The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Some privileged scion of a Mississippi political family, Representative Chip Pickering (R) announced in August 2007 that he was not going to run for re-election. He wanted to spend more time with his family, he said. He’s all set to take a cush lobbying job when he leaves Congress at the end of the year.

Last week, he filed for divorce from his wife, with whom he has five children. I guess spending more time with the family is out of the question, now.

So, why do I bring this up? Why do I care about the personal life of an obscure and undistinguished Republican congressman?

Because he’s one of those self-righteous, moralistic imbeciles who believes that permitting gay marriage somehow harms the sanctity of the institution of marriage. He is against adoption by gay couples, because evidently a child being in an orphanage or some other institutional environment is healthier for that child than to be raised by a loving same-sex couple in a stable home. He does not think that other states should have to recognize same-sex marriages or unions performed in other states. While full faith & credit applies only to judgments, I wonder whether Mr. Pickering would have supported the rights of states not to recognize, e.g., interracial marriages back when some states were ok with them while others weren’t.

The hypocrisy, which is evident even to the most ignorant, is par for the course. There are so many politicians who proclaim their piety and traditionalism to the mountaintops. They quote from the Bible to support policies that oppress people who bother no one.

A gay marriage hurts no one. It doesn’t affect anyone else in the entire world. It will not bring a plague of locusts falling from the sky, and it won’t bring down the wrath of God, and it won’t make God cause terrorists to hijack planes and hurl them into buildings. A gay marriage won’t cause your heterosexual marriage to be cheapened. It won’t make your kids gay. It won’t hurt you in any way, shape, or form. A gay marriage doesn’t alter your political or religious beliefs any more than those beliefs alter the gay couple.

The fact that this self-righteous, pious defender of faith and family is getting divorced (I think the Bible has something to say about that, incidentally), is an actual, physical destruction of a family. It doesn’t get more direct than rending asunder a solemn oath and vow you take with your spouse and your God. It doesn’t get any worse than bringing a quiverfull of kids into the world, and then ripping the family in two.

When contacted about it, Pickering says it’s a painful, private matter and he doesn’t want to comment. No shit it’s painful. Ask your kids, Congressman. But for someone who so publicly assailed the private lives of people different from him, he should be ashamed.

If God will not be mocked, maybe it’s the hypocritical self-righteous Republican values-mongering divorcees who are doing the mocking.

Want to see the erosion of family values? Want to see the sancity and tradition of marriage be mocked and diminished? Look no further than Representative Chip Pickering.

List from Channel 4:

JULY 3rd

East Aurora: Hamlin Park 10pm

Blasdell: Fireman¹s Park 10pm

Dunn Tire Park: After games

Town of Evans: Stroh¹s Tavern at Lake Erie Beach Park - dusk

Little Valley: After derby

Newstead: Newstead Town Park 10pm

Silver Creek: George Borello Park dusk

Niagara Falls: Seneca Niagara Casino: 9:45pm (Rain date July 4th)

JULY 4th

Amherst: UB North Campus 10pm

Seneca Allegany Casino: 9:45pm (Rain date July 5th)

Batavia: Dwyer Stadium after game

Buffalo: Riverside Park

Cheektowaga: Town Park dusk

Darien Center: Darien Lake Theme Park 10:10pm

Dunkirk: Memorial Park 10pm

Grand Island: Dusk

Hamburg: Brierwood Country Club 10pm

Hamburg: Wanakah Country Club dusk

Lewiston: Lewiston Plateau dusk

Mayville: Lakeside Park 10pm

Niagara Falls: Hyde Park: Dusk

Orchard Park: Pavilion behind Orchard Park Middle School 9:45pm

Pendleton: Pendleton Town Park dusk

Little Valley: After race

Niagara Falls, Ontario: Queen Victoria Park 10pm

North Tonawanda: Tonawanda Island dusk

Tonawanda: Niawanda Park dusk

Wheatfield: Oppenheim Park dusk

Lancaster: Central Ave. from Broadway to Brookfield and West Main 10pm

Lyndonville: Lyndonville Central School grounds dusk

JULY 5th

Buffalo: Riverside Park- Friendship Festival dusk

Lockport: Outwater Park after concert

Clarence: Main St. Town Park dusk

JULY 6th

Dunn Tire Park: After games

Sardinia: Sardinia Town Park 10 or 10:30pm

Niagara Falls, Ontario: Queen Victoria Park 10pm

Some have misinterpreted my closing comments in this post:

