Organic produce kills 13

E. coli bacteria

The death toll from an E. coli bacteria outbreak in Germany has risen to at least 13, per this morning's New York Times.

The health authorities in Europe stepped up efforts on Monday to halt a deadly outbreak of a virulent form of E. coli bacteria in cucumbers as a dispute broke out between Spain and Germany over the source of the illness.

The federal and state authorities in Germany — where effects are by far most severe — said the death toll climbed to 13 by Monday, from 10 on Sunday, in one of the largest outbreaks its kind reported worldwide.

Not mentioned in the Times article is that the source of the deadly infection has been identified as organic produce from Spain.  If we read all the way through this CNN report, in the tenth paragraph we learn:

The European Food Safety Alert Network said EHEC, or enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhage in the intestines, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany, and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain.

These seems to be a pattern of E. coli outbreaks originating with expensive, trendy "organic" produce.  If consumers chose to pay the price and take the risk with organics, we wish them the best of luck.  However, whether you like it or not, the FDA is using your tax dollars to subsidze the conversion of US agriculture to "organic practices."  For instance, we still have time to apply this $3,750,000 grant.

The overall goal of the Organic Transitions Program (ORG) is to support the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices. In FY 2011, ORG will focus on environmental services provided by organic farming systems that support soil conservation and contribute to climate change mitigation. Practices and systems to be addressed include those associated with organic crops, organic animal production (including dairy), and organic systems integrating plant and animal production.

Bold added.  Left to be understood is why taxpayers are being forced to subsidize the admittedly uncompetitive, risky, boutique organic industry.  Perhaps our esteemed readers can provide insight? 

We demand an investigation

New York governor Andy Cuomo's office has ordered the New York DEC to investigate the recent spill of hydraulic fracturing fluid in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. 

In the memo sent Friday to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens, Director of State Operations Howard Glaser ordered the department to complete an on-site inspection of the Bradford County, Pa. gas well, and to include any information from the site in the DEC’s environmental review of hydrofracking.

From the endless news coverage that treated this event as a Keystone State Chernobyl, you may recall that 10,000 gallons of the water-based liquid was spilled into a rural creek.  If that leak was large enough that cash strapped New York must send it's well paid employees south to visit the disaster site, then what about this?

A government operated treatment plant collapsed and dumped 600,000 gallons of partially raw sewage into the Susquehanna River Monday morning, endangering the drinking water supply of millions of New York and Pennsylvania residents. 

We demand that the Cuomo administration send a team to Vestal, NY, to complete an on-site inspection of this dangerous sewer plant, which released 60 times more pollution into the environment than the Bradford County mishap.

Left turns on Jackson

After she admitted that hydraulic fracturing to recover shale gas does not threaten water supplies, her former pals on the rabid left have launched vicious attacks against Obama's EPA administrator Lisa Jackson.  Unlikely Hospitalist, who is building a case for considering the "no fracking" crowd to be dangerous extremists, reports:

Since her disclosure many have turned a complete 180 degrees to deride her in no uncertain terms a the devil incarnate! Her disclosure has "caused a very nasty, and very telling, uproar among the radical extremists of the anti-fracking industry. Ms. Jackson is being called vulgar names, accused of all manner of unethical activities, accused of being "paid off" and subjected to demands that she resign - and those are the mild attacks. The harder-core of the movement is calling her a "whore" and stating that she should be stalked and threatened, frightened into submission to their way of thinking - all because she offered her honest scientific opinion (she is a chemical engineer) under oath.

See the good doctor's complete post (linked above) for examples of what the hope and change crowd is saying about one of their own.

What we're up against

New Jersey blogger TigerHawk compares the mainstream media's treatment of John Edwards to that of Sarah Palin.

 I have long thought that the media's disparate treatment of John Edwards and Sarah Palin was the most powerful evidence of structural bias toward the left. Edwards was having an affair and the media turned a blind eye. Palin was pregnant by her husband, and the media accused her of faking it and swarmed Alaska with investigators. Edwards had no useful experience -- he was a trial lawyer, which is training for essentially nothing important, and a one-term Senator -- and nobody in the press questioned his qualifications. However one might weigh Palin's resume, she was no less experienced than Edwards (that would be difficult) and the press hammered her constantly for it. Edwards was vain as can be and the press did not even suggest that he was a narcissist (which he obviously is). Palin bought some better looking clothes for campaigning and the whole press pool jumped on it. Edwards could not make a speech without reminding us he was the son of a  "mill worker" who had gotten rich and the media ate it up as evidence of humble beginnings. The Palins actually built a successful small business and the media mocked it as a stunt. One could go on.

