Sunday, November 14, 2010

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Outraged "Bus-Dad" Avoids Jail Time: Good

A father, outraged about the bullying his disabled daughter goes through during her busride to school each day, boards the bus and reads the riot act the bully,...gets arrested; Bus Surveilance footage; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvr38NJG5Bw

Afterwords;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcKcLLOCLs

Thursday, August 19, 2010

3 Large Dog Houses

$25.00 each

One large igloo style;




Two large square-type, (one w/ white top has some chew-marks on it along where it snaps together, nothing serious and does not effect integrity or functionality)


Saturday, August 14, 2010

Leather "Prospector" / Cowboy Hat

Size L with 6 Buffalo Nickels on band;






Babykins the Killer-Dog

Two possums, one muskrat, and almost Emma (twice) but plays with cats and kitten so gently!

2 Cats & Dog


Big-Eye, Poppa and Babykins (dog)

Sweet Emma

AKA Jekell & Hyde

Monday, August 9, 2010

Maybe they will take our farm

Local Dr. Among Victims of Taliban Attack in Afghanistan


Dr. Thomas Little, an optomitrist from Delmar/ Loudonville area of the Capital District, Ny; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10900338





add this to the distinction we have of a local man charged in the first ever "fragging" incident during the Iraq War, and the local who was killed in Israels attack on the aid flotilla headed to Gaza, you will see how close to home our global wars are hitting. No small town is spared these kind of losses as long as the endless wars go on and people of all walks of life continue to die from them in one way or another.





Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sniper targets Ticonderoga horses

New York - June 15, 2010

A 20-year-old Belgian horse is walking around as it heals at Crane Mountain Valley Horse Rescue in Westport.

"It's totally amazing he lived," said Ed Mrozick of Crane Mountain Valley Horse Rescue.

For the past few weeks, the horse has been recovering from a gunshot wound to the back of its neck.

"He's lucky," Mrozick said. "It just missed his spinal cord by an inch."

While it was lucky to survive, the horse will spend at least the next six months recovering.

"He's doing good, he has a great temper. He knows we are trying to help him," Mrozick said. "We work on him; we don't have to hold him. He likes his baths; we have to constantly give him a bath."

While the horse recovers 20 miles from its home in Ticonderoga, police are busy trying to figure out who shot the horse and two others in May and early June. The other two horses are being treated at their homes. They too are expected to survive. The first horse was shot on the Crammond Farm. Over the next two weeks the two other horses were shot in this same area.

"Really this is a disturbing case," Ticonderoga Police Chief Mark Johns said. "Personally, in my experience as a police officer, it's the first time I've seen someone target horses like this."

Police do believe the cases are related. Each horse was shot sometime at night.

"The evidence so far indicates the weapon used, a high-powered rifle, is the same for all three horses," Johns said.

While police would not comment on a possible motive, they hint an arrest may happen soon.

"We are following several promising leads, and we are expecting to solve this in the near future," Johns said.

An arrest that will help ease the minds of the owners of the horses.

Matt Henson - WCAX News

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Hiliary Clinton & The Kate Mullany House, Troy, NY

http://www.ibtstw.org/welcome/mullanyhouse.html

Yeaaaah Troy!;

Yeaaaah local historian / writer Don Rittner !

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyrensse/article2.htm

Elizabeth Cady-Stanton: Giving Her Her Dues; The Real Founder of the Womans Sufferage Movement




Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the first women's rights convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized woman's rights and woman's suffrage movements in the United States.[1]

Before Stanton narrowed her political focus almost exclusively to women's rights, she was an active abolitionist together with her husband, Henry Brewster Stanton and cousin, Gerrit Smith. Unlike many of those involved in the woman's rights movement, Stanton addressed a number of issues pertaining to women beyond voting rights. Her concerns included women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce laws, the economic health of the family, and birth control.[2] She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th-century temperance movement.

After the American Civil War, Stanton's commitment to female suffrage caused a schism in the woman's rights movement when she, together with Susan B. Anthony, declined to support passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. She opposed giving added legal protection and voting rights to African American men while continuing to deny women, black and white, the same rights. Her position on this issue, together with her thoughts on organized Christianity and women's issues beyond voting rights, led to the formation of two separate women's rights organizations that were finally rejoined, with Stanton as president of the joint organization, approximately 20 years later.

Childhood and family background

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the eighth of 11 children, was born in Johnstown, New York, to Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston Cady. Five of her siblings died in early childhood or infancy. A sixth sibling, her elder brother Eleazar, died at age 20 just prior to his graduation from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Only Elizabeth Cady and four sisters lived well into adulthood and old age. Later in life, Elizabeth named her two daughters after two of her sisters, Margaret and Harriot.[3]

Daniel Cady, Stanton's father, was a prominent attorney who served one term in the United States Congress (Federalist; 1814–1817) and later became both a circuit court judge and, in 1847, a New York Supreme Court justice.[4] Judge Cady introduced his daughter to the law and, together with her brother-in-law, Edward Bayard, planted the early seeds that grew into her legal and social activism. Even as a young girl, she enjoyed perusing her father's law library and debating legal issues with his law clerks. It was this early exposure to law that, in part, caused Stanton to realize how disproportionately the law favored men over women, particularly over married women. Her realization that married women had virtually no property, income, employment, or even custody rights over their own children, helped set her course toward changing these inequities.[5]

Stanton's mother, Margaret Livingston Cady, a descendant of early Dutch settlers, was the daughter of Colonel James Livingston, an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Having fought at Saratoga and Quebec, Livingston assisted in the capture of Major John Andre at West Point, New York where Andre and Benedict Arnold, who escaped aboard the HMS Vulture, were scheming to turn West Point over to the English.[6] Margaret Cady, an unusually tall woman for her time, had a commanding presence, and Stanton routinely described her as "queenly."[7] While Stanton's daughter, Harriot Stanton Blatch, remembers her grandmother as being fun, affectionate, and lively,[8] Stanton herself did not apparently share such memories. Emotionally devastated by the loss of so many children, Margaret Cady fell into a depression, which kept her from being fully involved in the lives of her surviving children and left a maternal void in Stanton's childhood.[7]

Since Stanton's father contended with this loss by immersing himself in his work, many of the childrearing responsibilities fell to Stanton's elder sister, Tryphena, 11 years her senior, and Tryphena's husband, Edward Bayard, a Union College classmate of Eleazar Cady's and son of James A. Bayard, Sr., a U.S. Senator from Wilmington, Delaware. At the time of his engagement and marriage to Tryphena, Edward Bayard worked as an apprentice in Daniel Cady's law office and was instrumental in nurturing Stanton's growing understanding of the explicit and implicit gender hierarchies within the legal system.[9]

Slavery did not end in New York State until July 4, 1827[10], and, like many men of his day, Stanton's father was a slaveowner. Peter Teabout, a slave in the Cady household who was later freed in Johnstown,[11] took care of Stanton and her sister Margaret. While she makes no mention of Teabout's position as a slave in her family's household, he is remembered with particular fondness by Stanton in her memoir, Eighty Years & More. Among other things, she reminisces about the pleasure she took in attending the Episcopal church with Teabout, where, as Judge Cady's daughters, she and her sister enjoyed sitting with him in the back of the church rather than alone in front with the white families of the congregation.[12] It seems it was, however, not immediately the fact that her family owned at least one slave, but her exposure to the abolition movement as a young woman visiting her cousin, Gerrit Smith, in Peterboro, New York, that led to her staunch abolitionist sentiments.[13]

