SU 84, Eastern Michigan 48

Baye Keita rebounds

Former Syracuse assistant coach Rob Murphy, now in his first year as a head coach, received warm greetings as he returned to the Carrier Dome with his Eastern Michigan team.  SU was not distracted, winning 84-48.

Orange #3 in Coaches' Poll, #4 in AP.  #10 Florida visits the Dome on Friday at 7:00, ESPN.

Murphy greets EM team, April 2011

Big East Player of the Week

Kris Joseph.

Go Orange!

Some call him Maurice...

Hinchey with disbarred lawyer

..some call him the pompatus of corruption.

One of Nine rounds up the latest on Ithaca hearthrob/corrupt Democrat congesspersyn Maurice Hinchey's self dealing with your money. 

We recently alluded to Peter Schweizer's new book, Throw Them All Out, in connection with congressional insider stock trading.  Well, it turns out that's not the only way MC's profit from their specialized knowledge.

It turns out the Sultan of Gerrymander has been handing out taxpayer money to himself - read the whole thing.  Will Maurice follow Barney Frank onto the rolls of the "comfortably retired at taxpayer expense when they should be in prison?"

Light bulb rebels

Colonists throw CFLs overboard, 1773

Professor Reynolds quotes Claudia Rosett:

Please don’t think this is easy for me. I’m one of those crazed Americans who can’t walk into Home Depot, Target or my local grocery store right now without wanting to grab one of those king-sized shopping carts and stuff it to the gunwales with 100-watt incandescent lightbulbs.

Maybe it’s the sheer thrill of buying bulbs that in just over a month, as of Jan. 1, 2012, will be banned for sale in America. What fun, in this incandescent twilight, to acquire legally what the federal government will soon treat as contraband, should it appear in any American marketplace. Or maybe it’s that gut sense that with the dollar teetering toward an abyss of unfathomable and inflationary government spending, those beloved old 100 watt bulbs will at least provide a decent store of value, even if all I do is use them to read by for the rest of my life — meticulously taking care never to violate federal law by offering even a single bulb for sale to some fellow citizen willing to pay for it.

Or, just possibly, this urge to stockpile incandescents is the product of simmering outrage. For decades, I have written about America as the world’s beacon of freedom, which it has been. Yet here we are, wards of the nanny state, with politicians dictating that even that prime symbol of American ingenuity, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb, shall be regulated into oblivion. All this has been ably exposed as an act of crony capitalism, designed to enrich manufacturers who prefer to sell pricier light bulbs that a lot of Americans, if free to choose, prefer not to buy.

Bold added.  The insane light bulb ban was signed into law by George W. Bush.  Read Claudia's entire piece.  

Do your neighbors have any idea about this?  Are you willing to spread the word?

Reconsider

Don Surber:

My take on it is simple: If she is on the ballot in the West Virginia primary in May, I shall vote for her. She is my first choice.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Obamamobiles selling like cold cakes

Fired exec Laura Soave with slow selling Fiat 500

As part of Obama's plan to fundamentally restructure American society, bankrupt Detroit automaker Chrysler Corporation's remaining equity was confiscated and given to Italy's Fiat SpA.  The Italian industrial giant was supposed to teach us to love European-style mini cars.

Fiat/Chrysler/Obama's plan to get the masses to embrace the adorable but tiny Fiat 500 is floundering.  Sales are so bad that 29 of Fiat's 130 US dealerships did not sell a single car in October.  As a result, Fiat has fired Laura Soave, head if its US team, and laid off production workers in its unionized Michigan engine plant.

If that's depressing, just wait until  they take over our healthcare system.....  oh, yeah, they already did.

Pennsylvania fracking impacts New York

Colonial Manor under construction

 

It seems there's something of an economic upturn happening in Upstate New York's Southern Tier.  Demand for housing in the formerly moribund region near the Pennsylvania border is being addressed by the opening of  Colonial Manor, a new 144 unit apartment complex in Horseheads. The spiffy residences will rent in the $895 to $1,295 range. 

For those who've spent any part of the past few decades in the vicinity, the concept of a housing boom in the perennially depressed Tier might be difficult to comprehend.  A local politician explains:

Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli said the project should ease a housing shortage in Chemung County.

“This will help fill the gap which I think will continue to grow,” Santulli said. “In the next 12 months (Chemung County) will gain an additional 1,000 jobs. Maybe 2,000 jobs will be created.”