One hopes that the preservation community (and community-at-large) might prioritize buildings that may not be designated landmarks, are endangered and need saving. Perhaps they could take lessons learned from the Livery fiasco and be more pro-active rather than re-active when it comes to saving buildings deemed important. These things shouldn’t have to happen at the point when emergency injunctive relief is required to prevent demolition. A plan. Priorities. It would do a lot to not only save buildings, but dramatically improve the reputation of the preservationist community. By being pro-active rather than re-active, they lose the “obstructionist” epithet altogether. Just a thought.

Some assail my comment because, they claim, preservationists are being “proactive”. I disagree. Calling the tip line isn’t enough. Calling your councilman isn’t enough. That may arguably be literally proactive, but it’s passive. I’ll let Prodigal Son explain:

The definition of pro-active is “getting involved before the building is crumbling.” I’m sure some well meaning people called the city tip line to complain about the Livery for years. But obviously, no support was galvanized until crisis mode hit. If anyone in the preservation community (whomever that is) could get everyone organized before it got to this point, that would be progress. Lets have a vigil, signatures, BRO articles and media frenzy about the AM&A’s building (to pick a random one). Doesn’t happen. Tim Tielman tried to get people organized for his “Save Our Churches” campaign, and that never got farther than one meeting.

Buffalo - a shrinking city of 280k-ish people - has at least two grassroots preservation activist organizations. Cynthia Van Ness’ Preservation Coalition and Tim Tielman’s Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture. The missions are similar enough that these groups could be joined. If governments can be expected to downsize in response to a shrinking population, so can nonprofit activist groups.

If they joined forces, then it would be fantastic if they selected, on an annual basis, five buildings that they want to save each year. They could hold fundraisers, teach-ins, solicit investment, file legal action, etc. Whatever it took to focus on private and public properties that are at imminent risk of destruction but are in some way worth preserving. They could set the agenda with respect to preservation issues and shed that public perception that they have of being reactionary obstructionists, and instead re-cast themselves as the proactive protectors of Buffalo’s heritage before the building starts crashing in around them or some owner decides he wants to raze it to add more surface parking.

Because in my mind, the heroes of the preservation community right now are named “Savarino” and “Termini” and “ESD”. Applying the law of Larry the Cable Guy - they get it done.

If the building is privately owned, such as Freudenheim’s Livery, the group could file for injunctive relief - the building is an imminent harm to its surroundings and is a public or private nuisance. If the building is privately owned, perhaps they could get the city to take the property by eminent domain for the greater public good. If the building is publicly owned, then they could partner with friendly engineering and architectural firms to draw up plans and raise funds to actually get the buildings structurally sound and rebuilt. It would be like Buffalo ReUse writ large - instead of saving fixtures from homes for resale, you save the building itself.

So, what would be the five most endangered buildings in 2008? Proactively prioritize, proselytize, and repair.

At around 3:30 this afternoon, near the Erie Canal Terminus, Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries, luminaries, glitterati, politicos, and other people with fancy suits will be simultaneously thumbing their Blackberries whilst arguing over who gets to stand close to the ribbon to get their maw on the evening news.

That’s because the canal terminus park isn’t “officially” open until the electeds get their photo op.

On a serious note, everyone who had a hand in crafting the park that we have today deserves the community’s praise and accolades. When I moved to Buffalo in 2001, that spot was a barren wasteland of a parking lot under the skyway. As a newcomer, I had no idea that it held any special significance whatsoever. Now, its historic importance is evident to all, and the city has a new, well-designed, well thought-out attraction to be proud of.

But the work has only just begun. The Canal Side project writ large will bring residents, businesses, retail, and restaurants. Hot dog vendors are a great start, but something more permanent and winterized will be needed to ensure that the project is attractive year-round.

