Edge of the World

News As We See It

2009-03-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have continually been amazed by the depth and interest generated by our local newspapers. Today was a case in point. The economy is going to hell, unemployment is rampant, and the world over in the big sand box is as screwed up as ever. Our local newpaper headline today was "Potsdam Code Officer Quits". It has been alleged that Potsdam's code officer was overly exuberant toward the female employees in the town offices. The code officer is denying all wrongdoing, of course, and town officials are being as close mouthed as possible. I suspect that the prospect of a law suit has to be considered. A second major front page item was the salt problem in Jefferson county. It appears that earlier this season the bitter weather resulted in a salt shortage and a corresponding increase in the price. Apparently the powers that be contracted to buy salt at the inflated price, and then it quit snowing, leaving the county on the hook for the contracted salt. I must admit that I cannot find fault with the county, despite this little setback. If there was anyone who can predict the weather with any degree of accuracy it would be a lot simpler. Imagine the uproar if the winter continued in a really foul manner and they ran out of salt. It is, unfortunately, a situation of "damned if you do" and "damned if you don't".

I see that the federal impetus dollars have started flowing, and lots of folks are busy figuring out ways to spend the money. I had thought that this money was primarily to help working folks, and to get jobs started up. Apparently, there are a lot of highways that haven't been built yet, and lots of other projects which will have little impact on the working people. Most officials at the cities, counties, and towns are telling us that it isn't going to cost us anything since the federal government is providing the money, but we must keep in mind the fact that the taxpayer is going to foot the bill. It is the classic case of pay me now or pay me later. We are lucky that there is a limitless supply of talking heads on the TV who try to explain how this is working in words that us common idiots can understand. On the other hand, you can get an opposite opinion on any subject if you wait a while.

This brouhaha about Rush Limbaugh and his comment that he hopes the President's economic plans fail is beyond my comprehension. It now develops that Mr. Limbaugh has appointed himself as the spokesman for the Republican party, and the sad part is that the Republicans have nobody with enough stature to stand and say "Shut Up". On one occasion the Chairman of the Republican Party did respond, and it looks like he is going to lose his job, if he hasn't already. It's a good time to be a democrat. Our esteemed Governor, with a few schemes floating around, is having a problem, but he will survive. We just have to wait for the dust to settle to see what comes out of Albany next.

It is nice to live in little Knapps Station where everyone is poor, has always been poor, and have learned to cope with adversity because that is all we have ever had. Nobody gets very upset about Mr. Madoff's ponzi scheme which filched about 50 billion or so from investors. I don't think very many of our locals sufferred when the Madoff empire collapsed. It is very hard to get sympathetic with someone loses 50 or 100 million, but has another 50 or 100 stashed away in case they fall on hard times. It sounds like the recent story about a baseball player with a multi-million salary, who complained that during a contract dispute he was unable to pay his bills. I bet if someone from Knapps fell into a couple of million they wouldn't have any bill problems.

Time to quit, I have to wait for the next edition of the paper for more things to bitch about.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

2009-02-26T05:49:00.000-08:00

I have been following the news about Senator Roland Burris who is apparently suffering from the Illinois Political Tradition of being crooked at least in my opinion. Senator Burris stoutly defended his squeaky clean track record when he was appointed, and then it was all down hill from there. He denied having any previous dealings with Governor Blagojevich but later admitted that maybe he did have a chat or two with folks in that tortured administration. Several other statements he originally made have been "corrected", but the more he talks, the bigger the hole he gets into. I wouldn't make any bets on whether or not he gets re-elected when the seat comes up again. The press of course is having a hell of a good time as it digs up more and more dirt. I must admit that sometimes Freedom of the Press is valuable to us clueless citizens. Stay tuned, I doubt if this is over yet.

Not to be outdone, Potsdam politics is rolling along in its usual fashion. The latest developement is the new Town Hall, which everything thought had gone away. Alas, the announcement that some free money from the Feds would shortly come rolling in has resurrected the town hall issue for the third time. I don't really care whether they build a new town hall or not, thank heaven I don't have to deal with them, but the determination to rebuild has not gone away, it was just dormant for a while. In the meantime the hospital expansion has escalated into another hassel with the pros and cons going at it with great enthusiasm. The organizer of the most recent "con" group has protested that he did not actually shut down his meeting because some folks disagreed with his opinion, but is continuing his struggle against "Big Hospital". I fully expect the hospital to prevail in this matter, but they will have to jump through the hoops before it becomes a reality. By now, anyone trying to improve or expand in Potsdam should have a complete idea of how things work there, and press on. I can't imagine why the folks in Potsdam continue to reelect the same group which time after time decides what is good for everyone else in town, and continues to inflict its views on the town/village.