TigerHawk theorizes that Edwards' current criminal problems may be the work of the Obama administration, looking to cut off potential primary opponents at the pass.

Bus tour threatens establishment

Beginning Sunday, Sarah Palin's bus tour will include Washington, DC and New Hampshire.  Supporters are buzzing with anticipation, but establishment Republicans are so upset they're postponing their tee times.

Whatever her plans, Ms. Palin's re-emergence into the spotlight will affect the race for the GOP nomination, party strategists say. The tour likely will garner wide press attention at a moment when Republican presidential hopefuls have started trying to generate enthusiasm for their own candidacies.

Ms. Palin's revived public presence could reshape the battle for the support of social conservatives and tea party-affiliated Republicans.

Her flirtation with a run also could prompt undecided Republican donors and party leaders to hold back on aligning with any candidate as they wait for the field to settle.

"She's a threat to everyone," said Fergus Cullen, a former Republican Party chairman in New Hampshire.

No, Fergus, the real "threat to everyone" is the potential for four more years on Obama's road to serfdom.  America needs a candidate who's a threat to Democrats.

EPA chief: fracking OK!

Lisa Jackson, fracking supporter?

 

That's right!  In a Congressional hearing  on Tuesday, Obama EPA Administrator and left wing extremist Lisa Jackson gave the go ahead to natural gas fracking in New York.  Well, not exactly, but she did state that fracking does not threaten water supplies.

At a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, President Barack Obama’s EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, admitted the environmental risk of hydraulic fracturing is practically nonexistent.

“I’m not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water, although there are investigations ongoing,” she said.

We're busy getting caught up with our lawn mowing this week, so perhaps one of our distinguished readers can pass the good news along to Barbara Lifton?

Tax cap = unlimited tax increase

Moving south?

Its graduation season in the Finger Lakes.   Many of our kids leave the area as soon as the ink dries on their diplomas.  In today's New York Post, Fred Siegel has the numbers.

...a recent Marist poll suggests that the rate is likely to increase: 36 percent of New Yorkers under 30 plan to leave over the next five years. Why are all these people fleeing?...

Indeed, the poll also found that 62 percent of New Yorkers planning to leave cited economic factors -- including cost of living (30 percent), taxes (19 percent) and the job environment (10 percent) -- as the main reason.

Upstate, a big part of the problem is extraordinarily high property taxes. New York has the country's 15 highest-taxed counties...

Rather than a tax cut, Andy Cuomo promised us a "2% tax cap".  That's actually a continuation of the pain, as a 2% increase isn't pocket change, and it would compound annually.  And now, Lonely Conservative explains that we're going to get the Sheldon Silver version of the "cap," which is actually a green light for unlimited tax increases.

The Republicans are going along with this cockamamie scheme. They say property and school taxes probably won’t increase by more than 3%. But with pension costs jumping  by as much as 42% how on earth will that happen? Good grief, these people are insane.

Mowing season under way

Finger Lakes people share a deeply rooted cultural affinity for large lawns.  Relatively inexpensive land, abundant rainfall, and occasional bright sunshine facilitate large swaths of manicured turf.  At this time of year, small talk among native or assimilated homeowners involves only two subjects:  tax assessments and lawn mowing.  

We embrace a lot of diversity between our Slim Fingers, but proper lawn care must be understood as a quasi-religious obligation.  Young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, even Democrats and Republicans are all lawn care fanatics.  You can argue with a guy's politics, hate the Yankees, drink Bud Light, even wear long sleeves in the summertime, but don't disrespect your neighbor's well trimmed acre.

With seemingly endless rainfall this spring, our lawn mowing days have been limited, while the grass is growing like crazy.  When we do get a chance to mow, our equipment needs to be in top shape.  So be aware that the ethanol our state government requires in New York gasoline, while good for rewarding political cronies, is hazardous to you mower. 

