The Hayseeds blog, No. 271 for the week starting August 24, 2008.
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Hayseeds No. 270
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Hayseeds No. 271
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Hayseeds No. 271
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He of course is the choice of Barack Obama, so now is a time to learn a bit about him by reading Joe Biden: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
A little bit about the state that Joe Biden has represented for all of these years. A highly urban state, it also has some major agricultural regions and lots of seafront. It's a tiny state though, only slightly larger then Rhode Island.
Remembering some of the protests of the 1968 Democratic Convention and how it's changed political events since then.
NPR takes a look at the runningmate for the presumative Democratic candidate.
You can now read the transcript of today's speech.
They will be destroying more of historic downtown Troy in the name of urban revitilization, much like did in the late 1970s, leading to the city's bankruptcy and uglification.
City Hall will be emptied of its workers and attention will be turned to transforming Riverfront Park to make it more of an attraction to inspire further development downtown.
Mayor Harry Tutunjian succeeded Wednesday in winning the votes of four Democratic City Council members to forge a 7-2 vote to approve striking a deal with Judge Development Corp. to relocate city government operations to the former Verizon building at 1776 Sixth Ave.
Now, his administration will work with the state Department of State to develop requests for proposals and qualifications to seek out consultants to develop plans for rejuvenating Riverfront Park.
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In case you want to join his group.
That is if we get out of Iraq.
Steck, an Albany County legislator who represents Colonie and part of Watervliet, said he wants to restore funding to the federal Community Development Block Grant program, money that benefits low- to moderate-income residents in municipalities.
He said if the military pulls out of Iraq and tax cuts are eliminated for the wealthy, there will be enough money to put back into the CDBG program.
"The cost of sprawl, the high cost of living and the high cost of petroleum make it a great opportunity for redevelopment in urban areas," Steck said.
He's made this argument before. Nothing against him, but I don't see why we should wait until the war is over in Iraq before funding our priorites back home. The peace dividend never seems as great as it would appear, and I doubt if we simply wait until more money appears, none of these things will ever happen.
The governor wanted a three-way agreement which he did not get before passing the tax cap in one house bills.
It will bring in produce from California in the off-season.
The Times Union compares the hands-off approach of Troy to what Schenectady has been doing to revitalize it's urban core.
It happened yesterday, featuring issues of war and peace, and proved that on many issues the candidates where more alike then different, according to the Times Union.
And they are purty happy with the light air pressure and the fact that Democrats are going to kick ass this November.
Continued technical problems and significant cost overruns are leading to some calling for a cancellation of this project.
Events worth watching in the evening during the Dem Convention.
A nice review of what he is doing out in Denver.
Already we are hearing about potential scandals or conflicts of internet by the VP candidate.
During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday.
Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, received consulting fees from the MBNA Corporation from 2001 to 2005 for work on online banking issues. Aides to Mr. Obama, who chose Mr. Biden as his vice-presidential running mate on Saturday, would not say how much the younger Mr. Biden, who works as both a lawyer and lobbyist in Washington, had received, though a company official had once described him as having a $100,000 a year retainer. But Obama aides said he had never lobbied for MBNA and that there was nothing improper about the payments.
I'm not too surprised. I'm sure the Republicans will play this up, and it's something to consider. Yet, if Hunter is not lobbying, it's going to be difficult to prove that anything illegal actually happened.
Brian Stratton and others speak highly of the man.
“I think it brings strong balance to the Democratic ticket,” said Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton, who will attend the Democratic convention this week in Denver — his first time voting at a national convention.
“I think that the biggest problem [Obama] faced was people just felt that he was inexperienced being a freshman senator,” Stratton said. “You can’t say you don’t know enough about Sen. Biden.”
I agree that he will be great.
There is a concern about people looking towards having relationships in city parks and other public places, where it's viewed to be inappropiate.
They where well aware of what could happen in the market, but chose not to investigate or act to prevent the worst of the fall out.
She thinks he will be great.
They look forward for November.
This is disappointing. Why can't people respect anything?
Some local banks are on hard times but not necessarily insolvent.
