Joshua's Journal

12/15/2009 13:45 #50566

Byron Brown Shows Who Is In Charge

And it is not him, but the unions.

This is good news and a step forward, but why did Byron Brown have to ask for the permission of the union?

Answer: "Well, you know Josh, there were unionized county parks workers who need to be guaranteed that they will be unionized as city parks workers."

Why is it that we cannot have any progress, any goodness, any kind of positivity in our city without having to take the first step of kissing the ring of some labor boss asshole? I know I'm missing details so I would absolutely love for somebody to fill me in as to why having to cope with the union as a first step was necessary simply to continue the status quo w/r/t the Conservancy, under the auspices of our uberpoliticized/uberunionized City Hall. Maybe this is a technicality that I shouldn't be worked up over - either way, I'd like to know.

While I feel like I should be happy that it looks like the Conservancy will be managing the parks, to what extent will the union interfere with the management of the parks, seeing as we've just been told that certain county parks workers will be unionized as city workers? Will they have no authority over the handful of parks that the Conservancy manages? To what extent will the city be allowed to interfere with personnel decisions w/r/t the Conservancy? I've got a lot of questions and a lot of suspicions, but not enough information, as you can plainly see.

This is what I want, with no compromises. I want the city to transfer control to the Conservancy and back off, because the only thing the city will do is muddy the waters, interfere and mismanage their position, just like they always have and always will do. I can't think of a single positive development that could come from the city being involved with our parks - after all, it was their incompetence and mismanagement of city finances that contributed to the transfer of control to Erie County five years ago. Somebody please just tell me that the Conservancy will be managed as it has been, just with technical responsibility transferred from the county to the city.

The City of Buffalo will never be able to devote as much singular focus as the Conservancy, they'll never be able to effectively manage the finances of the conservancy, and frankly the city will never care as much as the dedicated people at the Conservancy do.

A part of proper management, some say anyway, is the ability to recognize who the best people are for a given task, then empower these enthusiastic individuals to run with it to their utmost. Tell these people that you are counting on their enthusiasm and intelligence to carry the day for a resource that is incredibly important to all of us. Nobody will scramble for resources like people who run not-for-profits and care a hell of a lot about their cause. This caliber of person will always find a way when funds and resources are dry.

I count on the Conservancy to hold these parks in trust for not just us but for our future children, friends and neighbors. I count on their enthusiasm and intelligence to carry the day.

I want to take this opportunity to take the next step, which is to encourage anybody that is reading this to consider volunteering for the Conservancy, or donating money. For $30 you can become a member, although if you would like to donate a smaller amount I know they'd never turn it down. Something like this would make a nice gift for somebody this holiday. I hope this debacle has scared enough citizens into realizing that government will not solve the problems with our parks - it's all down to us. We have to circumvent our government and do this work on our own. When it comes to this issue, we've got to stick together or watch one of the last good things in Buffalo die away.

metalpeter - 12/15/09 20:50
The Conservancy will always do a better Job on the Parks then the city but it should be the other way around. If you work for the city you should know how important the parks are and make them great. The Problem is that when the city ran them it was a city Job oh and I think I'll go work in the parks department. Hey I can do work at my buddies home in the city truck. Hey I can take my dog a drive slow as a way to walk him. But with the Coseravancy people they are there because the Parks are important to them and that is the priotiry. In terms of the Union, the reason they lost the parks is because of all the messed up budget and money stuff, so if the parks went back to the city it seems like the union would have some say in who gets to be part of the parks department. Hopefully this all works out ok.

james - 12/15/09 13:54
The city had an agreement with the unions prior to all of this, so they really did have to kiss the ring a bit.

12/14/2009 14:28 #50551

Holiday Party

Sorry that we missed the potluck. I hope that everybody had a great time, as usual! (e:jason) and I were present for his company holiday party, which was a very pleasant experience. See Corporate Josh -

The best part about it, other than the free food and booze (naturally), was seeing that my brother works with some quality people. The bank had their party at their headquarters, which turned out to be a very nice building and a decent work environment.

Banks have a reputation for employing dour, humorless people at the executive level but this is not necessarily true with (e:jason)'s bank. Their VP of Technology was a very nice guy who I had met once before at a card game. The single person at the party that I thought was the most interesting and fun, the one that I could see would be a decent time over a beer, turned out to be the CEO of all people. Not only did he seem cool, but (e:jason) also says that the man is a very smart and capable leader. It's nice to learn that (e:jason) is on a first name basis with these figures at his company, despite the fact that he does not see them on a daily basis.