Education and intellectual development

Unlike many women of her era, Stanton was formally educated. She attended Johnstown Academy, where she studied Latin, Greek and mathematics until the age of 16. At the Academy, she enjoyed being in co-educational classes where she could compete intellectually and academically with boys her age and older.[14] She did this very successfully, winning several academic awards and honors, including the award for Greek language.[15]

In her memoir, Stanton credits the Cadys' neighbor, Rev. Simon Hosack, with strongly encouraging her intellectual development and academic abilities at a time when she felt these were undervalued by her father. Writing of her brother, Eleazar's, death in 1826, Stanton remembers trying to comfort her father, saying that she would try to be all her brother had been. At the time, her father's response devastated Stanton: "Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy!"[16] Understanding from this that her father valued boys above girls, Stanton tearfully took her disappointment to Hosack, whose firm belief in her abilities counteracted her father's perceived disparagement. Hosack went on to teach Stanton Greek, encouraged her to read widely, and ultimately bequeathed to her his own Greek lexicon along with other books. His confirmation of her intellectual abilities strengthened Stanton's confidence and self-esteem.[17]

Upon graduation from Johnstown Academy, Stanton received one of her first tastes of sexual discrimination. Stanton watched with dismay as the young men graduating with her, many of whom she had surpassed academically, went on to Union College, as her older brother, Eleazar, had done previously.[18] In 1830, with Union College taking only men, Stanton enrolled in the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York, which was founded and run by Emma Willard. (In 1895, the school was renamed the Emma Willard School in honor of its founder, and Stanton, spurred by her respect for Willard and despite her growing infirmities, was a keynote speaker at this event.)

Early during her student days in Troy,
Stanton remembers being strongly influenced by Charles Grandison Finney, an evangelical preacher and central figure in the revivalist movement. His influence, combined with the Calvinistic Presbyterianism of her childhood, caused her great unease. After hearing Finney speak, Stanton became terrified at the possibility of her own damnation: "Fear of judgment seized my soul. Visions of the lost haunted my dreams. Mental anguish prostrated my health. Dethronement of my reason was apprehended by my friends."[19] Stanton credits her father and brother-in-law, Edward Bayard, with convincing her to ignore Finney's warnings and, after taking her on a rejuvenating trip to Niagara Falls, restoring her reason and sense of balance.[20] She never returned to organized Christianity and, after this experience, always maintained that logic and a humane sense of ethics were the best guides to both thought and behavior.[21]

Marriage and family

As a young woman, Elizabeth Cady met Henry Brewster Stanton through her early involvement in the temperance and the abolition movements. Henry Stanton was an acquaintance of Elizabeth Cady's cousin, Gerrit Smith, an abolitionist and member of the "Secret Six" that supported John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.[22] Stanton was a journalist, an antislavery orator, and, after his marriage to Elizabeth Cady, an attorney. Despite Daniel Cady's reservations, the couple were married in 1840, with Elizabeth Cady requesting of the minister that the phrase "promise to obey" be removed from the wedding vows.[23] She later wrote, "I obstinately refused to obey one with whom I supposed I was entering into an equal relation."[24] The couple had six children between 1842 and 1856. Their seventh and last child, Robert, was an unplanned menopausal baby born in 1859 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton was forty-four.[25]

Soon after returning to the United States from their European honeymoon, the Stantons moved into the Cady household in Johnstown. Henry Stanton studied law under his father-in-law until 1843, when the Stantons moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Henry joined a law firm. While living in Boston, Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed the social, political, and intellectual stimulation that came with a constant round of abolitionist gatherings and meetings. Here she enjoyed the company of and was influenced by such people as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others.[26] Throughout her marriage and eventual widowhood, Stanton took her husband's surname as part of her own, signing herself Elizabeth Cady Stanton or E. Cady Stanton, but she refused to be addressed as Mrs. Henry B. Stanton. Asserting that women were individual persons, she stated that, "[t]he custom of calling women Mrs. John This and Mrs. Tom That and colored men Sambo and Zip Coon, is founded on the principle that white men are lords of all."[27]

The Stanton marriage was not entirely without tension and disagreement. Henry Stanton, like Daniel Cady, disagreed with the notion of female suffrage.[28] Because of employment, travel, and financial considerations, husband and wife lived more often apart than together. Friends of the couple found them very similar in temperament and ambition, but quite dissimilar in their views on certain issues including women's rights. In 1842, abolitionist reformer Sarah Grimke counseled Elizabeth in a letter: "Henry greatly needs a humble, holy companion and thou needest the same."[29] However, both Stantons considered their marriage an overall success, and the marriage lasted for 47 years, ending with Henry Stanton's death in 1887.[30]

In 1847, concerned about the effect of New England winters on Henry Stanton's fragile health, the Stantons moved from Boston to Seneca Falls, New York, situated at the northern end of Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes found in upstate New York. Their house, purchased for them by Daniel Cady, was located some distance from town.[31] The couple's last four children—two sons and two daughters—were born there, with Stanton asserting that her children were conceived under a program she called "voluntary motherhood." In an era when it was commonly held that a wife must submit to her husband's sexual demands, Stanton firmly believed that women should have command over their sexual relationships and childbearing.[25] As a mother who advocated homeopathy, freedom of expression, lots of outdoor activity, and a solid, highly academic education for all of her children, Stanton nurtured a breadth of interests, activities, and learning in both her sons and daughters.[32] She was remembered by her daughter Margaret as being "cheerful, sunny and indulgent".[33]

Although she enjoyed motherhood and assumed primary responsibility for rearing the children, Stanton found herself unsatisfied and even depressed by the lack of intellectual companionship and stimulation in Seneca Falls.[34] As an antidote to the boredom and loneliness, Stanton became increasingly involved in the community and, by 1848, had established ties to similarly-minded women in the area. By this time, she was firmly committed to the nascent women's rights movement and was ready to engage in organized activism.[35]

Early activism in the Women's Rights Movement

Prior to living in Seneca Falls, Stanton had become a great admirer and friend of Lucretia Mott, the Quaker minister, feminist, and abolitionist whom she had met at the International Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England in the spring of 1840 while on her honeymoon. The two women became allies when the male delegates attending the convention voted that women should be denied participation in the proceedings, even if they, like Mott, had been nominated to serve as official delegates of their respective abolitionist societies. After considerable debate, the women were required to sit in a roped-off section hidden from the view of the men in attendance. They were soon joined by the prominent abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, who arrived after the vote had been taken and, in protest of the outcome, refused his seat, electing instead to sit with the women.[36]

Mott's example and the decision to prohibit women from participating in the convention strengthened Stanton's commitment to women's rights. By 1848, her early life experiences, together with the experience in London and her initially debilitating experience as a housewife in Seneca Falls, galvanized Stanton. She later wrote:

"The general discontent I felt with woman's portion as wife, housekeeper, physician, and spiritual guide, the chaotic conditions into which everything fell without her constant supervision, and the wearied, anxious look of the majority of women, impressed me with a strong feeling that some active measures should be taken to remedy the wrongs of society in general, and of women in particular. My experience at the World Anti-slavery Convention, all I had read of the legal status of women, and the oppression I saw everywhere, together swept across my soul, intensified now by many personal experiences. It seemed as if all the elements had conspired to impel me to some onward step. I could not see what to do or where to begin -- my only thought was a public meeting for protest and discussion."[37]

In 1848, acting on these feelings and perceptions, Stanton joined Mott, Mott's sister Martha Coffin Wright, and a handful of other women in Seneca Falls. Together they organized the first women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls on July 19 and 20. Over 300 people attended. Stanton drafted a Declaration of Sentiments, which she read at the convention. Modeled on the United States Declaration of Independence, Stanton's declaration proclaimed that men and women are created equal. She proposed, among other things, a then-controversial resolution demanding voting rights for women. The final resolutions, including female suffrage, were passed, in no small measure, because of the support of Frederick Douglass, who attended and informally spoke at the convention.[38]

Soon after the convention, Stanton was invited to speak at a second women's rights convention in Rochester, New York, solidifying her role as an activist and reformer. Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis invited her to speak at the first National Women's Rights Convention in 1850, but because of pregnancy, Stanton chose instead to lend her name to the list of sponsors and send a speech to be read in her stead.[39] In 1851, Stanton was introduced to Susan B. Anthony on a street in Seneca Falls by Amelia Bloomer, a feminist and mutual acquaintance who had not signed the Declaration of Sentiments and subsequent resolutions despite her attendance at the Seneca Falls convention.[40]

Although best known for their joint work on behalf of women's suffrage, Stanton and Anthony first joined the temperance movement. Together, they were instrumental in founding the short-lived Woman's State Temperance Society (1852–1853). During her presidency of the organization, Stanton scandalized many supporters by suggesting that drunkenness be made sufficient cause for divorce.[41] Stanton and Anthony's focus, however, soon shifted to female suffrage and women's rights.

Single and having no children, Anthony had the time and energy to do the speaking and traveling that Stanton was unable to do. Their skills complemented each other; Stanton, the better orator and writer, scripted many of Anthony's speeches, while Anthony was the movement's organizer and tactician. Writing a tribute that appeared in the New York Times when Stanton died, Anthony described Stanton as having "forged the thunderbolts" that she (Anthony) "fired."[1] Unlike Anthony's relatively narrow focus on suffrage, Stanton wanted to push for a broader platform of women's rights in general. While their opposing viewpoints led to some discussion and conflict, no disagreement threatened their friendship or working relationship; the two women remained close friends and colleagues until Stanton's death some 50 years after their initial meeting.

While always recognized as movement leaders whose support was sought, Stanton and Anthony's voices were soon joined by others who began assuming leadership positions within the movement. These women included, among others, Matilda Joslyn Gage.[42]

Ideological divergence with abolitionists and the women's rights movement
"The prejudice against color, of which we hear so much, is no stronger than that against sex. It is produced by the same cause, and manifested very much in the same way."

Elizabeth Cady StantonAfter the American Civil War, both Stanton and Anthony broke with their abolitionist backgrounds and lobbied strongly against ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, which granted African American men the right to vote.[43] Believing that African American men, by virtue of the Thirteenth Amendment, already had the legal protections, except for suffrage, offered to white male citizens and that so largely expanding the male franchise in the country would only increase the number of voters prepared to deny women the right to vote,[44] both Stanton and Anthony were angry that the abolitionists, their former partners in working for both African American and women's rights, refused to demand that the language of the amendments be changed to include women.[45]

Eventually, Stanton's oppositional rhetoric took on racial overtones.[46] Arguing on behalf of female suffrage, Stanton posited that women voters of "wealth, education, and refinement" were needed to offset the effect of former slaves and immigrants whose "pauperism, ignorance, and degradation" might negatively affect the American political system.[47] She declared it to be "a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see 'Sambo' walk into the kingdom [of civil rights] first."[48] Some scholars have argued that Stanton's emphasis on property ownership and education, opposition to black male suffrage, and desire to hold out for universal suffrage fragmented the civil rights movement by pitting African-American men against women and, together with Stanton's emphasis on "educated suffrage,"[49] in part established a basis for the literacy requirements that followed in the wake of the passage of the fifteenth amendment.[50]

Stanton's position caused a significant rift between herself and many civil rights leaders, particularly Frederick Douglass, who believed that white women, already empowered by their connection to fathers, husbands, and brothers, at least vicariously had the vote. According to Douglass, their treatment as slaves entitled the now liberated African-American men, who lacked women's indirect empowerment, to voting rights before women were granted the franchise. African-American women, he believed, would have the same degree of empowerment as white women once African-American men had the vote; hence, general female suffrage was, according to Douglass, of less concern than black male suffrage.[51]

Disagreeing with Douglass, and despite the racist language she sometimes resorted to, Stanton firmly believed in a universal franchise that empowered blacks and whites, men and women. Speaking on behalf of black women, she stated that not allowing them to vote condemned African American freedwomen "to a triple bondage that man never knows," that of slavery, gender, and race.[52] She was joined in this belief by Anthony, Olympia Brown, and most especially Frances Gage, who was the first suffragist to champion voting rights for freedwomen.[53]

Thaddeus Stevens, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and ardent abolitionist, agreed that voting rights should be universal. In 1866, Stanton, Anthony, and several other suffragists drafted a universal suffrage petition demanding that the right to vote be given without consideration of sex or race. The petition was introduced in the United States Congress by Stevens.[54] Despite these efforts, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed, without adjustment, in 1868.

By the time the Fifteenth Amendment was making its way through Congress, Stanton's position led to a major schism in the women's rights movement itself. Many leaders in the women's rights movement, including Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe, strongly argued against Stanton's "all or nothing" position. By 1869, disagreement over ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment had given birth to two separate women's suffrage organizations. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was founded in May 1869 by Anthony and Stanton, who served as its president for 21 years.[55] The NWSA opposed passage of the Fifteenth Amendment without changes to include female suffrage and, under Stanton's influence in particular, championed a number of women's issues that were deemed too radical by more conservative members of the suffrage movement. The better-funded, larger,[56] and more representative woman suffragist vehicle[57] American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), founded the following November and led by Stone,[58] Blackwell, and Howe,[59] supported the Fifteenth Amendment as written. Following passage of that Amendment the AWSA preferred to focus only on female suffrage rather than advocate for the broader women's rights espoused by Stanton: gender-neutral divorce laws,[60] a woman's right to sexually refuse her husband, increased economic opportunities for women, and the right of women to serve on juries.[61]

Believing that men should not be given the right to vote without women also being granted the franchise, Sojourner Truth, a former slave and feminist, affiliated herself with Stanton and Anthony's organization.[62] Stanton, Anthony, and Truth were joined by Matilda Joslyn Gage, who later worked on The Woman's Bible with Stanton. Despite Stanton's position and the efforts of her and others to expand the Fifteenth Amendment to include voting rights for all women, this amendment also passed, as it was originally written, in 1870.