What's driving the job growth in long-depressed Chemung?  Colonial Manor manager Helen Allis has a theory:

"Having the gas drilling...."

Bold added.  Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania's Northern Tier is driving economic growth in the adjoining Southern Tier of New York.  That's bad news only to those opposed to prosperity.  

Editor's note:  For our readers around the globe, the statement above is not a typo.  New York's Southern Tier is located just north of Pennsylvania's Northern Tier.  

Why is Obama killing the energy industry?

Serfs

 

Mike knows why:

You might think my proposition–that the only away to make sense of this rogue regime’s actions is to assume the worst about their intentions–is a bit much. If so, you should ask yourself: if he was actually trying to destroy America’s energy industry, what exactly would he be doing differently?

Why is Obama killing jobs?

Obama has just iced an already-approved shale gas drilling project in Ohio.  Effect on the common man: 200,000 desperately needed jobs will not be created. 

Lonely Conservative asks "why?"

Again, I ask, why doesn’t President Obama want Americans to have jobs?

LC commenter "Bob" answers the question.

When you think of the enemy within, think of Barak Hussein Obama, because, for whatever reason, the man is set on destroying our American Republic.

Chu must resign immediately

Chu breaking ground at Solyndra

Obama's "energy" secretary, Steven "I want Finger Lakes families to pay 10 dollars a gallon for gasoline" Chu, is on the hot seat in front of Congress today.  

Now that the Solyndra bankruptcy has become a full-blown scandal for the current administration, we call on Chu to resign his $200K/year government job immediately. 

We have plenty of room room for Chu at the Finger Lakes' own Five Points.

Anniversary notice: we've now been covering Obama's Solyndra Solargate scandal for over one year!

Alterian lays off 75

As Obama's "Recovery Summer" enters its second winter, we learn that consumer marketing services provider Alterian will close its Chicago office.  As a result, 75 consumer marketing professionals will join the army of the unemployed.

The London-based CRM company's restructuring follows a poor fiscal 2011. Alterian's revenue decreased from $53.3 million in the 2010 fiscal year, which ended March 31 of that year, to $52 million in the 2011 fiscal year.

As part of the restructuring plan, Alterian will make “substantial cuts to its operational cost base and initiated reviews of revenue recognition, and goodwill and other intangible assets,” the company said in an Oct. 27 investor statement. The company identified $14.3 million in operating cost cuts.

Part of the cost-savings plan includes reducing the staff from 450 employees worldwide to approximately 260, the company said in the statement. The company would not confirm whether the Chicago office closing is part of this strategy.

Alterian is currently in takeover talks with  British software shop SDL.  As the world's consumer markets flounder, the market analytics function is becoming just another generic web application.

Police search Obamaville for White House shooter

Suspect Oscar Ramiro Ortega

One might think this would be the lead story on the national news, not the bad weather somewhere.

Federal law enforcement authorities on Tuesday intensified the manhunt for a 21-year-0ld Idaho man who is suspected of shooting with a semi-automatic rifle at the White House last Friday night, as the Secret Service reported finding that at least one bullet had indeed struck the presidential residence...

Late on Friday, the police searched the Occupy DC protest camp, on McPherson Square just blocks from the White House, after reports that Mr. Ortega might have spent time there. Protesters there said on Monday that the police had been through their encampment several times since then, showing his picture around.

Have you heard that it happened again yesterday?

The Secret Service is looking into whether a bullet fired into a window at the White House is connected to a shooting nearby last Friday.

The bullet was stopped by a bullet-proof window and did not enter the White House, the Secret Service said Wednesday. Authorities also found another round in the exterior of the White House. The bullets were found Tuesday, the Secret Service said.

Update:  We have now received word that the suspect has been arrested in the college town of Indiana, PA.  

"Obamaville" background here.  Readers are welcome to help us understand why the "mainstream" media has been so hush-hush about an armed attack on the White House.  Use the comment button below.

"Economic development councils" will prevent economic development

Planned city, now abandoned, former USSR

Who believes that that way to revive the once-Empire State's moribund economy is to allow the people who got us here to spend billions more of our tax dollars on Soviet-style central planning?  We'll tell you who:  Andy Cuomo and his gang of politicians, union bosses, academics and crony capitalists.

Dryden resident Tracy Marisa, speaking for the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition, takes to the Ithaca Journal to to explain why Cuomo's merry band is doomed to fail.

Central planning is not what New York needs; we need less government planning and a reduction in the role of government.

