I'm glad I live in the City. I was in South Buffalo until last May, which is still pretty, Caz Park is especially beautiful right now. but there's just something great about being in a friendly urban village this time of year. Buffalo is a remarkable city. I tried to capture the feel of the neighborhood and with these pictures. I would have taken more except the camera battery died. but these are pretty nice. there's more at Flickr














More pictures

I hope you guys are reading WNY Media, it is emerging as the best web based local News source. I understand that for programers and web designers like myself it can be painful because of the many flaws in the code. it's not nearly as slick as Buffalo Rising but the content is good. Also WNY Media is very open for people to join and add their own articles. I started working with them in May and have seen it transition into a dedicated news cooperative. some of the stories have quite a bit of investigative reporting behind them, many of the writers are intimately involved in the issues they cover.

They definitely need a programmer to poke around in their code for a while and fix the little flaws though. any volunteers?

Anyway I posted an article there recently about Judy Einach's press conferance, which talked about the casino and her letter to Gale Norton which was signed by a bunch of community and government leaders. the story was all but ignored by the mainstream media so I tried to do a decent job covering it on WNY Media. Usually when I write an article I post it here, but for this one I have to post a link, there's a bunch of formatting and stuff that goes with it, along with a terrible video I took at the event and a good picture. the full text of her letter and the speaches given at the press conference are there as well. take a look, I think it turned out very professional, except the video.

WNY Media article

I just updated my Flickr Blog, here are the highlights. Go to the Blog for more




We went for a walk this morning to savor the Fall





I was a Newspaper Reporter from the 70's and Molly was a Tree. we went to nietzsche's for the first time, then we went to Scotts House and spent the night.


New Kitty pictures, Revolution is getting really big.

I attended the Mayoral debate tonight, it was very interesting. From my perspective Judy did a realy fantastic job, and presented herself and her ideas very well. Brown and Helfer just made asses out of themselves by shamelessly attacking each other instead of fully answering the questions that were asked of them. they don't want to actually have a discussion with the citizens about that is wrong and how they are going to fix it because that's not their focus, their focus is on getting elected, not on helping the city overcome obstacles. so they will spend more time tearing down their 'opponent' than talking about issues.

Case in point, Helfers opening remarks were a rambling attack against Brown. you can watch the whole video on Channel 7 it's actually a really good debate. Brown made an ass out of himself by ignoring the casino question.. twice. the question was something like this "We know that you support the casino, but just so the public can be assured that you have thoroughly considered the matter, please tell us some of the major downfalls of a casino and how you plan to deal with it." I was absolutely enraged by his response and I literally almost shouted "answer the question!!!" before walking out or being escorted out. but I didn't, I listened as he listed off the reasons why he is FOR a casino, the same reasons he mentioned last week, didn't even come anywhere near a downside. but a panelist called him out and asked him again to answer the question, he said "there is a downside but..." that's it. What a fucking arrogant asshole.

Judy on the other hand did incredibly well, she was honest and blunt. she used strong language and you could tell that she meant what she said. she didn't waste time attacking the other candidates she simply spoke what she thought and her ideas were well thought out and very plausible. she lost her words a couple times but so did everyone else, so that doesn't stand out as much in the end as what she said.

Charlie Flyn was a joke, you can't take him seriously, and in fact people commonly chuckled after his responses as if he was some merry prankster. he raised some decent points and I was very happy to have him participate to get more perspectives on the table. I couldn't imagine if the debate was just between 'thing 1'and 'thing 2', it would be a hollow rhetorical sabotage fest devoid of issues.

Another thing that got on my nerves, Brown and helfer kept saying "my opponent" I wanted to scream "you have THREE opponents Asshole!!!!!" really, it's no wonder people feel like the political system is useless when nobody even acknowledges the third party candidates like Judy who actually have something interesting to say. I'm going to do some research on the Buffalo Snooze and see how much they have actually covered the third party candidates vs the coverage they give the two major parties. and I also want to see if the articles they do write about the mayoral election have anything to do with the issues. because every time I pick up that piece of crap it just talks about how much money they have raised or if race will be a factor, or some other frivolous bullshit. I did see one article on development that was terribly written and impossible to follow that compared Brown and Helfer on that issue.

