And then there were 60, including Stuart Smalley

Democrats now control two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, a super-majority that redefines American politics.

Republicans will continue to have enormous cultural power, with a 50-50 presence in the media.

But the big debates over the next eight months or so will largely occur within the Democratic caucus.

Conservative and moderate Democrats will fight to downsize the Obama-Pelosi agenda; but so far the left-of-center big tent is holding.

This also gives President Obama a pretty open horizon for making Supreme Court choices.

It is a sign of how far the GOP has fallen that their final toe-hold was pried loose by a Saturday Night Live comedian, Al Franken.

The man who gave us Stuart Smalley toppled Minnesota's veteran Republican Senator, Norm Coleman.

For conservatives, the events of the past couple of weeks heighten to a fever pitch the importance of the 2010 mid-terms.

Those elections can only be viewed as a referendum on Barack Obama's agenda. If Democrats prevail again, expanding their majority and solidifying their mandate, Republicans will face a truly existential crisis.

If the party's leaders can't stop the scandals, the in-fighting, and the ideological nastiness, building momentum (and raising money) for next year's elections will be tough.

Is Scott Murphy vulnerable? The GOP doesn't seem to think so

Democrats have won NY's 20th congressional districts seat -- once a vaunted Republican stronghold -- three times straight.

Glens Falls Democrat Scott Murphy scored a huge upset this spring over Republican Jim Tedisco.

The Hill newspaper reported over the weekend that Murphy would likely be targeted by the GOP for his vote in favor of landmark climate change legislation.

But it turns out he's not on the Republican hit-list. Politico is reporting that the GOP plans to target "vulnerable" Dems -- a group that doesn't appear to include Murphy.

“There’s a reason why over 40 Democrats in swing districts voted against this,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “They realized that voting for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s bill wasn’t worth the price of millions of dollars in TV ads that would be required to put up what will ultimately be a futile defense of this vote. The question is: What were the others thinking?”

But Politico's list doesn't include any lawmakers from New York. With Rep. John McHugh's seat likely to be up for grabs soon -- he was appointed to serve as Army Secretary -- this is hardly the time for the GOP to play nervous in the Empire State.

But there are signs that Republicans (or independent conservatives?) are at least keeping half an eye on Murphy.

At this week's constituent gathering in Ticonderoga, a person who appeared to be a political "tracker" or oppo-researcher video-recorded most of Murphy's talk.

When approached by Murphy's staff, he refused to identify himself and a short scuffle ensued. Rep. Murphy ended it by telling his people to stand down.

November 2010 will be here soon enough. If a serious challenge is in the offing, we should see more evidence soon.

An open letter to every NY state Senator

Here's a form letter that I encourage you to copy, share, sign, and then send as an email to your state Senator:

Dear Senator ----,

Unless you go back to the Senate floor and resume business by noon on Wednesday, July 1st, I will vote against you in the next election.

I don't care if we're the same party or different parties. I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat.

Unless you go back to work, I will vote against you in all future primaries and general elections. I will never donate another dime to your campaigns.

I don't care what your party leadership says. I don't care who is holding the gavel.

You must go to work and vote to resume the people's business. If you have to sit there all by yourself, waiting, do that.

Prove once and for all that your loyalties are with your constituents, not with the clowns of Albany.

Politicians like to believe that voters have short memories. But if you remain complicit in this shameful soap opera, I'm one voter who will remember.

I will be going to work on Wednesday morning to earn my paycheck. If you don't do the same, I'll do my best to make sure that you're fired.

You have years of work ahead restoring our trust and your own dignity. That effort must begin tomorrow.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX.

-From Brian in Westport

New In Box Etiquette: Put yourself on the map

The last week or so we've had what appear to be a lot of comments to the In Box from outside the North Country -- and frankly, from outside our extended community.

All are welcome, obviously. But to clarify and shape the discussion here, I want to encourage commenters to say where you're from.

Tupper Lake? Massena? Glens Falls? Moscow or Washington DC?

Why does it matter where you're writing from?

On big national debates -- healthcare, the environment, etc. -- we've been getting more "political Spam."

That is, comments from people from outside our region who are spraying the internet with pre-canned, pre-chewed opinions.

(We first saw a lot of his during the Murphy-Tedisco race. A bunch more popped up after last week's climate change vote...)

Some are not really participating in the discussion here; others are simply uninformed about the issues and realities that shape life here in the North Country.

A second reason for outing yourself geographically is that we're big believers in the importance of place. Frankly, we're curious to know which parts of the region are joining the In Box conversation.

Again, this doesn't disqualify anyone. And this particular bit of etiquette is optional.

But if you end your comment by saying "writing from Potsdam" or "writing from Saranac Lake" we'll know where to place you on our mental maps.

Like this:

--writing from Westport

McHugh, Murphy vote Yes on Climate Change Bill

The U.S. House voted narrowly today to approve historic legislation that would cap the amount of carbon emissions produced in the country and allow various industries to trade pollution credits.

The vote was a slender victory for Democrats, who gathered 219 votes, just 7 more than the minimum needed.

They crossed the finish line with the help of eight crucial Republicans, including North Country Rep. John McHugh.

McHugh is a moderate who has staked out progressive positions on pollution and acid rain issues, often feuding openly with GOP minority leader John Boehner.

(Boehner attempted to filibuster the bill.)

It's also worth noting that McHugh recently accepted President Barack Obama's appointment to serve as Secretary of the Army.

Another crucial vote came from Democratic newcomer Scott Murphy, who represents a Republican-heavy district that stretches from Saranac Lake through the Adirondacks and the Hudson valley to Poughkeepsie.

Here's Murphy's statement, issued on Friday:

“Today, we passed significant legislation to break our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and transition our economy towards energy independence. This bill will make important green investments in the 20th district, making our district and New York State more competitive and attractive in the clean energy marketplace.”

Another New York Democrat who represents a slice of the North Country, Michael Arcuri, voted against the bill. As did newcomer Eric Massa, who according to Politico angered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for breaking ranks at the last minute:

A third member who has irked the powers-that-be: Rookie upstate New York Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), who voted "no" despite a photo op with President Obama. Massa has also alienated many in Pelosi's team by introducing a House pay freeze jointly with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.).

Little not ready to "give up" on Senate coup

Here's Sen. Little's full statement, emailed to reporters today:

“When I voted for a leadership change two weeks ago, I was voting against a system in the Senate that wasn’t working. The state budget process, its secretive nature and the end result, is probably the clearest example of what has gone wrong this year.

“Immediately following the leadership vote, I voted for rules changes that would empower all members, regardless of the party or the region they represent. For me that’s what this struggle is about. And it is not something I want to give up on.

“The stalemate is very frustrating. The last thing I want is an impasse that holds hostage bills important to the communities I represent as well as those of others.

“Both sides could go back and forth for days, weeks and perhaps months arguing procedure, parliamentarian rules and constitutional questions. But we are elected to consider and vote on legislation. We need a resolution.

“My colleagues and I have proposed binding arbitration to settle this issue. It is my hope that my Democrat colleagues will agree to arbitration and that at the end of this, we can get the work done that we are here to do and reach a compromise that includes long-overdue reforms to make the operation of the Senate more fair and open.”

We have fun, too

David Sommerstein and I got back last week from the annual conference of Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI), where we learned ALL about everything. Really, the agenda was deep, lots of things to absorb about the future of news, particularly the growing importance of local radio journalism, better coordination among all the beanches of the public radio tree, and "multi-platforming" -- otherwise known as doing everything you do except now for web, Facebook, twitter, etc. etc. too.
The entire news team won an award for best continuing coverage among stations our size for "The Impact of War...at Home." David also picked up a PRNDI award for best enterprise/investigative story for a piece on windpower questions.
Yes, the news team works hard! But we have our lighter moments, as you probably know. Here's one from a PRNDI friend...from the reception after all the hard thinking was done.

"Our" astronmer in the NY Times today

This just in, from SLU physicist Aileen O'Donoghue. She's been on sabbatical this year, but has been a semi-regular during the 8 O'clock Hour for years:

Hi,
When I was observing at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope in March, George Johnson spent an evening with us and his article is in tomorrow's NY Times Science section.
Cheers,
Aileen

Actually, now TODAY's NYT. Here's a nice quote from Aileen:

“It’s the real sky that matters,” she says. She describes how she makes her undergraduate students go outside and look at the Big Dipper at different times of the night. “They come back and say, ‘It moves!’ ” — words Galileo legendarily muttered after he was forced to recant. “You can tell students that the Earth rotates, but until they see that with their eyeballs, they’re not doing science,” she said. “You might as well be teaching theology and Scripture.”

And the Times gives Aileen's memoir, “The Sky Is Not a Ceiling: An Astronomer’s Faith,” a nice plug too. As do we here in The Inbox.

Another flurry of ATV deaths

We've had a lively debate here about ATV fatalities in New York. We've had two more kids die on 4-wheelers Upstate in the last week, young twins in Shaghticoke. From the Albany Times-Union.