11/25/2009 17:43 #50379

Ouch... the left "strikes" again!

Unhinged left wingers across America blamed this census worker's death on tea party types because he had the word "fed" scrawled across his chest -

It was a suicide. Oh, how the firestorm of media coverage just blew up in their collective faces. Can we stop with this crap someday?

uncutsaniflush - 11/26/09 10:36
Just in case I wasn't clear, I agree with you - (e:joshua).Any credible analysis of the situation that assumed foul-play would first have to consider that the census worker blundered into an area with illegal activity - either moonshining or marijuana farming. Based upon my familiarity with the area that is what I thought happened. The "tea party" "right wing backlash against the government didn't even cross my mind. To me, there was never any credible basis to believe such a thing.

joshua - 11/26/09 10:27
Well, this is my biggest problem with this - liberal commentators and bloggers blamed the right wing with really no single shred of evidence, other than whatever it is that they derived from their own biases.

Examples -

Andrew Sullivan, Sept. 26, 2009: "No Suicide: That's the one thing we know for certain now in the case of the Kentucky lynching...But the most worrying possibility - that this is Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts - remains real."

Ed Schultz show Sept. 28, 2009: "It didn't sound real good. My wife and I were traveling on the East Coast this weekend, in the car for three hours. We haven`t done that for a while.

Let me tell you, right-wing rhetoric in this country has reached a boiling point. Oh, the government`s the enemy. Every kind of government, local, regional, state...

Republicans have always tried to make the government the bogeyman. No matter what the subject, it`s the government's fault. But this is out of control. The fever pitch we`re experiencing in this country right now, I think has got a lot of people nervous.

A census worker, somebody doing a part-time job for the government, for America -- we`ve had the census in this country for 210 years. This man`s name was Bill Sparkman. He was found dead in Kentucky.

Most of his clothes had been stripped off and his census identification tag, it was Duct Taped to his body, and the word "Fed` had been written across his chest. Investigators don`t know who killed Mr. Sparkman and what the motive was. They still aren`t certain it was a homicide.

A lot of things playing into this right now. But we do know that census workers are afraid to go to work right now."

Mark Potok, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center on MSNBC's "The Ed Show, Sept. 24, 2009: "I think the bottom line is it's a very rural area, and these are the kinds of areas where sometimes, you know, real white hot anti-government sentiment thrives. I think it's probably worth saying that I know that back in `95, immediately after the Oklahoma City bombing, I remember "USA Today" did a poll and found that 39 percent of Americans at that time felt that the federal government was an imminent threat to their liberties as Americans. Quite incredible.

I think that we are at a similar point in history right now, you know, where we've seen this anti-government sentiment very much whipped up by militia certainly but also the whole scene that we've seen develop around town halls and so forth."

Allison Kilkenny, Huffpo: "This is the kind of violent event that emerges from a culture of paranoia and unsubstantiated attacks. Personalities like Glenn Beck have irresponsibly accused the government of running FEMA concentration camps, and constantly stoke the fear of 'the Feds' taking over."

I could go on. Rachael Maddow, videos from People for the American Way, Village Voice, Diane Sawyer, Brian Levin, etc. Each one with a gallon of egg on their faces today.

uncutsaniflush - 11/26/09 09:41
(e:joshua), there is a strong anti-government ("fed") feeling amongst many in rural Kentucky and other appalachia states that dates back to Reconstruction or Prohibition or both. Additionally, there are still many illegal stills manufacturing 'shine. And the moonshiners don't take kindly to federal agents searching for and destroying their stills. And that is what the suicide worker was trying to use to his advantage. Anyone familiar with rural Appalachia would know that most in those areas ignore the government and underutilise existing government programs so changes in federal health care policies would be of little interest. So I'm with you on this one. The "lefties" were less than careful with the truth.

vincent - 11/25/09 20:32
The sad part is you may be one of the few people who remember.

What is sad is that next year census workers will come across hostile people and most likely they will be people on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. Unfortunately they will be short changing themselves as not being accurately counted will hurt them more in the long run than anyone else. For example Niagara Falls NY could be downgraded to a town from a city that will have funding consequences for many social programs. I guess they figure it is better to be safe in thinking that some temp with a clipboard is an under cover benefits investigator than someone trying to make the case for representation in congress and program funding.

12/01/2009 20:34 #50431

iPhone app

Interesting discussion re: my most recent journal previous to this one... which I want to expand on soon. Until then I just wanted to write a quick entry about how much I love certain apps on the iPhone.