I don't understand the continuing outrage over the Baseball steroid issue. I mean, these guys make millions of dollars to play a game, and if they take a steroid shot or two, why should we care? They don't seem to realize that their bodies will probably pay the price for their "enhancement" procedures at some point, and that's their problem. I personally don't care if they inject themselves with kryptonite, they are just entertaining folks. At least they don't seem to be stealing money from investors, unless you consider their salaries stealing.

Quite a few members of my family are enthralled with this "American Idol" business, another subject I do not understand. I occasionally see a snippet or two of the program before I retreat to my room with a book. As far as I can see, the worst singers in the world line up to make an ass of themselves in front of a national audience, with the hopes they will be the next superstar on the scene. Judging their efforts we have a panel of airheads, along with participation by the audience which votes on their efforts.

February is still here

2009-02-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

The town/village of Potsdam continues to provide me with lots of entertainment. The current brouhaha concerns Canton-Potsdam Hospital's plans to expand, which involves removing several residences in the area of the hospital to provide space for their expansion plans. To accommodate the hospital, the town/village has rezoned the property from Residential to whatever category is necessary. You may recall that they would not rezone a piece of property on Market Street to allow Dunkin Donuts to build a new bistro. I suspect that some members of whoever controlled the zoning board had a conflict of interest in whatever competition the new business would generate, but I had better keep off that subject to protect my legal status. Anyway, any attempt to change anything in Potsdam is guaranteed to produce an uproar. In the hospital case a local resident with a really big mouth (anti-change) proceeded to call a meeting to discuss the situation, obviously expecting a huge turnout of folks who agreed with him. To his chagrin, it seems that the majority of the crowd was in favor of the hospital expansion - far from the response he expected. In a classic case of Democracy in Action, he threw out all of the people who did not agree with his position, and finished the meeting with the 7 or 8 souls who were left. Not a really good start for the opposition. I have been a patient/client of Canton-Potsdam hospital several times, and I think it is one of the best managed institutions I have ever entered. Although I am not allowed to participate in the final decision, my hope is that the hospital prevails.

In his continuing attempts to balance the New York State budget (ain't gonna happen), one of the Gov's suggestions is a huge increase in the excise tax on Beer. I am gonna tell him that the idea of increasing the cost of beer is like the third rail (Medicare) in national politics. The Feds know what is so unpopular it might cost someone an election, and run like dogs when anything detrimental to medical is proposed. Our Gov might take a lesson from them and leave New Yorker's beer alone.

I keep reading how the price of a barrel of oil is steadily falling, but I fail to see any corresponding drop when I fill up my car. I have seen several explanations for this seeming anomoly, none of which I understand, and more importantly, none I believe. At its very simplist senario it seems to me that if the cost of the raw material of something drops, there should be a corresponding drop in the finished product. One excuse I read was that we are up to our butts in crude oil in storage, but don't have the pipeline capacity to move it to the refineries. The oil companies say they can't afford to build these pipelines because of the uncertainty of the price of gasoline. As far as I can see, they are pretty well dictating the price of gasoline now, so what the hell is the problem. I see that Exxon made something like a 45 Billion dollar profit in the last quarter - how much do those pipelines cost anyway?

The uproar continues over that lady who recently gave birth to 8 babies. She was a National Hero for a couple of days due to the medical miracle she produced, but as a single mother with 14 kids, she seems to be running a little short of money. Well, duh, what is the big suprise? This poor gal is apparently soliciting donations to feed her brood and this is absolutely outrageous to some folks, who are raising hell with the idea that she might ask for welfare. Where do we draw the line? Is it OK for a destitute family with 4 or 5 kids to get welfare but not this person with 14 kids? The most prominent complaint is that she had all of those kids on purpose - where in hell do they think the kids in smaller welfare families came from -- immaculate conception? I have always believed that kids should not be allowed to go hungry or be cold, regardless of their social status and I see no reason to change my opinion about this situation. If our governments can spend millions on a vast variety of hairbrained schemes, feeding kids should be in there somewhere.

