Newsbriefs

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7/15/2010

Lawyer Time
The Shandaken Planning Board wants to hire a lawyer to help them prepare a new farmstand law, and July 12 the Town board authorized them to do so, albeit with some caveats.
The move comes two weeks after a Town Board/Planning Board collaborative effort to draft a new law failed. At that time the town board handed the matter off to the planning board.
The lawyer, Joe Moriello of Highland NY, has been appointed as "Special Attorney to the Planning Board" at a rate of $175.00 per hour. Town Board members Doris Bartlett and Tim Malloy joined Supervisor Rob Stanley in approving the measure, but Councilman Vince Bernstein vote against.
Bernstein said he felt that the town's planners should hammer something out before getting a lawyer involved, and do it quick.
After trying, unsuccessfully, to get the rest of the board to move back the October deadline that Stanley gave the planning board to produce a draft law to next month, Bernstein said the farmstand issue, after dominating local politics for several years, is costing the town too much money.
Stanley said that, to save money, only Planning Board Chair Charles Frasier would have access to the attorney, not the entire planning board.
State Budget?
What ever happened with the New York State budget for the coming year, due April 1? When last seen, state Assemblymen left the Capital in Albany early on July 4 while Governor David Paterson was working through 6900 vetoes he had promised to make, with several unfinished items leaving everything up in the air... including whether there'd be any attempts to override the governor in the coming months.
In other words, it's all sort of still in limbo. It's unclear when the legislature will be returning to session, even though Democrats who control the state Senate introduced two bills designed to be "negotiating points" as they work toward passing the last piece of the state budget earlier this week.
Senators left the Capitol two weeks ago without passing the final revenue bill - which would reinstate the tax on clothing under $110 and reduce charitable deductions for high-income earners - that passed the Assembly. Several senators in the Democrats' 32-30 majority have refused to publicly commit to voting for the revenue plan until a deal is worked out authorizing greater flexibility for SUNY and CUNY campuses to raise tuition and enter into public-private partnerships. Another bill would create a contingency plan in case $1.06 billion in Medicaid assistance expected from the federal government does not materialize.
A spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said the bills will allow senators to continue to negotiate and amounts to "working to resolve the outstanding issues" with members of the Assembly and Gov. David Paterson.
The bills were introduced late Sunday night, which means they could be voted on by senators this week... or not. No one seemed to know, as of July 13..
The university bill would allow individual campuses to raise their tuitions as much as 4 percent each year without the Legislature's approval. It would also increase awards from the Tuition Assistance Program for low-income students.
Members of the Assembly's Democratic conference have resisted similar proposals - made earlier this year by Paterson - on grounds that they reduce access to higher education.
Meanwhile, the last official budget word from Paterson, at the very end of June, was that he would veto 6,900 budget additions approved by the state legislature.
"I never take any joy in vetoing education money, health care, services for the poor ... it breaks my heart to do this." Paterson told reporters. "The only reason I'm doing it is because I think that otherwise we are proverbially kicking the can down the road and creating a greater problem."
Paterson signed the first line item veto at the news conference, vetoing $419 million of additional spending for school aid.
According to a news release on the New York State Assembly's website, the legislation that half of the legislature passed late last month will allow the government to continue running and restore $600 million in education cuts, $49 million for tuition assistance, $56 million to community colleges and $92 million to adult homeless shelters.
Paterson acknowledged that even if he vetoes all 6,900 of the budget additions, it would not bring the budget back into balance.
"If we lose the resources for Medicaid, if we lose any of the Medicaid money, our budget is not balanced," he said.
The governor said he was not casting his vetoes with the expectation of them being overturned, but rather that he was doing it because he believed it was the right thing for New York state and because he believed it would eventually bring the budget back into balance.
Manhunt!
Following a two hour manhunt which involved dogs and a State Police helicopter, two men are being held in connection with a domestic dispute involving a 20-year-old woman who police say was sexually assaulted and dragged into the woods.
John Oakley, 45, of 648 State Route 214, Phoenicia, was charged with unlawful imprisonment and sexual abuse, both felonies. Desmond McCobb, 27, who police said is homeless, was charged with kidnapping, assault, aggravated sexual abuse and criminal contempt, all felonies.
The incident unfolded at about 9:00 AM at the Silver Hollow Cabins on Route 214 in Chichester, police said, where the victim, who knew McCobb, was reportedly assaulted and forcefully dragged off into the woods. Police added that the victim had an order of protection against McCobb.
