This video is notable for the way Sarah Palin strikes back at the national media and their unethical use -- and it is unethical -- of anonymous sources to levy personal charges at her. Whether the charges are true or not -- and she says they're false -- they're of the sort that should only be reported when sources are willing to put their names behind their statements.
Richard Laub, Buffalo Museum of Science curator of geology, is the featured dinner speaker tonight at the Eastern States Archaeological Federation’s annual meeting. He will speak on the Hiscock Site, an archeological dig in Byron. The federation is meeting at the Holiday Inn Lockport, 515 S. Transit Road.
The site was accidentally discovered in 1959, but was not actively excavated until the 1980s. The site has yield mastodon fragments and paleo-Indian artifacts.
The full program of the federations meeting can be downloaded as a PDF here.
Katie Stack, of Batavia, a sophomore at RIT, had a key assist last night as the Tigers beat Neumann College 6-1.
Klassen struck again at 5:17 of the second on a short-handed breakaway. The Tigers were down two, and Katie Stack (Batavia, NY) poked the puck free at center ice. She and Klassen broke in two-on-one. Stack flicked a pass over to Klassen who tipped the puck home for her second tally of the night.
After 18 months of living in Batavia, local blogger Martin Szinger is getting settled into life in his new home town.
I was born and raised the Town of Tonawanda, a first-ring suburb of Buffalo. As an adult, I moved out to the "country" in Genesee County, Town of Batavia. Always Buffalo-facing, I never gave much thought to the City of Batavia, five miles to the east, other than it being the shopping destination of choice for most of life's daily needs. I came to understand that most of Genesee County is more likely to be Rochester-facing - we got the 585 area code with them, bland pollsters operating from a half a world away assume we watch the Rochester TV stations, and so on. But I never gave much consideration to the idea that any significant number of people could be Batavia-facing.
Great way of putting it: That you can live in Batavia and not look to Buffalo or to Rochester, but actually be Batavia-facing.
It's probably no surprise that Martin getting knee deep in appreciation for Batavia coincides with his reading Bill Kauffman's book.
Slowly, I've become more interested in the history of the place. I've just finished reading Bill Kauffman's Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette, in which the author's classic experience of the Native Son returning to his small hometown is set in the very same Batavia. It's his vehicle for bemoaning so much of what's been lost in Small Town America and also celebrating the good in What Remains There, but it's also very much about Batavia. Literate (probably to a fault) and witty (to compensate), Kauffman produces a veritable parade of references that shed light on Batavia so as to almost move it from the Real to the Mythic. You can feel the love, and it's contagious.
And we're gratified to know that Martin reads The Batavian and that he is considering taking our advice to subscribe to the home town newspaper. We also encourage him to make a habit of WBTA.
You can enrich your life when you turn to your own home town and make it not just a place where you watch TV and sleep at night, but where you actually live.
The blog at The American Conservative wonders if the Old Right can seize control of the GOP. The Old Right would be the non-interventionist at home and aboard, the Robert Taft wing, of the GOP -- the traditional conservative movement that once dominated the party (before rought 3/4 of current Americans were alive).
Ralph Nader was, at one time, one of the most respected people in America. In an interview with a Houston radio station, Nader said Barack Obama will have a choice on whether to be an "Uncle Sam or be an Uncle Tom."
Fox News gave Nader a chance to take it back, and when asked if he regretted saying it, he said, "Not at all."
Nader appears completely clueless as to how offensive the term is.
Former Genesee County Farm Bureau president Dale Stein is included in a D&C story rounding up reactions to Barack Obama's historic victory Tuesday.
Dale Stein, a dairy farmer in LeRoy, Genesee County, supported McCain, but said he was "not massively disappointed" with Obama's win — and was pleased with other aspects of the election. "There was a (big) turnout. People finally got a reason to get out and vote, and that's a good thing," said Stein, 54. "I liked some things about both candidates. I just liked McCain more."
Stein's top hope for Obama is addressing agricultural issues, particularly about immigration policies related to migrant workers.
