February 27, 2014 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

Vol. VI, No. IX
Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly
Taxes, Public
Works,
and Public
Utilities
Moving
Yonkers
Schools
Forward
Thursday February 27, 2014
$1.00
Peggy Godfrey
NewRo Funds
Armory Decisions
Page 6
Chris Rostenberg
Pro-Life Parable
Page 9
Glenn Mollette
Assisted Suicide
in America
Page 10
John Simon
Novelistic Musicals
Page 12
BARBARA BARTON SLOANE
By MARY MARVIN, Page 3
GOVERNMENT
By MIKE SPANO, Page 3
GOVERNMENT
Hi-Speed Tolls
at NewRo
GEORGE LATIMER, Page 4
2 Flood
Mitigation
Plans
ROBERT ASTORINO, Page 4
WWW.WESTCHESTERGUARDIAN.COM
Gulf Coast Mardi Gras
Page 13
SHERIF AWAD
Seeds of Doubt
Page 15
Lee Hamilton
Alternative to
Imperial Presidency
Page 16
Luke Hamilton
Calm Before
the Storm
Page 18
rience fundraising, knowledge of what development entails and experience working with sponsors/donors; 2) Operations Manager- must have a
good knowledge of computers/software/ticketing systems, duties include
overseeing all box office, concessions, movie staffing, day of show lobby
staffing such as Merchandise seller, bar sales. Must be familiar with POS
system and willing to organize concessions. Full time plus hours. Call (203)
438-5795 and ask for Julie or Allison
Page 2
THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
THE WESTcHESTER GUARDiAn
THE WESTCHESTER
GUARDIAN
THE WESTcHESTER
GUARDiAn
RADIO
RADIO
RADIO
Of Significance
Of Significance
Community Section ............................................................................... 4
Community
Section ............................................................................... 44
Business ................................................................................................
Business
................................................................................................
Calendar ............................................................................................... 44
Calendar
............................................................................................... 45
Charity ..................................................................................................
Creative
Disruption
............................................................................ 56
Charity
Contest..................................................................................................
Cultural
Perspective
........................................................................... 766
Contest
..................................................................................................
Creative Disruption ............................................................................
Energy
Issues
.......................................................................................
Creative
Disruption
............................................................................
Education ............................................................................................. 867
In
Memoriam
....................................................................................1078
Education
.............................................................................................
Fashion
..................................................................................................
Medicine
.............................................................................................10
Fashion
..................................................................................................
Fitness.................................................................................................... 89
Najah’s
Corner ...................................................................................119
Fitness....................................................................................................
Health ..................................................................................................10
Movie
Review
....................................................................................12
Health
History..................................................................................................10
................................................................................................10
Music
...................................................................................................12
History
Ed Koch................................................................................................10
Movie Review ...................................................................12
Community
........................................................................................13
Ed
Koch
Movie
Review ...................................................................12
Spoof
....................................................................................................13
Writers
Collection.............................................................................14
Spoof
Sports....................................................................................................13
Scene .......................................................................................13
Books
Sports
Scene
.......................................................................................13
Najah’s...................................................................................................16
Corner
...................................................................................13
People
..................................................................................................18
Najah’s
Corner
...................................................................................13
Writers Collection.............................................................................14
Eye
On...................................................................................................16
Theatre
..................................................................................18
Writers
Collection.............................................................................14
Books
Leaving
on
a
Jet
Plane ......................................................................19
Books
...................................................................................................16
Transportation...................................................................................17
Government
Section
Transportation
...................................................................................17
Government Section ............................................................................20
............................................................................17
Campaign
Trail
..................................................................................20
Government
Section
............................................................................17
Albany Correspondent
....................................................................17
Economic
Development....................................................................17
Albany
Correspondent
Mayor Marvin’s
Column..................................................................20
.................................................................18
Education
...........................................................................................21
Mayor
Marvin’s
Column .................................................................18
Government
.......................................................................................19
The Hezitorial
....................................................................................21
Government
.......................................................................................19
OpEd
Section .........................................................................................23
LegalSection
....................................................................................................23
OpEd
.........................................................................................23
Ed Koch Commentary.....................................................................23
People
..................................................................................................24
Ed
Koch
Letters
toCommentary.....................................................................23
the Editor ..........................................................................24
Strategyto...............................................................................................24
Letters
Editor............................................................................25
..........................................................................24
Weir Onlythe
Human
OpEd
Section
.........................................................................................25
Weir
Only
Human
............................................................................25
Legal Notices ..........................................................................................26
Legal Notices ..........................................................................................26
..........................................................................................27
CLASSIFIED ADS
YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND COMMITMENT OF GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OF THE
CHILD FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION, AND MAY FILE BEFORE THE END OF THE 15-MONTH
PERIOD.