"Since they've added the alcohol and other components to get the alcohol to mix with the fuel it causes it to break down quicker," Titus Mower Manager Gary Kubasiewicz said. "That does cause problems. It does affect fuel components. We run into corrosion in the fuel systems. It's attacking the rubber gaskets and inlet seats, things like that. So it's definitely causing problems."

We use STA-BIL.

"Locals cash in"

Hog Father's

New York's sophisticated opponents of shale gas extraction often dismiss any possible benefits of "fracking" to the local economy.  "Drilling jobs will only go to outsiders from Texas," say our comfortable elite.  Meanwhile, all sorts of non-drilling jobs are being created in neighboring Pennsylvania's Marcellus gas boom.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Frank Puskarich, owner of Hog Father's restaurant in Washington and daily caterer to Range Resources‘ “frack jobs” across the region. The boisterous barbecue pit master said he has hired eight employees who do nothing but prepare chicken, ribs, brisket, macaroni and cheese and other entrees for tired, hungry workers. He picked up the contract with Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources five years ago, and that also has helped drive business to his small establishment in Washington.

“It’s standing-room only for lunch” every day, Mr. Puskarich said. “[Business] has been tremendous. There’s a lot of work for people who want it, and not just in the food business.”

A busy restaurant is a great place for your kid to snag a first job, no experience required.

Update:
Unlikely Hospitalist emails news of more Marcellus related, non-drilling  jobs being created in Painted Post and Elmira.

Why are you paying this guy?

He's at it again

This morning in Syracuse:

As Charles Schumer spoke about gas prices, an attendant came out of the Sunoco station at 200 James St., Syracuse, behind New York’s senior senator and lowered the prices on its big sign by 2 cents.

As he threatens oil companies, we shouldn't forget that recently Schumer was blaming high gas prices on the President:

"Where is the president?" (John F.) Kerry asked in Portland, where gasoline is selling for as much as $2.31 a gallon. "We need a president who is fighting for the American worker, the American family at the fuel pump."

On Capitol Hill, a group of Democratic senators introduced a resolution calling for the release of 1 million of barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for up to 60 days, arguing that would force down gas prices. Said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.: "The administration insists on throwing fuel in the fire."

Quote from 2004. 

This putz works for you, Finger Lakes taxpayer.  We need a senator who's actually a real person: 

Amity Shlaes for US Senate

Speaking of presidential candidates

Unlikely Hospitalist heard an interesting real estate rumor.

The internets are abuzz with rumors that Sarah Palin has purchased a home in Scottsdale Arizona so that she can set up shop in the contiguous US as she prepares for a 2012 Presidential run.

Presidential run, indeed.

Photo is from Don Surber's February 11, 2010 post.

46 years ago today, Sarah “Sally” Heath gave birth to the 45th president in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Update:  Is this the house?

Foster to serve 30 days in UAE prison

John Christensen updates the story in the Chronicle Express.  No word if our federal representatives influenced the outcome.

According to reports posted on the Help Adam Foster facebook page, Adam Foster was convicted on the lesser charge of possessing a lost item and jailed for a month on Thursday.

Adam Foster, 30, of Watkins Glen and the son of Jeannette Andrews Foster, a native of Dundee, is the young man at the center of an international scandal over the treatment of prisoners by the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of the United States and one of the largest exporters of oil in the world.

The Finger Lakes' Fortunate Few

Working longer hours?  No pay raise?  Pay cut?  Laid off?  Forced retirement?  Property taxes going up every year?

Perhaps you should have applied for this recent CNY  job opening.  The Auburn Citizen provides details on one hell of a compensation package:

Jordan-Elbridge’s new superintendent, James Froio, will make $140,000 annually, but that salary is frozen for the first two years of his three-year contract...

Should there be no position for Froio in a merged district, he is entitled under the contract to one year’s salary and benefits...

Other than his salary and the merger clause, Froio’s other benefits consist of: a $250 per month transportation expense allowance; 20 days vacation per school year; 12 sick leave days each school year; up to five days per school year from his personal illness leave, which is for illness in his immediate family; up to five days leave with pay for bereavement for each death in the immediate family; up to four days per school year for business leave; and 20 holidays.

The district will contribute annually up to $1,500 for Froio to purchase life insurance, disability insurance or to place in a tax-sheltered annuity. The district will also pay 95 percent of individual coverage health insurance premium and 85 percent of the dependent health insurance premium for him and his dependents.

