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Fishkill Water Problem Could Cost Millions
By Michael Boyajian
The tiny Village of Fishkill (population 1,700) is a tenuous link supplying water to over 50,000 people spread out over places that include the Town of Fishkill, Beacon, Philipstown and Cold spring. Now the village aquifer is threatened by the construction of 200 mobile home units three feet over the aquifer’s water table resulting in contamination by pesticides, radiator fluid, motor oil and fertilizer.
Is Stephen Moore the most despicable man in America? Think Progress » Stephen Moore calls for raising taxes on the poor in order to pay for tax . thinkprogress.org
Who's this Lebron guy, anyway?
Much as I hate to admit it, this article has a point, and so did Michael Steele (although Obama did not choose this war–we were attacked!). Nonetheless, Steele's absolute right to speak as a private citizen, without having his patriotism questioned (would that his party extend Democrats the same courtesy), does not guarantee him the right to speak as Republican Chair without his ideology being questioned. In Defense Of Michael Steele | The New Republic www.tnr.com
State Comptroller’s Audit of Fishkill May Conclude in Ten Days
By Michael Boyajian
The New York State Comptroller’s Office has reported that “its audit of the Town of Fishkill is still underway,” going on to say more information will be available in ten days leaving many to believe it will conclude at that time. It has also been reported that New York State officials met behind closed doors with the Town over its financial woes.
Robbins jokingly links Carl Kruger's problems to the Russian Spy Imbroglio–one day after Gatemouth did.
Thankfully, this time there were no nude photos. Carl Kruger's Russian Secrets – Page 1 – Columns – New York – Village Voice
Sullivan calls out Linda Lingle for thwarting Civil Unions in Hawaii, and I agree–maybe she is even a homophobe; but we could probably have Civil Unions by next week in NYS, if not for politicians afraid of being called homophobes if they support them (No, Civil Unions would not be my preference, but I didn't let my preference for Single Payer stop me from supporting Health Care Reform) . Not Even Civil Unions – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
An American Hero Activist Betsy Malcolm
By Michael Boyajian
Political activist Betsy Malcolm was politically dormant since the 1960s a time when she likes to say “politics was in the air.” Then came the Bush Jr. years and by the second term she had jump started her activism.
The GOP Economic Strategy
By Michael Boyajian
The GOP under Richard Nixon developed what is called a Southern Strategy where they would appeal to voters in the south who were unhappy with President Johnson’s civil rights legislation. The strategy worked in this Democratic stronghold and the Republicans were launched into the White House.
In my previous post, I looked at comparative public school spending per child in FY 2008 using data aggregated by the U.S. Census Bureau, with a flashback to the 1990s and a look ahead based on budget data. In the spreadsheet attached to this post, I compare the public school revenues and expenditures of the United States, New York City, the Downstate Suburbs, Upstate New York and New Jersey in FY 2008 with FY 2007, the year before the Campaign for Fiscal Equity Lawsuit was settled, and FY 2002, the last budget before the start of the Bloomberg Administration. The output pages of the spreadsheet are designed to print on two letter-sized pages. My review of the findings is below.
Truth is better than fiction department: disgraced former Judge Michael Garson is running for delegate to the Brooklyn Democrats Judicial Nominating Convention. And it looks like he will be unopposed!
Kinsley offers crucial advice to political writers:
"…today’s sermon is about something much more important than the future of the world economy. It’s about what to do when you, as a writer, run into people who didn’t like what you wrote about them. The real risk in a situation like this is not of a nice Hawaiian punch. It’s much worse: excruciating embarrassment. This is on my mind because…Jim Fallows discusses it in a recent posting. And also because it happened to me last week…Fallows has a simple solution. He says that you shouldn’t write anything about anybody that you would be reluctant to say to their face. He says he was taught this by Ralph Nader. But it’s an impossibly high standard. It requires either too much tact or too much courage.
Social interaction depends crucially on people not saying what’s on their minds. (God, you’re ugly. Where did you get that hideous tie? I hate your last book/new husband/lasagna.) People who insist on telling the truth about these things are jerks and boors. People who routinely lie about them are slick and oily. The only sensible thing is to avoid the subject. But if you’ve written about it, your mere presence in the room brings the subject up. Yet not to write about these subjects is no solution. There are important things that need to be said but don’t need to be said in the presence of those who might not care for them.
Therefore, young writers, ignore Fallows's advice. Write about what you think is important. Write the truth. And if you see someone coming you’d just as soon not run into, feel free to run away instead.” Krugman Is Crude | The Atlantic Wire www.theatlanticwire.com
The logic has escaped me for for several days now, and I still just don’t get it.
Maybe you can help me.
What good can possibly come out of keeping open 19 failing NYC schools?
The State Appeals court recently ruled against the City of N.Y that wanted to close the schools for low performing results, in favor of the United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP.
The court found that the city failed to provide statements fully showing the impact for closing the 19 schools. (In other words, not fully accounting for how the closures would affect the communities the schools are located in)
The U.S. Census Bureau has released elementary and secondary school finance data for fiscal year 2008, and I have once again come up with a couple of spreadsheets that I will write about in the next two posts. Attached to this post is a spreadsheet with data for the year for New York City, Downstate New York, Upstate New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the U.S., plus all school districts within New York State. The data includes revenues by source (federal, state and local), and spending by category (instructional vs. non-instructional, wages, benefits and other, interest and debts), all expressed per student. In high-wage high-cost areas – New York City, the Downstate Suburbs, New Jersey and Massachusetts – an adjustment is made for this.
Without that adjustment, just using the data as provided by the Census Bureau, one group has found that NY State’s public school spending per student is the highest in the United States. But even with an adjustment, school spending was sky high in New York State in FY 2008, even in New York City where it had historically been low. That year, total public school expenditures averaged $12,279 per child in the U.S. and $16,842 in Upstate New York, compared with an adjusted figure of $15,840 in New York City, $16,171 in the Downstate Suburbs, $15,616 in New Jersey, and $12,369 in Massachusetts. Take out the need for Massachusetts to pay its public school employees more to compete in a more expensive labor and housing market, in other words, and that state matched the U.S. average almost exactly, whereas New York and New Jersey were much higher. The unadjusted figures are $21,085 per student in New York City, $21,526 in the Downstate Suburbs, $18,637 in New Jersey, and $14,801 in Massachusetts. That New York City’s public school spending per child nearly matched the Downstate Suburbs and exceeded New Jersey is a stunning development, but the sky-high total is also stunning, and was probably affordable only due to a debt-fueled financial boom that started to collapse in August 2007, just before the kids headed to school in the fiscal year covered by this data.