Later years

In the decade following ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, both Stanton and Anthony increasingly took the position, first advocated by Victoria Woodhull, that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments actually did give women the right to vote.[63] They argued that the Fourteenth Amendment, which defined citizens as "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," included women and that the Fifteenth Amendment provided all citizens with the right to vote.[64] Using this logic, they asserted that women now had the constitutional right to vote and that it was simply a matter of claiming that right. This constitutionally-based argument, which came to be called "the new departure" in women's rights circles because of its divergence from earlier attempts to change voting laws on a state-by-state basis,[65] led to first Anthony (in 1872), and later Stanton (in 1880), going to the polls and demanding to vote.[66] Despite this, and similar attempts made by hundreds of other women, it would be nearly 50 years before women obtained the right to vote throughout the United States.

During this time, Stanton maintained a broad focus on women's rights in general rather than narrowing her focus only to female suffrage in particular. After passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 and its support by the Equal Rights Association and prominent suffragists such as Stone, Blackwell, and Howe, the gap between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other leaders of the women's movement widened as Stanton took issue with the fundamental religious leanings of several movement leaders. Unlike many of her colleagues, Stanton believed organized Christianity relegated women to an unacceptable position in society. She explored this view in the 1890s in The Woman's Bible, which elucidated a feminist understanding of biblical scripture and sought to correct the fundamental sexism Stanton saw as being inherent to organized Christianity.[67] Likewise, Stanton supported divorce rights, employment rights, and property rights for women, issues in which the American Women's Suffrage Association (AWSA) preferred not to become involved.[68]

Her more radical positions included acceptance of interracial marriage. Despite her opposition to giving African-American men the right to vote without enfranchising all women and the derogatory language she had resorted to in expressing this opposition, Stanton had no objection to interracial marriage and wrote a congratulatory letter to Frederick Douglass upon his marriage to Helen Pitts, a white woman, in 1884.[69] Anthony, fearing public condemnation of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and wanting to keep the demand for female suffrage foremost, pleaded with Stanton not to make her letter to Douglass or support for his marriage publicly known.[70]

Stanton went on to write many of the more important books, documents, and speeches of the women's rights movement. Starting in 1876, Stanton teamed with Anthony and Gage to write the first volume of History of Woman Suffrage, a seminal, six-volume work containing the full history, documents, and letters of the woman's suffrage movement.[71] The first two volumes were published in 1881 and the third in 1886; the work was eventually completed in 1922 by Ida Harper.[72] Stanton's other major writings included the two-part The Woman's Bible, published in 1895 and 1898; Eighty Years & More: Reminiscences 1815–1897, her autobiography, published in 1898; and The Solitude of Self, or "Self-Sovereignty," which she first delivered as a speech at the 1892 convention of the National American Women's Suffrage Association in Washington, D.C..[73]

In 1868 Stanton, together with Susan B. Anthony and Parker Pillsbury, a leading male feminist of his day, began publishing a weekly periodical, Revolution, with editorials by Stanton that focused on a wide array of women's issues.[74] In a view different from many modern feminists, Stanton, who supported birth control and likely used it herself,[75] believed that abortion was infanticide, a position she discussed in Revolution.[76] At this time, Stanton also joined the New York Lyceum Bureau, embarking on a 12-year career on the Lyceum Circuit. Traveling and lecturing for eight months every year provided her both with the funds to put her two youngest sons through college and, given her popularity as a lecturer, with a way to spread her ideas among the general population, gain broad public recognition, and further establish her reputation as a pre-eminent leader in the women's rights movement. Among her most popular speeches were "Our Girls", "Our Boys", "Co-education", "Marriage and Divorce", "Prison Life", and "The Bible and Woman's Rights".[77] Her lecture travels so occupied her that Stanton, although president, presided at only four of 15 conventions of the National Women's Suffrage Association during this period.[78]

In addition to her writing and speaking, Stanton was also instrumental in promoting women's suffrage in various states, particularly New York, Missouri, Kansas, where it was included on the ballot in 1867, and Michigan, where it was put to the vote in 1874. She made an unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Congressional seat from New York in 1868, and she was the primary force behind passage of the "Woman's Property Bill" that was eventually passed by the New York State Legislature.[1] She worked toward female suffrage in Wyoming, Utah, and California, and in 1878, she convinced California Senator Aaron A. Sargent to introduce a female suffrage amendment using wording similar to that of the Fifteenth Amendment passed some eight years previously.[74]


Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her later years

Stanton was also active internationally, spending a great deal of time in Europe, where her daughter and fellow feminist Harriot Stanton Blatch lived. In 1888, she helped prepare for the founding of the International Council of Women.[79] In 1890, Stanton opposed the merger of the National Woman's Suffrage Association with the more conservative and religiously based American Woman Suffrage Association.[80] Over her objections, the organizations merged, creating the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Despite her opposition to the merger, Stanton became its first president, largely because of Susan B. Anthony's intervention. In good measure because of the The Woman's Bible and her position on issues such as divorce, she was, however, never popular among the more religiously conservative members of the "National American".[81]

On January 18, 1892, approximately ten years before she died, Stanton joined Anthony, Stone, and Isabella Beecher Hooker to address the issue of suffrage before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary.[82] After nearly five decades of fighting for female suffrage and women's rights, it was Elizabeth Cady Stanton's final appearance before members of the United States Congress.[83] Using the text of what became The Solitude of Self, she spoke of the central value of the individual, noting that value was not based on gender. As with the Declaration of Sentiments she had penned some 45 years earlier, Stanton's statement expressed not only the need for women's voting rights in particular, but the need for a revamped understanding of women's position in society and even of women in general:

"The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings. The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear — is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life. The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself [...]."[84]

Lucy Stone was so impressed with the brilliance of Stanton's speech that she published The Solitude of Self in its entirety in the Woman's Journal, leaving out her own speech to the committee.[85]

Death, burial, and remembrance

U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Seneca Falls Convention titled 100 Years of Progress of Women: 1848–1948 (Elizabeth Cady Stanton on left)

Stanton died of heart failure at her home in New York City on October 26, 1902, nearly 20 years before women were granted the right to vote in the United States. Survived by six of her seven children and by seven grandchildren, she was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Although Elizabeth Cady Stanton had been unable to attend a formal college or university, her daughters did. Margaret Livingston Stanton Lawrence attended Vassar College (1876) and Columbia University (1891), and Harriot Stanton Blatch received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Vassar College in 1878 and 1891 respectively.[86]

After Stanton's death, her unorthodox ideas about religion and emphasis on female employment and other women's issues led many suffragists to focus on Anthony, rather than Stanton, as the founder of the women's suffrage movement. Stanton's controversial publishing of The Woman's Bible in 1895 alienated more religiously traditional suffragists, and cemented Anthony's place as the more readily recognized leader of the female suffrage movement.[87] Anthony continued to work with NAWSA and became more familiar to many of the younger members of the movement.[78] By 1923, in celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, only Harriot Stanton Blatch paid tribute to the role her mother had played in instigating the women's rights movement.[88] Even as late as 1977, Anthony received most of the attention as the founder of the movement, while Stanton was not mentioned.[88]

The monument for Henry Brewster Stanton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Woodlawn Cemetery
Over time, however, Stanton received more attention. Stanton was commemorated along with Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony in a sculpture by Adelaide Johnson at the United States Capitol, unveiled in 1921. Originally kept on display in the crypt of the US Capitol, the sculpture was moved to its current location and more prominently displayed in the rotunda in 1997.[89] The Elizabeth Cady Stanton House in Seneca Falls was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. Her house in Tenafly, New Jersey was declared a landmark in 1975, and by the 1990s, interest in Stanton was substantially rekindled when Ken Burns, among others, presented the life and contributions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Once again, attention was drawn to her central, founding role in shaping not only the woman's suffrage movement, but a broad women's rights movement in the United States that included women's suffrage, women's legal reform, and women's roles in society as a whole.[90]

Stanton is commemorated in the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church on July 20, together with Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Ross Tubman.

Writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (author, co-author)
Books

History of Woman Suffrage; Volumes 1–3 (written with Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage; vol 4–6 completed by other authors, including Anthony, Gage, and Ida Harper) (1881–1922)
Solitude of Self (originally delivered as a speech in 1892; later published in a hard bound edition by Paris Press)
The Woman's Bible (1895, 1898)
Eighty Years & More: Reminiscences 1815–1897 (1898)
Selected periodicals and journals
Revolution (Stanton, co-editor) (1868–1870)
Lily (published by Amelia Bloomer; Stanton as contributor)
Una (published by Paulina Wright Davis; Stanton as contributor)
New York Tribune (published by Horace Greeley; Stanton as contributor)
Selected papers, essays, and speeches
Declaration of Rights & Sentiments (1848)
A Petition for Universal Suffrage (1866)
Self-government the Best Means of Self-development (1884)
Solitude of Self (1892)
The Degradation of Disenfranchisement (1892)
Lyceum speeches: "Our Girls," "Our Boys," "Co-education," "Marriage and Divorce," "Prison Life," and "The Bible and Woman's Rights," "Temperence and Women's Rights" and many others

Stanton's papers are archived at Rutgers University: The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers Project, Rutgers University; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton

Sunday, May 23, 2010

ALS Grad to Study Hudson River Corridor

Albany Law Scool Grad of ’12, was awarded fellowship to study land use on Hudson. Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 10:04am

Nikki Nielson ’12 was recently awarded a Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship to spend the summer researching conservation easements along the Hudson River corridor stretching from New York City to Troy, N.Y.

At the end of the summer, she will present her findings to the Hudson River Foundation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the two entities who administer the fellowship.

“Ulster County alone has 11 land trusts, and there are many more throughout the Hudson Valley.” explained Nielson, who operated her own grant writing and project management firm in New Paltz, N.Y., prior to enrolling at Albany Law.

“My work will be to step back and try to determine how this type of land can best be used while preserving environmental benefits.”

Many historic properties along the Hudson River - estates of industrialists, religious retreats and agricultural lands - have been converted over the years from private ownership into a mixture of public, private and quasi-public ownership. One of these conversion mechanisms has been for the landowner to grant conservation easements to restrict development of their property.

However, there is currently a lack of information about the implementation of conservation easements, as well as some confusion as to the legal implications of such a designation. Nielson will spend the summer surveying the quantity and types of easements along the Hudson River, analyzing existing case law and legal research on the topic, and developing analysis and recommendations for future implementation.

She hopes to publish a paper based on her work.

“Ultimately, my goal is to inform the public policy discussion on how best to move forward with a comprehensive plan while still protecting the land for future generations,” she said.

The Polgar Fellowship provides a summertime grant and research funds for up to eight college students to conduct research on the Hudson River. The program’s objectives are to gather information on all aspects of the Hudson River and to train students in conducting estuarine studies and public policy research.

Professor Keith Hirokawa, who taught Nielson’s Property class, will act as her advisor during the fellowship. “He’s the one who encouraged me to apply,” she recalled.

After teaching in the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto, Calif., Nielson moved to the Hudson Valley in 2001 and took a position developing grants and managing projects for municipalities and regional organizations.

She launched her own firm, Arcady Solutions, in 2008, where she provided writing, research, needs assessments, project development, fundraising and project management services for organizations in the fields of economic development, environmental sustainability through the protection of open space and educational equity.

“I’ve always wanted to go to law school,” she said. “And now, based on my prior work experience and current interests, I really feel like I have direction in terms of what kind of law I want to pursue.”

Nielson, who lives in New Paltz with her husband and their daughter, holds a B.S. from the University of Rochester, and a M.A. from Teacher's College, Columbia University, in politics and education.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Pacos Feet

MEET PACO, 3 yr old standard-sized Spotted Jack














Click on pics to enlarge - once enlarged, click again to enlarge even more



FRONT FEET; notice vertical ridges across hoofs and horizontal concave "groove" or "indentation" just forward of heels (appears as line or "crease" in pic)
















LEFT FRONT 3- Standing on Toes, Heels too High? Check out how high up bulbs are!
















LEFT FRONT 4 - Also showing dark horizontal (stress?) ridges across hoof wall and vertical concave "grooves" or "indentations" just forward of the heels (appears as dark line or "crease" in pic);















RIGHT FRONT; Heels not touching ground














RIGHT FRONT SOLE; Sorry for bad pic. Wanted to show "thickness of toe" or "lamaric-fill?"















LEFT FRONT SOLE;
















LEFT REAR; Same ridges and indentations
















LEFT REAR 2;














LEFT REAR 3;















LEFT REAR SOLE;

















RIGHT REAR 2; Notice pinkish line mid-way round hoof














RIGHT REAR x;














RIGHT REAR;

Thursday, April 8, 2010

What Now for Our Little Acre?

What else but Worm-Farming and Composting?
(Vermiculture)




I bought this book because I live in a city, have a moderate size backyard and know without a doubt that I can join the ranks of hundreds of other worm growers around the US by growing worms and selling them on a monthly basis. I have just started my worm farm and have found every page of this book invaluable.
Peter Bogdanov is the president of VermiCo which is the leader in earthworm information and technology. His book is one of the best on the market today for anyone who would like to understand how they, with a minimal investment, can start their own profitable worm farm in the city, the suburbs or in a rural area.

Peter's book literally takes you by the hand... He explains commercial vermiculture (raising worms for profit) and gives you a clear picture as to where it started, where it is today and where it's going. The last part really excited me - where worm farming is going is so incredible.

The next section is devoted to answering every question most worm raising nubies ask. I sense that these questions and answers come directly from Peter's willingness to educate the public for the last twenty years. Incidentally, I'm going to one of his internationally famous seminars in October 2000 where he brings the top people in the industry together for a long information packed two days.

The next section details how to get started. These details are split up for the hobbyist, medium size farmer or for the person who wants to go for the gold and be a large scale worm farmer.

Following this comes great instructions on monitoring conditions in your worm beds. This is invaluable since many folks think you can do this by just tossing a few worms in a box and seeing what happens. Worm farming is ALMOST that easy but to be successful you have to know a little more than that!

Next come details on all the different ways you can feed your worms and also eliminate and worries about pests and predators (not a big problem for most folks).

Following this comes instructions on harvesting, (all the different ways to get your worms out of their worm bin) packaging and shipping, (how to avoid things like having 40 pounds of soggy worms let loose in the back of your UPS driver's truck) .

Peter then gives a really decent explanation of castings (worm poop) that drives home the point that you can profit in so many different ways from raising worms.

The book finishes up with a summary overview of worms yesterday, today and tomorrow, how one can basically guarantee their success and additional ways to profit from this fun and lucrative business.