'This is every parent's worst nightmare,'' said Mechanicville Mayor Anthony J. Sylvester, who knew the twins' father from his work in the city. ''And to lose two kids at once, and twins at that. Just horrible.'

The State Police are also reporting that a 48-year-old man died on Sunday in the North Country town of Louisville. Dennis Martin apparently hit some trees after failing to make a turn.

Take a hike

South Carolina voters are struggling to understand how their top official, Governor Mark Sanford, could simply vanish for four days. No one, apparently not even his wife, knew where he was.

Strange. His assistant said he needed to clear his head after the last legislative session.

Finally, last night his staff revealed that they believed Gov. Sanford was out hiking somewhere on the Appalachian trail -- which means they've pinpointed his location to a 2,100-mile region of the East.

He still hasn't been seen or contacted by telephone...

New York voters, meanwhile, wish their political leaders would join Sanford in the wilderness.

Maybe a couple of days trudging the Northville-Placid trail would clear the heads of our own gang of eccentrics.

Maybe in the backwoods the Lord of the Flies scenario playing out in Albany would finally reach some conclusion.

Whoever comes out with the conch shell gets to be Majority Leader...

What I hope to hear from President Obama on healthcare

When President Barack Obama takes to the podium today in the White House Rose Garden, here's what I want to hear:

1. Here's a plan that moves us substantially toward universal health care for all Americans, providing coverage that's portable, affordable, and includes mechanisms for cost-containment. Yes, that means a public option.

2. Here's how much it will cost. Don't fall into the trap of promising Americans that we can have big ticket items (two wars, say, or No Child Left Behind-style education reform) without paying for them.

3. Make sure the solution is pay-as-we go. No new debt. Yes, raising taxes during a recession is bitter medicine. But Americans are sick of debt. And giving millions of workers access to health care will push our entire economy into the 21st century.

A quick postscript:

Later this week, I'll be profiling four entrepreneurs who've started new businesses in the last year in the North Country.

They're filling store fronts, providing new jobs, paying taxes.

But not one of them had health care, or could offer health care to their employees. Not one.

My point? Health care reform isn't just for the tens of millions of Americans who are uninsured or under-insured.

It's also for companies that want to get out of the social-safety-net business, so they can focus on their products.

It will also help American firms compete more effectively with overseas companies that don't have to worry about being social-service agencies.

It's also for workers who want more flexibility to change jobs and take entrepreneurial risks in their own lives.

Looking for Seaway testimonials

The St. Lawrence Seaway officially turns 50 in a couple weeks. The agencies that runs it, and the communities that host it - are planning myriad festivities on both sides of the border. Check out this site and this one for details.

The Seaway is in the eye of the beholder. It's brought us Alcoa, Reynolds, and General Motors (jobs), the zebra mussel (invasive species), PCBs (from aforementioned factories), Lost Villages (flooded behind the dam), the Moses-Saunders power dam (cheap electricity), oil spills (the Slick of '76), and the always fascinating sight of huge freighters slipping through the American narrows. I'm sure there's lots more.

I'm interested in talking with people who have first-hand accounts of the birth of this engineering marvel that forever changed the North Country. Did you or a family member work on its construction? Was your home relocated? Did you house or serve food to the workers? Did you go watch the construction on the weekends?

Send me an e-mail at david-at-ncpr-dot-org. Thanks!

Amnesty Sides With Mohawks in Border Dispute

Amnesty International has waded into the stand-off between Akwesasne Mohawks and the Canadian customs agency over the arming of customs officers at the border post on Cornwall Island. The crossing's been closed for three weeks now. Here's Amnesty's letter supporting the Mohawks:

Amnesty%20International%20Letter%20of%20Support.pdf

A modest proposal for fixing New York's budget

New York state faces the proverbial perfect storm: Tax revenues from Wall Street have imploded; income taxes statewide are down; sales tax receipts have plummeted.

The next shoe to drop will be property tax revenues, as new assessments reveal the dramatic decline in home values.

Despite the woeful trends, this is the wrong time for state and local governments to lay off workers:

In a recession, declining employment means a downward economic spiral, especially in small North Country towns where government jobs are often the only jobs.

At a time when government should be priming the economic pump, job cuts create the opposite effect.

So what's the solution? Here are the four important steps needed now:

-State and local government workers earning more than $35,000 a year should take a mandatory 7% pay cut effective immediately.

-All state and local government workers should begin paying for a larger part of their insurance.
The amount of this contribution should be tied to the average amount paid by private-sector workers in New York for their health coverage.

-The retirement age for workers eligible for a public pension in New York should be reset to 65. Taxpayers can no longer foot the bill for thousands of middle-aged retirees.

-School districts with fewer than 1,000 students must consolidate administrations or lose state funding. This doesn't mean closing schools necessarily; but it does mean sharing administrative staff and services.

Changes this sweeping would require the support of New York's public employee unions.

The trade-off for these sacrifices should be a firm commitment from Governor David Paterson that for the next two years a) no state workers will be furloughed, b) no state facilities will be closed and c) support for local governments will be maintained.

This guarantee would give communities and workers a sense of security in uncertain times.

Sure, everyone's wallets will be a little thinner, but we would avoid catastrophic changes: the closure of a state prison, say, or mass lay-offs at the local school, or spiking property taxes.

Without painful but manageable cuts on this scale, we will likely find ourselves on the road to chaos that California is now traveling.

The trouble with House

Americans have always been a slave to our myths. The last decade or so, the muddle-headed make-believe of the moment was Jack Bauer, of "24" fame.

This fictional character tortured his way to saving the world again and again, and in the process dumbed-down one of the most devastating moral crises in American history.

A nation that long stood against torture embraced it.

And we also embraced the kind of legalisms and doublespeak that every society uses when turning down a dark road.

"Enhanced interrogation" indeed.

These days, though, there's an equally toxic fiction shaping and eroding our national debate: His name is House.

He's the irascible, brilliant doctor (a sort of post-Modern Marcus Welby) on Fox who could out-diagnose any ten real physicians.

Why is House a problem?

Because he perpetuates the myth of the American super-specialist, the physician who saves lives through instinct, guts and rebel derring-do.

Americans love this idea. And so do doctors. That's why more and more physicians are training for high-paid specialties and avoiding general practice.

But the truth is that the "doctor-as-superman-maverick" model is killing us.

Seriously.

Our nation has inferior health outcomes, higher rates of preventable disease and (shamefully) higher infant mortality rates than any other developed country in the world.

And still many of our leaders proudly boast that it's the best, most virile, Viagra-swilling medical system going.

They tell us that any significant change would put sleazy government bureaucrats between us and our next live-saving session with Dr. House.

Sigh.

The fact is that more than 40 million of us never get to see any physician, not until we're wheeled into the emergency room.

Under our current system, most Americans who lose their jobs also lose their health care -- which means that that 40-million number is almost certainly an undercount.

What's more, the medical-industrial complex that hides behind the House myth is bankrupting us, outpacing inflation year-after-year without providing a fraction of the basic health services that most of us need.

As private insurers dump their riskier clients, more people land on the balkanized Medicare, Medicaid and VA systems.

Taxpayers foot the bill for society's neediest, while insurance conglomerates skim off the cream of wealthy (and healthy) people.

So here's a message to Congress, which has taken up health care reform for the first time in a decade:

Sure, it's fun to see House diagnose some cryptic parasite, or weird blood disease, all Sherlock-homes style. But what 99% of Americans need is a basic check-up.

Old Forge roundtable - got questions, comments?

On July 1st, Martha Foley and I will host a live, hour-long discussion in Old Forge, with Lani Ulrich -- a community organizer and activist and a member of the Adirondack Park Agency Board -- and Elizabeth Folwell, with Adirondack Life Magazine.

It's part of the Adirondack News Bureau's 10th Anniversary -- and we'll be talking about three broad themes:

-The future of Adk communities
- The changing face of the conservation movement
- The way the media covers life in the Park.

You're welcome to be there -- and we hope you'll listen -- but we'd also love to hear any particular questions or ideas or comments in advance.

I know it's a big, general question: but this is your chance to pontificate, sound-off, whatever.

Comments welcome - or show up July 1st at the Old Forge Library. Live broadcast starts at noon.

Aubertine explains what went on --

It was no "ladder match" after all -- though Sen. Darrel Aubertine said this morning he got a kick out of David's post yesterday.
Aubertine said what happened yesterday was that a deal to temporarily share power by giving Democrats and Republicans alternating control over the state Senate -- just to get this session's business done -- was in the works yesterday. This morning, he said the deal fell apart in the closing minutes when Republicans insisted that Sen. Pedro Espada remain as Senate President Pro Tem even on days the Democrats were in charge. (Espada is the "renegade" Democrat who joined the Republicans in the couop June 8. He was elected Pro Tem byt the GOP-plus-two bloc that day.) Here's my conversation with Darrel Aubertine from earlier this morning (but not early enough to make it on The 8 O'clock Hour).

Aubertine in the eye of political hurricane (ladder match?)