New York starts in the race for jobs with two strikes against it: one of the highest total tax burdens in the nation and excessive regulation coupled with bureaucratic administration. These are the problems that need to be addressed.

Marisa reminds us who's riding in Cuomo's clown car.

The composition of these councils also demonstrates a failure to understand how to achieve economic development as a majority of their members are drawn from academia and government.

Marisa provides alternative suggestions for shocking Upstate back to life.  Be sure to read the whole thing. 

Opening of the Erie Canal, 1825

Basketball season underway

Scoop!

Central New York's leading export:  SU 78, Fordham 53.

Thank you, veterans!

Jonathan Hunt - 1760-1835

Grave of Revolutionary War veteran Jonathan Hunt, Nichols, NY.

The Owego Gazette of Sept. 29, 1932, says Hunt’s Revolutionary service included the years 1775 to 1778. He saw duty at Bunker Hill, the British at White Plains, Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth and the Westchester militia.

Read Wendy Post's reports on activities honoring Jonathan Hunt at the Daily Review, September 26 and October 5, 2010.

Depending on government transit?

Staying in the barn today

Unionized government bus drivers catch a cold, you walk to work. 

In the Finger Lakes' Tompkins County, home to Cornell University, leftist dogma rules.  Public transit is the morally superior way to travel, so Cornell University employees are encouraged to ride the "sustainable", taxpayer-subsidized bus to work.

Public transportation is arguably one of sustainability's greatest allies. Whether in the form of bus, train, or subway, an effective public transit system reduces fossil fuel dependency, hazardous air pollution, traffic, and parking needs. Cornell University has partnered with the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County to equally support a reliable and extensive public transit system - the Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT).

Through the university's Transportation Demand Management Program, faculty and staff are offered fully or partially subsidized bus passes. 25% of faculty and staff use public transit as their primary means of commuting to and from Cornell.

This morning, the politically correct county's bus service demonstrates why Americans drive cars.  From Tompkins County's TCAT bus website:

Serious service delays

Several TCAT bus operators have called in sick this morning and are unavailable to work prompting a suspension in morning rural service and potential delays of all service throughout the day. 

As of 6:30 a.m., no service on Routes 20, 21, 36, 37, 40, 43, 52, 53, 54 and 67.

When we allow government to confiscate our incomes, accepting in return the promise of a subsidized ride to work, we learn why we'll always need the private automobile.

Cain vicitim speaks out

In a town this size

David Axelrod's Chicago neighbor Sharon Bialek

As we look into the background of Herman Cain's photogenic accuser Sharon Bialek, we learn that she once lived in the same apartment building as Obama consigliere David Axelrod.   There are an estimated 575,998 rental apartments in Chicago, but we're assured that the Bialek-Axelrod proximity is just a coincidence.

She was asked: 'One of the things is that you lived at a 505 North Lake Shore Drive apartment, right? This is the same building, it happens to be the same building David Axelrod lives in. Do you know David Axelrod? Ever have any interaction with him at all?'

The 50-year-old replied: 'I saw him in the gym. I mean -- everybody nods to each other. It is friendly building but I never had any interaction with him.'

Bialek's passing acquaintance with Axelrod reminds us of that of another pair of small town Chicago neighbors, Obama and unrepentant terrorist William Ayers.

This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

Barry Obama's Chicago neighbor William Ayers

Here in the Finger Lakes, it sometimes seems that everyone does know everyone else, but we don't remember Chicago being so close-knit that "everywhere you go, you meet someone you know:"

Why are we still depending on electric poles?

First electric pole goes up in Dunkirk, NY, 1875

Back in October, an early season snowstorm knocked out power in a large area of the Northeast.  With leaves still on the trees, heavy snow brought branches down on power lines, many of which remained on the ground for days.  Today, November 7, thousands of Connecticut residents are furious - many are still without electric service. 

 The electrical outages, the legacy of a storm that hammered the Northeast on Oct. 29 and 30, were largely an unpleasant memory by Sunday night for most of the 3 million who lost power at the height of the storm. But in Connecticut, about 50,000 residents remained without electricity by Monday morning, nine days after the storm. In New Jersey and Massachusetts, only a few hundred customers remained without power.

Per the historic photo above, we see that today's electric transmission pole technology appears to be not unlike that in use in New York in 1875, shortly after the Civil War.  Why, in the third century of widespread electric power distribution, are all those lines not safely nestled underground in plastic conduit?  We suspect it may have something to do with the nature of government mandated monopolies, but we welcome other explanations.  Hit the comment button below to set us straight!