While brief and concise, this book is NOT shallow, not necessarily JUST for the nubie and as far as I am concerned worth every penny. If you are just getting started or if you are already keeping worms and want to move into the commercial direction than this book really might be for you.

...

One thing kind of floored me - there are very few books available on Amazon regarding worms at this time. However, there are MANY excellent books out there - MANY! You will find a number of additional titles in Peter's catalogue and I recommend reading as many sources of information as you can because like anything in life, every expert finds their unique way to "skin a cat". I know Peter would encourage you to read widely as well, so start with his book, get on his mailing list and go for it!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Schagiticoke Health Care Facility Gets Failing Grade

Northwoods’ complaint rate above state average
Published: Friday, April 02, 2010

By Jessica M. Pasko
The Record

SCHAGHTICOKE — A state investigation resulted in charges against 14 former and current employees of a Rensselaer County health care facility this week, but state records show the facility has long been plagued with problems.

Documents show that from 2007-2009, the Northwoods Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility in Schaghticoke had a complaint rate more than three times the state average.

There were 104 complaints about the Northwoods facility between January 2007 and December 2009, 41 percent of which were for facility-reported incidents, according to the state health department. That makes for a rate of 94.9 reports per 100 beds occupied, a rate the state determines based on daily occupancy rates to help with comparing a specific facility’s complaint experience with that of other nursing homes.

For the same time period, the statewide average rate of complaints received per 100 beds was 24.4.

The department of health investigates any allegations that a nursing home has violated federal or state regulations, or has provided inadequate care. With regards to the complaints against Northwoods between 2007 and 2009, state health officials conducted 48 on-site inspections that resulted in 30 citations, the bulk of which were in regards to quality of the care at the facility.

An updated inspection report from last month showed that Northwoods had a total of 57 deficiencies with regards to standard health and life safety code. That’s compared to the state average of 24, and of those 57, the state deemed 12 of them to be related to actual harm or immediate jeopardy.

Northwoods Health Systems, which also runs facilities in Cortland. Rensselaer and Niskayuna, was fined $6,000 last year for citations for quality of care, organization and administration, and quality assessment and assurance stemming from a Jan. 16, 2009 health department inspection of the Schaghticoke facility. That inspection found several instances of patient neglect, inadequate care and lack of proper documentation and monitoring in at least one resident’s case.

The facility was also fined $2,000 in 2008 for citations regarding quality of life and dignity stemming from a 2007 inspection. It was also fined $3,000 in 2004 for violations of residents’ rights on multiple dates, and it was fined $4,000 in 2002 for multiple violations of quality of care.

State health department records also show that between 2007 and 2009, the 120-bed facility exceeded the state and national averages for the number of patients suffering from bed sores.

Eighteen percent of high-risk patients suffered from bed sores, compared to the state average of 13 percent and the national average of 11 percent. As far as low-risk patients go, 3 percent of Northwoods residents suffered from bed sores, a slight rise above the state and national average of 2 percent.

Additionally, 27 percent of patients there for a short stay between October 2008 and September 2009 suffered bed sores, higher than the state’s 17 percent average.

The records also show that 11 percent of patients suffered from urinary tract infections from January to September 2009. The state average for this period was 8 percent, and the national average was 9 percent.

On Wednesday, 14 current and former employees at the facility were arraigned on multiple counts of neglect and falsifying business records. The charges followed a six-week video surveillance investigation by the state Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted from the end of February to early April in 2009.

According to Attorney General Cuomo, a hidden camera used with an unnamed 50-year-old patient, discovered that staff “routinely failed to turn and position an immobile resident, failed to administer medications and failed to treat bed sores. The patient suffered from multiple illnesses — including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and organ brain syndrome — and was completely reliant on staffers for all personal needs, according to the charges.

Nine of the staffers were immediately suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, which covered a six-week period from the end of February to early April in 2009, according to Northwoods administrators. The alleged abuse took place before the current administration took control of the facility in July, said spokeswoman Lisa Cupolo, and the new administrators say they’ve made significant improvements since taking over.

Several relatives of former Northwoods patients said they’ve complained to the state and facility administrators about the quality of care there before but have received little response. They’ve complained of bed sores, untreated urinary tract infections, and unanswered call buttons, among other problems.

Penny Marcy of Waterford said she put her 87-year-old mother in Northwoods in May when she suffered health problems of her own, and took her out in January after becoming disgusted with what she and family members saw as a gross lack of care.

“They wouldn’t let her walk,” said Marcy. “They filled her with pills she didn’t need so she was comatose when we got to her.”

Marcy also said her mother suffered from untreated bed sores, and that administrators lied to her about her mother having a stroke that caused the loss of the use of her left side.

“A neurologist told me she hadn’t had a stroke and it was caused by the pills they were giving to her,” said Marcy, who said her complaints to then facility officials fell on deaf ears.

Marcy’s mother is now staying with her sister in Halfmoon where she’s doing much better.

“The care that the administrators provide is a disgrace,” Marcy said. “Northwoods is the worse nursing home I’ve ever been in.”

Darcy Spencer of Troy and her sisters have obtained the services of the Martin, Harding and Mazzotti law firm in investigating their claims that Northwoods staff severely neglected their 66-year-old mother and ultimately caused her death in August.

The firm is also investigating at least four other similar cases.

Spencer and her sisters also accuse Northwoods of giving their mother, Mary Ann Poppielion, wrong medications, letting her call button go unanswered for long stretches of time and failing to properly treat a urinary tract infection that eventually led her to die of septic shock.

They said they’ve reported these and other complains to state officials and have also called the attorney general’s office.

In August, federal officials barred Northwoods from receiving Medicaid or Medicare payments for new residents following complaints that workers were ignoring the buzzer system used by patients needing assistance.

That restriction was lifted within a few weeks, according to Cupolo.

The facility suffered yet another blow in January when a former nurse’s aide pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a physically helpless 78-year-old woman in late 2007 and early 2008. Robert Gundersen, 52, of Middleburgh was sentenced to 10 years of probation as part of a plea deal.

The latest charges in Schaghticoke follow the 2007 conviction of Northwoods’ former owner, Highgate LTC Management LLC, for six misdemeanor criminal charges stemming from an undercover state investigation at its Cortland facility.

A few individual employees were convicted on neglect charges in the case as well, and Highgate was ultimately barred from the long-term care business.

Jessica M. Pasko can be reached at 270-1288 or by e-mail at jpasko@troyrecord.com.



http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/04/02/news/doc4bb572b96da50508862155.txt

All Over Albany: News

Click on title above for report

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Troy 2 Get Food Co-Op

Troy Food Co-Op Website;
http://troyfoodcoop.com/



Click on title above to go to FaceBook Page;
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Troy-NY/Troy-Community-Food-Co-op/136696392141?v=wall

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

IM Conversations w/ my 13yr old Neighbor

Christine
I c u have the F wrd on you facebook page

6:30pmAllison
yeaa

6:30pmChristine
u think that is ok?

6:30pmAllison
my parents dont care. because its what my friend said.

6:31pmChristine
r u sure they dont care. if so, that is not a good reflection on them, or you. You are too young to use such language, I dont care what yer "friends" say

6:32pmAllison
i say it all the time

what are you gunna do? call the cops?