If the New York state legislature were World Wrestling Entertainment, the current deadlock in the Senate would be Wrestlemania, and today's battle could very well be the ladder match. That's where a suitcase dangles from the ceiling high above the ring, and half a dozen wrestlers fight to lug a ladder to the center of the ring, climb to the top (while other wrestlers try to pull him back down), and grab hold of the suitcase.

ANNOUNCER: Ouch! Monserrate bodyslams Smith! Thwack! Espada takes out Monserrate and Malcolm Smith with a ladder - simultaneously! Look! Silver has Skelos in a headlock! But wait! Who's this???!!! Darrel Aubertine??!! The little farmer from Cape Vincent!! He's climbing the ladder!! He's reaching up...

[TV explodes]

It's hard to say what's happening in Albany right now. But all eyes are on the North Country's Darrel Aubertine. From Liz Benjamin's blog...

The speculation at the moment centers on Aubertine, who is not only closer from an ideological standpoint to the Republicans, but also is the first Democrat to represent his GOP-dominated district (the 48th SD) since 1935.

It's no secret that Aubertine has been on the Senate Republicans' pre-coup hit list as they prepared to mount a last-ditch effort to take back the majority in 2010.

It's also no secret that the upstate Democratic dairy farmer has been torn between sticking with his colleagues in Albany and taking what might be a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the soon-to-open House seat that will be vacated by Rep. John McHugh.

Meanwhile, the Senate bells are still ringing.

Aubertine spokesman Drew Mangione dismissed the idea that Aubertine would switch sides, at least for Espada. At least right now. Stay tuned.

Emerald Ash Borer found in NY

Biologists have been worrying about this for more than five years. The emerald ash borer's been moving inexorably North.

The DEC announced today an infestation of emerald ash borers has been found in western New York, in Cattaraugus County. Here's a picture of the damage.

The agency said there are 900 million ash trees in New York. Mohawks have been using them to make pack baskets for generations.

DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis calls the spread of the invasive species "inevitable". The Nature Conservancy likens it to Chestnut Blight or Dutch Elm Disease. Jonathan Staples of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said, “The detection of the Emerald Ash Borer will have a profound effect on the state’s landscape given the huge number of ash trees located throughout New York."

Yikes.

Officials are urging people to obey the state's firewood transporting regulations, which you can find here.

UPDATE: Brian's wayyyyy faster than I am on this. I should be reading our own blog more often.

Ottawa, the Cellulosic Ethanol Capital of the World

I've been away for a couple weeks, and am catching up on what's been going on in the North Country. It seems Ottawa is a world leader in getting cellulosic ethanol to service stations and into cars.

Cellulosic ethanol is a fancy way of saying ethanol made from some other plant than corn - wheat straw, switchgrass, miscanthus, young softwood trees, etc. It's one of the Great Hopes of the biofuels revolution because it's making fuel out of things we don't eat. (The big downside of corn ethanol is it drives up the price of corn worldwide, hurting everyone from dairy farmers to Mexicans who can't afford tortillas.) Many agricultural experts here in the North Country believe cellulosic ethanol can be a growth industry here because our climate grows grasses really well.

Have anyone out there filled up on cellulosic ethanol in Ottawa, at the gas station on Marivale Rd. or via MacEwen Petroleum, as mentioned in the above article? It's a 10% blend, they say, but it's a start.

The Republican agenda and "the old bigotry"

If you give the Republican Party the benefit of every possible doubt, their platform on immigration and racial justice looks something like this:

We love immigrants, but they have to be legal immigrants. And they have to adopt the basic structure of American society, including adoption of the English language.

Also, we feel that enough progress has been made on economic equality, voting rights and other race-concerns that most remedies (affirmative action, etc.) are outdated.

Indeed, at this point such remedies reflect a kind of reverse racism which perpetuates bigotry.

Unfortunately, the GOP has a long history of skating very close to -- and over -- the line on racial issues, including the well-documented Southern Strategy, first articulated by President Richard Nixon.

In 2005, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman apologized for his party's efforts to use racial tensions to improve loyalty among white voters.

Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.

With an agenda that still clashes frequently with the desires and aspirations of most people of color, you would think that Republicans would have learned the need for temperance and caution.

(If you're making an unpopular and controversial argument, you have to make it more carefully, more clearly -- right?)

Sadly, no. In the last couple of weeks, a top staffer for a Georgia state Senator sent an email depicting President Barack Obama as a faceless "spook."

In an essay, conservative Pat Buchanan (a former Nixon aide) argued that Sonia Sotomayor's use of affirmative action to advance her career was so offensive that he "prefers the old bigotry."

At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated "with the base alloy of hypocrisy."

The notion that America's long history of racial bigotry has been free of hypocrisy is so witless that it makes one sputter.

Meanwhile, a Republican political activist in South Carolina has apologized for saying on his Facebook page that an escaped gorilla was nothing to worry about. Why?

"I'm sure it's just one of Michelle [Obama]'s ancestors - probably harmless," he wrote.

Top conservatives also attacked Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being "a racist" for her views on affirmative action. Republican activist - and former congressman - Tom Tancredo accused her of being part of "a Latino KKK."

This week, Republicans are taking a very hard line with Senator John Ensign, who disclosed that he had an adulterous affair.

They should take a similar line with those in their party who don't grasp how destructive "the old bigotry" still remains -- to America and the GOP.

Time for more audacity?

President Barack Obama is taking heavy fire from the left this week. Comedian and liberal spokesmensch Bill Maher declared, "This is not what I voted for."

"If you can't shove some real reform down [the Republican Party's] throats now -- when?" he asked.

EJ Dionne argued in the Washington Post today that Obama's healthcare reform has already incorporated too many Republican priorities without winning any conservative support.

As it is, President Obama and the Democrats have already compromised a great deal. They are not proposing a government takeover of health-care financing, as single-payer advocates prefer. Instead, they are working within the confines of current arrangements.

Dionne calls bipartisanship "a trap."

The NY Times, meanwhile, is running with a think-piece this morning that compares Obama (unfavorably) to Franklin Roosevelt -- who is sketched as far more bold and decisive.

Three quarters of a century ago, President Franklin Roosevelt earned the undying enmity of Wall Street when he used his enormous popularity to push through a series of radical regulatory reforms that completely changed the norms of the financial industry. Wall Street hated the reforms, of course, but Roosevelt didn’t care.

Wall Street and the financial industry had engaged in practices they shouldn’t have, and had helped lead the country into the Great Depression. Those practices had to be stopped. To the president, that’s all that mattered.

Obama has also drawn mixed reviews for his muted response to the turmoil in Iran.

And he's infuriated gay and lesbian groups for backpedaling on his campaign promise to end the military's "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" policy. (A boycott is spreading, with gay donors declining to give to Democratic candidates.)

So what do you think? As we approach the half-year mark for Mr. Obama's presidency, is it time for him to swing for the fence on SOMETHING?

Do we want the President to show more spunk? More conviction? Or is his steady-as-she-goes, temperate style a good thing in these tumultuous times?

Dreaded Emerald Ash borer found in NY

State environment officials say one of the most dreaded invasive species of the last decade has been identified in NY.

According to the DEC, the Emerald ash borer -- a rather beautiful, but nasty little insect -- could threaten as many as 900 million trees statewide: that's 7 percent of our entire tree stock.

The first confirmed find has been reported in Randolph, in Cattaraugus County. That's in southwestern NY.

Here in the Adirondacks, we've been seeing purple traps slung in trees, designed to capture Ash borers that may have entered the region. So far, no sightings have been reported in the North Country.

Commissioner Peter Grannis called the news "a wake-up call" and a "grave threat to the health of our natural resources and ecosystems."

Find much more about the Emerald Ash borer here.

Gregory Warner reported about the invasive beetle for NCPR in 2005. Here is his story:

McHugh breaks ranks, votes with Dems on war funding

John McHugh, the North Country Republican, was one of just five GOP House members who voted in favor of President Obama's $106 billion war funding bill.

McHugh, of course, has been taped to serve as Obama's Army Secretary, though there's no word yet on his confirmation vote.

Mohawk chief lays out argument for bridge stand-off

This editorial, signed by Chief Howard Iothore Thompson, was sent around today. It lays out the Mohawk community's current arguments about the stand-off at the Seaway International Bridge.

Peace - First on Akwesasne's Mind

The Mohawk community of Akwesasne has remained vigil and peaceful since the border crossing on our traditional territory was closed more than two weeks ago. Since then, our community has kept Six Peace Fires near the Canadian Customs Port of Entry on Kawehnoke (Cornwall Island). Our community maintains the Peace Fires and continues to seek a peaceful=
resolution to the bridge closure.

The border has been closed since June 1st, when Canada's Customs Officers
walked off the job and abandoned their post. It triggered the closure of
this international crossing by the U.S. border agency and Cornwall Police.
It was a direct result of Canada Custom's failure to listen to the Akwesasne community's vigorous and peaceable objection to the planned arming of Customs Officers.

