Month: December 2011

Contracting the Economy Doesn’t Grow It

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American Conservatives have been agitating for what amounts to an austerity budget to address the debt and deficit, arguing that the economy will grow if finances are sound.  They have – and will continue to – hold the country hostage to their faith-based “tax cuts will solve everything” ideology.

That’s what British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government did, and the results have been an epic disaster. British society is fraying at the edges, mass layoffs have led to strikes, services on which people depend – and for which they pay – are suffering.

The austerity budget is fraying at the edges, amid strikes and protests over layoffs and rising fees. Growth has been slowing, despite Mr. Cameron’s insistence that businesses would pick up the pace when it became clear that the government’s finances were sound. And now Britain looks to be in an unusually poor position to defend its interests in Europe.

Members of the Labour opposition lost no time exploiting what they saw as Mr. Cameron’s weakness on the issue.

“Six weeks ago, he was promising his backbenchers a handbagging for Europe, and now he’s just reduced to hand-wringing,” the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, told Parliament, as his party members whooped their approval. “The problem for Britain is that at that most important European summit for a generation, that matters hugely for businesses up and down the country, the prime minister is simply left on the sidelines.”

So maybe the whole austerity budget, abolishing Medicaid, privatizing Social Security and other Republican payoffs to their ultra-wealthy benefactors might not be what’s best to get the economy moving again.

Lipsey / Paladino Rapprochement?

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Something struck me today regarding Paladino’s newest insult billboard-a-torium. Take a look, if you will, at the last two:

Paladino Billboard the First

Paladino Billboard the Second

And here’s the most recent iteration:

Notice the difference?

Did you also notice Bob McCarthy’s seemingly perfectly normal Sunday opinion piece detailing how Paladino intends to become politically active again?

Several sources tell me that Carl Paladino and Buffalo News publisher Stan Lipsey broke bread recently to bury the hatchet. This explains Lipsey’s absence from the “bucket list” sign, and the friendly tete-a-tete with McCarthy. That is the perfect explanation for the abrupt end to the Paladino-Lipsey feud.

To go from two consecutive “Fuck Stan Lipsey” signs, to a glowing, uncritical profile in The Buffalo News to including “nobody-from-the-Buffalo-News” on his new ‘fuck you’ sign is quite a swing

Might be time to update this to include Carl.

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Obamacare. Saving Lives.

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A forty-nine year old mother finds out she has stage III breast cancer. She has no health insurance (for a variety of reasons), and discovers that a provision of “Obamacare” that is already active may quite literally save her life.

Fortunately for me, I’ve been saved by the federal government’s Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, something I had never heard of before needing it. It’s part of President Obama’s healthcare plan, one of the things that has already kicked in, and it guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. The application was short, the premiums are affordable, and I have found the people who work in the administration office to be quite compassionate (nothing like the people I have dealt with over the years at other insurance companies.) It’s not perfect, of course, and it still leaves many people in need out in the cold. But it’s a start, and for me it’s been a lifesaver — perhaps literally.

Which brings me to my apology. I was pretty mad at Obama before I learned about this new insurance plan. I had changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and I had blacked out the top of the “h” on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, “Got nope” instead of “got hope.” I felt like he had let down the struggling middle class. My son and I had campaigned for him, but since he took office, we felt he had let us down.

It continues to astonish that this country can’t get it together to ensure that every citizen has access to top-quality medical care, without regard to one’s ability to pay. That we have a system where, if you lose your job, you can keep your health insurance, but only if you pay an outrageous, often unaffordable rate. Ours is the last first world nation to not guarantee universal access to health care. This was unacceptable after WWII, was unacceptable during the creation of Medicaid in the mid-60s, and remains unacceptable now.

Your health should not be dependent on the money in your wallet or your bank account. Yes, ours is a free country, and we should be free from medical bankruptcies.

The Italian Dodge Dart

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UPDATED: I hadn’t seen Jim’s post before I wrote this last night. So, for the most part it’s redundant. But it’s a testament to how exciting this whole Dodge/Alfa Romeo thing really is.

It’s expected that Dodge will revive the long-dead “Dart” nameplate. The first thing I think of is Click & Clack from NPR.

But now that Chrysler is part of Fiat S.p.A. of Torino, Italy, the new Dart is going to be a badge-engineered Alfa Romeo, specifically the Alfa Giulietta, a great-looking Golf-sized hatchback that oozes sportiness and sex appeal.

Drivers can select from a new Tigershark 16-valve 2.0-liter engine, a 16-valve 1.4-liter MultiAir Intercooled Turbo engine, and a new Tigershark 16-valve 2.4-liter MultiAir four cylinder engine. These three engines, combined with three transmission choices, combine to redefine performance by providing the most diverse powertrain lineup in its class.

