here is a fantastic article from Buffalo Rising about the casino. Think about it. this is a permanent change to our city. how will it change us? how will it change the downtown urban living and sightseeing environment. Please make a phone call or write a letter, stop this nonsense. you can find contact information in the Buffalo Rising Article.

Downtown Casino: Are We Sheep?
by Figmo

Simply put, putting a casino in Downtown Buffalo is the dumbest and most dangerous idea anyone's had in a while. To give away the center of an area finally in the throes of a residential turnaround to a sovereign nation with no obligation to community development standards and guidelines is stupid. To build a low-budget, third rate casino catering to busloads of sad cases carrying plastic cups filled with loose change in the middle of an area where many developers with vision have taken a chance and sunk significant chunks of capital into high-end residential development-that's the ballgame, folks.

Click for the Rest

I'd like to point out a couple things about the anti-torture amendment to the latest $445,000,000,000 War spending Bill.
The amendment was spearheaded by John McCain. A good guy in my opinion who unlike most of our Washington officials actually SERVED in the military, and he was a war prisoner. Meaning essentially that he understands what life is like in war. he gets his information from experience instead of movies like Bush and most everyone in his cabinet. interesting.
also the wording of the amendment is not as ambiguous as I originally thought. It bans "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" which as honorable a policy as it is vague. "Cruel" or "degrading" mean a million things to a million people. but McCain and his cosponsors were not looking for a feelgood amendment they actually are looking to set standards at the federal level, and to learn exactly what those standards are the amendment refers you to the "Army Field Manual". standards the army has already agreed upon.

interesting facts.

I got a kick out of this article in the NY Times today.

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Senate Moves to Protect Military Prisoners Despite Veto Threat

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 - Defying the White House, the Senate overwhelmingly agreed Wednesday to regulate the detention, interrogation and treatment of prisoners held by the American military.

The measure ignited a fierce debate among many Senate Republicans and the White House, which threatened to veto a $440 billion military spending bill if the detention amendment was tacked on, saying it would bind the president's hands in wartime. Nonetheless, the measure passed, 90 to 9, with 46 Republicans, including Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, joining 43 Democrats and one independent in favor.

More than two dozen retired senior military officers, including Colin L. Powell and John M. Shalikashvili, two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, endorsed the amendment, which would ban use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in United States government custody.

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The President wants to veto a bill banning the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" That speaks volumes about this administration. seriously, what kind of America is this guy from?!?!

I'm rather picky when it comes to websites and web-design, being a designer myself I quickly notice holes and flaws in design. Also I am currently taking a class at UB called Interface Design, which looks at websites from the perspective of the user, and it has made me even more critical of sites that are difficult to navigate or understand.

That being said, I really like the New Buffalo Rising site It looks slick, but more importantly you can navigate freely through the content and find what interests you without a problem. They have given the articles categories and subcategories which allow you to find exactly the stuff that interests you, no matter when they were published. and the site is updated often, like 6-12 new articles per day.

I just realy like it I couldn't have come up with a better design myself. check it out

Sheriff Howard is lashing out at WNY Media.net for a negative story they published about him.

The story was about Sheriff Howard of Erie County, and where he is getting his campaign money. He didn’t like these facts being exposed to the public so in response Howard has decided to get revenge on the website and the writer.
The article on WNY Media focuses on a recent fundraiser for the Sheriff that was cosponsored by Delacy Ford. Coincidentally Delacy Ford has been doing business with the Sheriff’s department since at least 1999, with contracts totaling at least $733,917 of taxpayer money.
This is all public information, but I guess the good Sheriff didn’t like this being exposed on WNY Media, which is a popular alternative news website like SpeakupWNY. The Sheriff feels threatened by the story, which is good, it means that WNY Media is doing their Job. The media is supposed to ask tough questions that those in power do not want to answer, they are supposed to bring facts into the light that those in power don’t want people to know. But Sheriff Howard doesn’t like people rocking his boat (or yacht), so he is lashing out against the website and it’s owner. How? He targeted their place of employment. Someone called the website owner’s place of work and said enough mean things to get that person Suspended from their job. Suspended until further notice. We speak truth to power and power reacts by threatening our source of income
We can’t let media be intimidated for doing their job, WNY Media is simply asking tough questions that the public deserves answers to. It’s $733,917 of our tax money that is being played with, we deserve to know what is going on behind the scenes. Attacking the media like this is beyond improper, any lawyers in the house?
I want everyone to be aware of the dirty tricks that are going on with the politicians in this county. Please Read the article.


“The fundraiser was hosted by the wives of Sheriff Howard's political appointees, as well as Smith Boy Marine Sales and Delacy Ford. To say the least, it’s unusual for a company with county contracts to sponsor a fundraiser. Usually they just give money. But when you want to give more money than legally allowed, what do you do in New York State? That's right, hold a fundraiser:”

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