Remote - the novelty will never wear off for me and I love the idea of laying down on the couch while flipping through albums and playing tunes through the computer. Plus - this forces me to flip through music I haven't listened to lately and it's given me the ability to revisit some old favorites.

Facebook - I'm pretty sure I'm hopelessly addicted to posting remote updates with pictures of whatever I'm doing.

Maps - not bad for a default app that comes with the phone. It's been hella useful. If I lived in a bigger city I'd probably get a different app that would allow me to track the public transportation better, but for now this little app serves its purpose.

Deer Hunter - buck buck

jenks - 12/02/09 15:05
Last time I was in new york I tried the public transportation feature of Maps- way cool. Unfortunately I found the GPS was often off by a block or so in the super-crowded downtown areas, which made it less helpful.

SnapTell is a cool one- you use the camera to take a picture of a book- and it somehow recognizes the book and submits it to some database- then shows you where you can buy it and who has the best price.

joshua - 12/02/09 08:54
Hi =)

lilho - 12/02/09 00:32
hi joshy.

james - 12/01/09 21:12
Photogene is a great photo editor
NASA is full of geeky space news and photos
AroundMe lets you look up businesses by type (restaurant, coffee, gas) and it lists them by distance on a map.

11/30/2009 12:59 #50414

Illegal Immigrants and Healthcare

Right. Remember Joe Wilson? He's the Representative from SC who shouted out "YOU LIE!" after Prez Obama stated that in no way would his health bill provide a mechanism for coverage for illegal immigrants. Oh, how the left wanted to draw and quarter this man for being so preposterous to St. Barack. How rude!

Not that some of us didn't suspect it anyway, but it turns out that Joe Wilson was right. Why is Barack Obama breaking this pledge, that he uttered so clearly and so vociferously - who was vigorously defended when an elected politician pointed out he was full of shit?

Of course, this has been studied in great detail. My favorite justification - well, it's not a problem with the bill - it's the employers who are breaking the law by hiring illegals!

Now, I'll start the tape recorder - let the choruses of "RAAAHAHH THERE"S NO BILL SIGNED INTO LAW YET ERAAHHEHHSS" flow.

metalpeter - 12/01/09 19:35
People are paid under the table but not only illegals. Then there are some illegals who are paid under the table as well. Then there are some places where it is kinda ify like a truck pulls up people hope and and how ever many people fit on that truck get the labor job for that day. Then there is one other kind and those are the ones that come over and work off their debt, think of asain or other parlors. I think the tax concern is for undocumented Alliens. But in a way they would pay taxes to on any thing they buy.

In Terms of keeping campagn promises the bottom line is no one does. They run on this platform then once they get in office they instead of doing what they said they would do get all these so called expert advisors and then do what they say would be the thing to do. Barrack is no different then any of the other people who have been president.

jenks - 12/01/09 18:26
thanks for the input guys. I stand corrected. I guess I always thought illegals were paid under the table. I just sort of figured if they're not in the country legally, you can't really put them on the payroll. Guess that's where I'm wrong.

terry - 12/01/09 17:47
I will confirm that most aliens do indeed pay taxes. The big one is the payroll tax, that's your SS/Medicare (sometimes called FICA) that you see on your paycheck. It is deducted from their wages as well, and, I will add, unless they become legal they will never see any benefit from having paid it. Unlike Fed/State tax you cannot claim exempt from the payroll tax.

Most also have federal/state taxes deducted as well. I would surmise a couple reasons:
1) it is difficult and/or suspicious to claim exempt, especially if you're trying to avoid detection.
2) many do actually pay the taxes they owe on the income they earn...perhaps they are stupid, or perhaps they really are trying to 'do the right thing' and contribute to the society they are living in.

I get to talk to some of these guys once in a while at my job, and mot of them seem more than willing to pay the taxes that they owe from the income that they make (this is of course anecdotal). It is also a requisite of becoming a citizen that you do pay the taxes you owe for a number of years on all income earned while living here.

What I don't quite understand about this argument is that from what I see the problem is that employers are going to be providing more insurance and because they may employ illegals they will also be insured. Am I getting that right? And if so, isn't this a separate problem about getting illegal aliens off payrolls? I mean if you have a problem with a govt funded/run program, then isn't an employer-provided option better? And perhaps this minor (and I'm saying minor because I can't believe that more than a very small percentage of affected workers will be illegals) problem should be dealt with through existing routes, ie: NIS refrom or whatever instead of by attempting to use it as another route to derail the healthcare debate?

ajay - 11/30/09 16:09
Wow, (e:joshua). Washington Times?? LOL.