A search was conducted with police dog units and a state police helicopter. After a two-hour search, police found the victim and McCobb in a wooded area about a half mile from the scene.
The Shandaken Ambulance Squad took the victim to Kingston Hospital.
County $$$...
Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach released a report last week on county revenue trends that will serve as a financial decision making tool for both the county executive and legislature as they begin the budget process for 2011.
"As our economy continues to crawl out of recession government needs to pay as much attention to income as it pays to expenses," said Auerbach, "and the better we focus on and plan for our revenue stream, the better able we are to control property taxes."
Auerbach commissioned The Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) to prepare "Ulster County Revenue Trends 2002 to 2009," which examines trends in the County's primary revenue from sales and property taxes and also considers their impact on the unassigned fund balance. According to the analysis in the report, Ulster County has had a greater likelihood of underestimating revenues over the past decade.
During the study period the county underestimated sales tax revenue five times and overestimated three times. Also uncovered were shortfalls in collection of the property tax, attributed to current economic conditions and suggesting a need for caution and a reserve for uncollected taxes at the level required by the County charter; a sales tax revenue drop-off in Ulster County of 7.5%, the 14th worst in New York State, in the past two years; a widening shortfall of actual money received against that expected in revised budgets; and a greater reliance on the property tax with the County seeking to raise 151% more in 2010 than it did in 2002 from such means.
The report makes five recommendations including multi-year revenue planning, establishment of a policy on fund balance, and budgeting a reserve for uncollected taxes in accordance with Charter mandate.
"We need a new approach to budgeting," said Auerbach. "We need our planning to better anticipate the future."
He further recommended that Ulster County undertake long-term financial planning and multi-year budgeting.
The full report can be found at www.ulstercountyny.gov/resources/comptroller.
Phoenicia Water?
How bad off is the Phoenicia Water Supply? For the moment, there's a suspension on lawn waterings and a plea for conservation until rains come and refill reservoirs. Long-term, the Water District wants bigger questions answered, and on Monday, July 12 the Shandaken Town Board agreed to solicit proposals from engineers to evaluate the district's water system and upgrade needs, and identify a plan to bring the system up to date.
Based on a recommendation from an ad hoc committee of water district representatives, the town wants the chosen engineer to complete a draft report by the end of this coming September and complete a final report by Halloween. The engineer must also prepare a cost estimate for any work to be done on the system, something many in the district will be anxious to see, especially during these financially dry times when grant funding is all but impossible to obtain.
May the bids start coming in!
Labor Wins!
Domestic workers in New York have won historic changes to the state's labor law to include protections for their jobs, guaranteeing domestic workers time-and-half pay for more than 40 hours and a day off each week, along with protection under worker compensation and anti-discrimination law and access to unemployment insurance. The compromise bill won't include original demands for paid sick and vacation days and advance notice of termination. But three paid days off were granted after a year of service.
The law also calls on the state's Department of Labor to study the feasibility of collective bargaining for domestic workers and issue a report by November.
The legislative victory in New York is a blow at domestic workers' exclusion from federal labor protections. The legislation would be the first in the country to provide protections to domestic workers since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 first excluded them.
Domestic workers and their allies in California and Colorado are now drafting their own bills of rights to introduce in their state legislatures.
At the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit last month, the national alliance and a host of organizations planned a multi-year campaign to change federal labor law to cover all domestic and farm workers.
Ashokan OK...
At the July 6 meeting of the Olive Planning Board, only one person came for the Public Hearing which had been advertised to hear pros or cons about the proposed Ashokan Center Project. And that person was actually there in support of the Center.
After approximately 45 minutes of combined presentation, Public Hearing and the resulting discussion with Planning Board Members, the Center heard the words that they had been working so diligently to achieve - your project is APPROVED.
For many months, with some bumps in the road to re-think some of the original design ideas based on a shifted economic picture, the project made its way through town scrutiny and on to the County Planning Board for review and recommendations. Per county requirements, one last piece of business the town Planning Board had to do was report back to the county that the project is in compliance with all recommendations the county outlined, except for one.
The County had suggested some kind of warning device or horn be installed to announce rising water due to the Ashokan Reservoir's release of water through the lower areas near the Ashokan Center. Town Planning Board members agreed that any obligation to install an audible device should be the obligation of New York City, who currently gives 24 hour notice to the Ashokan Center before releasing any water now.