Trouble at this border crossing started a few years ago when border guards became aggressive and began intimidating our people. They focused much of their abuse on our youth; but our elders, women and children also suffered. The thought of arming these aggressive border guards causes much fear in the Akwesasne community, but we will not respond in the same manner. It is the reason why we seek a non-violent solution and remain vigil at the peace fires.

Old and young gather around the peace fires and at the tent next to the Customs facility. Our young play the ancient game of lacrosse on the lawn. Elders sit around the fires and share wisdom gained through years of experience. Women prepare food and feed all those who come to keep vigil. And, men chosen by our clanmothers are keeping the peace.

The Peace Fires are kept burning around the clock. They are called "Peace Fires" by the community and they chose "six" for the Six Nations Iroquois, the ancient Confederacy of Nations of which the Akwesasne Community belongs. Prayers for peace are said every morning. Wood and sacred tobacco is given to flames that long for peace.

Ernest Kanientaronkwen Benedict, is a 91 year old elder and resident who says that it is the Akwesasne community's true belief that peaceful and direct talks between leaders are the key to resolving difficult situations. It is an act of diplomacy that our people are well versed in and have practiced since the founding of the Confederacy. It is a legacy of peace.

This is the protocol we use for a friendly first meeting with our neighbors or visitors to our territory. We give words of peace to our guests in a special welcoming ceremony, where we clear grief and unclear thinking from their minds.

At Akwesasne, we all urge the Minister of Public Safety to display clear thinking and be willing to talk to Akwesasne leaders. The pursuit of peace is often a long process, but as we take this journey we can look to our proud Mohawk identity and traditions to help guide our way.

Chief Howard Iothore Thompson
of Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs

Honesty is a family value

John Ensign's admission yesterday that he had a long-running affair with a woman on his staff, the wife of one of his good friends, wouldn't be a big deal except for the H-factor.

H -- as in -- honesty. H -- as in -- hypocrisy.

Ensign, a Nevada Republican, has been an outspoken social conservative, a member of the evangelical Promise Keepers, and a scold defending the "sanctity" of marriage.

What does it mean that so many family-values conservatives have turned out to be a) gay, b) serial cheaters, or c) the patrons of prostitutes?

From Roman Catholic priests to Republican politicians to evangelical preachers, the list of finger-waggers exposed as hypocrites is too long to ignore.

Many traditionalists argue that the path of righteousness is just plain hard. The fact that people make human mistakes doesn't discredit the ideal.

But at the very least, this track record suggests the need for more compassion, more understanding of the frailties of the human heart -- and far less moral grandstanding.

In the end, honesty is a family value too. And hypocrisy -- in my book -- is one of the deadliest of sins...

Did Obama try to pick off ANOTHER NY Republican?

Politico is reporting this morning (I know, I know - pretty heavy lean on Politico today...) that the Obama Administration may have tried to recruit NY Rep. Peter King to serve as ambassador to Ireland.

“I’ve had conversations with [White House chief of staff Rahm] Emanuel, and I’ve had conversations with the president,” King told POLITICO. “But those conversations are private.”

The report follows the Obama administration’s June 2 nomination of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) to serve as secretary of the Army. McHugh and King are two of the three remaining Republican congressmen in the 29-member New York House delegation.

Dang. I thought Obama was an environmentalist. Doesn't he realize that New York's House Republicans are an endangered species?

Here's another interesting tidbit from the Politico coverage: King has written three novels about Ireland.

See? Here at the In Box we keep you up on political developments and help you with your summer beach reading list...

Rural Democrats rebel against Obama!

Politico -- which has emerged as one of the top political journals in the country - has actually been taking an interest in rural issues of late: a very cool development for those of us who think small towns remain a compelling piece of the national picture.

This morning, they report on growing restlessness among rural Democrats with a wide array of Obama Administration policies.

Angered by White House decisions on everything from greenhouse gases to car dealerships, congressional Democrats from rural districts are threatening to revolt against parts of President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-year agenda.

“They don’t get rural America,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat who represents California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley. “They form their views of the world in large cities.”

The reality is very simple: As Democrats compete in more "marginal" districts -- NY's 20th and 23rd, for example -- they elect more rural and more conservative politicians.

That brings a real cultural tension into the Democratic Party, where leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are definitively urban players.

(The outlier here is Senator and majority leader Harry Reid, from rural Searchlight, Nevada.)

So far - despite Politico's take - Dems have been remarkably successful at taking and holding these red-tinted rural districts.

Also, dissent within their ranks pales compared with the ideological divides within the GOP.

Still, 2010 will test whether Democrats have reached their logical horizon, or whether there's more fertile ground out there.

On the other side of this equation, there's very little evidence to date that Republicans are finding ways to reintroduce themselves to the far more populous urban and urban communities where Dems dominate.

Remember: With each Census and each redistribution of House seats that follows, there will be fewer rural House seats and more suburban and urban House seats.

So this "small town problem" that Democrats wrestle with gets smaller demographically each year...

Hiram Monserrate grilled on public radio

Brian Lehrer at WNYC had a substantial go-round with Hiram Monserrate, the flip-flopping Democratic Senator, on his show this morning.

My take-away: Lehrer at the top of his game; Monserrate, not so much.

For anyone following the tragedy-comedy-farce in Albany, it's a must-hear.

Ukelele god comes to Saranac Lake

Our sound and tech guy, Joel Hurd, turned me on to the fact that Jake Shimabukuro is playing at Will Rogers in Saranac Lake on June 20th.

Shimabukuro is sort of to the ukelele what Bela Fleck is to the banjo. Check out the link to a Youtube performance in Central Park here. It's pretty amazing.

Shimabukuro's website is here. Joel says he'll have a profile during the 8 O'clock Hour later this week, so stay tuned for that.

Is Radio Bob overthrowing the Iranian regime?

Radio Bob Sauter (below) says he just returned from a much-deserved vacation to Greece.





But I'm officially starting the rumor that the Guru of Antennas and host of the Radiobob Show was actually spearheading the reform campaign in Teheran.

Here he is (above) hustling into meetings last week in the Iranian capital. You think we have all those repeaters and antennas to spread NCPR's bluegrass?

Oh, no.

If you shuffle our call-letters around, and change them, you get...CIA.

North Country Public Radio is an anagram for Bob's Black Ops Servicey. (Being the CIA, they couldn't figure out what to do with that extra Y.)

Update: Martha points that Radio Bob is also apparently infiltrating the Church of England. (Above left.)

Free choice for workers or a Pandora's box?

I think unions make a pretty good case that employers have unfairly prevented them from organizing workers -- especially in fast-growing service-sector industries.

The issue of farm worker rights also needs a fresh look and serious debate.

Here's Rep. George Miller (D-CA), quoted in Wikipedia:

Although it is illegal, one quarter of employers facing an organizing drive have been found to fire at least one worker who supports a union. In fact, employees who are active union supporters have a one-in-five chance of being fired for legal union activities.

Sadly, many employers resort to spying, threats, intimidation, harassment and other illegal activity in their campaigns to oppose unions. The penalty for illegal activity, including firing workers for engaging in protected activity, is so weak that it does little to deter law breakers.

But Miller's proposed fix, the Employee Free Choice Act -- co-sponsored by North Country Congressman Scott Murphy -- has some provisions that deserve a second look.

Specifically, the EFCA allows unions to organize without a secret ballot. Instead, workers can sign a union card to signal their interest in joining.

Rep. Murphy likens it to casting an absentee ballot in elections.

But voters who want their political preferences kept private can easily opt to cast their ballots in the traditional way -- behind a curtain at their polling place.

It's hard to see how this measure protects workers who don't want to join, but feel intimidated by labor activists and co-workers.

Here's Rep. John Kline (R-Minn), again quoted on Wikipedia:

It is beyond me how one can possibly claim that a system whereby everyone — your employer, your union organizer, and your co-workers — knows exactly how you vote on the issue of unionization gives an employee 'free choice' ...

It seems pretty clear to me that the only way to ensure that a worker is 'free to choose' is to ensure that there's a private ballot, so that no one knows how you voted.

I cannot fathom how we were about to sit there today and debate a proposal to take away a worker's democratic right to vote in a secret-ballot election and call it 'Employee Free Choice.'

Again...I think advocates of EFCA have made a strong case that the current system has allowed a lot of corporate and management abuse.

But is this the right fix?

Is there a better way to level the playing field -- and punish cheaters -- while protecting the principle of the secret ballot? Your thoughts welcome.

In Albany, time for fresh faces, fresh voices

Very little is clear in Albany these days, but one thing has come into sharp focus: New York desperately needs a new cast of characters.

Senator Malcolm Smith's lackluster performance over the last five months had already raised serious questions about his capacity for leadership.

The fact that the Senate's top Democrat stumbled blindly into this keystone-cop coup hardly instills fresh confidence.

It's also clear that Republican leader Dean Skelos acted with a degree if imprudence amounting to fecklessness in staging this farce.

His claim to a sudden zeal for reform rings hollow, given that his GOP dominated the Senate for four decades without embracing any significant reform.

What's more, his bungling grope for power was enabled by a partnership with two of New York's least reputable Democrats: one under indictment for assault, the other being probed for campaign donation irregularities.