6:32pmChristine
And you say yur parents know?

6:33pmAllison
yea

6:33pmChristine
How about I call them to see?

6:34pmAllison
go right ahead.

even send my mom an email

6:34pmChristine
How about I call her now?

6:34pmAllison
sureee

6:35pmChristine
k

line is busy but i will check it out.

6:35pmAllison
send her an email

6:35pmChristine
It is NOT RIGHT for a young girl like you to use such language!

6:36pmAllison
have you seen jess? she does it ALL the time

6:36pmChristine
I prefer to talk to them by phone. Just know I dont want you to ever put any language like that on any of my sites.....I dont even like to be connected with children who use such language.

I dont know what she says or does "in real life," but if she is saying the F word on the internet I will tell her mom too!

6:38pmAllison
You dont need to contact them. It's my life, not yours. My parents dont even want me speaking to you or hanging out with you because your a bad influence.

Like hitting george with a chair.

6:38pmChristine
Ha! Thats it then.

Say what? When?

6:39pmAllison
like 2 or 3 years ago. when me and mariah were upstairs.

6:39pmChristine
What adults do is no concern to children...unless of course IT EFFECTS them

6:40pmAllison
But anyways, its MY mouth and MY body. I can do whatever i want to do.

6:41pmChristine
So if yer ma and dad dont want u hangin round me I suppose uyou had better not. Anyways, I dont much like NASTY little girls like you (apparently) are

6:43pmChristine
Kevin says dont bother him anymore on his facebook page either....he knows the deal

6:43pmAllison
what are you talking about? I dont even have him on facebook!!!!


6:45pmChristine
Well he is a liar too, I suppose.

6:45pmAllison
You can think what you want to, but im my case. YOU dont have to worry about me. It's my life and NO one else said anything about me saying that. SO you shouldnt worry.

Really? IM NOT A LIAR!

6:47pmAllison
infact, your a liar because he doesnt even have a facebook.

6:47pmChristine
Allie, any ADULT in their RIGHT mind would not be "ok" w/ their 13 yr old daughter using such language, particularly on the internet.....and I cant believe your parents would be ok with it. If they are, fine. But I gotta report it none-the-less

Enough of this name calling.Guess this is the end for us

6:48pmAllison
yeah, so delete me from your fucking life and NEVER fucking talk to me again!

6:48pmChristine
u got it

6:50pmAllison
Lateeerr. you bipolar syco bitch.

6:51pmChristine
So, the REAL u comes out now.

6:51pmAllison is offline.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Will Rensselaer County count calories?

March 25, 2010 at 5:14 pm by Kenneth C. Crowe II

The public counting of calories at fast food restaurants has become part of the effort to fight the national obesity epidemic. Albany County does it and so does Schenectady County. New York City does it and it’s included in the federal health care bill.

Now, Rensselaer County Legislator Peter Grimm, D-Troy, is proposing the county mandate it too.

Here’s Grimm’s take on the matter:

Legislator Grimm Calls on Rensselaer County Legislature to Consider Calorie Count Bill

Troy Legislator Peter Grimm has called on the Rensselaer County Legislature to consider a local law that would require chain food service establishments to post nutritional information – specifically, calories contained in menu items, at the point of consumer decisions at fast-food restaurants. Similar laws are now in effect in both Albany and Schenectady Counties affording responsible consumer choices at these restaurants. In a letter of memorandum, Grimm urged the County Executive and Chairman of the Legislature to join with him and support a local law initiative. “Calorie information is going to be in plain sight for all consumers to see, putting knowledge in the hands of people. I believe anything we can do to help children and families make wise and healthy decisions will make a difference”, said Grimm.

With the historic signing of a national heath care reform act, significant emphasis is being placed on preventative care as a means of controlling costs and promoting personal responsibility for good health. “As we await the numerous components of the new federal legislation to take effect, I believe Rensselaer County should be proactive in promoting healthy eating habits through increased consumer awareness and urge early initiation of this law”, stated Grimm. The local law will be presented to the Rensselaer County Legislature for consideration at its April meeting.



http://blog.timesunion.com/localpolitics/6509/will-rensselaer-county-count-calories/

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Emma Looses AA Rating

Report title: Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, New York Emma Willard School; Independent Schools
from S&P Credit Research
1944 word report published Mar 23, 2010

Price $400.00 available for immediate download

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Abstract: Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term rating to 'A+' from 'AA-' on Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s series 2006 civic facility revenue bonds, issued for Emma Willard School. The rating outlook is stable. The downgrade reflects our assessment of the school's recent operating pressures, which resulted in large deficits based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) including a moderately aggressive endowment draw in fiscals 2008 and 2009. In addition, management has indicated it expects similar results in the near future as well as a significant deterioration of financial resources, which are at levels more comparable to the 'A' rating category. The 'A+' rating reflects our view of the school's: Strong demand profile as demonstrated by a strong


Brief Excerpt: RESEARCH Ratings Definitions Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, New York Emma Willard School; Independent Schools Publication date: 23-Mar-2010 Primary Credit Analyst: Marc Savaria, Boston (1) 617-530-8315; marc_savaria@standardandpoors.co...


Report Type: Full Report

Issuer: Emma Willard School

Sector: Global Issuers, Public Finance

Country: United States

Region: United States

Free Sample: Click Here to Download

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S&P Credit Research provides analysis on issuers and debt obligations of corporations, states and municipalities, financial institutions, insurance companies and sovereign governments. S&P also offers insight into the credit risk of structured finance deals, providing an independent view of credit risk associated with a growing array of debt-securitized instruments.


Also from S&P Credit Research
Summary: Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, New York Emma Willard School; Independent Schools $175.00
Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term rating to 'A+' from 'AA-' on Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s series 2006 civic facility revenue bonds, issued for Emma Willard School. The rating outlook is stable. ...
Debt Rating On Emma Willard School, NY Lowered To 'A+' On Diminished Operating Performance $100.00
BOSTON (Standard&Poor's) March 22, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term rating to 'A+' from 'AA-' on Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s series 2006 civic facility revenue bonds, issued for the Emma ...
Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency Emma Willard School, New York; Independent Schools $400.00
Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'AA-' long-term rating on Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s series 2006 civic facility revenue bonds, issued for the Emma Willard School. The 'AA-' rating reflects the school's: ...
Summary: Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency Emma Willard School, New York; Independent Schools $175.00
Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'AA-' long-term rating on Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s series 2006 civic facility revenue bonds, issued for the Emma Willard School. The 'AA-' rating reflects the school's: ...
Emma Williard School, NY Civic Facility Revenue Bonds Rated 'AA-'; Outlook Stable $100.00
NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) June 8, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA-' rating to Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s $31.4 million civic facility revenue bonds, series 2006, issued for the Emma Willard ...
Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, New York Emma Williard School; Independent Schools $400.00
Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA-' rating to Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s civic facility revenue bonds series 2006, issued for the Emma Willard School. The 'AA-' rating reflects the school's: Strong ...
Summary: Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, New York Emma Williard School; Independent Schools $175.00
Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA-' rating to Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency, N.Y.'s civic facility revenue bonds series 2006, issued for the Emma Willard School. The 'AA-' rating reflects the school's: Strong ...




http://www.alacrastore.com/research/s-and-p-credit-research-Rensselaer_County_Industrial_Development_Agency_New_York_Emma_Willard_School_Independent_Schools-784010

Msg. for Schumer on China Policy

From Jr. Deputy Accountant
China Currency Manipulation: Careful What You Wish For

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 09:00 AM PDT


Careful what you wish for, Chuck Schumer, you're treading a very dangerous line and I'm not quite sure you want to bite the hand that feeds you. Oh sorry, make that the hand that used to feed you before China got smart and decided it would go foam up its bubble all on its own over there.