So, give the electeds their oversized scissors and red ribbons. Give them their photo ops and their speeches. It doesn’t matter. With this project, we all won one.

Volunteer Basketball coach at McKinley High School, Michelle Stiles, was suspicious why full-time boy’s basketball coach James Daye was seen leaving the home of one of her players late one evening. After bringing it up, Stiles was summarily dismissed.

(Daye? He was placed on administrative leave in March. Apparently, he had sex with a student while he was teacher in South Carolina in the 1990s. Daye denies this.)

Jayvonna Kincannon, the captain of the girls’ basketball team, was upset at this, and used a cell phone in school in order to add herself to the speaker’s list for a board of education meeting one night. This also was met with swift and unfair punishment.

When a student is suspended for over five days, that student has a right to a hearing under state law. Kincannon never received one. She was suspended for five days, and then, upon her return, informed by letter with Superintendent James Williams’ name on it that she was suspended for an additional six weeks. The special investigator, David Edmunds, found Barton’s fingerprints figuratively all over that 7-week suspension order. It was revenge.

In any event, the 7-week suspension, and the 5-week reduced suspension was an excessive and completely disproportionate punishment. While the school has a right to enforce the rules, it cannot arbitrarily, capriciously, or maliciously impose an illegal, longer sentence such as they did in Kincannon’s case. Although her suspension is now expunged from her record, without the media spotlight on this, it would have just happened. How many more kids are being unfairly punished in the system?

Some members of the Buffalo school board wanted to make the people who did this to Kincannon answer for their actions and misdeeds. They wanted Barton - who refused to participate or cooperate with Edmunds’ investigation - to be punished. They wanted other administrators to be punished. After all, why should a school administrator violate a student’s - a child’s - civil rights and rights as a student in the Buffalo school system with impunity?

Shouldn’t part of what kids get taught in school be personal responsibility? Accountability? That when you make a tough decision, and it turns out to be the wrong one, that there are consequences?

Evidently - and sadly - no.

As the Bills have decided to regionalize their fan base by playing some regular season games up in Toronto, there has been some movement, spurred on by Buffalo News publisher Stan Lipsey and Senator Chuck Schumer, to have the Toronto Raptors play some home games at our own HSBC arena.

Sounds like a great idea to not only bring the NBA back to Buffalo, albeit in a limited way. It would also help to further the cause of Buffalo-Toronto economic and cultural integration, from which both cities stand to benefit in some way.

Now if we could just get Via Rail to propose a dedicated high speed service between Buffalo and Toronto with pre-screening at the station so there are no border waits, and with improved transportation links in Buffalo to sports, shopping, and cultural attractions. That would be huge.

(Image courtesy Buffalo Braves’ History)

The handling of the Livery Building situation by the city and the court system has been nothing short of impressive. I never thought they could pull it together, but they did. Judge Burns did what he always does - he was thoughtful and came up with a solution that everyone could stomach.

The evidently neglectful Freudenheims are not getting off scot-free, the building is going to be saved thanks to an angel developer - Savarino Companies, and a solution was reached with lightning speed, by Buffalo standards.

Judge Burns and the city’s Law Department are to be commended, and Savarino just bought a whole bunch of goodwill along with that building. Score one for Buffalo, for a change.

One hopes that the preservation community (and community-at-large) might prioritize buildings that may not be designated landmarks, are endangered and need saving. Perhaps they could take lessons learned from the Livery fiasco and be more pro-active rather than re-active when it comes to saving buildings deemed important. These things shouldn’t have to happen at the point when emergency injunctive relief is required to prevent demolition. A plan. Priorities. It would do a lot to not only save buildings, but dramatically improve the reputation of the preservationist community. By being pro-active rather than re-active, they lose the “obstructionist” epithet altogether. Just a thought.

I wholeheartedly support County Legislator Tom Loughran’s effort, taking a cue from Kevin Gaughan, to reduce the size of the Erie County Legislature from 15 to 9.

In salary expenditures alone, that’s an extra $260k in the county’s pocket, and there’s no question that 9 people could lead and serve as effectively as 15.

