Echo Chamber: News You Could Have Read Anywhere
- Hope dwindled for the return of Getzville native Jonathan Cote this weekend when the bodies of two fellow hostages were discovered in southern Iraq. Cote, a private security contractor with Crescent Security, was captured last November while escorting an Italian supply convoy near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Last week, the severed fingers of Cote and four other hostages were sent to American authorities in Iraq. The bodies found were those of John R. Young, 45, of Kansas City, Mo. and Ronald J. Withrow, 40, of Roaring Springs, Texas. Cote, 25, has been in captivity for a total of 495 days.
- Gov. David Paterson is airing out all of his dirty laundry. After announcing last week that he’d had several extramarital affairs, he told reporters yesterday that he used cocaine and marijuana when he was in his 20s.
- UB student Michael Bliss, 21, is paralyzed from the waist down after being beaten by three other students early Saturday morning in the city’s University District. Bliss was heading home from a bar when he was jumped by fellow students Kevin Rowland, 23, Charles Jordan, 22, and Michael Gunderland, 23, none of whom he reportedly knew. Bliss remains in serious condition in ECMC, and the three suspects are being held on $50,000 bail.
Tuesday Morning Dawns On Buffalo
Sunrise this morning at the Erie Basin Marina…
March 24, 2008
KOLKMEYER RESPONDS TO ARTHUR ACCUSATIONS
This morning’s Buffalo News ran a story about accusations from former common council president George Arthur, who is now secretary of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority (BFSA), commonly known as the control board. The News article describes Arthur’s claims that the search for a new executive director of the board has been conducted in a way that violates the open meetings law. Arthur sent a request for opinion to Robert Freeman at the New York State Department of State Committee on Open Government in Albany, dated March 19.
Here’s more to the story. (more…)
LOOK, UP IN THE SKY, IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A COMPLAINT!
Members of the National association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians (NABET)/CWA Local 25 held a rally in front of WKBW Channel 7 Studios at South Elmwood and Church Street this morning. The union is protesting the harsh bargaining stance adopted by lawyers for Connecticut hedge fund company Silver Point Capital L.P., who acquired a controlling interest in the station’s parent company Granite Broadcasting, when Granite was facing bankruptcy. Union members have been working without a contract since January 31, 2008.
While it has been apparent that something’s wrong by the various layoffs of on-air personalities at the station over the past year, NABET members are seeking to show that the changes don’t end there.
Dyngus Day
Happy Dyngus Day!
Load your squirt guns and grab your pussywillows (should you be lucky enough to find any), because today is Dyngus Day, the Polish-American celebration that comes at the end of Lent. According to the Dyngus Day Buffalo Web site, the modern traditions involving squirt guns and pussywillows started when “farm boys in Poland wanted to attract the notice from the girls of their choice.” Apparently subtlety wasn’t their strong point, so they got the girls’ attention by throwing water on them and whacking them in the legs with pussywillows. The girls got the last laugh, though, when they reciprocated “by throwing dishes and crockery” at the boys. Ouch. Dyngus Day has evolved over the years to become primarily a celebration of Polish-American culture, heritage and traditions. For the lay person, that means Polka, pierogies, kielbasa and vodka. (more…)
separation of powers
Bob McCarthy at the News is reporting that State Senator George Maziarz won’t run for Tom Reynolds’ seat in Congress, most likely because the Republicans can’t afford to lose Maziarz’s seat in the State Senate.
McCarthy says one Republican who might run in Maziarz’s place is attorney (and casino shill—watch here, read here) Mike Powers…raising the ballot-muddling possibility of Michael Powers (Republican) vs. Jon Powers (Democrat)…
That’s holy firewater now
Another Dyngus Day tradition is born: AV’s Eddy Dobosiewicz brought a bottle of Sobieski vodka to Saturday’s blessing of the bread at St. Stanislaus, where it was blessed by Bishop Edward M. Grosz…Eddy will crack it open tonight at the Central Terminal to celebrate Dyngus Day in Buffalo…
SAIC = spooky
On Friday afternoon, the offices here at AV were quiet—lot of folks out of town, lots of folks getting ready for Easter. So when the phone rang around 1:15, I answered. A woman named Charlotte E. Smith said she was calling from SAIC and looking for advertising rates in the Buffalo area for a proposal she had been asked to write up that afternoon. How much does it cost to advertise in AV? she asked.
You’re calling from where? I said. I made her repeat “SAIC” twice to be sure I’d heard correctly.
SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) is one of the largest and spookiest defense contractors in the US, employing 44,000 people and bringing in $8 billion in revenues in 2006, according to a 2007 article in Vanity Fair by Donald Barlett and James Steele. The company holds at least 9,000 federal contracts. SAIC, according to Barlett and Steele, “sells human beings who have a particular expertise—expertise about weapons, about homeland security, about surveillance, about computer systems, about ‘information dominance’ and ‘information warfare.’ If the C.I.A. needs an outside expert to quietly check whether its employees are using their computers for personal business, it calls on SAIC. If the Immigration and Naturalization Service needs new record-keeping software, it calls on SAIC.”
What could SAIC—this behemoth with its thumbprint on war planning for Iraq, database mining, all sorts of spooky stuff—be advertising in Western New York? In Artvoice, for God’s sake?
ECHO CHAMBER: NEWS YOU COULD HAVE READ ANYWHERE
- Ishmael Beah’s celebrated memoir A Long Way Gone, which is about his time as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, is being called into question by Sydney newspaper The Australian. If it turns out to be fabricated, it will join a lengthening list of debunked memoirs that includes A Million Little Pieces and Love and Consequences. Beah’s book is a bestseller, having sold more than 700,000 copies. Beah, who appeared at UB in October as part of its Distinguished Speakers Series, is up for a Los Angeles Times Book Award.
- The death toll for American soldiers in Iraq hit 4,000 on Sunday, just four days into the fifth year of war.
- Pakistan has just elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. He promises to pass a resolution demanding a U.N. probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose party he’s a member of. Gilani, who was imprisoned for five years by President Pervez Musharraf, will also seek the release of judges detained when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last month.
- Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, is voting to adopt democracy today. The small Buddhist state, which lies between China and India, has been under the rule of an absolute monarchy for the past century. The landmark vote was proposed by Bhutan’s royal family to peacefully transition to a constitutional monarchy. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 28, has traveled the country with his father for the past five years, hawking democracy to his 670,000 subjects. He’s expected to maintain an important role in running the new government. (more…)
March 21, 2008
FREE Friday
Because I’m sometimes a cheapskate, I poke around through our event listings looking for free stuff. Here are a few things that caught my eye tonight that feature, among other great things, free food and/or drink: (more…)
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