Office Space Available-
Prime Location,
Yorktown
Heights
UPON GOOD CAUSE, THE COURT MAY ORDER AN INVESTIGATION
TO DETERMINE
WHETHSq. Ft.: $1800.
Wilca: 914.632.1230
ER THE NON-RESPONSENT PARENT(s) SHOULD1,000
BE CONSIDERED
ASContact
A RESPONDENT;
IF
THE COURT DETERMINES THE CHILD SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM HIS/HER HOME, THE
COURT MAY ORDER AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE
NON-RESPONDENTCounty
PrimeWHETHER
RetailTHE
- Westchester
Thursday,
FEBRUARY
27,Best
2014
PARENT(s) SHOULD
BE SUITABLE CUSTODIANS
FOR THE
CHILD;
IF THE CHILD
IS PLACEDHeights
AND
Location
in Yorktown
REMAINS IN FOSTER CARE FOR FIFTEEN1100
OF THE
RECENT
TWENTY-TWO
Sq.MOST
Ft. Store
$3100;
1266 Sq. MONTHS,
Ft. store THE
$2800 and 450 Sq. Ft.
AGENCY
MAY BE REQUIRED
TO FILE
PETITION FOR TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS OF
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY
23,A 2012
Page 3
Store
$1200.
THE PARENT(s)
AND COMMITMENT
OF GUARDIANSHIP
AND CUSTODY OF THE CHILD FOR THE
THURSDAY,
MARCH
29, 2012
Page
3
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY
23,
2012
Page
Suitable
for
any
type
of
business.
Contact
Wilca:
914.632.1230
PURPOSES OF ADOPTION, EVEN IF THE PARENT(s) WERE NOT NAMED AS RESPONDENTS IN
THE CHILD NEGLECT OR ABUSE PROCEEDING.
Of Significance
HELP WANTED
A NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT HAS THE RIGHT TO REQUEST TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT CUS-
A non profit OF
Performing
Arts
Center
is seeking
two job positions- 1) DirecTODY OF THE CHILD AND TO SEEK ENFORCEMENT
VISITATION
RIGHTS
WITH
THE CHILD.
tor of Development- FT-must have a background in development or expeBY ORDER
OF THE FAMILY COURT OF THE
STATE
OF NEW YORK
rience
fundraising,
knowledge of what development entails and
Feature
Section..................................................................................................................................
3 experience working
with sponsors/donors;
2) Operations
Mayor
3 have a
TO THE Marvin...............................................................................................................................
ABOVE-NAMED RESPONDENT(S)
WHO RESIDE(S)
OR IS FOUND
AT [specifyManager- must
good knowledge of computers/software/ticketing systems, duties include
address(es)]:
Mayor Spano.................................................................................................................................
3 lobby
overseeing all box office, concessions, movie staffing, day of show
Westchester On the
Level
is
usually
heard
from
to Friday,
from NY
1010701
a.m.
to 12
Last
known
addresses:
TIFFANY
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Garfieldsuch
Street,
Yonkers,
NewRo
Toll
Plaza.........................................................................................................................
4 POS
as#3,
Merchandise
seller, bar sales. Must be familiar with
Noon on the Internet: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOntheLevel.
system
willing
to organize
concessions.
Call (203)
Flood
Mitigation
Last known
addresses:Projects...........................................................................................................
KENNETH THOMAS:
24 and
Garfield
Street,
#3, Yonkers,
NY 10701 Full time plus hours. 4
Because of the importance of a Federal court case438-5795
purporting
corruption
bribery
and ask
for Julie orand
Allison
Community
Section.........................................................................................................................