After much ribbing about the non-existent and/or empty “views” section of his website, Republican candidate for Congress in the 26th district has finally gotten around to having some.

I am running for Congress to bring real change to Washington, D.C., restore accountability, get people to stop the partisan bickering and start solving the problems families are facing. This is what Western New Yorkers are demanding, and it is what they deserve.

By working together we can make these things happen, and we can get Washington working again for Western New York.

If we do that then we can help create jobs at home, lower taxes for hard working families, develop a real energy policy, and ensure access to affordable healthcare for all Western New Yorkers.

Washington working for Western New York. That’s a great idea. Um, what’s his predecessor been doing along those lines for the past 10 years? It’s all platitudes cribbed from some primer on how to run as a Republican but sounding like a Democrat. Republicans don’t give a shit about “affordable healthcare”. They’re far more concerned with taxation of the wealthiest 1%, not “hard working families”.

The most important thing for our families is having jobs not just for us, but for our children. Right now Western New York is facing the challenge of entering a 21st century economy and not having enough jobs for our children. Fortunately, Western New York is well equipped to face these challenges. We have a world-class workforce, excellent educational institutions and a work ethic second to none. What needs to happen is the government, in Washington and Albany, needs to get out of the way and let businesses do what they do best – create jobs. When I am elected, I will fight everyday for policies that increase the incentives for businesses to take risks, be entrepreneurial and ultimately create jobs.

How is Washington in the way, and would he do to get it out of said way? Taxes and spending, evidently - no surprise, coming from a Republican candidate. The problem is that the Republican party has put the Democrats to shame in terms of the growth of government and government spending at the federal level since George W. Bush came to office. Why are we to believe that Lee would not help perpetuate that state of affairs? Bush has grown government, kept taxes low to help the budget deficit balloon, engaged in nation-building adventures in the middle east and then shortchanged them when it got difficult.

Definitely Washington is broken. Definitely Albany is broken. What can Lee as a congressman do to fix Albany? Again - platitudes that sound phenomenal but have no meat to them.

Lee also says we need a “comprehensive energy policy”:

- Lessen our dependence on foreign oil by increasing American made energy through exploration;
- Promote new, clean, reliable sources of energy;
- Encourage conservation, and;
- Increase investment in research funding for alternative energy.

Respectively, how, what, how, and what? The call from McCain and Bush has been for drilling everywhere. Respectfully, that’s like putting a Band-Aid on an amputation site. Nice sentiment, but it would take literally years - if not a decade - before any such drilling would have any effect on the market. Furthermore, conservation is now in full effect, given the cost of fuel. Price is up, demand is way down. So, if all this is run by the market, why does lower demand equal ever-higher prices?

Again - demand for gasoline has been dropping, yet the price continues to rise. The idea that this is just market forces at work doesn’t fly. In 2008, it is high time that we develop and reach a consensus on a fuel for personal conveyances to replace petroleum. We’re using technology that’s over 100 years old.

Lee also believes that health care is an issue. The buzzword is “market-based”. Anything the Republicans recommend will be characterized as “market-based”, while they will criticize the Democrats’ plans as being “socialized medicine”. Meanwhile, all of the plans being suggested are market-based. No one is proposing socialized medicine.

While Mr. Lee complains that WNY is not getting its fair share of federal dollars, he also argues:

I will fight for a more transparent and fair system that will ensure real earmark reform. Any dollar being spent by the federal government should be done so in the light of day not behind closed doors. I want to change the way Washington does business by ensuring that we have an open system that holds our leaders accountable. Just like a CEO would want, Western New Yorkers deserve to know exactly how their money is being spent - that can only happen with a more transparent and accountable Washington.

How? What sort of transparency is he proposing? And which is it? More fair share, or fewer earmarks?

In other news, Chris Lee held a fundraiser last night. It was a swanky affair at the Marriott on Millersport. All of the Republican glitterati were in attendance, and Tom Reynolds introduced Lee to the crowd. Illuzzi was there enjoying the free food, making subtle threats, and writes:

I had the pleasure of attending what was truly an “All-Star” fundraising event last night kicking off NY 26 Congressional Candidate Chris Lee’s fundraising efforts.