Blogging Mysteries

2009-02-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Since I started this blog I figured that the only folks reading it were my relatives who write to me and are not reluctant to critique my efforts. To my surprise, I received an e-mail from Scott LaLonde, an old friend who I met during my veteran counselor days. Scott was quite the all-around hell raiser in his younger days, but his wife Robin has apparently rubbed off most of the rough spots and turned him into a solid citizen. I never did understand Scott's hobby, acquired courtesy of the the US Army, of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. My opinion of flying is, if the motors are working, stay on board. The first time I ever flew was at Scott AFB, Illinois, in 1953. I was mopping the floor at Base Operations and mentioned to a Sergeant that I had been in the Air Force for three whole months and had never been in an airplane. In short order he had me in a parachute and we boarded an ancient B-25 to "go for a ride". I was the only passenger. My safety briefing was to open a hatch in the floor in case of emergency, and pull the D-Ring handle when I got clear of the airplane. We took off and once we got up in the air, I decided that there were not enough people on that plane to get me thru that hole. The new experience got old pretty fast, and I was quite pleased when we came in for a landing. To my surprise we landed, rolled down the runway for a while, and then took off again. They were doing what they called "touch and go's", apparently practicing to land. They did that about 8 times, and I had my fill of flying for quite a while. This probably explains my attitude toward Scott's hobby.

I spent a lot of time bitching about the weather in January - the month that would not end. In fact, I am not noticing a hell of a lot of improvement in February, I will just have fewer days to bitch. My old buddy Pete Drake in Florida tells me that their temperature was only 1 degree higher than ours one day last week. I suppose they had a little cold snap, but I also know they were playing golf the next day. I find it hard to feel sorry for them.

The news from Washington -- "we don't pay taxes until we get caught" is pretty interesting. Our new President must feel like Diogenes, searching for one honest person. Did you ever notice that those high rollers with tax problems also usually have problems with their household slaves? I guess they don't check anyone's resident status when they hire them. The answer is, of course, that if they ask for a living wage you can threaten to have them deported, which abruptly ends any wage negotiation.

The lady I wrote about who had 8 kids at once and intended to breast feed them -- well it turns out that she already had 6 kids at home -- AND SHE IS A SINGLE MOTHER! This has turned into quite a field day for the press, because folks are now wondering who is going to support all these kids. In the end, it will be the kids who suffer.

We don't have much new stuff coming out of our County Legislature. The most recent fiasco was the Legislator from Lisbon publicly accusing the Administrative Assistant of lying to him. Later on, after reviewing the County Attorney's notes, he (the legislator) then publicly apoligized for his moment of indescretion. At least he paid his taxes, as far as I know.

Enough for now, I have to start working on my seed order.

The Endless Month

2009-01-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or does January seem to last forever? I keep checking the calendar to see if it is over yet, but it doesn't seem to move. I used to think that March was the worst, but I am beginning to believe that January is going to get the record. I watch the weather channel and it does not seem to change -- "Bitterly cold, chance of snow, windy". This all comes from a suit in a warm studio in Syracuse, who apparently has no idea of what is going on up here. I am trying to get my income tax filed, but one concern which owes me a tax form tells me on their automated response system that my form is in the mail. Sounds like the old "your check is in the mail" deal. Oh well, 4 more days and then we will be into warm February. As I write this, there is apparently a winter storm scheduled here for Wednesday & Thursday, which may result in more plowing for me. I can assure you that my old Farmall tractor is not the warmest vehicle I have ever rode on. I have to wait for the temp to get up near 20 before it will even start.

My guess that Princess Caroline would be our next state senator was off just a tad - you can't win them all. The Gov is being lambasted by the press for not providing them with every minute detail of his selection process. They are obviously raising hell with him in case he tries to keep a secret in the future. What part of the appointment is solely his don't they understand? We know they want to know so they can second guess any appointment he makes because we all know that the media is infinitely smarter than us common slobs. The best show on earth is the Illinois governor who, despite their best efforts to impeach him, refuses to even show up for his trial. I think the guy is a crook but I have to admire his nerve. Absolutely nothing seems to deter this guy from doing exactly what he wants to.

We have a new jail in Canton and the prisoners will be moved in in the near future. I am amazed that this state of the art facility actually got built on time, and apparently within budget. It is a miracle. Our legislators will be lined up for hours trying to take complete credit for the project, and the individual complaints earlier on will, hopefully, be forgotten.

I see that some lady out west recently gave birth to 8 babies at the same time. The word we get is that she is going to breast feed them. There's a sight I would like to see. The best I can do is wish her good luck.