5
An Orderwith
to Show
Cause under Article
10 days
of the of
Family
Court 26
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March
29, been
2012.
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to Friday,
from
seeking
the from
placement
for the above-named
child. 10 a.m. to 12 Noon
Calendar.........................................................................................................................................
5
Westchester
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on
Internet:
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Current
Commentary.................................................................................................................
5
YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before this Court at Yonkers Family Court
March
30.
on
the
Internet: by
http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOntheLevel.
Join
the
conversation
calling
toll-free
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1-877-674-2436.
Please
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on
topic.
located
at
53
So.
Broadway,
Yonkers,
New
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on
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28th
day
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March,
2012
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Economic
Development.............................................................................................................
6
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6
day or Tuesday,
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our guest.
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is a novel
mother
threeaccepted
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Pro-Life.
..........................................................................................................................................
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from home and writes
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10
Dated:
JanuaryGardener.
30, 2012 .................................................................................................................
BY ORDER OF THE COURT
Tune in and find out.
The
Merry
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Co-hosts Richard Narog2 and
Hezi
Aris
will
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the
dissection
of
all
things
politics
on
Tuesday,
February
column
CLERK1 column
OF THE COURT
Co-hosts
Richard
Narog
and
Hezi
Aris
will
relish
the
dissection
of
all
things
politics
on
Tuesday,
February
Eye
on
Theatre.
.
...........................................................................................................................
12
21st. Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick will share his perspective from the august inner
21st.
Yonkers
Council
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............................................................................................................................................
13
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16on
For those who Government.
cannot join us
live, consider listening to the show by way of an MP3 download, or
Lee
Hamilton.
16link
For
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consider
listening
tofind
the the
show
by wayinof
MP3 that
download,
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to using the
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the opening
Legal Notices,
to using the hyperlink
in the opening paragraph.
Lukeprovided
Hamilton............................................................................................................................
18
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Legal
Thursday, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
Page 3
the Department of Public Works facility
on Palumbo Place. Never modernized
since its construction in the mid-1940’s,
a thorough evaluation is long overdue.
The goal of the review is to determine
whether the existing facility is worthy
of modifications to meet the needs and
equipment of a 2014 department or
rather it is more prudent/cost effective
to construct a new or pre-fab structure.
Our current facility will be evaluated
with regard to vehicle maintenance
needs, equipment and material storage,
material handling, electrical needs,
environmental regulations and energy
efficiency.
Add to this list, the now unprecedented costs for salt and snow removal
resulting in another challenging budget
process.
All of the above variables are set in
the backdrop of the Governor’s continued emphasis on a 2% tax cap increase
despite the fact that State government
unfunded mandates continue unabated
while State aid to communities continues to decrease.
The fallacy of the 2% tax cap
is that well before its inception, no
communities were increasing staffing
and/or services by 2%, rather they were
trimming services to deal with the often
double digit tax increases sent directly
from Albany.
At the February Trustees meeting,
the Trustees, as is custom, voted to set
the process in motion to override the
tax cap, though we have only exceeded
the 2% cap once and that by only
$40,000. Our vote is rather a statement
of support for local control of budgetary
decisions. The Trustees believe we are
elected to be stewards of the local taxpayers’ dollars and answerable only and
directly to them and not be an instrument to advance the political aspirations
of others.
Finally, we have added a special
meeting/work session of the Board of
Trustees for Wednesday, February 19th
to chiefly discuss our upcoming Capital
Program.
School, and served as the principal at
Hawthorne Jr. High and Roosevelt High
before taking the job as Superintendent
of Tuckahoe Schools. Dr. Yazurlo also
has private sector, academic and finance
experience that will serve him well as the
BOE copes with its financial challenges.
As we work with the State and City
Council to help the BOE manage these
budgetary issues, we also have a responsibility to taxpayers, parents and students to
ensure these accounting errors don’t ever
happen again. It’s a matter of common
sense – more than $500 million is paid
to the Board of Education by taxpayers
with little oversight or accountability;
that’s more than half of the city’s overall
budget. We’ve already made progress on
this front. Earlier this month we entered
into an inter-municipal agreement with
the BOE and my finance team has begun
to open the BOE’s books.