These lands were part of the original properties used by the Center, and were negotiated to become New York City controlled lands to allow for a draw-down of the reservoir prior to flooding events that might otherwise overwhelm the Lower Esopus waterway. Many who live below the reservoir have felt that New York City could have alleviated some recent flooding issues experienced by drawing down the level of the reservoir prior to the impact of rain and/or snow melt.
Many of the lands now owned by New York City were trails and buildings that were an integral part of the Ashokan Center for their programs. As a result of New York City taking over this "flood way", the Ashokan Center needed to re-create the same space on a higher plateau but make it as unobtrusive as possible.
Big smiles, lots of congratulations and hand shaking were the final order of business with ground breaking scheduled for September. In the meantime, events and classes will continue through the summer while preparations are made to begin the construction phase under the guidance of Matthew Bialecki Architects of New Paltz.
Rules Change?
The Ulster County Legislature has started expressing their wishes for more say in the county budgeting process... at least via its new Republican majority, who are pushing to adopt a resolution to have department heads give legislators the same information they give the county executive.
Following adoption of the County Charter, two years ago, giving more control of the budget to the county executive, there were complaints from some legislators that their power and fiscal oversight duties had been usurped.
The legislature is expected to vote on that resolution when it meets later this month.
Main Street!
Plans to revitalize Pine Hill, both as a community-specific and regionally-inspiring project geared to taking advantage of ongoing storm-water drainage and other streetscape refurbishings scheduled for the coming years, get another major push forward via another welcome-to-all event at the Pine Hill Community Center scheduled for Sunday July 25.
On that day, Holley Giles of Lucky Dog Organics will help host the first of what seems destined to become a series of "dinners on and about our Main Street." Giles will talk about her experience starting up and running Lucky Dog Farm Store in Hamden (www.luckydogorganic.com), which has everything the Pine Hill community has identified for a possible store along their own under-utilized Main Street, including coolers with fresh milk, bread and local produce; a collection of vintage items for sale and an informal cafÈ in the back, all open Tuesday through Saturday nights.
Richard and Holley Giles also own Lucky Dog Farm in Hamden, have a CSA, sell at local farm festivals and farm stands, as well as at NYC's green markets. The dinner will be Sunday, July 25th at the Pine Hill Community Center at 6:30pm. Bring a dish to share and questions for the Giles.
Also, sign up on the Main Street site at http://ulstermainstreets.ning.com for further information and feedback. The Pine Hill Community Center is located at 287 Main Street, phone 254-5469, online at www.pinehillcommunitycenter.org.
Big Indian PO?
Back in the Spring, the United States Postal Service announced a couple hundred branch and other facility closures around the country, including two dozen in Manhattan and other boroughs of New York City, Albany, and other cities and suburbs around the country. According to Big Indian resident Jeffrey Laskow, who owns the building the United States Postal Service leases along Route 28 next to the Big Indian Park, he too was battling with the USPS, trying to negotiate a new deal instead of their apparent plans to let a lease expire at the end of June and shift services to Shandaken, a few miles away..
"Losing such an important component of our local community will have everlasting effects and create such hardships on the locals that we would never really recover," Laskow said in a prepared statement at the time. "Our local Post Offices create a life line for residents during bad weather and times of local disasters and the obvious reasons of day to day life....without your help and the support of local government the facility will close in a blink of an eye and be lost forever."
"This is how we lose our hamlets," added Shandaken supervisor Rob Stanley at the time, after noting that he and Laskow had been unable to reach anyone at USPS confirm, or even talk to about their concerns. "This is how we lose our identities."
Laskow, who also happens to be married to Willow postmistress Brenda Laskow, which was also having lease problems at the time, described the USPS plans to not sign another lease a form of eviction.
Recent conversations with USPS spokesperson Tom Gaynor, however, showed a little bit of movement in terms of moving the Willow post office to a new site in the coming year, and a resolve to keep Big Indian where it's been, at least for the time being.
"Congressman Hinchey was instrumental in working with the Postal Service and the landlord in helping reach a month to month agreement for the Big Indian Post Office to remain at the current location," noted Gaynor in an e-mail a couple of weeks ago.
Seems sometimes the squeaky wheels do get oiled...
Rail Trails...
Members of the Rondout Valley Business Association have agreed to support efforts to connect eight separate rail trails as part of an economic revitalization plan in the heart of Ulster County. The plan is for 35 miles of unbroken hiking trails in the towns of Marbletown, Rochester, Wawarsing and Rosendale.
