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LIBOR?

July 15, 2012 Uncategorized

This will be short since I’m writing it on a phone. If New York’s Comptroller and Attorney General are not evaluating the impact of the LIBOR scandal on local governments, they’d best start soon. Not only is LIBOR built into lots of debt obligations, it’s used in determining depositor bank charges such as through compensating […]

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Integrated Accessible Design

April 19, 2012 Uncategorized

Good design sometimes … often … usually … always … means turning one concept or another upside down. Here’s Ben’s take and photo of a ramp for accessibility. I really admire the design of these stairs and how they incorporate a wheelchair access ramp. in a world were barrier free design is essential to living […]

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Boston Marathon is “Not a Race …”

April 16, 2012 Uncategorized

“… It is an experience.” New York Times on today’s Boston Marathon being run in unseasonably high temperatures. Organizers are actively discouraging many runners not to participate, but wait until next year. For the overwhelming majority of those who have entered to participate in the 2012 Boston Marathon, you should adopt the attitude that this […]

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Recovering, but Not Recovered, Local in New York

April 13, 2012 Uncategorized

Sales tax receipts for each county in New York and New York City in the first quarter of 2012, ranked by percentage change from the first quarter in 2011. Eight counties showed a decline. Sales Tax Collections, Q1, 2012 First Quarter, 2012 First Quarter, 2011 Difference $ Q1, 2012 to Q1, 2011 Percent Difference Q1, […]

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Scrupulously Accurate and Rarely Honest

April 11, 2012 Uncategorized

Today’s Quote of the Day is from Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) I’ve known Mitch for 40 years,” said Yarmuth. “We were political allies at one point. I was a Republican ‘til 1985. In recent years, as I’ve said publicly before, he has a considerable knack for being scrupulously […]

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I Wonder if This Guy Has Health Insurance

March 27, 2012 Uncategorized

Ya gotta be kidding me. Watch the whole thing. Did he break anything practicing? Well, he’s in Melbourne, where they have universal coverage.

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We Have a New Candidate for Humpty Dumpty

March 21, 2012 Budget

We said here that it seemed that the leadership of the Albany County Legislature was trying to cover their tracks by confusing everyone. Are they succeeding? Here’s the latest story from the Times Union. We’ll get to the substance later, but at least the State Health Department isn’t buying what Shawn Morse is selling: What’s […]

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Aww. C’mon

March 20, 2012 Uncategorized

Such a beautiful day for a two-wheeled vehicle … But our friends at the Albany County Legislature just won’t let us go play. More on that shortly.

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Fitch Credits Sale of Ulster County Nursing Home in Reaffirming County’s Bond Rating

March 20, 2012 Bond Rating

From the Mid-Hudson News Network: Fitch reaffirms Ulster County’s bond rating, cites ‘sound’ financial profile NEW YORK – Fitch Ratings Service supports the sale of the Golden Hill Health Care Center by Ulster County government. The revelation comes in the rating agency’s latest report on the county’s finances and its reaffirmation of the county’s AA- […]

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Orwell on Political Language

March 19, 2012 Politics

Something tells me that this will be a good week to start with a reminder from Orwell: Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell, Why I Write, 1946

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