Later this year I will also ask the
State Legislature to pass school governance reform legislation that will provide
the City with greater oversight over the
BOE’s finances. Doing so could save
taxpayers millions of dollars by consolidating overlapping operations in the
Board of Education’s front office. It just
doesn’t make sense for Yonkers to have
two law departments, two IT departments and two HR departments – one
on the municipal side and one on the
educational side. We should put those
functions under one roof because we are
one city.
Despite our challenges, Yonkers has
come a long way in the last two years.
We’ve moved our city in a new direction and together we will move Yonkers
Schools forward.
FeatureSection
MAYOR Marvin’s COLUMN GOVERNMENT
Taxes, Public Works, and Public Utilities
By MARY C. MARVIN
At the February monthly
meeting, the Trustees
acted on a myriad of substantive issues in the areas
of taxes, Public Works
and public utilities.
The Board joined a consortium
with neighboring communities - which
includes New Rochelle, Eastchester,
Ardsley, Tuckahoe, Dobbs Ferry,
Hastings, Pelham and Pelham Manor
- to challenge a proposed astronomical
raise in water cost and hydrant maintenance by our water purveyor, United
Water.
United Water is asking the State’s
Public Service Commission for a 22.95%
increase in water rates and a whopping
36.99% increase in hydrant maintenance fees. Sadly for the consumer,
the Public Service Commission has
been very willing to grant double digit
increases to the utility. As example, the
Village’s hydrant maintenance fees were
$84,244 in 2011 and in just two years
escalated to $126,637. This number is
now the base for the proposed 36.99%
increase.
The above scenario underscores
why all water users, not just property
tax payers, should share in the cost of
hydrant maintenance.
Unfortunately, we have no recourse
to change water providers since United
Water owns all the purveyance infrastructure. All we can do is present a
united front with our neighbors and
legislators and fight the increases.
In the same vein, the New York
State Power Authority recently authorized a 12.6% increase in the cost of
municipal electrical rates and the hike
was reflected in our January invoice.
The Trustees also voted to engage
the services of a local consultant,
Donald Marra, to assist in the search
for a new Village Treasurer and Village
Administrator. We are also taking
advantage in this unprecedented sea
change in Village management to step
back and review Village staffing in
totality to ensure that we have the right
combination of skill sets, full and parttime staff, and the level of efficiency and
services that taxpayers deserve.
The Village’s tax collection was
recently reconciled. As a refresher, the
Village collects approximately $8 million
to run the Village and $38 million to
operate the School. As of January 31,
2014, $1,138,892.86 was uncollected,
representing 2.46% of the levy.
The Village must make the School
District whole, so tax liens will be sold
on March 13, 2014. Per New York State
Law, the lien sale will be noticed in the
paper of record, The Journal News. A
list of real estate parcels identified by
section, block and lot on which taxes
remain unpaid is available in the Village
Treasurer’s office.
Funded in past capital budgets,
the Trustees voted to engage Calgi
Construction Management to evaluate
Mary C. Marvin is the mayor of the Village
of Bronxville, New York. If you have a suggestion or comment, consider directing your
perspective by directing email to mayor@
vobny.com.
THE MAYOR’S BLOG
Moving Yonkers Schools Forward
By MIKE SPANO
Last month after former
Superintendent Bernard
Pierorazio announced his
retirement following the
revelation that the Board
of Education mistakenly accounted
for $55 million in state aid that never
existed, many Yonkers parents, students
and school personnel were understandably upset and uneasy about the state
of Yonkers Schools. After all, Yonkers’
families and teachers are still reeling from
several years of cuts.
Last year, my second in office, I
RADIO
Westchester On the Level
with Narog and Aris
Designated a “Featured” BlogTalk Radio
program, has been operating for over two
years via the Internet with Co-Hosts Richard
Narog and Hezi Aris every weekday, from 10
a.m. to 12 Noon. Listen to the show live or
on demand. Share your perspective by calling
(347) 205-9201 or by clicking onto the following
hyperlinks: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
westchesteronthelevel
passed a bipartisan, unanimous City
budget that actually increased school
funding. Our historic investment in education provided the BOE with resources
to restore positions, sports, art and music.