Two U.S. senators vowed on Tuesday to push for action on a bill aimed at pressuring China to strengthen its currency on the eve of a senior Chinese official's visit to Washington to smooth differences.

Arguing that China's exchange rate policies cost American jobs, the lawmakers said such pressure was necessary to make China move.

"My belief is that China will not do anything unless they're required to, and every day we wait is a day we lose wealth, we lose economic advantage, we lose jobs," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.


Schumer told reporters on conference call that he and Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, would push for a vote on the bill by the end of May. The measure would allow U.S. companies to seek duties on Chinese goods to offset China's currency policies.

"If we took the currency issue off the table, we would be more competitive in every sector," added Graham.

Yo, Lindsey, it's not your table dude.

Here's a novel idea for the honorable (?!) Mssrs. Schumer and Graham: they have the fucking Fed to babysit and have failed miserably at taming that particular beast. They'd be wise to tend to their own house before they go judging their new Asian neighbors for having cheap furniture if you know what I'm sayin.

In honor of this large oversight on the part of Congress (you know, forgetting that it's their job to keep the Fed on a short leash), I resurrect Eliot Spitzer: The Fed is a Ponzi Scheme.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Renss. Co Students: Historians in Training Program

Alexander Minton
Special to The Record

“Getting There: Historians in Training

Explore Travel Through Time:”

A piece of sheet music, a section of trolley track, an elegant, if faded, carriage, and a rusting horseshoe. All of these objects are among the artifacts from the Rensselaer County Historical Society collection researched by students from Tony Rieth’s and Karen Bechdol’s Humanities class at Troy High School. These 25 “Historians in Training” are part of an exciting collaboration among Troy High School, RCHS and The Record.

In early 2009, RCHS staff provided the students with a selection of transportation-themed objects from which to choose. The Historians in Training then picked the objects they wanted to research and uncovered their stories, writing articles that will appear in The Record each Monday, starting today. These stories provide an eclectic window into the impact that planes, trains, and automobiles (as well as boats and horses) have had on the history of Rensselaer County.

Through this collaborative, the Historians in Training developed research and writing skills and had the opportunity to explore careers in history museums and journalism. Most importantly, they discovered fascinating stories from the past, and through their research and articles, are making local history accessible to our community.

People need direction in life; they always have and always will. The Handy Pocket Guide to trains was the very direction people in turn of the century Troy needed. Their lives depended on the trains that ran through their city. So this little 50 page booklet was a godsend to people who needed to catch trains often.

This small book from 1902 has a worn feeling to it and the color is faded, yet even a century later, it is still in exquisite condition; a gallant effort at keeping the history of our fair county alive by the historians at the Rensselaer County Historical Society where this book resides. The first dozen pages of the guide are dense with information including many train schedules. Troy has always been an important center of transportation activity, and dozens of trains came in and out of Troy every day in 1902! The book also has many advertisements for chemists, druggists, shops and other services. Many businesses that distributed these pamphlets usually also posted their own ads in them.

The front cover of this book has the name Minnie Hunt written on it. A search of the Troy City Directory for the year 1902 uncovered some information about Miss Hunt. She was a milliner who worked at 363 Broadway, and boarded in Watervliet. She didn’t own the shop and there was no sign of distribution of these pamphlets from the hat shop so this must have been her personal copy. In 1903, she moved out of Troy, but to an unknown destination.

This booklet was very important to everyday people. It is difficult to understand the significance of this little book since passenger train services ended in Troy in 1958. But if your life revolves around a bus or subway schedule, then you probably have a good idea of the true worth of a small pamphlet like this one.

The Historians in Training program is collaboration among the Rensselaer County Historical Society, Troy High School, and The Record. For more information, please visit www.rchsonline.org or call 518-272-7232, x17. Educational programming at RCHS is made possible by the generous support of RCHS members and donors and is supported in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.





http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/03/22/news/doc4ba6db2f55374676716978.txt#blogcomments

Monument Square to host ‘Troygle’ event Tuesday

Published: Monday, March 22, 2010

By Dave Canfield
The Record

TROY — Supporters of the Collar City’s bid to become a Google test market will take to downtown streets Tuesday to show the company, literally, that they want its ultra high-speed internet.

Organizers plan on filming the event they’ve dubbed “The Need for Speed,” slated for 5 to 7 p.m. at Monument Square, for submission as part of their application to the rapidly expanding California-based company that is now a household name. Those applications seeking to prove worthiness for high-speed broadband internet are due Friday.

Lisa Powell Graham, who has been organizing the effort to bring Google to Troy, said she’s never seen as much extensive support as has been offered for the efforts of the group, which has established a Web site at troygle.org. She hopes as many people as possible will come out for Tuesday’s rain-or-shine event.

“We just need to have as big of a crowd as we can get,” Graham said. “We need to do this and have this presence now, before the applications are due.”

The Hellions of Troy roller derby team will be on hand, and the first 100 attendees will receive a free Uncle Sam hat. Organizers plan to make Google very aware that the Collar City was once home to the man behind that legend.

The video’s expected narration introduces Troy as a place “where history, culture and technology meet,” noting its architecture, 19th-century industrial prominence and its location in New York’s Tech Valley region. It references President Barack Obama’s recent visit to the city as well as the presence of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world.

The high density of technology companies and educational institutions in the area would give Google all the cooperation they needed to get the broadband system running and successful, Graham said.

“All the local colleges and schools are on board. The businesses are on board. City Hall is 100 percent behind it,” she said. “We think we’re poised to give them what they need in terms of partnership.”

According to Google, the fiber-optic broadband is capable of downloading up to one gigabit per second, which is some 100 times faster than connection speeds available to most Americans. Supporters say speed like that not only makes Troy a desirable place for residents, but could also be a deciding factor in bringing technology firms to the area.

Likely for those same reasons, Troy isn’t the only city vying to be the project’s guinea pig. Scores of Facebook pages exist to support different markets, and other cities have pulled stunts like the one Troy will see Tuesday. The mayor of Duluth, Minn., recently jumped into a chilly Lake Superior to get company’s attention, and Topeka, Kan., has temporarily and informally re-named itself “Google” for the time being.

Applications are also being submitted on behalf of other Capital District municipalities, though none have attracted the local attention that Troy’s has.

It has not been announced how many test markets Google will choose, or even if they will select more than one. But Graham said that, regardless of the outcome, supporters’ efforts won’t go to waste.

“No matter what happens with the Google application, we want to put Troy on the map anyways. We want to make Troy a Mecca for technology and arts, no matter what,” she said. “We think Google should pick us. But, regardless, we’re going to take the energy forward and really make great things happen in Troy.”

Dave Canfield can be reached at 270-1290 or by e-mail at dcanfield@troyrecord.com.