"When you lay with a dog, sometimes you wake up with fleas," said Sen. Martin Golden, (R-Brooklyn), in an interview with the NY Daily News.

All in all, it's hardly a coalition of statesmen. Whatever Mr. Skelos's qualities, this affair may well have tainted him beyond redemption.

(And don't get me started on Sens. Monserrate and Espada. Neither are worthy of much serious discussion, let alone leadership posts.)

There are, of course, good men and women in New York's Senate, on both sides of the aisle.

It's time for some of them to step forward and engineer the kind of power shift that truly serves the people.

This affair may also be a final, unambiguous signal that Governor David Paterson's future is damaged beyond repair.

I have defended Mr. Paterson before in this blog. He was dealt a brutally difficult hand and has at times impressed me with his political courage and honesty.

For a Democrat to challenge the public employee unions and members of his own party as the Governor has done is no small feat.

But can he lead? Can he bend Albany? Can he bring a semblance of order to his own fractious and increasingly farcical party?

As events unfolded in the Senate over the last week, it was hard to see any evidence that the Governor has these essential qualities.

Smith, Part II

Here's an update to the last post about Democratic state Senators Malcolm Smith and John Sampson:

Smith says he's still leader of the caucus. But, he says, Sampson will take on a leadership role in "day-to-day" operations.

At 3:PM today, either the Senate will meet or Governor David Paterson will hold a leadership meeting.

A Senate session, according to at least one reporter in Albany, is less likely.

We'll have an update on the upheaval in Albany at 4:45 today on All Before Five.

Smith Out as NYS Senate Leader?

We're getting word from our Albany correspondent Karen DeWitt that Democrats in the state Senate named John Sampson as their new leader. Sampson represents the 19th District in the southeast corner of Brooklyn.

Malcolm Smith was majority leader of the Democratic caucus, but Democrats no longer have a majority in the Senate. Last Monday, two Democrats voted with Republicans to give control of the Senate back to the GOP.

One of those Senators, Hiram Monserrate of Queens, reportedly switched his allegiance back to the Democrats this morning.

This leaves the Senate in a "nightmare scenario" -- evenly split with 31 Republicans and 31 Democrats. With no majority party, it's unclear how any bill can be introduced for debate on the Senate floor.

This is why we're hearing the word "gridlock" so often mentioned today in reference to the Senate.

A new breed of wolf in the Adirondacks?

The growing scientific consensus looks something like this:

In the 1800s, red wolves -- the naturally-occurring species in the Northeastern US -- were hunted to extinction.

Habitat was fragmented by farmers and new, sprawling communities.

Coyotes slunk in from the west, interbreeding cheerfully with the surviving red wolf populations.

The hybrids that resulted are clever, adaptable, and seem to co-exist perfectly well with humans.

They also look and act a lot like wolves: They're big, they hunt deer in packs, and boy do they howl.

(Our farm in Westport is ringed by a forested creek and there are evenings when it feels a little like the Baskervilles around here...)

So what are you seeing out there? And are you satisfied that we have a new, "natural" wolf-like critter completing the food chain?

Or do we still yearn for "pure" wolves of a bygone era?

Bruno - no, not that Bruno - supports same-sex marriage

Just as the new Bruno movie (think Borat in tighter pants) pushes homosexuality back into the realm of water-cooler conversation, another Bruno is weighing in on same-sex marriage.

Former Republican Senate majority leader Joe Bruno -- a self-described "conservative Roman Catholic" -- now says gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry.

In a written statement, he told the Associated Press:

As a Republican, I believe in personal freedom...I opposed same-sex marriage largely because the overwhelming majority of my caucus opposed it...

As a relatively conservative Roman Catholic, I instinctively view marriage as the foundation of the family. However, that view really does conflict with the rights that are afforded all of us.

This is America and we have inalienable rights ... life is short and we should all be afforded the same opportunities and rights to enjoy it.

According to the AP, Bruno's "change of heart that could influence the measure's chances in the state Senate."

Could the Glens Falls-native's shift influence Queensbury Republican Betty Little, who opposes same-sex marriage?

Three other North Country lawmakers -- Janet Duprey, Teresa Sayward, and DeDe Scozzafava - have already weighed in supporting gay marriage rights.

Heartbreak in Iran

I'll admit it: I had real hopes that Iran's election would be, well, an election.

I've always been fascinated by the Islamic republic. I grew up in the shadow of the hostage crisis.

It was an event that served as a kind of preamble to the growing tensions between the Muslim world and the West.

(Or maybe it was just the first time that those tensions pushed their way onto our TV screens?)

After the overthrow of the Shah, the country stumbled from bad to worse.

As a young man, I knew two boys in Germany -- little boys -- who had been smuggled out of the country to avoid fighting on the front lines against Iraq.

The fundamentalism of the clerics shattered a half-century of progress for Iranian women. And the slow, toxic rise of anti-Semitism has been stomach churning.

But through it all, there seemed to be a vein of real democracy in Iran, a sense that that this was a society struggling toward some kind of self-determination.

This election offered a realization -- or at least a much-needed affirmation -- of that spirit.

Purple fingers were held high in celebration; and a peaceful transition of power was apparently accomplished without the pressure of American military might.

Not a bad day's work for a country in the Middle East.

But then, tragically, the hard-liners in Teheran moved to steal the election. Riot police fanned out across the country, opposition politicians were arrested.

This from the New York Times:

Those resisting the election results gained a potentially important new ally on Sunday when a moderate clerical body, the Association of Combatant Clergy, issued a statement posted on reformist Web sites saying that the vote was rigged and calling for it to be annulled.

The statement warned that “if this process becomes the norm, the republican aspect of the regime will be damaged and people will lose confidence in the system.”

Damaged, indeed.

My prayer is that this election won't be remembered as another Tianmen Square: a brief, beautiful glimpse of the yearning of a people, followed by the iron fist.

Another North Country school threatened with closure

We've been discussing a new report from the AATV that highlights the region's aging population and big demographic problems facing the region's schools.

Today, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that yet another of the region's schools -- St. Agnes Parochial in Lake Placid - will close this summer if enrollment doesn't incresase.

"Right now enrollment is sitting at about 37, and that's not enough for the parish to be able to carry the school," [Principal Anne ]Bayruns said.

She told the Enterprise that the school needs a minimum of 50 to survive; a parents' meeting is planned for Monday, June 15th, in the St. Agnes cafeteria.

This year was the school's fiftieth anniversary. Heart-breaking to see another institution go...

The Obama whisper campaign revisited

We had a conversation here some days ago about the "whisper campaign" -- my words -- against President Obama.

Today's Washington Post has an editorial written by conservative Charles Krauthammer which speaks to just how far up the right-wing food chain this stuff goes.

Krauthammer is one of the top conservative journalists in the US and enjoys one of the largest megaphones in journalism, in the Post and on Fox News.

So this isn't fringe-website stuff. What does Krauthammer have to say about the POTUS? He opens by quoting himself about Obama, creating the perfect echo chamber.

When President Obama returned from his first European trip, I observed that while over there he had been "acting the philosopher-king who hovers above the fray mediating" between America and the world.

He then suggests that, while Mr. Obama's European trip was a trip, his Middle Eastern tour was "a pilgrimage." Get it? A pilgrimage. Clever.

Krauthammer then revisits the conservative meme that Mr. Obama views himself as somehow messianic, a concept which a distinct meaning in America's traditionalist-conservative culture -- especially the large end-times community within the Evangelical church.

Not that Obama considers himself divine. (He sees himself as merely messianic, or, at worst, apostolic.) But he does position himself as hovering above mere mortals, mere country, to gaze benignly upon the darkling plain beneath him where ignorant armies clash by night, blind to the common humanity that only he can see.

Mr. Obama's speech to Muslim audiences included several pointed challenges to the Islamic "street" -- he called Holocaust deniers "ignorant" and demanded more respectful treatment of women.

He declared unequivocally that America's commitment to Israel is unshakable.

None of that enters into Krauthammer's argument. Instead, he argues again and again that Mr. Obama is guilty of disloyalty to his country and his culture.

And hovering above it all, above country and history, is a sign not of transcendence but of a disturbing ambivalence toward one's own country.

I want to say again that I think there is plenty of room in American politics for people to criticize Mr. Obama's foreign policy.

Indeed, the President is already drawing heavy fire from the left as well as the right. Krauthammer himself makes some cogent and worthy points in his essay -- raising questions that are worth raising.

But this kind of coded speech about the President, his patriotism and his faith, is repulsive. It's a new form of McCarthyism; and it's shameful.

I have no doubt that Republicans will rise again and enjoy political success. For the sake of our country, I hope they've purged this kind of sly viciousness from their ranks before they do.

Beware a Democratic base scorned

Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada tried to pull a Joe Lieberman, throwing Democratic leaders in Albany into a tailspin.

But they apparently didn't reckon on the fact that state Senators are far, far closer to their communities than US Senators.