"Our rail trails are important resources that are good for both the economy and the environment," said a spokesman for the new effort. "An interconnected rail trail network will link towns and villages in the heart of Ulster County and help drive clean and green tourism in the area."
Those supporting the effort said some of the connections will directly assist business districts, but the broader intent is for the trail system to become a recreational attraction.
The rail trails to be connected, at present, include a connector through Rosendale that passes through High Falls, through the hamlet of Accord, through the hamlet of Kerhonkson, and goes right into the village of Ellenville. The longest connection would be 5 miles between two trails in the town of Rochester.
A further connection with the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail would allow the association to work with other commercial areas, such as the one in New Paltz, where there has been recognition of how businesses can benefit by nearby hiking areas. Similar efforts involving rail trail connections between New Paltz, Wallkill, and Highland to the Walkway over the Hudson and Dutchess County Trails are also underway, at present.
There is also talk of connecting local trails via the Long Path, which stretches from the George Washington Bridge to Albany, into the Delaware County rail trail network and beyond.
Stay tuned...
Museum Closed
The Shandaken Museum in Pine Hill is currently closed while the museum's Board of Directors searches for a replacement for Mary Herrmann, its director, either via the job's $10 per hour salary or, as with most such institutions in the region, via volunteers from the board.
Herrmann, who was paid by the town, which also owns the museum building, took a 31% pay cut in January.
On Tuesday Herrmann said she was glad to no longer be the museum director and added that she has now moved to a position on the museum's Board of Directors.
The Shandaken Museum has never received its own not-for-profit status, like most of its peers (including the Empire State Railway Museum, in Phoenicia, as well as collections and historical societies in Olive, Margaretville, Lexington and Woodstock), which has in turn raised questions among some board and community members about ownership of its collection.
Stay tuned on this...
Suing BP...
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, as trustee of the $132.6 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, announced recently that he has hired the law firm of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC to represent the Fund in a class action against BP Plc. DiNapoli said the Fund will seek lead plaintiff status in the action that stems from BP's disastrous Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April.
"It's my duty to protect the interests of the Fund and the retirees and employees who rely on it," DiNapoli said. "BP misled investors about its safety procedures and its ability to respond to events like the ongoing oil spill and we're going to hold it accountable."
DiNapoli said he is seeking to lead the class action against BP to give the Fund and other investors their best chance at recovering damages sustained from the decline in shareholder value subsequent to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. DiNapoli said the Fund held more than 19 million shares at the time of the event.
The Fund provides benefits to more than one million active and retired state and local government employees, police officers, and firefighters. In addition to investment earnings, the Fund is funded by contributions by state and local government employers and employees.
Junk Food...
Is the federal government preparing to impose strict new standards on the food industry and how it markets junk food to kids?
An interagency document between the Federal Trade Commission, Food & Drug Administration, Center for Disease Control and US Department of Agriculture is proposing new nutritional standards for food marketed to children ages 2-17. Sugary fruit juices and fatty foods would be off limits, and could not be aimed at children. According to the new guidelines, foods marketed to kids must actually include food.
While the USDA did help to write the guidelines, they're the only agency who hasn't signed off on the proposal.
So what's the status of these standards? Nobody knows. They were presented at a meeting in December 2009 and were supposed to be finalized by February or March. Both the FTC and the FDA have reportedly signed off on them, but the USDA has not, leading some watchdog groups to speculate that the food industry has unleashed a lobbying effort aimed at its friends in the Agriculture Department. No one from the food industry was present at the meeting in December.
Much of the current talks stem from a case involving Kelloggs' Cereals claiming that Rice Crispies can boost kids' immunity systems...
Abbe's Benefit...
The big benefit concert in Woodstock last month in honor of a lesbian teen from Mississippi who, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, sued her high school after being told she could not attend the prom with her girlfriend, has raised more than $30,000. Proceeds from "All Love, All Woodstock" will be divided among Constance McMillen's college education fund, the ACLU's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and AIDS Project, and Onteora High School's Gay-Straight Alliance, according to a press release.
The benefit, held June 25 at the Bearsville Theater, featured Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Ronnie Spector. Besides musical performances, the event featured an auction that included celebrity swag and autographed memorabilia from actors and musicians, as well as a $1,000 package from the Woodstock Writers Festival that included dinner with author Julie Powell.