If Froio has a minimum of 10 years service with the district, the district will pay 90 percent of the individual coverage health insurance premium and 80 percent of the dependent health insurance premium for the remainder of Froio’s life.

Froio, if he decides at some point to move to Jordan-Elbridge, will receive $5,000 for moving expenses.

Bold added.  

How can one small CNY school district afford to pay for this gold plated windfall?  They collect the money at the point of a gun, of course.

We need a candidate who can win...

...and one who will lead.

April 17:

 

"So, to the GOP establishment: if you stand on the platform, if you stand by your pledges, we will stand with you. We will fight with you, GOP. We have your back. Together we will win because America will win!

We didn’t elect you just to re-arrange the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic. We didn’t elect you to just stand back and watch Obama re-distribute those deck chairs. What we need is for you to stand up, GOP, and fight. Maybe I should ask some of the Badger women’s hockey team—those champions—maybe I should ask them if we should be suggesting to GOP leaders they need to learn how to fight like a girl! …"

Yesterday:

Palin Tells Hannity She Is ‘Seriously Considering’ A 2012 Run But Is ‘Frustrated’ With Speculation

Glen man tortured in UAE, where's Schumer?

A young engineer from Watkins Glen has been arrested, tortured, and faces prison in the UAE, a supposed US ally.  John Christensen reports in the Chronicle Express:

Adam Foster, 30, of Watkins Glen and the son of Jeannette Andrews Foster, a native of Dundee, is the young man at the center of an international scandal over the treatment of prisoners by the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of the United States and one of the largest exporters of oil in the world.

Accused of stealing a pair of handcuffs, the Finger Lakes resident was tortured in order to extract a confession:

Prosecutors accused him of stealing the handcuffs during questioning. “To this day, I remain confused by the prosecution’s accusation. I was under constant surveillance during my time at the police station, by personnel, security cameras, and the other detainees,” says Foster.

Foster was chained to 15 other men in a tiny cell and questioned repeatedly for 12 hours. “They finally took me into a room, cuffed my hands tightly behind my back and sat me down on a chair. The officer removed my shoes and socks and began to whip the soles of my bare feet with a heavy gauge metal cable. After 15 minutes of interrogation, the officer said to me, “I am going to continue to hit you until you tell me that you stole them.”

Foster could be forced to serve up to seven years in a foreign prison.  Whether guilty or innocent of what would be at most a minor infraction, Adam Foster's treatment has been barbaric.  Perhaps the Finger Lakes' high ranking representative in the US Senate could provide assistance?

What's Chuck Schumer been up to while Adam Foster suffers?  Why, he's been playing politics.  Professor Jacobson points out that our senior senator is hard at work, trying to bring down radpidly rising Republican star Paul Ryan.

From Schumer's official web site: "Contact Chuck".

Big spill pollutes Marcellus Shale region

Oops!

We're waiting for Barbara Lifton to call for all sewer plant operations to be suspended forever while the DEC investigates this dangerous spill.  

A government operated treatment plant collapsed and dumped 600,000 gallons of partially raw sewage into the Susquehanna River Monday morning, endangering the drinking water supply of millions of New York and Pennsylvania residents.  Where are our headline seeking politicians on this potential environmental catastrophe?  Babs?  Chuck?........

New media hurting TV sales?

The number of US households owning a TV set has declined for the first time in twenty years.  The NZ Herald reports:

Ownership of television sets by US households has fallen for the first time in two decades.

Granted, the decline - 96.7 per cent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 per cent previously - may not seem like much, but there will be many in the industry who will wonder if it's the faint tremor that presages an earthquake.

While you're reading this blog, you're probably not watching network TV.   Electronics manufacturers should not be concerned because the world's growing economies (China, India, Canada... ) will devour as many new technologies as Asian factories can churn out.  The Herald points out that its our ruling elites who should be worried.

If that's changing, then it's big news and not just for the industry concerned: politics in most western countries is largely driven and dominated by broadcast TV. 

Mike Teutul to visit Seneca Falls

Mikey

Mike Teutul of Orange County, NY, will be signing autographs at Fuccillo Ford in Seneca Falls this Saturday, May 14, 10:00 to 2:00.  Mikey is the biggest celebrity to travel Rts. 5 and 20 in some time, so mark your calendars.

Obama to kill fracking?