Stein said he hoped Obama would take measures to turn the slumping U.S. economy around, but said that Congress has more responsibility in that regard. Reining in excessive pay and compensation for corporate leaders is key, he said.
Stein was included in a pre-election series of stories by the D&C about important issues in the election. We posted about it here.
Congressman-elect Chris Lee spoke with WHAM's Evan Dawson this morning and promised to keep an open door, saying that if constituents aren't informed about what a congressman does, he doesn't deserve the office.
I like this post from conservative writer Megan McArdle:
Whether or not you are for Obama, the candidate, I think you have to admit that there is one pretty exciting thing happening today: we will never again live in an America where a black man can't be elected president. It's a great day for all of us--the thought really does thrill me every time I think it, even though I know I'm going to hate an awful lot of his policymaking. But it's especially great for those who were, in earlier days, barred from that sort of achievement.
Which prompted a reader to write into libertarian blogger Glenn Reynolds:
UPDATE: Reader Rahul Banta writes: "I think one take away from this election cycle is that never again will two white men ever be successful running for President and Vice President. I think this election has changed all that permanently. For better or worse we now will have at least one woman and one minority person on one of the major parties ticket, perhaps even in the same person and anything other than that will be seen as somehow out of touch or not very representative of America. The amazing thing is this all happened without anyone really noticing it."
I also like this found on Glenn's blog:
JIM MANZI: "There are about 1,460 days until the next Presidential election, and I assume that I will spend approximately the next 1,459 of them opposing Barack Obama. But I’m spending today proud abut what my country has overcome."
It doesn't matter whether you're Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal -- the election of Barack Obama is a major milestone in this country. It gives us hope that the ugly issues of race can become merely historical references in textbooks.
We should be proud of our country today, and for those of us who might oppose some or all of Obama's agenda, raise that opposition with equal measures of vigor and respect. But we shouldn't let mere partisanship or over-simplified campaign rhetoric distract us from the work of moving the country, and our communities, forward.
From NPR:
Along a rural highway in central Texas sits a small white house with some cows grazing out back and a wheelchair ramp leading to the front screen door. Inside that house lives Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a slave. No one in her family, least of all Jones, thought she would live long enough to vote for the man who is to become the first black president.
Jones is the living link between the time when black men were owned as property and the time when a black man has been elected president of the United States.
She wears a pink gown and sits in a worn recliner. Thick glasses magnify her rheumy eyes — eyes that have witnessed two world wars, a great depression, and the arrival of jazz, television and antibiotics. Born in 1899, Jones has lived through a half-century of institutional segregation and a second half-century of attempts to erase that legacy.
"The white is over everything," she says. "I never thought the colored would rise up" and accomplish this.
She says Barack Obama's election is "a blessing."
What I write below started as a comment in response to John Roach in response to this post, but as I wrote, I realized this is probably just my wrap up commentary on the 26th District congressional race. So, first John's excellent comment, and then my response.
It could have been the DNC negative ads that killed off Alice. Who ever came up with the Chris Lee was fired line at the last minute did Alice no good. Even if the charge is true, the way it came out, and at the last minute, made it look like a stunt. The China thing the national DNC lied about did not help either.
Chris told and/or his side told lies also. It just seems the side that lied the most lost.
John, Chris negative ads, as I said, were pretty devoid of substance -- "liberal trial lawyer" ... "she will raise taxes" ... scripted in 1988. They had nothing to do with who Alice Kryzan really is, but painted her as characterture. They were relentless.
But I think the ads had the effect they were meant to have, which I didn't really think about until last night: They kept the base loyal. Lee wasn't really trying, with those ads, to appeal to swing voters, just keep the GOP in the GOP column. Drown out any positive message Kryzan might have.
And you're right, the DCCC did Kryzan no favors. Whatever chance Kryzan had, the DCCC killed it. First, the negative ads were over the top and in no way truthful. Second, they also crowded out Kryzan's message and didn't allow Alice to be Alice. In the end, they played right into the Lee/GOP strategy of muting Kryzan's plans and policy voice.
Kryzan's one chance of winning was to run a campaign of substance on issues, and not make it about Chris Lee. The DCCC tried to make it about Lee. Big mistake.