The suit filed by the ACLU on McMillen's behalf is pending.

New Commute?
Metro-North Railroad has scheduled an open house on Tuesday, July 20, in the town of Newburgh to present the latest information on the West of Hudson Regional Transit Alternatives Analysis Environmental Impact Statement Study. The purpose of the study has been to evaluate options to improve public transit services between central Orange County and major regional activity centers to the south; and enhance regional transit access to Stewart International Airport in New Windsor.
One of the key points of discussion has been research into developing passenger rail service between Stewart and New York City.
The study screening process has identified a short list of the most viable alternatives and they will be presented at the session at the Hilton Garden Inn at 15 Crossroads Court off state Route 17K in Newburgh. The open house will run from 4 to 8 p.m.
Metro-North and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are funding the study, in part with federal funding secured by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. Talk about possibly increasing affordable commuting possibilities, in both the near and long-term future, to the Catskills.
Community Wind!
The financial crisis of recent years is fast becoming a blessing in disguise for community wind power, at least in some parts of the country where the smaller the effort, the better the results... unlike attempts to install large corporate wind farms in parts of the northern Catskills over recent years.
In eastern Oregon, farmers now have upwards of 20 windmills on their farms, bringing in $6,000 to $8,000 in rent yearly... and allowing the farmers to buy at least some of the wind generators on their lands outright over the coming years.
There, farmers are coming together in groups of two to five and joining with outside investor groups, including tractor-maker John Deere and a statewide wind power consortium, to build wind farms on their land. The windmills have been supplying electricity to Pacific Power, a regional utility, since last October.
All of the partners benefited from a new federal program, a treasury cash grant for renewable energy provided under the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009. The grant paid 30 percent of their construction costs, or about $49 million.
In this way, researchers say, the U.S. financial crisis has proved to be a blessing in disguise for community wind, an underserved corner of the burgeoning wind industry in this country. Of about 80 wind farms that had received cash grants from the stimulus fund as of June 30, roughly 17 were community wind projects.
In a report this year for the U.S. Department of Energy, it was noted that federal tax credits for wind power, which the government has offered off and on over several decades, have been a barrier for many local investors: They simply don't have enough tax liability to take advantage of them. Cash grants, on the other hand, have "fundamentally reshaped the federal policy landscape for wind power in general, and for community wind projects in particular," he said.
The downside is that in order to qualify for a grant, a wind farm must begin construction this year, at the latest, and must be up and running by the end of 2012. A bill introduced by Congressman Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, would extend grant eligibility to any project under construction by the end of 2012.
Community wind is one of the earliest development models for modern wind power, dating back to the early 1980s, when they were first widely used by farmers in Northern Europe. Today, community wind may include local farmers, businesses, investors, schools, universities and Native American tribes that have a direct financial stake in a project, as distinct from a land lease. The projects tend to be smaller than commercial wind farms that are built and run by "absentee" owners. By one definition, they may include municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives.
A 2009 study by the National Renewable Energy Lab, shows that community wind projects support more local jobs than commercial projects - three times as many during construction and nearly twice as many long term. Also, the research shows, they funnel more money into local communities and create public goodwill toward wind power.
But for all their advantages - local construction and contracting jobs, dividends for local shareholders, loans from local banks, reinvestment of profits in local communities - these projects account for only 2 percent of the wind power capacity in the United States, or 4 percent, if projects owned by public utilities are included. (Wind power of all varieties contributes 2 percent of all the electricity used in the U.S.)
Community wind may sound quaint, but as of 2000, it made up roughly 80 percent of all wind power capacity in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom combined. Community wind in Europe is driven by feed-in tariffs, which require utilities to purchase wind power at premium prices for extended terms. These subsidies are generally not available in the U.S.
Minnesota is the No. 1 state for community wind, largely because the state began promoting it in the mid-1990s with cash subsidies. Minnesota utilities today are required to consider offering long-term contracts with favorable terms to community wind projects.
Climate Change
Senate backers of legislation promoting greenhouse gas caps got some fresh help recently when the Congressional Budget Office reported that one high-profile proposal would help curb the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade. The CBO analysis of the American Power Act, championed by Sens. John Kerry and Joe found that government revenues would grow by about $751 billion from 2011 to 2020 if the bill became law. By contrast, the legislation would create direct spending of $732 billion over the same 10-year period.