I will be getting out the seed catalogs in the near future and plan my garden for next year. If you have not noticed, the price of seeds is out of sight (well, almost), but a few bargains are still around. The best deals I can find are from Fedco Seeds in Maine. You can look them up on the internet if you want a catalog. They don't have everything I want so I will have to shop elsewhere for some stuff (and get stuck with multiple shipping costs). I put a snow fence around my raspberries last fall, because the deer ate them down to nothing the year before and - no Summer berries. The fall bearers came along OK. So far the fence has held up fairly well, and I see no deer tracks inside if it. Somehow the seed catalogs seem to reassure me that summer will get here eventually.

Inauguaration Day

2009-01-20T06:23:00.000-08:00

I hope I spelled the title right - the nation is completely unglued as we celebrated Martin Luther King day yesterday (Jan 19), and the same celebrants stayed over to see our new president inauguarated today. One can only hope that things start changing around, economy wise and several other wises. I remain optimistic because I sincerely believe that the new president's only direction is up. In the next few days we will see Hilary approved as Secretary of State, and as long as she doesn't keep many old Clinton hold-overs around should do quite well. In good old NY, our Gov is still laboring mightily over his choice for Hilary's replacement and may make a decision by next week. I see that some of the NY pundits are all in a lather because Patterson is not releasing his candidate questionairres or his "short list" of nominees. It appears that the Gov is simply telling them to go to hell, and it is about time. As I understand it, he is the sole decider on this issue. Would anyone like to make a small bet that Princess Caroline will not be our next Senator?

One other issue bothering the Gov is the obesity issue, and it looks like fast food franchises will be required to post the amount of calories, trans-fats, etc included in the meals they serve. Have you ever in your life seen someone reading a Big Mac wrapper to see what is in it? That is almost as stupid as the EPA's obsession with cow poop. First, they were going to tax farmers for each cow, apparently according to how much poop they produced, but they are also interested in burn barrels, tree pests, birds flying into wind turbines, etc, etc. Speaking of wind turbines, isn't it amazing that the same folks who are screaming for us to reduce gas emissions are raising hell because the turbines might kill a bird or two. I don't know how these folks heat their homes, it seems to me that every sourse of heat has to start somewhere, unless you have figured out how to not use any heat at all. The only way I can see to do that is to move South - waaay South.

On the local front, Legislator Tom Nichols has tearfully resigned from the Legislature to take up his new job as deputy election commissioner. I can't get too excited over that little item because the fun has not yet begun. Someone has to replace Tom, and the selection of his replacement should provide us with lots of entertainment for the next few months.

Our weather has been unique, so say the least, with temperatures dropping quite a way below zero, and snow, which is falling as I write this. It reminds me of my Father-in-law, Omer Tessier, (now deceased). Omer had a thermometer which did not agree with anyone else's in the town of Stockholm. If you said it was 20 below at your house, Omer would announce that is was 25 below at his. On those rare hot days, if you had a temperature of 80 degrees, Omer has 85. It was harmless, and we used to give him fictituous reports of our temperatures to see how far he was willing to exceed us.

Enough for today - later, WCD.

The Ides of January

2009-01-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

Anybody care about the weather? We are at 35 degrees today (Tuesday) and predicted to go to 25 below zero by Thursday. There is nothing like a 55 degree temperature swing to make you appreciate the North Country. My buddy in Florida calls and tells me they are a little chilly - it only was 67 in the AM. Luckily, it warmed up later for them. I can't repeat what I say to him.

They have a "world's dumbest crook" thing on TV periodically, and I would hate to think we were left out here on the Edge of the World. We were saved recently by a guest at the prison in Malone, who was released at about midnight one night, and stole a car on the way out of the jail parking lot. He was apprehended in about 30 minutes as near as I can tell and got his free room back.

In Canton, our Board of Legislators are at it again. Seems that Legislator Tom Nichols (the voice of Oswegatchie) was appointed as Deputy Republican Election Commissioner and it is now being decided whether it is ethical for him to stay on the board at the same time. Our erstwhile county attorney is "researching" the law on this situation, and will come up with an answer sometime this year. I remember the county attorney when I worked up there, whose name I will omit to protect myself. He used to go to many meetings and would usually say "you can ask me any questions you may have during the meetings and I will clear things up for you". If you did ask him any question except "what time is it", the response was always - "I will research that and get back to you in a memo". Among the rank and file of the employees, his nickname was "Memo". Back to the Nichols appointment, which was announced by Deb Pahler, the Republican election commissioner who, as I understand it, has complete authority to make the appointment. I don't suppose the County Republican Chairman had anything to do with that decision. Oh well, the Board of Elections loss is the Legislature's gain.

