02/21/09 01:25 - 24ºF - ID#47841

Beseaged

A tragic and difficult couple of weeks. Joys and sadness. Appreciation and anger. Tears and thankfulness. The folly of being human. The loss of a very dear and loyal friend who gave everything he had knowing he was not blessed with good health. Frustration with a language that fails to express my grief.

Permalink: Beseaged.html
Words: 53

Category: recently learned

01/06/09 09:21 - 17ºF - ID#47303

Do we deserve what we get?

Please tell me Byran Brown is not running for Mayor again. Please tell me that Buffaloians cannot be so foolish as to reelect him...please...*much gnashing of teeth*

james writes at 06:22:56 01/06/09 - Comment #44130: Change,

I will be working on something this primary. I don't know what yet, I am just a grunt.

changeisgood writes at 05:24:45 01/06/09 - Comment #44124: James. I am very impressed. The seminal rule of lying is providing lots of detail. Good work. In fact, what are YOU doing for the mayoral term?

joshua writes at 04:36:24 01/06/09 - Comment #44122: Goddammit my response got lost. But to summarize - no.

joshua writes at 04:31:06 01/06/09 - Comment #44121: (e:james) you know damn well that a 12-3 majority is going to get anything and everything they want, and they have the votes to easily override Collins anyway, as they did with our most recent budget calamity. As for their supposed infighting, in my view it has always been entirely parochial and is usually to do with assigning blame for why things have gone wrong. Unfortunately they cannot blame the GOP for the county's problems.

A budget is never a values based document... it is this approach, frankly, that has gotten NYS and California in the position they are in, which is that they have no money and are looking for more "streams of revenue." I don't think they thought of the irony of the "values-based document" line when discussing soda taxes, iTunes taxes, eradicating the cap on state gas taxes, increased property taxes, etc. etc. etc. You wouldn't do it with your own personal budget if survival was on the line, and neither would any of the legislators. If Erie County were a company it would have been dissolved long ago.

NYS and Erie County in particular have never been responsible with public money. If you as a trustee of public dollars insist on including items in the budget that have no way of being funded, other than to drive taxes and fees up continually as they are here, then you are insane and the voters who put these people in deserve what they get. What the hell are we going to do, run a deficit for 100 years straight because there is no tax base to fund all the stuff we'd love to do? Ok, so we've saved "essential and vital services" but people are fed up with the cost of living and the taxes and leave?

The idea of a budget being a "values-based document" has put our locality in the situation it is in. You do not create a budget by starting with what you'd like to do, without certainty, or at least a rational and realistic estimate in certain streams of revenue. Period. Erie Cty. is already complaining about loss of sales tax revenue because of the economy, and this is after they raised it due to previous alleged budget shortages. For these people, the problem is never the budget, but finding the funding needed to enact the budget. Hell, NYS will tell you that they cut their budget, but no they didn't - they merely slashed "intended spending." NYS's budget is actually still growing next year. This is why a "values-based" budget is only created by irresponsible people that should be removed from office. I don't see a lot of people thinking NYS or Erie Cty. has done a great job of budgeting and it would be absurd to give them credit for keeping and expanding services, when to do so requires more taxes and an expansion of the Buffalo diaspora.

So, a "values-based document" approach to budgeting is only useful if you have the means to actually go through with it. If you don't, then you create a dysfunctional government, will continually impose higher taxes and fees to enact that which you've promised, and people won't eat/live/shop/work here anymore. NYS is the first or second most expensive state to live in terms of taxation, on every level. Why the hell *should* people come to Buffalo when the government can't produce a responsible budget or encourage economic growth? Add the draconian house reassessments every other year, which is an imposition of increased taxes without a vote, and I wonder why people would come here at all. Altruism only gets you so far.

james writes at 03:43:12 01/06/09 - Comment #44110: rubber stamp county legislature?

The fighting that goes on in that body is amazing. And why shouldn't the budget be a values based document? When the Chris Collins wants to slash funding for services for the poorest members of the county but throw money at the richest, I say a values based document is pretty darn useful.

joshua writes at 03:35:54 01/06/09 - Comment #44109: But to answer your question C.I.G. - yes we do deserve what we get, which also includes, incidentally, a rubber stamp majority in our County Legislature that refers to the county budget as a "values based document."

joshua writes at 03:34:34 01/06/09 - Comment #44108: 'Tis the season for Democratic scandals, so I was sort of hoping that we'd luck out and something would come to light about our dear Byron. I like Kevin Gaughan and have seen him many times in Wilson Farms, for some reason. Pop trivia regarding Mr. Gaughan (according to Wiki) - he was RFK Jr.'s roommate at Harvard. He might be one of the best educated people in Buffalo - undergrad at Harvard and graduate degrees from Georgetown and London School of Economics.

james writes at 02:52:44 01/06/09 - Comment #44104: wait, we just have this news coming in. Senator Hilary Clinton is resigning from the senate and withdrawing her name from the SOS nomination. She says she will run for mayor of Buffalo. "At least I am from the rust belt, unlike that silver spooned Browny." She said, noting current Buffalo mayor's birth place of Brooklyn, NY. "I mean, come on, did you see the Buffalo office I had? That place was a dump. It is time I moved offices into the art deco masterpiece across the street." Clinton then added "oh snap!".

changeisgood writes at 02:04:52 01/06/09 - Comment #44101: Arrg. Lie to me James, Lie To ME!

james writes at 11:10:02 01/06/09 - Comment #44095: Buffalo has never given a mayor less than two terms. Byron has spent the entirety of his term preparing himself for a second term or higher office. He will win.

Permalink: Do_we_deserve_what_we_get_.html
Words: 29

Category: recently learned

12/27/08 12:51 - 55ºF - ID#47197

Don't Look Back

It is December 27th and already I cannot take any more 2008 â€˜retrospectivesâ€™. I have a difficult enough time with the here and now. I donâ€™t think one should look back until there has been quite a bit of distant between oneâ€™s self and oneâ€™s decisions, and until the first three beers have time to sink in.

Permalink: Don_t_Look_Back.html
Words: 59

12/22/08 03:43 - 17ºF - ID#47140

Recently Learned

I havenâ€™t posted in a year. That pretty much tells you how the last year has gone.

Whatâ€™s interesting is that the post regarding holiday-shopping-procrastinating which I wrote last year applies in whole to this year. [Notice I used hyphens like â€œholiday-shopping-procrastinatingâ€ is a real word].

It dawns on me I may never become Wonder Woman and I am appalled as I realize I may have reached my MMI (maximum mental improvement). I guess it (meaning me) never really gets any better than this. *bangs forehead on desk*

Permalink: Recently_Learned.html
Words: 90

Category: recently learned

12/17/07 09:35 - 20ºF - ID#42552

The Latter of My Life

When it comes to Christmas, there are two kinds of people - people who shop ahead of time and people who do not. I am the latter.

Of the people who do not shop ahead of time, there are two kinds of people - people who did not shop ahead of time because they are very busy and people who just plain do not like to shop. I am the latter.

Of the people who do not like to shop, there are two kinds of people - people who do not like to shop because they are making a strong and personal statement that they are adverse to commercialism or people who are lazy. I am the latter.