enjoy watching criminals swing from a crane.

Nietzsche's warning that "he who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster" has seldom seemed more apt. The rhetoric of a war launched in the name of civilisation has degenerated into the cackling of a tricoteuse at the foot of the guillotine. We should be bloody ashamed.

As DH Lawrence argued, "pornography does dirt on sex". The same applies here. The pornography of death does dirt on life. And the pornography of punishment does dirt on justice.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for..._post&f=228

Also called TEXAS JUSTICE

A Lynching...by Riverbend (Iraqi blogger)
It's official. Maliki and his people are psychopaths. This really is a new low. It's outrageous- an execution during Eid. Muslims all over the world (with the exception of Iran) are outraged. Eid is a time of peace, of putting aside quarrels and anger- at least for the duration of Eid.

This does not bode well for the coming year. No one imagined the madmen would actually do it during a religious holiday. It is religiously unacceptable and before, it was constitutionally illegal. We thought we'd at least get a few days of peace and some time to enjoy the Eid holiday, which coincides with the New Year this year. We've spent the first two days of a holy holiday watching bits and pieces of a sordid lynching.

America the savior… After nearly four years and Bush's biggest achievement in Iraq has been a lynching. Bravo Americans.

Maliki has made the mistake of his life. His signature and unhidden glee at the whole execution, especially on the first day of Eid Al Adha (the Eid where millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca), will only do more to damage his already tattered reputation. He's like a vulture in a suit (or a balding weasel). It's almost embarrassing. I kept expecting Muwafaq Al Rubaii to run over and wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth as he signed for the execution. Are these the people who represent the New Iraq? We're in so much more trouble than I ever thought.

And no- not the celebrations BBC are claiming. With the exception of a few areas, the streets are empty.

Now we come to CNN. Shame on you CNN journalists- you're getting lazy. The least you can do is get the last words correct when you write a story about an execution. Your articles are read the world over and will go down in history as references. You people are the biggest news network in the world- the least you can do is spend some money on a decent translator. Saddam's last words were NOT "Muqtada Al Sadr" as Munir Haddad claimed, according to the article below. If anyone had seen at least part of the video they showed on TV, you'd know that.

"A witness, Iraqi Judge Munir Haddad, said that one of the executioners told Hussein that the former dictator had destroyed Iraq, which sparked an argument that was joined by several government officials in the room.

As a noose was tightened around Hussein's neck, one of the executioners yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr," Haddad said, referring to the powerful anti-American Shiite religious leader.

Hussein, a Sunni, uttered one last phrase before he died, saying "Muqtada al-Sadr" in a mocking tone, according to Haddad's account."

From the video that was leaked, it was not an executioner who yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr". See, this is another low the Maliki government sunk to- they had some hecklers conveniently standing by during the execution. Maliki claimed they were "some witnesses from the trial", but they were, very obviously, hecklers. The moment the noose was around Saddam's neck, they began chanting, in unison, "God's prayers be on Mohamed and on Mohamed's family…" Something else I didn't quite catch (but it was very coordinated), and then "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" One of them called out to Saddam, "Go to hell…" (in Arabic). Saddam looked down disdainfully and answered "Heya hay il marjala…?" which is basically saying, "Is this your manhood…?".

Someone half-heartedly called out to the hecklers, "I beg you, I beg you- the man is being executed!" They were slightly quieter and then Saddam stood and said, "Ashadu an la ilaha ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah…" Which means, "I witness there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger." These are the words a Muslim (Sunnis and Shia alike) should say on their deathbed. He repeated this one more time, very clearly, but before he could finish it, he was lynched.

So, no, CNN, his last words were not "Muqtada Al Sadr" in a mocking tone- just thought someone should clear that up. (Really people, six of you contributed to that article!)

Then again, one could argue that it was a judge who gave them that false information. A judge on the Iraqi appeals court- one of the judges who ratified the execution order. Everyone knows Iraqi judges under American tutelage never lie- that explains CNN's confusion.