On the National Front, the hearings are underway concerning Hilary Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State. There is very little of substance being said, and the committee members are taking their sweet, profound, intelligent time about saying it. I am amazed how a senator who wants to say "She'll be OK" can use 30 minutes worth of hot air to say it. Comparison has to be made over the statements of a confident, poised Hilary who, despite my personal feelings about her is certainly on top of things as well as anyone, and Senator wannabee Caroline, who did write a children's book you know. I understand that she had a co-author on that project. I feel a certain degree of pity for Governor Patterson who is certainly getting a thorough lesson in Kennedy politics.

Enough for today - wcd.

Don't Kick the Bee Hive

2009-01-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, my parents were blessed with a summer visit by a particularly obnoxious grandson, whose name I will omit to protect the guilty. This was the meanest kid I ever saw, diminutive in stature, but with a throwing arm to rival Bob Feller. He perfected his throwing ability by putting the rocks to chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, cows, and on one memorable occasion, hit my father between the shoulder blades with a baseball-sized rock traveling about 80 miles per hour. He got his ass warmed for the last effort, and I think the only way the old man caught him was that he stayed frozen on the spot for a couple of extra minutes waiting for dad to die. After that dust had settled, I overheard the old man talking to him in the yard. His conversation went something like this: "you have terrorized every dog, cat, etc, on this farm since you have arrived, but I am warning you to leave the bee hive in the garden alone - you can't whip them." This, of course, was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, and the kid immediately headed for the bee hive and gave it a hell of a kick, maybe two. He shortly learned that what dad had told him was true, and it took about 30 seconds for him to depart the area at high speed, crying, with a cloud of angry bees in hot pursuit. He left that particular bunch of livestock alone after that.

I bring this story up because it reminds me of the current unpleasantness in the Middle East, between the Jews and Hamas. It seems that the Hamas group believed that they could lob a few rockets into Jerusalem without fear of retribution. This went on quite a while until the Jewish equivalent of "don't kick the bee hive" finally happened and the bees came out of the hive with great enthusiasm. We are now constantly shown via TV of the poor, oppressed, Palistinian people who show us their wounded and dead citizens caused by the outrageous behavior of the Jews. I do not pretent to understand all of the political ramifications of this episode, but I do understand that if any of those folks remembered their history, they would have realized that the Jews can only be aggravated so far - and then they will kick somebody's ass. They (Hamas) continue to fire their rockets, although it looks like being on a rocket launching team is about as safe as being a suicide bomber - with similar results. Some people may not like my interpretation of this situation, but my opinions are my own, and if you don't like them, don't read this Blog.

On the National front here at home, it is reported that the bailout money for GMAC will b used to buy shares in the company so the Government can control the operations of the company. If I had to pick the worst possible senario for new company management, you would not have to look very far to decide to let the Government run the show. Their track record at manageing the economy is not my idea of a very good track record. Maybe things will change in the future, it will have to if things are ever going to get straightened out.

Up here on the Edge of the World, it is snowing, and it is predicted to change to sleet, freezing rain, you name it - It would not surprise me if manure fell out of the sky. At least the Government is not involved in this mess, and folks up here cope with it as they always have - by cleaning up the mess ourselves. Happy Winter.

After Christmas

2008-12-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it is finally over and life can get back to as close to normal as it ever does around here. I got quite a bit of stuff, including a miniature leatherman tool. You know what they are, about 15 different tools in one, like a swiss army knife. This thing was packaged in one of those hard plastic shrink-wrap things which are basically impossible to open. I started with a fingernail clipper, graduated to a pair of wire cutting dikes, finally a butcher knife, and eventually a cleaver. I seriously thought I would be hospitalized before I was done. Whoever makes that wrap stuff should go into the automobile body business. I have had cars a lot more fragile than that package.

The seed catalogs are flowing in, a treat for me which gets me excited about the gardens again. Then I look out the window and realize the snow will slow my planting plans for a while. I do study the catalogs, mainly to see if anything new and wonderful is being offerred (and there is a lot of new and wonderful stuff) and also to compare the prices between different catalogs - and there is a lot of differance. The only way to judge is to figure out the seed count or package net weight and then compare it to an identical variety elsewhere. The last consideration is the shipping and handling costs, which means that I try to limit the number of places from which I order. Lots of time left for this enjoyable project so I postpone everything for a while.