Heavy Chevy

Deer guard?

Our correspondent in Iraq reports his SUV is powered by a Vortec 8100 V8.  Not the best gas mileage, but it's air conditioned and fully armored. 

Bulletproof

Looks perfect for getting a good space in Wegmans' parking lot.

Willin'

City council bans gas

Sitting in toasty comfort on a chilly November evening, the Common Council of the intellectual hub of the Finger Lakes, Ithaca, NY, last night banned gas drilling within the city limits. 

Preparing for a future without their City Hall's natural gas fired heating system, the council has redesigned its chambers - architect's rendering above.  No word yet on fate of the building's coal powered lighting system.

Solyndra perps heist cash

Finger Lakes taxpayers were forced to contibute to the half billion dollars that Obama gave to the Solyndra conspirators.  Andrews Stiles summarizes how the solar panel gonifs split the loot.

• Karen Alter, senior vice president of marketing, received two $55,000 bonuses on April 15 and July 8 of this year, on top of her $250,000 annual salary.
• Ben Bierman, executive vice president of operations and engineering, received $120,000 in bonuses this year on top of his $276,000 salary.
• Paula Camporaso, vice president of information technology — $80,000 in bonuses on top of her $107,000 salary.
• Dave Sanat, vice president of supply chain — $80,000 in bonuses on top of his $111,000 salary.
• Bill Stover, the company’s CFO who took the fifth before Congress at a September hearing, was awarded at least $120,000 in bonuses on top of his $367,000 salary.

The document also reveals that Chris Gronet, one of Solyndra’s founders, was “transitioned to the role of adviser and consultant” from his position as CEO on July 1, 2011, and negotiated a severance package worth more than $450,000.

Until your neighbors understand that Karen Alters' two $55,000 "bonuses" and Chris Gronet's $450,000 "severance package" were stolen from American families, this crime wave will continue indefinitely.

Corzine, Obama, Corruption

Joined at the hip?

"Wall Street" protestors take note:  JammieWearingFool updates us on the close realtionship between former New Jersey Democrat senator, governor and bankrupt billionaire financier Jon Corzine and future one-term president Barry Obama.

It's safe to say these two are joined at the hip, although the way the media is reporting the downfall of Jon Corzine's MF Global, you wouldn't even know Corzine's a Democrat, let alone one of Obama's top campaign honchos.

Then there's the matter of the missing $700 million.  ABC News reports the FBI is looking into the Democrat donor's mishandling of customer funds.

With news that federal regulators, including the FBI, are investigating whether the broker-dealer is missing customer money, the company's failure may have larger repercussions to the financial system.

Do your friends and neighbors have any idea what this means to them?  Their yet-unborn grandchildren will be paying for it.

Who is "the gas industry"?

The force behind the energy industry

Reposted from July 28, 2011

Here in the Finger Lakes, it seems every self-important leftist follows the "no-fracking " dogma religiously, without considering opposing points of view.  Since these right thinking drones are found everywhere in an academia-dominated bioregion like ours, the media has no trouble locating them when they need an opinion on the evil plutocrats running the shale gas industry.

The pro-energy, pro-jobs, pro-prosperity point of view is always represented as "the gas industry."  What the "mainstream" media, which does not do well with economics, is missing is that the "gas industry," as they understand it, does not exist.  Unlike coercive government programs, the "gas industry" would not exist if every man, woman, child and reporter didn't choose to consume energy on a daily basis.  The "gas industry" is really nothing but a willing servant, doing the demanding bidding of the common man.  But the "gas industry" is much easier to demonize than, say, Mrs. Smith's fifth grade class, which can study environmentalism in a nice warm classroom in January in the Finger Lakes, instead of shivering in a crude shelter in the woods, hoping to survive until spring.

What we really need is a way to create energy from the Finger Lakes' unlimited supply of hypocrisy.  Why, even our newly arrived "off the grid" cultists are usually hiding a gasoline powered generator from Lowe's somewhere on the homestead.  The next time an anti-energy "friend of the earth" asks you to sign her "let's outlaw fracking" petition, you should first ask her to shut down her website, give up air travel, stop drinking coffee, and turn over her smart phone, Volvo keys, prescription drugs and imported synthetic clothing.  

And, speaking of energy consumers, Lonely Conservative has also grown impatient.

We’re surrounded by so many stupid people who buy into the crap the left is spewing, but we’ll never see them turn off their power. Where the heck do they think it comes from?