Congressman Tom Reynolds declared the event to have set a new record for a first time candidate’s congressional fundraising event. Over 300 people in attendance!!! Early estimates are over $175,000 raised at the event.

That averages out to over $580 per person.

Lee is an unemployed child of wealth who inherited part of the sell-out of his father’s business. He’s pledged to spend $1 million of his own money on the race. Will he, like Chris Collins, forego his federal salary if elected? I recall Jack Davis making that pledge 2 years ago. Why should taxpayers cut a six-figure check with benefits and pension for a millionaire heir?

Kathy Konst’s bid for the Democratic nomination to run against Chris Lee to replace Tom “kiddie shield” Reynolds has ended as abruptly as it began. Instead, Konst will enter the race to replace Dale Volker, the cantankerous 30+ year State Senator from district 59 who spends a lot of time patting himself on the back when he’s not screaming at people.

Even more interesting than the Konst about-face is what’s behind it. Evidently, Rochester’s Tom Golisano has decided to form a 527 PAC to support candidates who will shake up the State Senate. From the Capitol News:

A source familiar with Golisano’s thinking said the former gubernatorial candidate plans to spend $1 million of his own money on behalf of each candidate he supports. This includes targeting several incumbents, including at least one who was not previously in danger. Golisano could also potentially involve himself in contested Assembly primaries.

The source said Golisano plans on supporting candidates who share his agenda of reforming Albany, reforming the state budget and promoting economic development upstate, particularly in the region around Buffalo which he calls home.

Candidates will mainly be Democrats, but Golisano will consider endorsing Republicans in the races. Candidates will need to be moderate, committed to Golisano’s agenda and not aligned with career politicians, according to the source.

Golisano’s political website, www.golisano.com, which has remained dormant since his announcement that he would not run for governor in 2006, was updated June 27 with a teaser to “Stay tuned for an important announcement coming soon.”

Golisano will be supporting Erie County Legislator Kathy Konst (D) in her bid to unseat State Sen. Dale Volker (R-Erie), former boxer Joe Mesi (D) in his primary bid to succeed retiring Sen. Mary Lou Rath (R-Erie) and former State Sen. Rick Dollinger (D-Monroe) in his bid to unseat Sen. Joe Robach (R-Monroe), though Golisano is unlikely to announce these specific candidates at his press conference next week.

Golisano’s decision whether to also back Assembly candidates hasn’t been finalized, but he has contemplated supporting Barbara Kavanaugh’s primary challenge against Sam Hoyt. There are also rumors that Golisano may recruit other business leaders who are not content with the state of Albany “leadership” who might be willing to put their money where their mouths are. People like Carl Paladino.

And there are larger issues as well from a party political perspective:

Golisano’s chief political advisor is former Erie County Democratic Chair Steve Pigeon, who is expected to play a major role in the new PAC. Some say Pigeon’s fingerprints can already be seen on the Konst and Mesi endorsements.

Konst is the most surprising move of the Golisano involvement, given her May announcement that she was seeking the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-Erie). Golisano offered his support if she switched to the Senate race in a meeting last week. Konst, who according to sources was floundering in her bid to secure petition signatures for her late start congressional bid and was circulating Senate petitions at the same time, began telling people over the weekend that she had made the change.

And every once in a while, in the middle of an interesting story about political maneuvering, you find a statement that’s hilarious in its stupidity:

According to former East Aurora Mayor Dave DiPietro (R), who is running a primary challenge to Volker, Konst’s husband, politically active attorney Harry Konst, told him last week that Golisano promised $1 million to support his wife’s Senate bid.

Harry Konst, who is managing his wife’s campaign, claimed he has not discussed the Senate bid with her and said he did not know who Golisano is.

Why Volker? Ask Paladino:

Palladino said he plans to do anything he can to support DiPietro in his bid and hopes to see him unseat Volker in the primary. He did not rule out assisting Konst in a general election, but noted he would prefer the Senate to remain Republican. Palladino said he opposes Volker’s support for what he defines as anti-business legislation and for being in Albany too long.