Someone wrote and asked me about the politics of my youth, a subject that could go on practically forever. Actually I paid little attention to politics in my youth. I know that Abraham Lincoln was running for president, and that was about all. When I returned to the North Country after 30 years elsewhere, I started getting interested in politics mainly due to my mother, Eva Dean, who was a rock ribbed republican, who was convinced that Richard Nixon was a greater diety than the pope. Mom was the editor of the Potsdam Courier and Freeman, and also was a volunteer for local politicians (Republican politicians) and was active in the campaigns of Dave Martin and the late Bob McEwen. She also knew where most of the bodies were buried, particularly the St. Lawrence County Legislature, and had collected voluminous files on the more outrageous behavior of many local dignitaries. I had begged her many times to reveal this stuff to me, with no luck at all. She discussed some of it with me and I was impressed by the amount of sculduggary she had uncovered. When she got near the end of her life, I decided that at the opportune moment I would get into her files and save them for posterity. Alas, when she went into a nursing home, I discovered the files had all been burnt. Mom didn't leave much of anything to chance. Long after my "youth" I went to work for St. Lawrence County as the County Veteran's Director (A politically appointed job) engineered by Mom, who didn't hesitate to use her clout where family was concerned. The County job gave me the opportunity to observe the legislature and local politics first hand, and believe you me, they play hardball up there. I could regale you with some of the more outrageous stories but I think I will save those memoirs for another venue.

What is this country coming to department: I have read that a nationally known "star" blew her nose in a tissue, which was subsequently auctioned off (I think on e-bay) for the sum of $5300. Can you believe that anyone could be so incredibly stupid as to pay that sum for someone's used kleenex? I am not particularly fussy, but I would not only refuse to pay someone for a used tissue, but might offer them 50 cents or a buck to keep the damn thing in their own pocket.

Queen in waiting Caroline has seemed to develop a backlash over her political ambitions, mainly involving her qualifications. Someone also printed an article saying that her net worth was somewhere between 100 and 400 million dollars, a figure she refused to confirm or deny. It is amazing how successful a children's book can be. This little fairy tale will play itself out in due time, but I'm betting that the Kennedy machine will prevail. She will certainly have some value to the democratic fund-raising process.

Enough for now, I have to go tend for my chicken flock. I expect that all three of them are hungry about now.

All Hail the Queen

2008-12-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

I have been following with great interest, but little surprise, the efforts being made to appoint Caroline Kennedy as the Senator to replace Hilary. When asked what her qualifications are, the response is "I am a Kennedy, duh". If this effort surprises anyone they must have been living on Mars for the past 30 or 40 years. What the rank and file have to understand is that the rich and powerful are different from us, and don't ask any questions. Now if you think that isn't enough, I have found (through one of my trash magazines) that Teddy Kennedy, who is terminally ill, has decided that his wife will be appointed to replace him when the time comes. This has caused quite an uproar in the Kennedy clan, because two or three other Kennedys decided that they would get the job. Teddy's wife was not, after all, born a Kennedy. I am not sure what is going on in this country. We have had the Bush regime - father and son, the Clinton regime - old mister unzipped fly and his gorgeous wife, and of course too many Kennedys to count. I was not particularly overwhelmed by the candidacy of Barack Obama, but he is looking better every day. For once, we may actually get an elected president, as opposed to a royal succession. Hillary is scheduled to be Secretary of State, however, and although she is quite a way down in the Presidential succession sweepstakes, I would strongly suggest that Barack watch his back. I can only hope that the American people will finally get enough and throw all those old bastards out.

On the local front, our St. Lawrence County Legislature is laboring mightily on several fronts. They are having a hell of a time selecting a new chairman and this issue is still very much up in the air. I would like to see Fitzrandolph in the job, but I think he has pissed off too many people to persevere. He has a habit of marching to his own drummer, which scares the power cabals on both sides of the aisle. The ethics hassel is still going full bore, and aside from its entertainment value doesn't amount to a hill of beans. The recent "secret" meeting broughhaha chaired by the County democratic chairman is quietly dying a natural death. It appears that they invited a local and horribly powerful newspaper editor, and even though he didn't attend, he was mollified enough to publicly state that nothing illegal was going on. You never know where your friends are in St. Lawrence County, although there is little problem identifying your enemies.

The home front is pretty calm (as calm as it gets just before Christmas). We will have our traditional family buffet, the cost of which I am directed to ignore, and everyone will have a good time. I am getting tired of plowing snow - not only is it a pain in the ass, but my farmall is not very well heated. I plowed a couple of days ago when it was 7 degrees, and todays plow-out was done is 22 degree weather - a heat wave of sorts. Enough for now, it is time to hit my easy chair and rest up for my nap.