And you're right about the "fired" thing. I hadn't considered it from that light before. And in that light, you could make the case that the Kryzan campaign mishandled it, because they really tried to play it up. Langworthy and Lee probably made stick the counter spin of "Kryzan's desperate campaign."
But let's face it, Jon Powers didn't do Kryzan many favors. He was slow to endorse her, and my sense from that is that the Democratic base was then slow to rally to her cause. He didn't start soon enough with the effort to get his name off the Working Families line. He didn't get out on the campaign trail for her soon enough.
That said, I'm optimistic that Chris Lee is a decent fellow. I've met him once and he left a favorable first impression on me. I remain concerned that he'll be a "reliable GOP vote" rather than an independent voice of and for the district. I would love a chance to sit down and talk with him at some length about his plans and his policies. Also, he's going to have a very tough job as a freshman congressman working within a decimated GOP minority.
Much has been made over earmarks (pork) the past two years, but the fact is, if you want to target meaningful reductions in Federal spending, pork is a poor choice of where to begin with the knife. Earmarks make up less than 5 percent of the Federal budget. But what earmarks do is allow a congressman to return some taxpayer money to the district.
If used to help build roads, upgrade other infrastructure, finance green business start ups, help local agencies get jobs done they could otherwise not afford, than earmarks help create jobs and make life better in a district. Earmarks shouldn't be used just to do favors for campaign donors.
So here's to hoping Lee will fight for the 26th District's share of pork, and then some.
As for being a "reliable GOP vote," I guess there are two ways of looking at that. With the GOP in such dire straits in the House, the Republicans sticking together as the opposition party might have some mollifying effect on the Democrats (nothing against Democrats, but in any two-party Constitutional government, there should be some sort of opposition).
On the other hand, Lee has just won a seat that almost guarantees him no more than two terms in office (it will likely be eliminated in redistricting in 2012). The GOP is in disarray and will go through a good deal of soul searching and a few internal battles as it tries to rebuild a meaningful philosophical core. That may take a generation or two, just as it did post-Hoover This would be a great time for a man like Lee to step out and define himself as an independent voice. It could be what makes or breaks his political career from 2012 onward.
There's no reason Lee can't fashion a voice and voting record that stands in opposition to the most extreme of Democratic plans, but doesn't kowtow to the Republican House leadership. It will be interesting to see which path Lee chooses. I haven't given up hope that Lee did what he had to do -- go along with the GOP election strategy -- in order to safely win the seat, but that he has within him the capability to now step forward and better define himself as a legislator and as a representative.
The blog 26th District published quotes from Chris Lee's victory speech at the Buffalo Niagara Marriott.
“Tonight we are one step closer to getting Western New York and our country back on track.
“We are now going to take to Washington our agenda of job creation, lowering taxes and making government more accountable."
How many voters haven't paid close attention to the election, just saw the negative commercials and then decided to vote for the third-party candidate?
Blogger Lauren, from Rochester, suggests she was planning to vote for Jon Powers:
The problem is that I've been watching Rochester TV for the past two months and can recite word for word all the low budget smear campaign commercials of local political hopefuls there.
I know all about Alice Kryzan and Chris Lee and how Alice accuses Chris of sending jobs to China and only caring about his small business making money, and Chris likes to constantly remind everyone how Alice is a "liberal trial lawyer". Truth be told, I side with Alice because at least she's acquainted with the law. Chris owns some electrician business or something equally unrelated to politics and is probably just trying to get in office so he can vote against Joe the Plumber taxes and maybe lower minimum wage. If I voted in Rochester, I'd probably vote for a third party guy simply because he didn't subject me to ominously voiced-over shitty commercials for two months, and leaving me the hell alone during It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is what I truly value in a candidate.
Despite every effort to get Kryzan on the Working Families line, the courts kept Powers, who reportedly moved out of state, on it.
It will be interesting to see how many votes that line gets and then speculate whether it could have made a difference.
We're going to get a little air time on WHAM tonight. Evan Dawson has invited me to appear on the the station's 10 p.m. election coverage. I'll be there to talk about the 26th District Congressional race.