The BOE’s budget error not only jeopardizes those restorations, but the entire
school system and every Yonkers taxpayer
too.
An error of this magnitude requires
that those responsible be held accountable to the taxpayers who fund our
schools. That’s why I am pleased that this
week the Board of Education Trustees
accepted Mr. Pierorazio’s retirement
and appointed Dr. Michael Yazurlo as
Interim Superintendent.
Dr. Yazurlo is a great fit for Yonkers
Public Schools. A Yonkers resident
and product of Yonkers Public Schools
himself, Dr. Yazurlo taught at Enrico
Fermi Middle School and Lincoln High
Mayor Mike Spano is the 42nd Mayor of
the City of Yonkers, NY. Mayor Spano is
a lifelong Yonkers resident, husband and
father of three who has dedicated his life to
standing up as a voice for Yonkers’ families
and communities.
Page 4
GOVERNMENT
Latimer Calls for High Speed Toll at New Rochelle Toll Plaza
ALBANY, NY -- On February 3rd, Senator
George Latimer sent a letter to NYS
Thruway Authority Chairman Thomas
Madison to request that installation of high
speed EZ Pass tolls be prioritized for installation at the New Rochelle Toll Plaza for the
New England Section of the NYS Thruway
(I-95).
In his letter, Latimer stated, “With
each passing year, toll booths in numerous
locations have established these high-speed
lanes, which speed traffic flow, reduce
congestion, and reduce the effects of air pollution for resident adjacent to the Thruway
toll booths.”
Latimer further asserted that, “when the
toll booths are filled with traffic, many cars
seek to avoid the toll booth back-ups by using
adjacent local roads, clogging the business
districts in the East End of New Rochelle as
well as in the Village of Larchmont, by those
seeking an alternate route.”
Latimer’s letter concluded by asking the
Thruway Authority to identify any existing
plans (with accompanying time frames), for
installing these high-speed lanes, or absent
that, the Thruway Authority’s rationale
offered if there are no plans to do so anytime
soon.
Astorino Advances Two Flood Mitigation Projects
Rehabilitation Work Planned for Bronx and Mamaroneck Rivers
County Executive Robert P. Astorino
has submitted legislation to the County
Board of Legislators to advance two flood
mitigation projects, together totaling
$1.85 million. The projects employ best
practices in stormwater management to
enhance each site’s capacity for storing
and absorbing floodwaters, as well as
improving water quality and enhancing
the sites’ visual appearance.
At the county’s Saxon Woods Park,
located in parts of Mamaroneck and
Harrison, nine acres of floodplain along
1,400 feet of the Mamaroneck River will
be restored at a cost of $600,000. The
severely eroded riverbank will be stabilized with rock revetment supplemented
by vegetation. Along the river, invasive
vines will be replaced with hundreds of
tree saplings and other vegetation that
will stabilize the soil and greatly improve
water absorption and filtration. In 2012,
the county completed similar improvements to nine acres along 1,600 feet of
the river directly to the north.
In Eastchester and Yonkers, south of
the Harney Road Bridge in the county’s
Bronx River Parkway Reservation, 750
feet along both sides of the Bronx River
will be stabilized at a cost of $1.25
said. “Last year we completed the rehabilitation of the Oak Street Pump
Station in Yonkers that was damaged by
Superstorm Sandy. The County Center
is now buffered from the impacts of
flooding thanks to stormwater manage-
completed in 2013 was at Scout Field in
Mount Vernon, where stormwater management and in-channel stone diversion
structures were constructed and river
buffer was restored. Under construction
next to Fisher Lane and the Bronx River
View of Bronx River and parkway southbound from Harney Road Bridge.
million. Severe erosion and sedimentation are aggravating flooding conditions
and threatening the park pathway. River
sediment will be relocated, thereby
widening the river channel, and the riverbank will be re-graded. Stone structures
within the channel will re-direct water
flow to lessen the threat of bank erosion
and sedimentation.