Investor's Business Daily explains Obama energy secretary Steven "High Gas Prices" Chu's new move against shale gas:

The safety mantra was raised once again last Thursday when Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the appointment of a seven-member panel to study hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as "fracking," and come up with new safety standards that address concerns raised by environmentalists.

Why create panel of anti-energy leftists to "study" fracking at this particular point in time?  IBD cuts to the chase: 

We believe the safety issue is a cover for the Obama administration's ideologically driven animus toward fossil fuels and its deliberate campaign to raise energy prices — and thereby to make its favored "green" alternatives look more competitive and attractive.

Bold added.

NYS pension fund raking in big fracking bucks

Unlikely Hospitalist highlights an interesting anomaly.  While New York's state government appeases its leftist constituents by delaying shale gas production, the state's huge pension fund is betting on fracking.

In all over $1 billion has been invested in more than a dozen energy companies as of March 31, 2010. Included in this is $72 million in Chesapeake Energy Corporation and $145 million in Schlumberger Ltd, a company specializing in hydrofracturing and oilfield services.

It turns out to have been a pretty good investment as the fund has made over $152 million in recent years.

Regardless of lefty puppet Barbara Lifton's party line position, our state government's hunger for cash is insatiable.  Count on fracking to proceed, regardless of the lawn signs.

"We can cruise Wegman's...

Ethan, Bat

... they're open all night".

Bat McGrath with Ethan Porter, live at Bristol Harbor, Canandaigua, May 6, 2011.  A great time was had by all.

Village to ban industry, allow chickens

Expressing solidarity with Portland, Oregon, and despite the strong objection of one member, the Trumansburg village board has moved to reverse it's decades-old ban on the keeping of farm animals within the quaint Finger Lakes municipality's boundaries.

“We’ve got a lot of requests to allow chickens,” said Petrovic. “Freeville allows them and it’s going fine. Right now they are specifically excluded from our law. But I’d rather be inclusive than exclusive and see what kind of comment we get from the public.”

    “We already have dogs and cats to deal with,” said Watkins. “To add chickens to that is just another nightmare.”

    Cassetti disagreed. “This is part of the whole ‘locavore’ movement,” he said. “You’re seeing this in Portland, Oregon, New York City, and other places. Trumansburg is a progressive community.”

Apparently not a "progressive," Watkins' concerns were dismissed by her more enlightened colleagues.

“I’ve spent a lot of money on my back yard,” said Watkins, “and I don’t want to not be able to sit out there because of the odor and the noise of my neighbor’s chickens.” Watkins, however, got no sympathy from any of the other trustees or the mayor.

At the same meeting the village board moved ahead on a new ordinance that will ban "heavy industry" from the village.

Attorney Helen Slottje of Community Environmental Defense Council gave a short presentation to the board about a proposed addition to the ordinance that would ban high-impact heavy industry from the village. The towns of Ulysses and Dryden are considering similar laws.

Slottje listed land uses that she described as “really negative high impact industries” associated with natural gas drilling, including wastewater treatment facilities, injection wells, truck terminals, and “land-spreading” of drill cuttings, which were “detrimental to rural character.”

While cloaked in the areas' dominant "no fracking" dogma, the real outcome of these decisions will be to allow Trumansburg's elites to enjoy the pungent aroma of poultry, while at the same time denying economic opportunity to the common folk.

British writer supports fracking

Better than a royal wedding

In the best thing to come out of England since the 1966 BSA Thunderbolt pictured above, British columnist James Delingpole takes on Soros-backed anti-energy propagandist Josh Fox, Cornell University junk science, and watermelons of every stripe in his current column in the Telegraph.  In addition to providing the word a plentiful source of cheap, reliable energy, Delingpole points out that shale gas is also good for the environment (who knew?).

What I simply want to do here... is remind you of the horrendous socio-political crisis we in the free world are facing today: one in which economic progress and commonsense threaten to be undermined at every turn by an insidious, mendacious and terrifyingly powerful global green movement which has its tentacles in almost every pie from the Obama administration to David Cameron’s Coalition to the EU to the UN to the MSM to the schools, universities and NGOs. The ideology of these Watermelons has virtually nothing to do with saving the environment (if it were, they’d be embracing shale gas wholesale) and almost everything to do with an instinctive loathing for economic growth combined with a bullying, puritanical urge to impose energy policy by diktat rather than by allowing the market to decide the most effective method.