Muwafaq Al Rubai was said he was "weak and frightened". Apparently, Rubai saw a different lynching because according to the video they leaked, he didn't look frightened at all. His voice didn't shake and he refused to put on the black hood. He looked resigned to his fate, and during the heckling he looked as defiant as ever. (It's quite a contrast to Muhsin Abdul Hameed's public hysterics last year when the Americans raided his home.)

It's one thing to have militias participating in killings. This is allegedly the democracy the Americans flaunt. Is this how bloodthirsty and frightening we've become? Is this what Iraq stands for now? Executions? I'm sure the rest of the Arab countries will be impressed.

One of the most advanced countries in the world did not help to reconstruct Iraq, they didn't even help produce a decent constitution. They did, however, contribute nicely to a kangaroo court and a lynching. A lynching shall go down in history as America's biggest accomplishment in Iraq. So who's next? Who hangs for the hundreds of thousands who've died as a direct result of this war and occupation? Bush? Blair? Maliki? Jaffari? Allawi? Chalabi?

2006 has definitely been representative of Maliki and his government- killings like never before and a lynching to end it properly. Death and destruction everywhere. I'm so tired of all of this…http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?act=post&do=reply_post&f=228&t=68667


- posted by river @ 10:12 PM
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...228&t=68667

From the Baltimore Sun
An all-consuming 'war on terror'
By Ian S. Lustick

December 31, 2006

PHILADELPHIA -- The official mantra is that we fight in Iraq because it is the "central front in the War on Terror." The exact opposite is the case.

We are trapped in fighting an unwinnable - even nonsensical - "war on terror" because its invention was required in order to fight in Iraq. After years of slaughter in Iraq, the neoconservative fantasy of a series of cheap, fast, neo-imperial victories is dead. But the war on terror lives on, stronger than ever.

How did the war on terror take on a life of its own and trap the entire political class, and most Americans, into public beliefs about the need to fight a global war on terror as our first priority, even when there's little or no evidence of an enemy present in the United States? What accounts for $650 billion worth of expenditures, along with baseless cycles of "sleeper cell" hysteria and McCarthyist policies of surveillance and "pre-emptive prosecution" not seen in this country since the early 1950s?

Consider how Congress responded to the war on terror. In summer 2003, a list of 160 potential targets for terrorists was drawn up, triggering intense efforts by members of Congress and their constituents to find funding-generating targets in their districts. The result? Widening definitions of potential targets and mushrooming increases in the number of assets deemed worthy of protection: up to 1,849 in late 2003; 28,364 in 2004; 77,069 in 2005; and an estimated 300,000 in 2006 (including the Sears Tower in Chicago but also the Indiana Apple and Pork Festival).

Across the country, virtually every lobby and interest group recast its traditional objectives and funding proposals as more important than ever given the imperatives of the war on terror. The National Rifle Association declared that it means that more Americans should own and carry firearms to defend the country and themselves against terrorists. On the other hand, according to the gun control lobby, fighting the war on terror means passing strict gun-control laws to keep assault weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Schools of veterinary medicine called for quadrupling their funding. Who else would train veterinarians to defend the country against terrorists using hoof and mouth disease to decimate our cattle herds? Pediatricians declared that more funding was required to train pediatricians as first responders to terrorist attacks, because treating children as victims is not the same as treating adults. Pharmacists advocated the creation of pharmaceutical SWAT teams to respond quickly with appropriate drugs to the victims of terrorist attacks.

Aside from swarms of consulting firms and huge corporate investments in counter-terrorism activities, universities across the country created graduate programs in homeland security, institutes on terrorism and counter-terrorism, all raising huge catcher's mitts into the air for the billions of dollars of grants and contracts just blowing in the wind.