Monserrate in particular is at the center of a firestorm in his Jackson Heights community, which has exactly zero interest in their lawmaker partnering with the GOP.

Already under indictment for allegedly abusing his girlfriend, Monserrate is now a pariah among Albany lawmakers and increasingly so in his own neighborhood.

Yesterday he refused to confirm that he supported Republican Dean Skelos as majority leader. What began as a coup has degenerated into hand-wringing.

If the wheels hadn't already come off this whole enterprise, I'd say the wheels are about to come off this whole enterprise.

Old as the hills: are Adirondack towns aging dangerously?

Another pressure point for Adirondack communities is their rapidly aging populations. The Adirondack Park Regional Assessment -- released this month -- made this prediction:

Park residents average just under 43 years of age, older than any state for median age. By 2020, only the west coast of Florida will exceed the Adirondacks as the oldest region in America.

The survey found a lot of texture within that picture. The most populous chunk of the Park -- the Tri-lakes -- now averages just 36-38 years old.

That's a shade older than the New York state average, but those communities are faring fairly well population-wise, holding steady or even growing.

There's a minor baby boom underway around the town of Essex, where locals just held a fundraiser for their collective daycare.

So there are glimmers of fresh demographic energy out there.

But Newcomb and Morehouse already have populations that average 50+, and a bunch of other towns are graying fast, averaging 47-49 years old. Those are dangerous horizons.

When most of your people are too old to have babies, you run the risk of, well, running out of babies.

These numbers raise a bunch of questions that Adirondack communities will have to start wrestling with:

-Are services in place to care for an increasingly aged society?

-Is there a way to begin recruiting new Adirondackers?

-Are jobs the answer? Better broadband access? What services or other enticements do young people need these days to lure them out of the cities and suburbs?

-With more residents on fixed incomes, how do we manage rising property taxes?

Here again from the Assessment:

The rising median age results in an increase in elderly residents who generally require more services than they produce. Volunteer-based emergency-service providers are having difficulty attracting younger members...

A growing exodus in the 20-35 year age grup creates other concerns. This important generational link is in decline and with it, a reduction in the infant and pre-school population.

This decrease is being offest by an increasing 50+ age group creating the illusion of a stable population in the park. Unless conditions are changed to retain and attract young adults, a decline in the park population is inevitable.

Restraining Order Issued Against Dissident Democratic Senator

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write:

An appeals judge issued a temporary restraining order today blocking Pedro Espada, Jr from succeeding New York Governor David Paterson.

Espada, of course, is one of the two Democratic state Senators who voted with Republicans Monday to put the GOP back in control of the New York Senate. Espada was named Senate President Pro Tempore, and--because there's no Lieutenant Governor--Espada would take the state's top spot if Paterson was deemed unable to execute the duties of his office. (Or even if he slipped over the border, say to the Jersey Shore or Ottawa's Byward Market.)

The Associated Press reports that the restraining order won't keep the new ruling "coalition" from... well, actually ruling the Senate.

It should, however, allow Governor Paterson to leave the state without having to worry about Espada "succeeding" him. (Maybe getting a key to the gov's office, changing the drapes or possibly putting in a new rug?)

It seems incredible that a restraining order is now being used to determine governance in New York State.

What's next? A breathalyzer? GPS tracking anklet?

Banana Republic, Part Two: The photographs

Dan Macentee, a top aide in state Senator Betty Little's office, photographed the opening of the Senate today and the chaos that ensued.

Protesters, media, politicians. History in the making, though perhaps not the kind of history people will want to be associated with...

-Brian

Education Revolution in the Adirondacks?

The new Adirondack Park Regional Assessment Project is out -- and it's fascinating. Check out my interview today with Brian Towers, head of the AATV which sponsored the study.

The next few days, I plan to mine information from the study and present some of it here; and hopefully get some conversation going about what this snapshot of the Park tells us.

The first headline for me in the numbers is education and the mounting cost of running small rural school districts. From the Executive Summary:

School enrollments in the park have decreased by 329 students annually throughout the current decade, which is equivalent to the loss of one average size Adirondack school district every 19 months.

And here again:

From 1970 to 2007 the number of teachers in Adirondack school districts increased by 34 percent, while the student population dropped by 31 percent.

According to the survey, our student-teacher ration was 20:1 in 1970; it's 10:1 now.

"Survey results illustrate that schools in the Adirondack Park serve as the core of local employment and represent the center of community life [but] there is rising pressure for districts with 1,000 students or less to consolidate..."

Only 7 districts wholly or substantially within the Park have more than 1,000 kids in their schools.

With our aging population and the property tax crisis, these numbers suggest that a revolution is coming in the way we look at education in the Adirondacks.

What do you think? Big changes ahead? How will this affect you as a taxpayer? As a teacher? As the parent of a kid in public school?

The United States of Banana Republics?

I'm a political junky and - almost unique among my tribe - also a believer in our political system.

Modern American democracy is messy, ugly, shrill, venal -- and it's better than anything we've ever seen before.

Imperfect? Oh, yeah. But over the decades, our political system has become steadily more inclusive, more transparent, and more fair.

Which leads me to this rather despairing moment. Surveys suggest that most Americans are feeling fairly buoyant over President Barack Obama's opening months.

But it's hard to feel upbeat about what's happening at the state level. Our biggest state, California, is very nearly insolvent.

The state is being led by a former movie star who -- while exceeding expectations -- can hardly be the best and brightest leader available.

And it's hampered by voters who seem to want more and more public services without paying taxes.

And then there's New York. Ah, New York.

The turmoil in Albany in recent years has resembled the worst political melodramas of Argentina or Mexico.

Sex scandals, political coups, corruption probes. The current crisis was engineered in part by a Democratic lawmaker under indictment for savagely attacking his girlfriend.

Yeesh.

What's certain is that behind all this childishness real crises and issues are growing and metastasizing. The pension fund shortfall, property taxes, the budget gap, farmer worker laws, same-sex marriage.

When Sens. Smith and Skelos resolve their idiotic stand-off, the bill collectors will still be standing at the door.

Is Golisano coming or going?

Billionaire and NY political gadfly Tom Golisano has had a weird couple of weeks. First he declares that he's quitting the Empire state for low-tax Florida.

Then he helps engineer one of the most dramatic political coups Albany has ever seen, upending last November's election (which Democrats won) and installing a Republican-led coalition in the state Senate.

The New York Times explored Mr. Golisano's motives and produced this:

Mr. Golisano, a billionaire business executive, had spent heavily to help [Democratic leader Malcolm] Smith and other Democrats win control of the Senate in the November election, and was angry to hear they were now planning to raise taxes on the wealthy. He expected an audience befitting a major financial patron.

Instead, he said, Mr. Smith played with his BlackBerry and seemed to barely listen. “I said, ‘I’m talking to the wall here,’ ” Mr. Golisano recalled in an interview on Tuesday.

There's nothing entirely new here. Wealthy people have paid for political access and influence since, well, Plymouth Rock.

But here we have it on full display, articulated openly: Mr. Golisano paid for the government he wanted, didn't like the results, then helped engineer another change.

No one can have been much impressed with Sen. Smith's leadership in recent months; or with David Paterson's helmsmanship.

But Golisano's string-pulling leaves me a little squeamish. What do you think? Is the former New Yorker playing the role of activist citizen or meddling political don?

Could the turmoil in Albany liberate Aubertine?

As Democrats search for someone who can win John McHugh's soon-to-be-vacant 23rd congressional district seat, the obvious go-to guy is Darrel Aubertine.

The conservative Democrat and dairy farmer has shown that he can knock down hefty and well-funded Republican challengers.

Until Monday, he was stuck: Aubertine couldn't make the jump into the House race without endangering his party's tenuous hold on the state Senate majority.

But now that majority seems to have crumbled without any help from Sen. Aubertine.

Is he free now to follow his ambitions to Washington? Have the Republicans played a brilliant chess move in Albany that could backfire and sting them big-time in the North Country?

Meanwhile, the Independence Party -- which helped push Dem. Scott Murphy over hte top -- is promising to back Aubertine if he runs.

This from the Associated Press:

Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay tells The Associated Press his influential party will support Democratic state Sen. Darrel Aubertine if he decides to run for the seat representing
northern New York.

What do you think? More musical chairs anyone?

NY political scorecard - for fans following the action at home

Yeah, it's been a weird ride politically the last couple of years. Here's my flip-card version of New York's political turmoil - and yes, I'm sure I'm leaving something out.

1. Spitzer has a date night and flames out. Paterson steps in as economy crumbles. His popularity begins its long slide.
2. Hillary loses primary to Barack Obama, prepares to settle back in as NY Senator.
3. Dems win Senate majority for the first time in 40 years. Aubertine holds North Country Senate seat.
4. Gillibrand holds House seat.
5. Hillary goes to State and Paterson appoints Gillibrand to US Senate. Rocky start for Gillibrand, Paterson continues slide.
6. Somewhere in there, Malcolm Smith finally establishes a shaky Democratic majority in the state Senate.
7. Murphy comes out of nowhere and upsets Tedisco. Gillibrand finds her balance. Paterson continues slide.
8. McHugh goes to Army, opening another special election free-for-all. Will Aubertine jump in? Will O'Neill?
9. Skelos stages a coup in the state Senate, partnering with two Democrats - one of them under indictment for attacking his girlfriend. Republicans retake control, sort of.
10. Paterson continues his...well, you know.