Illegal aliens do pay taxes. Even if the company is employing them illegally, they just use a fake SSN to do the withholding. Companies don't mind risking the ICE's wrath; but the IRS? Fuggedaboutit. You pay the IRS before you pay the mafia.

Now, to your question about benefits for illegals? I agree with you that they shouldn't get the benefits they're not entitled to.

But, I'll throw a couple of things out as discussion points:
1. Illegals will resort to going to the emergency rooms. Is that better or worse?
2. As a society, we all benefit if everyone has access to healthcare. Otherwise, the people who don't could be carrying around various diseases (for example, TB) which can bite us in the ass. I'm not an epidemiologist, so I can't say if this is a valid concern or not, but in my naive thinking it sounds like one.

And don't forget: it was your God, Ronald H. Reagan, who gave amnesty to illegals in 1986. So before you start accusing Democrats of shenanigans, a look at a decent reflecting surface would be in order ;-)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

james - 11/30/09 15:41
But the article mentioned Senator Reid's office said there would be a provision preventing them getting benefits but also a fee levied against employers for them. So, I still don't see where the beef is in the author's argument. They offer information that undermines the thesis and then a non sequitur swoops in to save the day?

Undocumented workers pay taxes just like we do.
1)Sales tax when they buy things
2)Property tax when they pay rent
3)Income tax via a TIN (tax identification number) either through their employer or voluntarily on their own

joshua - 11/30/09 15:29
Jay - since Andy Stern and SEIU had a front row seat in health care negotiations and has visited the WH more than anybody else, you can bet that SEIU will be intricately involved in any immigration legislation that moves through Congress. SEIU has Obama in their back pockets and he is pretty much a shill for organized labor. I can't see otherwise how you could circumvent long established contract law and tell debtholders to screw off, just to simply give away tens of billions to the labor unions in Detroit, for example. (An Obama move that 75% of Americans opposed). It's clear that Obama and the Democrats have similiar plans in store for the SEIU and the immigration debate, public opinion be damned.

joshua - 11/30/09 15:23
Whether or not they pay taxes is irrelevant - if you are an illegal alien, I fail to see how it is that you can legally pay taxes, unless somebody around here could enlighten me. After all, how do you pay taxes without a valid SSID#, EIN#, green card, etc., or any legal authorization to work? How do you obtain authorization to work when you aren't legally established in the country? What the article says is that roughly half of the illegal immigrants pay taxes (the legality of which can be debated), and that the other half do not pay taxes because they simply are paid off the books.

No, the President's stated objective was that illegal immigrants would not be covered in the bill. Clearly that was a lie and it appears that no Democrats have an interest in stopping it, including the President, as a) there are really no provisions either bill that could expressly do so, b) Republicans had no input in either bill, so Demos have really got nobody to blame except their own ideas on the topic and the will of the people, which they have openly disregarded unless it suits their ideology, and c) yes, next year Congress will be attempting to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, which really is amazing considering that it appears they believe that the healthcare bill/illegal alien squabbling will simply go away if they legalize them all!

jason - 11/30/09 15:18
Alex. The reason why it would be considered is the Democrats want more votes, more constituents. The cynical part of me thinks Andy Stern is licking his chops at the prospect of fighting for their wages (and his dues) when they become legitimized. They don't particularly care if the law is broken. That is literally dead last on their list of concerns. Someone who is "dangerous" to them is an 80 year old Gramma, false teeth clattering in her mouth while yelling at a Congressman. Don't ever believe a politician, especially one with a growing track record of being full of shit.

james - 11/30/09 15:07
illegal immigrants do pay taxes. Many don't pay income tax because they are hired illegally, though the article indicates that roughly half do. But, that is really not relevant.

So, if I understand this article, because immigration reform might be coming the health care bill somehow doesn't meet the President's stated objective?

Rev. Moon's paper is truly stellar journalism.

jbeatty - 11/30/09 14:09
I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't pay taxes. But I agree you should be a citizen to benefit from any sort of government program.

jenks - 11/30/09 13:49
Ok, perhaps I'm vastly oversimplifying, so please- someone explain it to me.

As I see it-
Illegal aliens are here (ahem) illegally.
they do not pay taxes.

Why is providing them with taxpayer-funded healthcare even being CONSIDERED?