Anyway, watch the debate, overall I thought it was really good. and if you live in Buffalo vote for Judy, tell our corrupt system to go fuck itself and vote for someone who is determined to change it. Judy's website is really good too, check it out

My Brief Article is below. I spend most of my time looking at local News, but yesterday I happened to notice that Iraq voted on their constitution, the results were disputed and there was a 10 day recount which cast the results into doubt. Sunni Leaders said things like "The people were shocked to find out that their vote is worthless because of the major fraud that takes place in Iraq," and called the election a "farce". Sunnis are the main force behind the insurgency, and the group who was in power untill the US invasion. In the last election in January they boycotted the vote because they didn't trust the system, this time they voted overwelmingly against the constitution and it passed anyway. leaving them with the impression that their vote doesen't matter (kind of like us in America, but they're not desensitized and jaded yet so it realy pisses them off and makes them want to overthrow the government by force).



Iraq Constitution is a sign of Civil War, not Democracy


The problem is this: the Sunni Arabs (who are the major force behind the insurgency) actually voted this time… and it didn’t work. Despite all of our promises about democracy and freedom, they tried doing it Our Way, and it backfired. If you can’t trust democracy to achieve change, what do you have left? Violence.

Sunnis fear they are being excluded, and left on land that has no oil and no wealth. The new constitution paves the way for a semi-autonomous Kurdish Region in the north and a Shiite region in the south, both of which have large supplies of oil. The Sunnis are becoming an impoverished and desperate minority in the country. This is not a good formula for peace.

Unfortunately the US doesn’t care. As long as the two tribes that do have all the oil are our buddies we make out just fine. We can give them weapons to repress the desperate minority and they can give us oil. It’s a win-win situation, unless you’re concerned about justice. Don’t believe me? Our government isn’t as modern as we might hope, they see the world in terms of survival of the fittest. This is all very practical geopolitical, ‘realist’, state centered strategy.

News Excerpts Below


Reuters - Iraq voters approve constitution
10-25-2005

By Claudia Parsons and Andrew Quinn

“BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi voters ratified a new U.S.-backed constitution despite bitter opposition in Sunni Arab areas where insurgents are battling to topple the Baghdad government, results showed on Tuesday.

Iraq's Electoral Commission, giving final results from the October 15 referendum, said 79 percent of voters backed the constitution against 21 percent opposed in a poll split largely along Iraq's sectarian and ethnic lines.

Several Shi'ite and Kurdish regions voted between 95 and 99 percent "Yes"; in rebellious, Sunni Anbar 97 percent said "No".

Prominent Sunni Arab leaders rejected the referendum as a fraud, warning it could fuel militant violence and discourage Sunnis from participating in future elections.”


AP - Iraq's Constitution Ratified by Voters
10-25-2005

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

“The strong negative vote by Sunni Arabs, however, raised questions whether the charter would succeed in luring Sunnis away from the insurgency. Many Sunni Arabs fear the constitution will create virtually autonomous and oil-rich mini-states of Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south, leaving Sunnis isolated in poor central and western regions with a weak central government in Baghdad.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Arab member of the committee that drafted the constitution, called the referendum "a farce" and accused the Shiite and Kurdish-dominated government of stealing ballot boxes to reduce the percentage of "no" votes in several provinces.

"The people were shocked to find out that their vote is worthless because of the major fraud that takes place in Iraq," he said on Al-Arabiya television.
Much will depend on whether Sunni Arabs vote in large numbers in the Dec. 15 elections. A Sunni boycott of the Jan. 30 balloting enabled Shiites and Kurds to dominate parliament and take the lead role in drafting the constitution.”