Holy Cow Poop

2008-12-13T06:31:00.000-08:00

You can relax - we are the Government and we are here to help you - the most interesting government announcement was made recently regarding the plan by the EPA to tax farmers for the odors emitted by their cows and pigs. Seem like some suit in Washington decided that our environment was not safe because of cow and pig poop. The answer to this dilemna was, of course, to impose a new tax (surcharge, rollback, penalty) on farmers for raising milk, beef, and pork producers. The farmers in all of the rural areas (that's pretty redundant, not too many live in cities) are outraged by this stupidity with good cause. What in hell were they thinking of? We are getting ready to load a few hundred billion dollars to save the automakers, who, as we all know, do not contribute to atmospheric pollution, but we are going to tax farmers for the occasional cow or pig fart. I am reminded of folks who build houses in rural areas next to farms that have been there for generations. When the farmer starts spreading manure, which they have also been doing for generations, the screaming begins - oh, the odors, the distress, the infamy of it all. I am the proud possessor of a chicken flock (3 chickens) which I keep around for entertainment value as much as anything. Am I also going to get swept up in this manure nightmare? I have had very little luck in persuading chickens to poop in designated areas, and in my youth had the same luck with cows and pigs. Let's hope that this latest stroke of genius dies a natural and quick death.

On the home front, the St. Lawrence County Legislature has been toiling mightily for several months over an Ethics Law, which would require legislators, department heads, committee people, etc to divulge their financial souls for everyone to take a look at. Most people don't really want to do this, of course so the law isn't moving along very fast. When I worked for St. Lawrence County, I had to fill out the Ethics Law forms in place then, and it wasn't much of a burden for me - I didn't have any money anyway. In addition, the rules in place then were pretty vague, such as: "Do you have between $10 and $1,000,000". I don't really see any need for an ethics law anyway - this county is so small and incestous that anyone commiting a financial crime will get squealed upon almost before they reap a profit. I notice the latest suggestion was to dump the enforcement into the lap of district attorney Nicole Duve, who very wisely dumped it right back. Nicole's position was - bring me proof of a criminal act and I will prosecute - otherwise leave me alone. One can only wish that other lawmakers could follow her example, do their job and then quit.

Moving to the Midwest, we have politics as usual in Illinois where the Governor, to no one's surprise, seems to be a little crooked. If you have followed politics in Illinois for any length of time you know that the questionairre for any political wannabee in that state contains the question, "If you are offerred a bribe, will you accept it and keep quiet about it?". Only "yes" answers are acceptable. To my delight, I read that the House Speaker in Illinois is demanding action and is suitably outraged by the Governor's perfidity. The Attorney General (Lisa Madigan) is threatening a lawsuit, presumably against the Governor to put an end to his shenanigans. What caught my eye was the fact that the House Speaker is also named Madigan and the Attorney General is his daughter. I guess nepotism doesn't count either in Illinois.

A Few Things I Don't Understand

2008-12-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

I usually watch the news several times a day (don't want to miss anything - Britany Speers may do something extra stupid). Anyway, I often catch the Wall Street stock market opening or closing. You have probably seen this performance too. A group of suits and a couple of women in red (power outfits) stand up in the Stock Market and applaud when someone rings a bell. They are all wreathed in smiles and do high fives and beat their hands together until they must hurt. I fail to see the reason for all of their joy - working people are losing their jobs, their savings, their medical coverage, and their 401k's and these guys are happier than hell. Doesn't anyone think to tell them that their financial acumen, while lining their pockets quite nicely, is raising hell with the common herd. I suppose the reason for their happiness is that they do not realize that the common herd exists, except as servants. The latest news is that the CEO of one of the automobile companies is campaigning to get a 10 million dollar bonus. Talk about living in a dream world - could his timing have been any worse? While the auto makers are in Washington begging for a huge chunk of taxpayer money to bail out their companies, someone expects to get a 10 mil bonus. The sad part is that he will probably succeed.