BREAKING: Republicans win back control of NY state Senate

Republicans flipped two Democratic Senators this afternoon, staging a leadership coup that ousted the Dem majority put together by Sen. Malcolm Smith.

The action began around 3pm and GOP leaders overwhelmed procedural efforts by the Democrats to stop the take-over.

Democrats Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada Jr. defected, with Espada named President Pro Tem of the Senate.

Sen. Dean Skelos is the new majority leader.

A few minutes ago state Senator Betty Little was still caucused with other Republicans, trying to sort out the state's new political landscape.

More to come on All Before Five.

Controversial Essex farmer predicts more economic gloom in NY Times

Salim "Sandy" Lewis is best known in the North Country for his on-going battle with the Adirondack Park Agency and NY's Attorney General.

But his take on the economic crisis -- co-authored with William Cohan -- is dominating the blogosphere today with its prediction of more trouble ahead.

The headline: "The Economy Is Still At The Brink."

Mr. Lewis was once viewed as one of the most gifted, if also troubled, investors on Wall Street. He was convicted on stock manipulation charges in the 80s, then pardoned by Bill Clinton.

Here's the nut of their argument:

The storm is not over, not by a long shot. Huge structural flaws remain in the architecture of our financial system, and many of the fixes that the Obama administration has proposed will do little to address them and may make them worse.

Read more from the Times here; and read NCPR's coverage of his legal wrangling with the APA here.

The whisper campaign against the President

President Barack Obama has his share of ideological enemies, from commentators like Rush Limbaugh who say they want his administration to "fail," to Republican strategists who condemn his policies as "socialist."

But in my regular forays into the conservative media-sphere -- radio, TV, the internet -- I find a kind of shadow chorus that continues to paint the President as an ominous figure, a Manchurian-candidate who is secretly tearing down our society.

One conservative group barrages me with interview "opportunities" on a daily basis with topics like these:

"Report on Obama's Muslim Roots," "America's 'descent into Marxism,'" "Obama Admin elevating abortionists over Army recruiters?" and "Will Obama take time for Christians in Egypt?"

The Drudge Report, once an influential trend-setter across the mainstream media, burbles regularly with ominous headlines about Mr. Obama's purported messianic vanity, his misplaced ethnic loyalties, or his questionable attitude toward his Christian faith.

(There are even contiuing winks and nudges about the President being the "anti-Christ," or a man who views himself in much the same light as Adolph Hitler...)

Some of this trickles up into our political discourse, with a handful Republicans claiming that Mr. Obama is intentionally trying to sabotage the economy and our capitalist system.

The truth, of course, is that Mr. Obama does seem to symbolize a significant shift in American society, away from the traditionalist "Moral Majority" social values and "laissez-faire" economic vision which dominated our politics from 1980 through at least 2006.

Through that quarter-century, our Presidents were either fairly socially conservative Republicans (for all but eight years) or Southerners or both.

For better or worse, they lived in the shadow of Ronald Reagan and his vision of America.

Mr. Obama comes from the urban North; and while he is a practicing Christian, he clearly espouses a very different take on the Gospel than Jerry Falwell and James Dobson.

His economic views are far more FDR than Gipper.

He has also embraced a "multiculturalist" foreign policy, one that attempts to see shades of gray in the world. A big change from George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil" or Reagan's "Evil Empire."

These shifts, combined with Mr. Obama's race and his personal history -- the son of a Kenyan Muslim, as well as a white, Midwestern mother -- have sparked deep alarm and resentment.

It's not just about votes, or elections. It's about a deeper social convulsion, about race and class and culture. These are volatile issues in American society.

While I sometimes cringe at the roaring anger of men like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly, it is the whispering chorus that worries me.

There is no remedy for it. Free speech protects all speech, even the most craven.

But at the very least, the crazy talk about Mr. Obama hating white people and the mad mutters about his secret loyalty to the Koran offer a stark reminder of how far we still have to travel as a society.

Your thoughts? Comment below.

White nose syndrome a harbinger of things to come?

When I first started covering environmental stories in the early 1980s, my understanding of the crisis was essentially centered around "point sources."

That is, if you stop a factory or coal-fired power plant from pumping pollution into the atmosphere, or prevent the paving-over of a forest, or stop the sale of DDT, you effectively solve The Problem.

Protect endangered species and you save The Planet.

Even on big stories, like the Exxon Valdez spill -- which I covered for NPR, the BBC and Alaska Public Radio -- there was a clear line of cause-and-effect.

Tanker plus rock equals contaminated Prince William Sound.

But now there's a growing sense in the scientific community that the larger fabric of global ecosystems is at the point of unraveling.

The entire ocean is being overfished and inundated with pollution. Whole chains of key habitat and migration corridors have been disrupted.

Which leads us round to events like honeybee colony disorder and white nose syndrome in bats.

Obviously, it's possible that ecological events like these are essentially 'natural.' Long before humans came on the scene, wild populations experienced disease, disruption, and even extinction.

But it's also possible that events like these are something like stress fractures.

There are growing calls -- the latest at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing yesterday -- for a new kind of environmental monitoring.

A sort of CDC organization designed to recognize and respond quickly to ecological systems that have reached a tipping point or an unraveling.

The controversial question for such an organization, of course, would be: what do we do?

How do we respond to environmental problems that are far more three-dimensional and complex (and potentially grave) than we once understood?

My guess is that we will see more events like this white nose syndrome, triggered by a convergence of climate change, invasive species, human-produced toxins and habitat degradation.

If so, we may find ourselves forced to make changes to our lifestyles and consumption habits that would have seemed like science fiction only a couple of decades ago.

Your thoughts? Are you worried by these events? What do you think we should do about them?

New Champy video! (It's tabloid day on the In Box!)

Someone has posted a new video of a "strange sighting" on Lake Champlain, filmed with a cell-phone camera on May 31st.

The Burlington Free Press's Sam Hemingway interviewed the photographer, 37-year-old Eric Olsen.

“I was just filming the water when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, and I turned toward it and tried to zoom in on it,” said Olsen, a Web site developer and musician.
“You can see that it is moving both horizontally, across the water, and vertically, going under the surface and coming back up,” he said. “It struck me as something that was long, that it didn’t have much girth.”

The video is very cool. It looks sort of like a slightly sheepish Barney slumphing along the shoreline.

(If it's a sea monster, it's happily low-key...)

While I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool Champy believer, I definitely prefer this kind of invasive species to Zebra mussels, lamprey, and Eurasian watermilfoil.

Upstate-Downstate for a good cause

The Fresh Air Fund is an incredible program that links North Country families with New York City families. Definitely a cross-cultural exchange program that can last a lifetime. And since it's been operating since 1877, it's really a part of the social fabric and history of our region.

The fund has a new campaign this month. Click here to help.

The Torture Photos

As a journalist, I always lean toward disclosure, sunlight, and public debate. Secrecy is toxic to a free society, except during narrow windows of time.

President Barack Obama has declined to release photographs of the techniques used by U.S. intelligence operatives against detainees.

The logic here is that the photographs would inflame and outrage the Muslim world and perhaps alienate our allies in Europe and Asia.

Mr. Obama's position raises three horrifying possibilities.

First, American agents engaged in activities so brutal -- and, as a growing number of experts have testified, illegal -- that it would devastate America's image in the world if these images were released.

Second, those activities were sanctioned at the highest levels of our democratically-elected government.

Third, we as a society are incapable of confronting what we have done.

It seems to me that Mr. Obama has two choices. He can either release the photos and allow our society to face the music.

Or he can convene a 9/11-commission type panel charged with probing America's conduct of the War on Terror.

It may be that we will decide that the decisions made during the last eight years were necessary or justifiable.

Perhaps former Vice President Dick Cheney is right that torturing detainees was a necessary strategy.

What is certain, however, is that this chapter in our history can't simply be swept under the rug.

Is McHugh a pawn in White House politics?

Rep. John McHugh is winning almost universal praise today. He's expected to win easy confirmation as Army Secretary.

But some pundits are viewing his nomination as part of a wider strategy by the Obama Administration to eliminate Republican moderates.

Here's Politico's take:

It’s an event that’s happening with enough frequency to suggest the presence of a design, a plan that not only sketches the outline of a reelection strategy but manages to drive a wedge into the opposition at the same time. Call it a Sherman’s March in reverse — an audacious attempt by Obama to burn down any lines of escape for Republicans from their one refuge of popularity, the deep South.

Here's Time magazine:

For all his pledges to practice bipartisan politics, President Barack Obama's cross-aisle appointments are never strictly olive branches. By tapping Republican Congressman John McHugh for Secretary of the U.S. Army, Obama has snatched away a stalwart member of the GOP's shrinking congressional delegation in New York state.

