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The D&C’s updated website is terrible. I missed this — caught it in the opinion section of the Friday paper.   According to Petrena Hayes’ blog posting, a Wiccan said the prayer at the Greece Town Board.  Here is what Petrena had to say:

I made it to the Greece Town Board meeting tonight. Jen Zarpentine, who is a Wiccan, was set to open the meeting with a prayer.

I expected there would be a good group of people there but there wasn’t… maybe about seventeen people in attendance.

Jen Zarpentine led the prayer and she prayed to the Goddess of Athena and Apollo. It lasted about 20 seconds and then it was over. Supervisor Auberger thanked her and said, “We appreciate you being here tonight”.

So that was it, no big controversy.

Huh?  Those religious zealots in Greece let a non-christian say a prayer? Maybe they aren’t that bad after all.  Maybe they aren’t trying to force their religion on everyone.  [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus by Cincinnatus
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No big surprize, but the Buffalo News did a much better job reporting on Democratic candidate for Congress Jon Powers’ violation FEC guidelines than the Democrat and Chronicle — maybe they are less committed to affirmative action than the D&C and hire the best reporters.

According to the Buffalo News:

Powers’ spokesman made the announcement after reporters asked about Powers’ campaign statements showing the rental payments.

“The campaign may not pay for mortgage, rent or utilities for the personal residence of the candidate or the candidate’s family even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign,” according to the Federal Election Commission’s campaign guide for Congressional candidates.

Powers campaign treasurer Ann Marie Glaser received a letter from the commission on March 13, saying that more detail was needed for the expenses that Power listed on his election forms. [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Local Congressional Races, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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I have a natural distrust for self-anointed reformers.  In most cases, politicians who cry for reform are merely trying to further their own political agenda.  And they know that as long as they use the magic R word, the dim-witted public will immediately support their actions.  Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, and newspaper editors ignore reason at the sound of “reform.” 

Even worse, the politicians who cry reform the loudest are usually the biggest hypocrites.  Recent history has borne this out. 

Exhibit A, of course, is Client 9, the big bad reformer who liked to transport hookers across state lines and then make the beast with two backs while wearing black dress socks (look it up, it’s true).

Exhibit B would be the number two man on the reform ticket: David Paterson.  As we all know, this guy admitted to having an affair, having a few affairs, and then having many affairs.  Soon thereafter, he was caught using campaign funds for personal uses (including for hotel stays in Albany despite the fact that he lived 15 minutes away - I bet that had nothing to do with the many affairs to which he admitted).  And then he also admitted to cocaine use. [Read more →]

Tags: New York State, Occam by Occam
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Wow, this is amazing.  Liberal Democratic darling to replace Tom Reynolds Jon Powers, has violated the Federal Election Commission laws regarding paying yourself rent out of your campaign account.

According to the front page story in the D&C.  

The $500-a-month payments were a violation of campaign law, even if the candidate was using the residence as a base of campaign operations, as Powers was.

According to the congressional campaign guide published by the FEC, “The campaign may not pay for mortgage, rent or utilities for the personal residence of the candidate or the candidate’s family even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign.”

We were the first to tell you last week that the charity set up by Powers — War Kids Relief — the charity all the Democrats were going gaga over — (it showed how compassionate Powers was compared to those heartless Republicans) — appears to be nothing more than a resume builder for Powers.  Do a Google search and the only mention of it is in the context of what a great guy Powers is.  There’s no way to donate money (pretty important for a legitimate charity) and any information links you can find don’t work. [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Local Congressional Races, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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It has been a year since a certifiably crazy Virginia Tech student shot and killed over 30 of his classmates before killing himself.  A common reaction to tragedies such as this is to call for increased gun control legislation.  I remain unconvinced that most gun control legislation does anything to make us safer.

One of the principal reasons I (and many others) own guns is for self-protection.  I know that there are people in the world, whether they be criminals or crazies or terrorist evildoers, who think little of harming others.  I also know that the police cannot protect me every moment of the day and night.  I know that I can make choices that make it less likely for harm to come to me or my family, but I cannot completely remove that possibility.

I realize that the state has a legitimate interest in keeping its citizens safe, and that most gun laws are written in an attempt to further that interest.  However, many gun laws take away freedoms while doing little to make us safer.  Worse still, some laws directly interfere with my legitimate right to protect myself.  [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Occam by Occam
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Hillary and Barack debated for the votes of Pennsylvanians last night. It was a real yawner and we learned nothing except that ABC news is incompetent as debate moderators. The first 50 minutes were a rehash of gossip that would make a supermarket tabloid jealous. Here is a time line synopsis of the questions and how I scored it.