This Brit gets it.  Shale gas opponents are really opposed to all progress, that is to say, opposed to you.

House Hunters Abbottabad

The compound just came on the market and its exactly what we've been looking for.  Good neighborhood, lots of space, a nice kitchen, and a fenced in yard for the kids to play.  With the recent price reduction, it's within our budget, too!  

Before we move in, however, we'll need to get those blood stains out of the master bedroom......

Wednesday morning at the lake

After weeks of rain, Finger Lakes homeowners are struggling with 100 year high water.  Residents are dealing with everything from wet basements to landslides.  

Lakefront dwellers are loosing docks and working to avoid flood damage to structures.  These folks built a seawall with barrels full of gravel.  Next step: sandbags.

Syracuse China plant to be demolished....

Making pottery at Syracuse China, 1910

..to provide storage space for demolition equipment. 

As Upstate New York's economy continues to swirl down the high tax drain, business has been good for demolition contractors.  Syracuse China, manufacturing high end pottery since 1871, laid off its last 275 workers and shut down in 2008.  Today we learn that the china plant has been purchased and will be demolished.  In an ironic twist, the site has been purchased by a Utica based demolition contractor, Ritter & Paratore, to run its growing demolition business!

Readers may remember Ritter & Paratore, as they were called in to remove another decaying Upstate industrial plant last year.  That building, originally the National Brewery,  collapsed onto I-81, blocking traffic for weeks.  

Removing collapsed CNY industrial  infrastructure, 2010

Perhaps the good folks at Ritter & Paratore could donate a small area in their new facility for the multi-million dollar Cuomo/Duffy "economic development council."  After all, demolition is where the action is.

Aussies loving energy boom

Oil well in Oz

Jeffery Folks at American Thinker:

In Australia, energy exploration is proceeding on an unprecedented scale.  Chevron, the lead partner in developing the giant Gorgon natural gas field off Western Australia, recently decided to expand its production capacity by 25%, making it one of the largest liquefied natural gas facilities in the world.  With markets in China, Japan, and India, the Gorgon project and others like it have locked in future sales for decades.  The only problem is that Chevron can't find enough workers: the Asian LNG boom has already created high-paying jobs for all who want to work.

And why are we suffering high energy prices and high unemployment while our cousins down under are partying?

Cutting off fossil fuel development is, of course, a central political strategy of the Obama administration.  By regulating, taxing, and adjudicating domestic energy production out of existence, Democrats think they can shift new energy production to alternative sources.  And they believe that by directing enough subsidies at these sources, they can replace fossil fuels as our nation's main source of energy.

 Its intentional, amigos!

EPA to shut down Marcellus with water regs?

Your future kitchen?

Its obvious that the Obama administration has declared war on the American standard of living.  Farmers are realizing that Obama's EPA is out to shut down US food production.  Meanwhile, Obama's USDA is using your tax dollars to subsidize inefficient, expensive "organic" farming methods.

While Finger Lakes homeowners are under flood watch, and some are even filling sandbags, the EPA is about to take control of our nation's water supply. Unlikely Hospitalist connects the dots, and concludes that EPA's new water regulations will be used to shut down the Marcellus Shale, our most promising new source of desperately needed energy and jobs.

Most Finger Lakes residents have noticed that they are paying substantially higher, and rapidly increasing, prices for gasoline, heating fuel, and food.  Yes, Central New Yorkers can bitch with the best of them.  What we fear is that our neighbors are not connecting those budget busters with the very intentional policies of the Obama gang.

The last word

Bill Hobbs tweets:

“Dude who nailed bin Laden will never be ‘one-upped’ anytime he’s in a group swapping war stories.”

 Via Glenn Reynolds

AES power plant back on line?

On April 21, we confirmed that the AES Cayuga power plant had been shut down.  South of 5 and 20 is concerned, because lack of demand for AES Cayuga's electricity is a sign of ever worsening economic conditions in the Finger Lakes.

AES management has not responded to our inquiries.  Regardless, our observer now reports that steam is once again rising above the plant.

1962 Ford Galaxy 500

What a beauty.  This faithfully restored 1962 Ford Galaxy 500 sedan even sports the correct wheel covers.

Those Americans really love their old cars..... oh, wait..... actually, these photos are from a collector car gathering in Moscow, Russia!