And the Wall Street Journal:

It’s also another step in the depletion in the already exceedingly thin ranks of congressional Republicans from the Northeast. All of the New England states already are devoid of Republican House members. And McHugh is one of only three Republicans left in the 29-member New York delegation—a delegation that once was a bastion of moderate Republican strength.

Of course, it doesn't have to work that way. If the GOP can get its act together and field a strong, local candidate, the 23rd remains a highly winnable district.

Mapping the North Country's story

Okay, it's not quite Google Earth, but Dale Hobson -- NCPR's webgali -- has created an incredibly cool new feature.

Click here and you'll find a map pinpointing our latest stories. It's a great, quick reference for where NCPR's newsroom is focused on any given day.

On today's map there's a pin on John McHugh's home town...for obvious reasons.

Click on Saranac Lake and you'll find a piece from Chris Knight about the APA's proposed new boathouse restrictions.

That pin over in Vermont is an interview I did with a biologist pushing for more funding for research into white nose syndrome, the bat disease that's spreading in the East.

There are also maps on our home page showing upcoming Community Calendar hotspots and the latest sites for our photo of the day.

(Yes, there's one that shows a late-May snow squall in Saranac Lake, from photographer Mark Kurtz...ugh.)

That's a lot of pins in the map every day -- more than we expect you to keep up with, to be sure.

But this is a way to see if your home town is pinging on NCPR's radar...

Will McHugh's departure mark the end of his House district?

Obviously, someone will be elected to fill Rep. John McHugh's seat. But his departure would appear to make it far easier for Democrats to carve up the district after the 2010 Census.

With McHugh in place, the 23rd was likely to be one of a couple of "last man standing" Republican districts left in New York.

Now?

We could easily see the district either gerrymandered so that a couple of Democratic strongholds are thrown into the mix, tilting the seat away from the GOP.

(Maybe a chunk of the district surrounding Albany might be thrown in?)

Or we could see it dismembered altogether. This map shows just how large a target the 23rd is geographically...

Just like that, it's Special Election season...again

President Obama's machinations already triggered the epic Murphy-Tedisco contest on the eastern side of our listening area.

(Corrected: Thanks, anonymous.)

Now, his elevation of John McHugh to his cabinet sets off another game of musical chairs on the western side of the North Country.

Yep, it's election time again. Time to dust off those sports metaphors!

The weird thing about this race is that it's likely to be competitive.

This is an other once-safe GOP district that went strong for Obama and that now has a feisty Democratic grassroots.

But Republicans simply can't afford to lose another Northeastern House seat.

The gloves are off, the horses are nosing toward the gate, it's the seventh inning stretch (whatever the heck that means)...

One clear winner in this whole fandango (other than Rep. McHugh) are the media outlets that will begin hoovering up big $$$ in the form of campaign ad revenue...

BREAKING: MCHUGH NAMED TO ARMY SECRETARY POST

In a move that's certain to send shock waves through the North Country's political culture, President Barack Obama has named Congressman John McHugh as Secretary of the Army.

This from the New York Times:

Mr. Obama formally offered the Pentagon position to the lawmaker on Monday afternoon, and his nomination is expected to be announced later on Tuesday, officials said. Mr. McHugh would join former House Republican colleague Ray LaHood of Illinois, the secretary of transportation, in the Obama administration.

A fair wage for farm workers?

The Watertown Daily Times has a detailed look today at the debate in Albany over worker benefits for farm hands.

Farming interests -- and many North Country lawmakers -- see the proposed bill as a devastating blow to the region's farmers.

Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, said at a press conference, "Proponents of this bill have all the best of intentions, but this bill would hurt farm workers and farmers alike. It does not do what they intend it to do."

But labor groups say the bill would insure overtime pay, the right to unionize, etc.

What do you think? Many modern farms look more like factories than traditional mom-and-pop operations.

Should their workers receive the same benefits as factory workers?

Or is this a case of ham-handed New York City-types imposing thoughtless regulation on rural communities?

Memo to conservatives: Elections matter

Conservative leaders have argued in recent months that ideological purity is more important than winning elections.

This purist approach led the party to hand Arlen Specter his hat and usher him toward the door. It has also led to the decimation of the GOP's Northeastern delegation.

But the ultimate consequence emerges this week, when Sonia Sotomayor begins making the rounds in Washington DC.

With Democrats holding a nearly-sixty vote majority in the Senate, her confirmation to the Supreme Court is a lock. (Barring a mastodon-sized skeleton tumbling out of a closet...)

Many on the Right have excoriated President Barack Obama for choosing a liberal and a "racist."
And they've assaulted the Republican leadership in Congress for not putting up a bigger fight.

A group of arch-conservatives, led by Gary Bauer and Grover Norquist, is now demanding a filibuster to block her confirmation.

But in a very real sense, core conservatives were the handmaidens (midwives?) of Sotomayor's rise.

By dragging the GOP outside the mainstream (evidence: a significant majority of Independents now vote Democratic), by driving out moderate "heretics" with primary challenges, and by splintering the Republican Party, the Right has made it well nigh impossible for the GOP to win national elections.

If Republicans don't get their act together, Sotomayor is likely to be the most conservative Supreme Court justice appointed for a long while.

The truth is that President Obama went with a relatively safe pick for this first appointment. And it's possible he'll get a chance to appoint a second Justice in the next couple of years.

And during a second Obama term -- or during a first Biden term? -- Democrats may get a chance to pick a real game-changer, someone to replace Antonin Scalia.

Sacalie will be 80 in 2016.

If conservative purists are still fuming on the fringes, thumbing their noses at the pragmatists who want to win elections, they could well see a champion of the Right replaced with a champion of the Left.

Congress takes up bat-killing "white nose" syndrome

Tomorrow during the 8 o'clock hour, I'll be talking with an activist in Vermont who's organizing a push for more Congressional action on white nose syndrome.

That's the mysterious disease that's been decimating North Country bats.

It's spread now across the Northeast and threatens to penetrate key bat habitat in the Midwest.

WNS ranks with the honey-bee die-off as one of the most perplexing and disturbing ecological events in recent years.

On Thursday morning at 10 am, a House subcommittee will take up the question. You can watch it live here.

Culture war rages

The murder of a physician in Wichita, Kansas, who provided late-term abortions, comes just as political factions are lining up for the debate over progressive Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Accusations of racism and reverse-racism are flying fast.

Meanwhile, protests were also held in California over the weekend, supporting and opposing same-sex marriage.

In a speech a couple of weeks ago at Notre Dame, President Barack Obama appealed to both sides of the culture war.

He urged activists to listen respectfully to one-another and engage in a real dialogue about thorny issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.

But I fear that the rift in America between traditionalists and social conservatives (on the one hand) and more progressive, modernist-leaning groups (on the other) is wider than ever.

If, for example, the Roman Catholic church were advocating a simple ban on abortion, the conversation would be confined to a fairly understandable ethical and moral debate.

When does life begin? Where do a woman's rights end and her unborn fetus's begin?

But the Church -- and a wide variety of other traditionalist organizations -- also oppose contraception, sex-education, divorce, and (of course) homosexuality.

Many conservative groups are also uncomfortable with the idea of women holding equal authority within society, especially within their religious organizations.

Modernist groups, meanwhile -- many, though not all, secular -- see these matters entirely differently.

They focus on a completely different set of ethical concerns: climate change, poverty, social injustice, etc.

And they see the activism of conservatives as a direct threat to their personal, moral freedom.

How do you begin to have a reasonable dialogue when worldviews differ so fundamentally?

The simplest answer in America is that we try to decide these things peacefully, at the ballot box. But it doesn't always work that way.

Sometimes our passions, and our zealots, push their way to the fore.

Which is why mainstream activists on both sides have a moral duty to moderate their language, and to help constrain the more destructive elements that exist on the fringe of any movement.

That said, I have a feeling we'll be negotiating this long, troubled path for years to come.

The property tax time bomb

The Albany Times Union has a great story on-line today about the implosion of the state's public employee pension fund, which has lost an astonishing $44 billion in the economic downturn.

This fund -- when the stock market is booming -- helps reduce the property taxes that we all have to pay to fund retirement pensions for New York's state, county and local government workers.

But the collapse of this fund could trigger double-digit property tax hikes across the state.

Cities, towns, counties and even special entities like fire or sewer districts are obligated to make up any shortfall between what the pension fund is able to pay out and what their retirees are entitled to receive.

This whammy comes as Albany's revenues are in free-fall, threatening local government subsidies; and as county sales taxes plummet. (The Press-Republican reported that Essex County has seen a 12% drop...)

Right now, local governments and school districts in the North Country are operating on temporary life-support.

Stimulus money from the Federal government is sluicing through the system, helping to keep property taxes down and services high.

But those grants dry up in 2011 and if local communities haven't prepared, we could see unprecedented property tax rate hikes.

Governor Paterson is proposing a new "tier" of less generous pension funds for public employees. Is that a good solution?

If not, how should local governments and school districts cut costs?