Dodge sent out this teaser:

But more importantly, here’s the Alfa itself.

And compare that to Dodge’s teased rear-end:

Carl Haz a Sad

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I aspire to someday find my name on the side of a decrepit, crumbling eyesore and embodiment of a bitter millionaire’s land speculation.

When the Paladinists aren’t recommending burning periodicals with which they disagree, their leader is busy sending out this sort of thing.

Also, this:

Without directly addressing the little put-upon millionaire’s temper tantrum (if the piece was so off the mark, why mention it, Carl?) wouldn’t it be great if a group of, say, #OccupyBuffalo protesters took a bunch of Artvoices every week and hawked them outside the perimeter of the Ellicott Square Building?

The Caputo Arrest: Curious

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On March 12, 2011, the Buffalo News reported on two seemingly unrelated matters:

1. Investigative reporter Jim Heaney wrote that former campaign workers and contractors retained by the Paladino for the People gubernatorial campaign were accusing Mr. Paladino for non-payment; and

2. T.J. Pignataro and Bob McCarthy wrote that former Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo and his father had been arrested and charged by Orchard Park police on March 1st with various and sundry disorderly conduct-type offenses.

I’m not one for grand conspiracies, but could the two be related?

Heaney claimed in this online chat that he first learned of the non-payment issue via online chat that took place on March 6th.  But the bad blood between Caputo and Paladino can be traced back at least to February 2011, when Caputo publicly endorsed Governor Cuomo’s budget plan, calling it, “conservative, responsible and absolutely necessary“, and asked tea party members throughout the state to join him.

In response to that, the New York State tea party movement was thrust into more turmoil than usual, with accusations and counter-accusations over whether they should back Cuomo or not. The kicker, however, was this email that Carl Paladino sent out to some of his trusted associates on February 6, 2011. I’ve cut out the irrelevant portions, but check out the highlighted bit:

From: “Carl Paladino”

Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 20:53:54

Subject: Re: Caputo’s reach and breach

Well this is a second attempt to write you.  I’m terrible on the computer and accidentally erased the first 3 hour version of this? Everyone please be assured that Caputo does not work or speak for me. He is in the wind and probably on Cuomo’s payroll.  The last conversation I had with him the week before Oneonta I told him that Cuomo’s budget was unacceptable and at best a very small step in the right direction.  He went on to interpret that as an ok to tell the group that I supported Cuomo and to issue a letter and oped which are totally unacceptable to me.

The result was a week of rhetoric wHich I believe was healthy for all.  It coalesced the group and pointed out the need for a strong organizer/coordinator who commands the respect of all, is resourceful, determined, loyal and smart which defines all of you but I also think when you think about it the one name that sticks for the great majority is Sheryl, and don’t you dare spell her name wrong.  Remember that in every group there are extremes and that is good as long as the center is strong and well planted.  Some will push the envelope. Others want to be hanging off the end of the merry-go-round where everything is a blur and the wind blows in your face.  Still others are content in the middle where they can see everything clearly.  It takes a little of each to have a winning team.

Forget about Caputo.  He can’t hurt anyone.  He’s off on a trip to his home planet thinking that he can revise history.  At the NYC press debriefing event he was the only person to dump on me.  Not even the Cuomo people said anything. He said I liked the sound of a turd in the punchbowl never acknowledging that he was solely responsible for the Hassidic/homosexual tragedy in NYC.  He’s a political junkie/whore with no values, for sale to anyone.  The authorities are aware of his misuse of the lists assembled on my nickel and what goes around will come around.

Seems like “what goes around” came around on March 1st, just three weeks later.

It’s also worth noting that Paladino has interests in Orchard Park, namely Skibbereen Farms, the website for which indicates that it’s owned by “The 1147 Group, Inc., owned by Chrissie Hannon, Paladino’s niece. His wife and daughter are the property managers there.  It’s the largest horse farm of its kind in Orchard Park, with about 50 horses. It’s not like he has no pull in that particular one of the Southtowns, where Caputo lives.

It certainly seems like a retaliatory set-up, but no one’s talking. For his part, when asked whether he thinks Paladino might be behind this, the usually loquacious Caputo gave me a very uncharacteristic, “no comment”.  Yet one thing’s for sure – Caputo was tailed for some time before being pulled over, and he and his father were arrested on charges dubious enough that an Aurora town justice dismissed each one.

Caputo Dismissal

//

The question now becomes – why did Orchard Park bring out the big guns over what should have been a routine traffic stop?

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