8:00 Charlie Gibson asks a ridiculous open question. Would either be the others VP? He waits for a response. Surprised when no one answers, and not realizing he is the moderator whose job it is to decide who speaks and in what order, he quips “Well don’t everyone speak at once!” Score -1 ABC News.

8:04 WHAT? A COMMERCIAL ALREADY! Now we know why ABC did a prime time debate. Score -1 ABC News

8:05 Questions about Obama’s clinging to religion and guns comments. Score +1 Hillary

8:10 Hillary Dodging sniper fire that never happened. Score +1 Obama

8:20 The Reverend Wright and why Obama still loves him. Score +1 Hillary [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Politics by bull tinkle
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I was all set to post about the “controversy” over Republican Party Steve Minarik’s disbanding of the Mendon Republican Committee — but our friends over at Mustard Street have a great post so I will keep this short.

The first point that shows Minarik did the right thing was the fact that the story was leaked to the crazy leftist at Rochesterturning.com. The fact that some “good Republican” would send information to these guys is proof that they are either very dumb or consorting with the political enemy.

Secondly, these guys (the Mendon Republicans) have had their lunch handed to them by Mendon Democrats.  In a lot of these hayseed towns, the good old boys nominate who they want, regardless of their electability.  Take a look at Parma a couple of years ago.  Republicans nominated a guy with ties to that soccer complex nobody wanted and they almost lost the seat to a candidate whose primary experience was delivering pizzas.  And, there was a Democrat elected last year in Clarkson.

If the Mendon Republicans were disloyal to the party, Minarik took the right steps . It’s not always easy to make the difficult decisions.  Like him or not, he isn’t afraid to do what is best for his party – and that’s one of the main reasons Monroe County Republicans have been on a winning run for over 17 years.

Tags: The Equalizer by The Equalizer
1 Comment »

Who will Barack Obama insult next — people who drive pickup trucks? Better yet, how about those rubes who go to NASCAR races?  The wheels are falling off of his campaign.

Hopefully he won’t embarrass himself like John Kerry did in Philadelphia in 2004.  (Kerry ordered a cheese steak with Swiss instead of Cheese Whiz – this brought hoots and yells from Philadelphians because ordering Swiss on a cheesesteak is like rooting for Dallas at an Eagles game.)

His campaign is starting to fall apart. There are two narratives that Barack Obama does not want to have associated with him. One is that he is an elitist and the other that he is a leftist –reasons why Democrats lose elections. Obama has managed to foster both in his gaffe and associations.

Obama is a smart but he is also rookie. Hillary, a veteran of many tough political battles, knew that if she kept in the race and continued to throw rice at the wall some of it would stick. It was only a matter of time before Obama would say or do something that would expose him for what he really is. Do you notice how those calls for Hillary to step aside have ceased?

Pennsylvania has 4.1 Million registered Democratic voters. According to the American Research Group poll Hillary has a 20% lead. If so, she will be able to wipe out Obama’s popular vote lead. If at the end of the process she has the lead in popular vote and Obama has the delegate lead, there will be a melee at the Democratic convention that will make 1968 look like a picnic.

Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Politics, Tiberius by tiberius
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Not that you would know it from reading the D&C, but Erie County businessman Chris Lee is moving closer to securing the Republican nomination in the race to replace retiring Congressman Tom Reynolds. 

According to yesterday’s Buffalo News:

Lee, meanwhile, is generating more and more talk in GOP circles, especially after Monroe County Republican Chairman Stephen J. Minarik III, former chairman of the state party, said Monday he will back the Amherst businessman.

“I’d like to have him as the candidate,” Minarik said. “If the other chairmen arrive at a consensus for Mr. Lee, he should be the candidate.”

Minarik’s endorsement follows a meeting in which five prospective GOP candidates were interviewed by party officials Saturday.

“I thought the interviews went well, and I feel like I’m building momentum,” Lee said Monday, adding that he is also making a major effort to gain backing from the Conservative and Independence parties. [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Local Congressional Races, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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Governor Paterson and his wife are cheapskates.  Donating $150 in old clothes when you have a combined income of $269,815 should be embarrassing.  Although it was buried on page 5b of this mornings ‘news”paper, the D&C had an article on the subject this morning.

According to the D&C:

Gov. David Paterson and his wife earned $269,815 in 2007, yet claimed giving $150 to charity, a donation of clothing to the Salvation Army, according to his tax returns released Monday.

The Patersons’ charitable contributions when he was lieutenant governor were significantly less than what were claimed by other statewide elected leaders, who also released their tax information Monday, a day before today’s federal tax-filing deadline. [Read more →]

Tags: Cincinnatus, David Paterson by Cincinnatus
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