That's what she said as the convention opens today.
NPR looks at the much different personality of Biden and how it will change the ticket.
Apparently all that development has not proven good for Republicans in the mountain states.
On Thursday, Sen. Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination here before a crowd of around 70,000, a figure with resonance in the Mountain West: Had Sen. John F. Kerry flipped that number of votes combined in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada in 2004, he would have been president.
Four years later, nowhere in the country is the race so close as in this region. Most polls show Obama and his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, tied in Colorado and Nevada, Obama up a little in New Mexico and McCain with a small lead in Montana.
Well duh. If you bring a lot of Democrats in to an area, it kind of dilutes your voting power. We are seeing this in upstate New York, and it's not surpising to see it happen in the mountain west. If Republicans weren't so stupid, then they wouldn't be pushing the "bring the democrats in, develop the tax base mentality."
Yes, he has a blog on the convention.
Burn your old one, or so it might seem as a traffic investigator's car burns up in his driveway. They claim a young adult was seen outside of the house, but let's be realistic—it's a common thing for police to destroy old cruisers when they want a new one.
This was an old Crown Victoria, and I'm sure the officer wanted a new one. He tried to put out a car fire using a broom, then called the fire department. But they are investigating the neighborhood, trying to find somebody, besides the officer who torched his own car, because as all know, cops don't purposely destroy their cars, just get a new one.
The Times Union has a review of that surprise speech last night as the man comes out of his sick bed with brain cancer to speak last night.
It will now move forward in developing the site, regardless if AMD comes or not, providing high-speed access to the Malta Dentistry Offices in your private automobile.
GOP operatives are striking back against the excitement of the convention.
He's spreading his money around well to both parties.
Ain't this just charming to know our representatives are taking bribes.
Democracy Now - Monday, August 25th
And support Barack Obama.
Interesting new forms of artwork.
Despite his plans to try to kill the presidential candidate.
Bill Hammond thinks Barack should pay attention to Paterson's remarks that the sky is falling.
It's not an easy task it seems for some.
Time for e-conventions?
So it would seem as the race continues to be close.
Things got a little nasty at the convention last night, leading Wanda Willingham to get accidentailly part of the action.
This is good news for students attending that school.
The story of changing perspections of Joe Biden in the media.
Apparently NYRA wasn't paying workers their fair amount at the track over the past year.
The department's probe said trainers routinely cheated their hotwalkers, grooms, and watchmen out of overtime and in some cases paid them less than minimum wage.
The names of the trainers were not revealed and the state is ordering them to pay full restitution to their employees. The trainers will be identified as soon as the investigation is complete, said Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith.
The investigation unfolded during the current track season and revealed that many track workers were forced to live in filthy conditions on the back stretch. Some were denied beds and slept on concrete floors. Others slept on mattresses infested with bed bugs.
"The main concern is that people get minimum wage, overtime after 40 hours worked and the day off per week," said Jose Ramon Rivera, an employee of one of the track's trainers. He spoke on behalf of those being cheated, though he had been paid what he earned.
At least the injustice will be corrected.
Changing methods and technology in our public schools, hope to teach kids better for tommorow.
In the second biggest crime since the Peter Porco (the first biggest being the harassment of peace protesters), Bethlehem police report gun shots heard in a rural section of Route 9W. There was a supposed car jacking in the area or so they claim.
Good news for public openness after so many decades of secrecy.
A judge ordered the release Tuesday of key secret grand jury testimony in the atomic spy trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, citing its value to historians in the ongoing debate over national security versus freedom.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein pertained to witnesses whose sealed testimony was taken in 1950 and 1952 and who are still alive but had not consented to the release or who could not be located.
The Rosenbergs were convicted of passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union and were executed in 1953. Since then, decoded Soviet cables have seemed to confirm that Julius Rosenberg was a spy, but doubts have remained about Ethel Rosenberg's involvement.
More about this case of communist fear over at Wikipedia.
It's tough to govern when half of the town board resigns, and you don't have a quorum until the governor appoints replacements.