Authors of the proposal are still searching for a formulation that will draw 60 votes.
"There is no more room for excuses; this must be our year to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation and begin to send a price signal on carbon," Kerry and Lieberman said in a joint statement. "Many of our colleagues have said they flatly oppose anything that adds a penny to the deficit, so we hope they look anew at this initiative, which reduces it."
The Senate is currently putting together "different options" on energy and climate during the current congressional recess, with the goal being to find a bill that President Barack Obama can help move through the Senate. Democratic staffers say they are now looking at three ideas: a popular overhaul of offshore drilling, an "energy-only" bill that would mandate an increase in renewable electricity and, as a long-shot add-on, a cap on carbon emissions from power plants only.
Meanwhile, an independent report into the leak of hundreds of e-mails from one of the world's leading climate research centers largely vindicated the scientists involved, saying they acted honestly and that their research was reliable. The panel of inquiry did chide scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, however, for failing to share their data with critics.
"We find that their rigor and honesty as scientists are not in doubt," the report said. "But we do find that there has been a consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness."
The inquiry was the third major investigation into the theft and dissemination of more than 1,000 e-mails taken from a back-up server at the university, which caused a sensation when they were published online in November. The ensuing scandal energized skeptics and destabilized the U.N. climate change conference at Copenhagen and helped sway U.S. opinion against doing anything to avert climate change, for now.
Also surfacing recently, of note, were documents from the Nixon Presidential Library that show members of President Richard Nixon's inner circle discussing the possibilities of global warming more than 30 years ago.
Adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan, notable as a Democrat in the administration, urged Nixon and his cabinet to initiate a worldwide system of monitoring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, decades before the issue of global warming came to the public's attention.
Peace Talks...
Hundreds of peace activists from around the country and the world will converge on the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Albany, NY for a national peace conference set to run next week from July 23 to 25. This conference is being organized by a coalition of 25 national peace groups and will bring together the entire leadership of the anti-war movement.
Keynoting the conference will be Noam Chomsky, internationally renowned political activist, author, and critic of U.S. foreign and domestic policies, MIT Professor Emeritus of Linguistics; and Donna DeWitt, President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO and Steering Committee member, U.S. Labor Against the War. Additional speakers will include Joel Kovel (of Willow), Dahlia Wasfi, Leila Zand, Cheri Honkala, Medea Benjamin, Kathy Kelly, Michael Ferner, Kevin Martin, Michael McPhearson, Nada Khader, Larry Holmes, David Swanson, Glen Ford, Blanca MissÈ, Pam Africa, Cindy Sheehan, Fahima Vorgetts, Ann Wright and others.
Additionally, one feature of the conference will be a focus on the cases of unjustly prosecuted Muslims such as Yassim Aref and Mohammed Hossain from Albany. Family members and supporters from similar cases around the country will also be present.
The conference will develop an action propose to guide the national anti-war movement in the coming months.
Co-sponsors of the conference include After Downing Street, Arab American Union Members Council, Bail Out the People Movement, Black Agenda Report, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Campus Antiwar Network, Code Pink, Grandmothers Against the War, Granny Peace Brigade, International Action Center, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, National Lawyers Guild, Peace Action, Peace of the Action, Progressive Democrats of America, U.S. Labor Against the War, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Veterans for Peace, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, World Can't Wait.
The July 23 - 25 conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany, NY. For more information on the conference, phone 518-227-6947 or visit UNAC's web site at www.nationalpeaceconference.org.
Tarp Turns Profit?
According to new reports issued yesterday, the Capital Purchase Program, a major part of TARP, the federal government's major 2008 bank bailout program, has generated a 10.3 percent return on investment from the 61 banks that have fully repaid the government. Six banks generated ROI's of 20 percent or more, including Goldman Sachs, which generated exactly 20 percent. Morgan Stanley returned 16 percent. Of the $205 billion Treasury invested through CPP, $65 billion remains outstanding, according to KBW. The report also found that banks that have fully repaid CPP money have gained 5.5 percent relative to the S&P 500 Financials Index. The CPP program does not include the $70 billion guaranteed to AIG, which remains outstanding.
