Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

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Has your opinion of him gone down in the last four years?
Do you want to see someone who thinks he is doing a great job be elected?
It’s scary to think what will happen if McCain gets elected…

I’ve never seen the large inflatable rat outside of Manhattan. But it sounds like Channel 7 deserves it.

http://7newsunfair.com/

Best of luck to the members of NABET-CWA Local 25.

In solidarity.

Paterson has lost his mind. He wants SUNY to cut another $100 million on top of the $52 million cut he already enacted.

I like this quote from the NYSUT media release:

NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan B. Lubin noted that when Paterson appeared before the union at its convention in New York in April, he vowed to make higher education a priority.

I guess what nobody realized was he intended to make higher education a priority for insane budget cuts. I really hope he gets recalled, although I know the chances of that happening are slim. What kind of a human being cuts education funding?

From the realm of political attack ads, first we have John McCain comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton:

Now we have Obama calling McCain a celebrity:

Of course the best response is the funniest from Paris Hilton:

Why politicians need to do attack ads at all is beyond me. Can’t we just focus on the issues and let the voters decide based on that? Unfortunately once they start they have to be responded to, in an ever escalating distraction from what really matters. Maybe by the next Presidential election all advertising will be banned. A simple fact sheet of all candidates should be mailed to all elligble voters, upon which a clear statement from the candidates as well as their voting records on those issues would be listed. Then we can have a President elected based on issues, not whether or not they windsurfed.

Jennifer Stuczynski is a source of local pride, making the Olympic pole vaulting team. Congratulations to her and her family! That must be an amazing feeling being able to compete in the Olympics.

Some links for reference: on Wikipedia, from the New York Times, and the Buffalo News.

Also check out NBC’s Olympic site, with streaming video.

In anticipation of further cuts from our non-elected governor I have sent the following to my representatives.

As a lifelong New Yorker, current taxpayer, and employee of SUNY I am
very concerned with the actions of our imposed governor David
Paterson. Mr. Paterson seems intent on waging war against the working
class and in the process seems determined to destroy the public
education system of our fine state.

I feel that it is my duty as a citizen of New York to raise these
issues. If Mr. Paterson calls for any further reductions or cuts in
any education budget or acts in any way that will cause the working
class to shoulder the burden of fiscal hardships in the state I humbly
request your support in recalling him from office. We cannot allow an
extremist like Mr. Paterson to do untold damage to the working class
of New York and must act to swiftly and legally remove him from
office.

It is unfortunate that we were forced to go from an elected official
to an imposed one. It is even more unfortunate that he chooses to act
in ways against the good of the working class of New York. I urge you
to seek his recall before he causes any more damage.

Sincerely,
Christopher Taverna

There are many ways to fix the budget problems of the state. Cutting education should never be one of them. If you feel similarly feel free to use my wording above and contact your representatives to get him out of office quickly. If you don’t know who your representatives are you can look them up. Once you know who your elected officials are a quick search online will find their contact information.

The wonderful thing about a democracy is that it is participatory. If you don’t like the way something is going you can speak up. If you don’t like the way things are handled, come election day you can vote for change. Officials are not elected into power to be left alone. The People must continue to have their voices heard over those of the lobbyists and others who only have their own best interests in mind. As a collective group we, the citizens of New York, can affect a positive change.

Since the weather was so nice and I am progressing nicely with getting my labs done for the semester I took the afternoon off and we went up to the Erie County Fair. We spent about six hours at the fair, a lot of walking, a lot of yummy fair food, a lot of fun in general. It really made a difference too, how nice the weather was. Some years it is just so hot and humid it is very uncomfortable to walk around. But today was great, other than my knees hurting at the end of the night, I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

The only disappointing thing was I forgot to check the batteries in the camera, so we didn’t get any pictures. Realistically we wouldn’t have been able to take too many pictures anyway, so it wasn’t too bad.

As we came out of one of the buildings we saw a parade coming down the street. So Bella and Gilli found a place to sit and Karen held Erin and we watched the parade go by. That was fun. There was a marching band, some horses, some cars, and a pedal powered train. Gillian’s favorite part was when they threw beads. Bella caught some and the lady behind Gilli caught some and gave them to Gillian, which was nice of her. Thanks unknown lady! Bella said the silliest part of the parade was when the horse pooped while it was stopped right in front of us. Ah, toilet humor!

We made it to the backyard circus, where the ringleader (who reminded me an awful lot like Ted Knight) led a group of kids from the audience in a make-believe circus. The girls chose not to participate, but instead enjoyed the show from the audience.

There are always a bunch of live bands playing, and although we never purposefully go to see them, if you are in the area you can’t help but hear them play. It always reminds me how much I enjoy playing in a band and makes me want to again.

While I watched over a sleeping Erin and listened to some music, Karen took Bella and Gilli to see various crafts. There was wood-working, paper-making, and doll-making among other things.

We seem to make it to the Erie County Fair more often than the Chautauqua County Fair, but it does have a lot more to offer than our local fair. For local, the big thing we do every year is Farm Festival, which is only a couple of weeks away now. I’d say I can’t wait, but since that always happens the weekend before classes start I don’t want to rush it.

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