Off on another subject. It is rumored that local lawbreakers are refusing to be sentenced to parole with the understanding that they will be incarcerated in the Gouverneur Correctional Facility. Think about it, they get three squares a day, a warm bed, and all of the sexual activity they can stand, courtesy of the Facility's female employees. I must admit that from the pictures I have seen, none of these gals is going to win any beauty contests in the near future, but if you are locked up with a few thousand other men, a sheep would look good after a while. Actually, letting a sheep in there would probably result in a cruelty to animals charge. Interestingly, as I read it, the women who have been uncovered (heh, heh) are going to be charged with rape, under the legal provision that prisoners are incapable of giving their consent. Huh? Are you kidding me - they (the prisoners) are probably conducting lotteries to pick who the next rape victim will be. I wonder how the guilty rapists pulled this off - aren't prisons places where folks are pretty carefully supervised? As the investigation continues, I suspect that the angry finger of the law with unearth more supervisors who are involved. I suspect also that the prisoners are pretty unhappy with the person or persons who narked out their little part time hobby. This whole episode reminds me of the arrest a while ago of several school teachers who were using teen aged boys for other than homework. Of course several parents screamed how their little darlings were traumatized by this treatment and demanded justice. By justice, I think they mean, set the school up for a lucrative law suit. My old buddy Pete Drake and I were watching this unfold on the TV and got quite a kick out of the whole performance. We are both old, but we can remember being teen agers. Pete and I agreed that the most obvious expression of the trauma these kids experienced was that you couldn't wipe the smile off their faces with a two by four.

Keeping up with the Rourk's

2008-12-04T06:59:00.000-08:00

My sister Pat has a blog, which I can occasionally find - I am really not very computer literate. Anyway, she wrote about the boxes of tangled Christmas lights, and it struck a nerve because Shirley just brought down about 6 "totes" from the attic, along with a Christmas tree and several cardboard boxes of decorations. My comment was, we have got enough s___ to decorate the mall. SM's answer was "I am going to get rid of some of this stuff" - a reply which I know is a complete lie. The boxes don't get smaller - they get more numerous. We had recently strung the lights around the house - not too bad a deal. I made up some hangers out of Romex wire and put them up for the light strings. They are a lot bigger than those cup hook things we used to use, and I can use a long pole to slip the strings into the hangers.

Christmas lights have to get tangled, they spend a year in a dark box and breed. Then they go visiting each other to show off the new batch - how could they not get tangled? She was off today to do some work at the Legion and she already has the tree assembled and waiting for decorating. Her parting remark was ' "go ahead and decorate that tree while I am gone". You betcha - I tried helping once and everything I put on the tree was removed and replaced about 2 microns from where I had it. The logic escaped me, and so did the decorating business. If I had any choice I would do what an old bachelor buddy of mine used to do. He had about a 2 foot tree, complete with bulbs and lights, and a box that would hold it nicely. He brought it out every Christmas, plugged it in and was in business. After the holidays, he unplugged it, popped it back in its box and was good for another year. His decorating took about 15 seconds.

With all this decorating going on, I am curious to see how Hank Robar takes care of his lot in Potsdam - you know, the one with the toilet commodes full of flowers around it. The Potsdam officials have been having a fit about Hank's decorating for a few years now to no avail. I think they brought it upon themselves when they refused to rezone so Hank could sell the lot to Dunkin Donuts - and the result was what I call "Robar's Revenge", an eclectic collection of toilet bowls, and occasionally flower, trees, old brassiers, and various other artistic articles. To add insult to injury I recall Hank comparing his creation to the artwork at SUNY Potsdam to the howls of protest of every art conniseur in the area.

The new Lowes is going up in Potsdam despite the constant hassel over water, sewer, and anything else the Potsdam folks can dream up. This is done in conjunction with the constant claims about how much business they are bringing into the community. I got in trouble with my publisher over my comments about the Potsdam attitude toward business - but this forum is strictly my own and I can ignore any criticizm as I usually do.

In the Beginning - Dec 2, 2008

2008-12-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have an old Blog "NNY Gardening" which I have not been very good at keeping up to date. I think I am burnt out on the gardening stuff, and in the winter time up here there is not a hell of a lot of gardening going on.

I have decided to start this new blog with a title I used when I wrote for the Watertown Daily Times. The "Edge of the World" title came from a trip my family and I made from Virginia many years ago when I lived in Virginia and occasionally came home to the North Country. We had made a gas stop in Watertown, where I complained to the gas station guy about the way gas prices increased the farther we went north. After the typical north county delay while he "pondered" my remarks, he said, "well, you are getting pretty close to the edge of the world, you know".

One of the things I have missed after I quit writing for the Times was the chance to take a shot at some of the local politicians and politics in general. Some of their shenanigans were a great delight to me, although they sometimes didn't appreciate my interest. I firmly believe that someone has to shine a light on them occasionally, and let the chips fall where they may. The beauty of the blog is that there are no editors looking over my shoulder to criticize my opinions, and this reminds me of the old drinking toast - "Here's to those who wish me well, and all the rest can go to hell".

I will try to keep more current on this new endeavor, although I don't know who long it will last - I am not getting any younger, you know. Brace yourselves - who know what might develop.