Bank stocks have dropped nearly 20 percent since April, however, meaning returns are likely to be lower, though still positive, in the coming year. There is also the question of how the positive returns will impact the selling of the administration's proposed $90 billion bank tax. Part of the argument for the tax has been that it is intended to make sure the government recoups all the money it spent on bailouts.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has raised its 2010 world growth forecast to 4.5 percent from 4.1 percent, and its U.S. growth forecast from 2.7 percent to 3.3 percent. However, it did also warn that 'risks have risen sharply' due to Europe's financial turbulence. It said European leaders need to act quickly to resolve debt problems and restore confidence in their banks.
Be careful...
Women's Network
The Ulster County Women's Network's monthly program will celebrate artist Helen Schofield's 80th birthday with a retrospective of her work at her studio and gallery on Tuesday, July 20. The exhibition will include a Hawaiian series of floral and abstract oils and watercolors; a series of untraditional portraits of people, pets and ghosts; and original fashion sketches of the 1950s.
Schofield, a native of Switzerland, originally trained as a fashion designer before studying fine art. She came to NYC in 1983, where her work was on display at the Ward Nasse Gallery in Soho. Shortly afterward, she moved to the Hudson Valley, where she studied at the Woodstock School of Art. Her work has been shown in various galleries in Kingston and beyond. She curated the "Rhine-Hudson Exchange" exhibit at the Arts Society of Kingston, which she then brought to Cologne.
UCWN's gathering begins at 5:30 for socializing and networking, followed by a potluck dinner, a brief business meeting and the featured presentation. Women are invited to bring a sketch pad and paint and brushes or sketch pencils, pens or chalk - or a camera, for photography. Guests are always welcome at UCWN programs.
For more information and to R.S.V.P., please contact Melody Newcombe at 688-5472 or melody@melodynewcombe.com.
Progressivism!
Despite their support of checks and balances and desire for minimal changes in the Constitution, the American public favors a series of populist changes in our system of government, according to the results of a poll on the US Constitution prepared by Penn Schoen Berland for the Aspen Institute and released recently at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Initiatives receiving public support include direct election of Supreme Court justices, elimination of the Electoral College, and the addition of amendments by national referenda.
The poll suggests that, while the public may be dissatisfied with recent administrations and the partisan political environment, they remain reasonably satisfied with the governmental framework set out in the Constitution. By 64 to 19 they endorse the system of checks and balances as necessary to prevent one branch from dominating the Government.
Freedom of speech was seen as far and away the single most important right guaranteed by the Constitution, and, as a corollary, only 28 percent believe the press has too much freedom. The poll covered well over 100 questions on the details of the constitutional system of government and was conducted with over 1000 Americans.
By a margin of 6 to 1 (61 to 10 percent) Americans believe that the Constitution should safeguard even more rights, and name gender equality as the right most deserving of constitutional protection. Majorities support guarantees of equality, of the right to privacy, of the right to own property and even the right to an education. 55 percent support the right to equality regardless of sexual orientation while 47 percent thinks the right to healthcare should be constitutionally protected as well.
Two areas in which Americans are split are how best to interpret the Constitution and whether it protects some Americans more than others. While Republicans support a literal interpretation of the text and Democrats a more living interpretation consistent with the times, Independents are split down the middle, making this the single most contentious constitutional issue polled.
Additionally, upper-income Americans see the Constitution as protecting all Americans equally while lower-income Americans are less certain it provides equal treatment for all.
In another contentious area, respondents rank protecting national security as slightly more important than protecting civil liberties by a margin of 44 to 39. And while 31 percent disagree, 56 percent of Americans can see circumstances in which the police should be allowed to violate civil liberties for national security .
When it comes to the Supreme Court, the public disagrees with the underpinnings of their recent ruling that extends free speech rights to corporations. By a narrow 41 to 51 percent the public also rejects giving corporations the same rights as citizens.
When it comes to fixing to the system, voters zero in on the judiciary branch as most ripe for extensive changes. 69 percent call for a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices and 66 percent favor term limits. Most significantly, by a margin of 51 to 34 the public favors popular election of Supreme Court justices. 74 percent agree to abolish the Electoral College and have direct popular vote for the president. The public also favors by 49 to 41 holding national referenda for constitutional amendments.
GE To Clean Up
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the EPA does have the authority to unilaterally order cleanups. The decision clears the way for the continued cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyl polluted sediment from the Hudson River.
Many have said the court decision will have widespread implications beyond the Hudson River cleanup.
General Electric had been ordered to clean up years of chemical pollution dumped into the upper Hudson River and had fought the federal rulings against them for over a decade. This final appeal puts the issue to rest... at least for this fight.