The same imperative - translate your agenda into war on terror requirements or be starved of funds - and its spiraling consequences surged across the government, affecting virtually all agencies. Bureaucrats unable to describe their activities in "war on terror" terms were virtually disqualified from budget increases and probably doomed to cuts. With billions of dollars a year in state and local funding, the Department of Homeland Security devised a list of 15 National Planning Scenarios to help guide its allocations. To qualify for Homeland Security funding, state and local governments had to describe how they would use allocated funds to meet one of those chosen scenarios.

What was the process that produced this list? It was, in part, deeply political, driven by competition among agencies, states and localities that knew funding opportunities would depend on exactly which scenarios were included or excluded (anthrax, a chemical attack on a sports stadium, and hoof and mouth disease were included; attacks on liquid natural gas tankers and West Nile virus were excluded).

Most instructive of all was the unwillingness of the government to define the enemy posing the terrorist threat. Al-Qaida is a tiny threat compared to the size of the enemy required by the thousands of interest groups crowding toward the counter-terrorism trough. For this reason, the enemy in these scenarios is referred to by the Department of Homeland Security as "the universal adversary," present everywhere and capable of taking on any shape. Instead of responding to real threats posed by real enemies, we find ourselves preparing for an endless list of possible bad things that could happen, as if the devil himself were out to get us.

The dimensions of the war on terror are still expanding rapidly in the face of a small - if not entirely absent - domestic terrorist threat. But politicians, forced into playing Chicken Little to avoid seeming to suffer from a "pre-9/11 mentality," can offer no break on spending or war-on-terror rhetoric. Neither have universities and the press. While universities rush to the counter-terror trough, it's as good as it gets for the press. "Hurricane Osama," the real storm of the century, is always just about to hit - and never goes away. Every false alarm of another 9/11 attack on the way sends the news media into paroxysms of sensationally foreboding, emergency-mode coverage, helping enliven the credibility of hundreds of TV episodes, films and potboiler novels with the same plot: maniacal, brilliant Middle Eastern terrorists poised to strike but for the heroics of a few bold souls operating within a generally incompetent government.

Americans have learned that the Iraq war was a disastrous mistake. But they have yet to be able even to imagine the truth about the war on terror more generally. As long as politicians and pundits justify alternatives to the present course in Iraq by invoking the need to fight the war on terror more effectively, the United States will remain, as Osama bin Laden observed in his November 2004 videotape, trapped in a maelstrom of waste, worry, and witch hunt that "bleeds America to the point of bankruptcy."

Ian S. Lustick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is author of "Trapped in the War on Terror." His e-mail is ilustick@sas.upenn.edu.

Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for..._post&f=228

Actually .....

As Americans .....

WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER ......

THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN .....

WHO IS NOT AN AMERICAN .....

DID ANYTHING AT ALL .....

AND HE CERTAINLY DID NOT VIOLATE ANY AMERICAN LAWS .....

And so .....

Let us please have that record stand correct .....

And let us also not forget .....

With respect to Mr. NOW-ALLEGEDLY-DECEASED Saddam Hussein ....

THAT HE WAS AN AMERICAN MONSTER ...

If in fact he was one at all .....

AND AS AMERICANS ON THIS FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR 2007 ....

Let us go right to this website ....

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

AND LET US ALL TAKE A MOMENT ....

AND GAZE UPON POOR SADDAM .....

SHOWN HERE AT A MORE GLORIOUS TIME OF HIS LIFE ......

WHEN HE WAS BEING SUCKED UP TO .....

BY DONALD RUMSFELD .....

THEN ENVOY OF THE REPUBLICAN AMERICAN HERO, RONALD RAYGUN ....

And as we do ......

Let us all ponder the fate .....

OF AMERICAN PUPPETS ALL OVER THE WORLD ......

NOW THAT AMERICA HAS HUNG ONE OF ITS "FAVORITE SONS" ......

THE VERY MAN .....

INTO WHOSE FACE .....

DONALD RUMSFELD CAN BE SEEN GAZING IN TO .....

WITH SUCH LOVE AND ADMIRATION .....

AS AMERICA HAD FOR SADDAM BACK THEN .....

In this website right above here ....

And so ......