For anybody visiting The Batavian for the first time from the link on Evan's blog, you can check out our congressional race coverage on this link or this link.
And Evan called me a Libertarian. I'd never use the big L -- being non-partisan, or the slightly insulting "blank" in New York political lingo -- and I think more apt is decentralist and localist, and of course a strong belief in individual liberty.
Thanks to my friend Rottenchester of the Fighting 29th blog for arranging this. It will be the first time 16 years that I've been on TV as a journalist to talk about elections.
The NY Department of Elections has release final voter registration totals for 2008 (PDF).
In Genesee County
Republican 15,816 Democrat 9,443 Independent 1,419 Conservative 775 Working Families 149 Green 72 Libertarian 11 Blank 7,164In the 26th Congressional District:
Republican 166,048 Democrat 134,148 Independent 16,499 Conservative 8,761 Working Families 1,512 Green 967 Libertarian 93 Blank 86,128
The Batavian is not endorsing candidates in any race, but there's no reason you can't take a moment to post your own personal endorsements.
Use the comment space on this post to tell us who you're voting for and why. Try to polish up your best argument in favor of your preferred candidate.
You can write about just one race, or all of the races from the President on down to county coroner.
Make your case well enough and maybe you'll change another voter's mind.
Try to avoid criticizing or questioning another voter's endorsements -- let's make this thread about who will vote for and why, not about debating with other posters the merits of their picks.
If either Chris Lee or Alice Kryzan are looking for a long career in the House of Representatives, they might be sorely disappointed, according to Buffalo Business First.
In four years, the Legislature will redraw legislative boundaries, and because of an ongoing population decline in Western New York, the state is likely to lose two seats.
“Either one of them would be at the mercy of Albany,” says Kevin Hardwick, a Canisius College political science professor. “But then, in a way that’s true for every congressman involved. Reapportionment is the only time in 10 years that a congressman ever sucks up to a state legislator. They hold all the cards.”
...
“The nation has had a long westward and southward expansion, so House seats are going that way, too,” says Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based research group. “New York’s loss is Arizona’s and Nevada’s and Florida’s gain. I don’t know when it’s going to end.”
Certainly not soon. New York is likely to lose two more congressional seats after the 2010 census, according to a new Business First analysis of U.S. Census Bureau projections.
The prime target for those cuts will be the eight counties of Western New York, which lost 56,000 residents between 2000 and 2007, based on federal estimates. The rest of Upstate added 10,000 people during the same span, and Downstate added 347,000.
The article says the winner of the NY-26 race will be vulnerable to losing the seat because both candidates will have little seniority within the delegation and fewer friends in Albany.
While this could be bad news for Lee or Kryzan, it's certainly bad news for WNY.
The Auburn Citizen reports:
In the 61st district in Genesee County and part of Erie County, Republican Michael Razenhofer has overtaken Democrat Joseph "Baby Joe" Mesi for the open seat. Sunday's poll gave Razenhofer a 47-42 lead, with 11 percent undecided. Razenhofer had trailed 38-40 in the September poll, although both margins are within the poll's margin of error so the candidates are in a statistical dead heat.
The seat had long been held by Republicans and was vacant because of a retirement.
Democrats also just received an infusion of cash for these last days of campaigning.
(Updated by Philip at 7:50am): Ranzenhofer released this statement following the announcement of his lead in the poll:
"The Siena poll clearly demonstrates that voters share my concerns about jobs, taxes and spending. They also share my concern about what will happen should the New York City special interests take complete control of state government. Momentum is now on our side."
(Updated by Philip at 8:07am): Interesting, but not at all surprising, Joe Mesi released a similar statement following the poll results claiming that the momentum is on his side:
"With the polls showing a neck-and-neck race, Joe Mesi's campaign is heading into the final 48 hours with a wave of momentum from endorsements by Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor David Paterson. Joe Mesi will be fighting to the finish - talking to families across Western New York - with a marathon 'Countdown to Change' campaign blitz through each of the 17 towns of the Senate District in 17 hours on election eve."
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