“I’ve thought of him as a friend,” Palladino said. “His shelf life is over. He thinks everything is fine in Albany. Albany is murdering upstate New York. Even Barack Obama would be a better alternative to Dale Volker. And that’s bad for me.”

It’s an interesting development that helps un-muddy NY-26, helps push along the effort to rid Albany of Dale Volker, and if nothing else expands options available to voters. The problem is that with Pigeon’s involvement, it loses a great deal of its political appeal. There’s no grassroots effort - any argument that this is a way to stick it to the party bosses is lost with him in the mix.

Also, I’ve been watching what DiPietro’s been doing, and I think he’s an excellent replacement for Volker. Not so much because I know a damn thing about him, except that East Aurora’s former mayor is being advised by Ostrowski, and he’s been endorsed by Primary Challenge. His campaign sent out a media advisory last week indicating that the Erie County Republican Committee, which is backing Volker, had sent some young goon to videotape DiPietro’s campaign announcement speech. But that person wasn’t taping the speech, but the crowd. Soon afterwards, people in the crowd began receiving threats - veiled and overt - about supporting a candidate who is running in a primary against another Republican.

Say one thing about the Democrats, we may bicker and argue and primary each other, but I’m not that aware of people threatening other people’s livelihoods if they do so.

Remember al Qaeda?

Just as it had on the day before 9/11, Al Qaeda now has a band of terror camps from which to plan and train for attacks against Western targets, including the United States. Officials say the new camps are smaller than the ones the group used prior to 2001. However, despite dozens of American missile strikes in Pakistan since 2002, one retired CIA officer estimated that the makeshift training compounds now have as many as 2,000 Arab and Pakistani militants, up from several hundred three years ago.

Bush is nothing but epic fail from day one to day 2,922.

But while Bush vowed early on that Bin Laden would be captured “dead or alive,” the moment in late 2001 when Bin Laden and his followers escaped at Tora Bora was almost certainly the last time the Qaeda leader was in American sights, current and former intelligence officials say. Leading terrorism experts have warned that it is only a matter of time before a major terrorist attack planned in the mountains of Pakistan is carried out on American soil.

Remember that next time you take your shoes off at the airport. To quote Robert DeNiro’s Al Capone in the Untouchables, Bush and is nothing “but a lot of talk and a badge.”

Friedman in the Times yesterday:

My fellow Americans: We are a country in debt and in decline — not terminal, not irreversible, but in decline. Our political system seems incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big opportunities. We are the ones who need a better-functioning democracy — more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of nation-building. It is our political system that is not working.

I continue to be appalled at the gap between what is clearly going to be the next great global industry — renewable energy and clean power — and the inability of Congress and the administration to put in place the bold policies we need to ensure that America leads that industry.

“America and its political leaders, after two decades of failing to come together to solve big problems, seem to have lost faith in their ability to do so,” Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib noted last week. “A political system that expects failure doesn’t try very hard to produce anything else.”

We used to try harder and do better. After Sputnik, we came together as a nation and responded with a technology, infrastructure and education surge, notes Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. After the 1973 oil crisis, we came together and made dramatic improvements in energy efficiency. After Social Security became imperiled in the early 1980s, we came together and fixed it for that moment. “But today,” added Hormats, “the political system seems incapable of producing a critical mass to support any kind of serious long-term reform.”

If the old saying — that “as General Motors goes, so goes America” — is true, then folks, we’re in a lot of trouble. General Motors’s stock-market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with Toyota’s $162.6 billion. On top of it, G.M. shares sank to a 34-year low last week.

That’s us. We’re at a 34-year low. And digging out of this hole is what the next election has to be about and is going to be about — even if it is interrupted by a terrorist attack or an outbreak of war or peace in Iraq. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait another year to get started. Vote for the candidate who you think will do that best. Nothing else matters.

There are so many reasons and causes for this inevitable chicken roost homecoming that I can’t even begin to hurl epithets at them. But I’m willing to overlook them for now just to have some people in congress take some bold steps that will help us in the future. Fewer international misadventures and more time and money being spent on transitioning our economy would be a swell idea.