“These projects are part of a larger
and ongoing effort to address the impacts
of flooding in the county,” Astorino
ment projects along the banks of the
Bronx River. There are many complex
factors that cause flooding and we will
continue to maximize our resources to
address them.”
In 2011 and 2012, the restoration
and stabilization of 1,000 feet of the west
bank and 1,200 feet of the east bank of
the Bronx River between the Bronx
River Parkway and the County Center
parking lot was completed. Another
Bronx River flood mitigation project
Parkway in Greenburgh is the restoration
of a stormwater and flood management
wetland next to the Bronx River. This
project will be completed by summer at
a cost of $850,000.
The Blind Brook Dam Retrofit
project at Bowman Avenue in Rye Brook
was completed last year by the City of
Rye and is eligible for up to a 50 percent
cost match or a maximum $1,083,550
from the county.
Other flood mitigation projects now
moving forward include:
• Mamaroneck: Replacement of the
Anita Lane Bridge to improve the
flow in the river channel during
severe storms; at a cost of $1.5
million.
• Eastchester and Yonkers: Redirect
the river channel away from the
supporting wall of the Bronx River
Parkway at Garth Woods; at a cost of
$2 million.
• White Plains: Stormwater management practices and embankment
stabilization along Fulton Brook in
the Bronx River Reservation near the
County Center; at a cost of $600,000.
“We will continue to move as quickly
as possible to address projects on county
property, as we have been,” Astorino said.
“Where state, federal and other approvals
are required, it adds time and complexity to the project, however we continue to
make progress.”
The county also is studying and
addressing the impacts of flooding
via the County Stormwater Advisory
Board (SAB). Staffs of the departments of Planning and Public Works
and Transportation are working on
Stormwater Reconnaissance Plans for
Westchester’s five major watershed areas.
Three plans have been approved by the
SAB. Once the plans are approved by the
County Board of Legislators, the flood
mitigation projects in the plans, which
were identified by municipal officials, will
be eligible for a 50 percent project cost
match from the County.
SOURCE: Ned McCormack,
County Executive Communications
Director
Page 5
make all 183 in just 13 days, but sure will try.
The
Pleasantville
Community
Synagogue presents “Life in Stills” (2011) as
part of their 2014 film series on March 20th
at 7:45pm, all are welcome to this free series
and refreshments will be served.
John Jay High School’s select Vocal
Jazz ensemble placed third out of 17 groups
in their division at the Berklee High School
Jazz Festival recently up in Boston. Thirtyeight students represented the school under
the direction of Steven Morse where they
performed three pieces. This is the groups’
12th year attending this event and they
have placed in each of the last four years.
You think they’re good, you should hear me
singing in the shower…
How about some seed saving from
expert Shanyn Segalon on how to plan your
garden for effective seed saving from the
start, then head over to Hilltop Hanover
Farm in Yorktown Heights on March 8th.
I think I may sign up my wife for this…
as all three Westchester County Cornell
Cooperative Extension offices are looking
for new master gardener volunteers. The
training starts this fall and there is a February
28th deadline to sign up.
The Armonk Antiques Show is set for
its 31st year, opening with a cocktail preview
party on Friday February 28th at its new
location at Brynwood Golf & Country Club.
The Sci-Fi Book club meets Saturday,
March 1st; all are invited to join in a causal
discussion about “Probability Moon” and
other sci-fi books and movies. The meeting
will be held in the Katonah Village Library
where books for discussion are available.
Congratulations go out to Lori
Ensinger as she has been named the new
president of the Westchester Land Trust.
I’ve raked leaves, I’ve raked a garden, but
this is the first time I’ve raked the roof, if I
don’t fall off… see you next week.
The deception, in most cases, comes in the
form of a “straw buyer,” someone who will
conduct the actual purchase on behalf of the
exporter. In some cases, straw buyers simply
allow dealerships to think they are making
CommunitySection
CALENDAR
News & Notes from Northern Westchester
By MARK JEFFERS
My youngest daughter
just completed a paper on
procrastination, as she is
an expert; especially when
it comes to doing her
homework …a skill she learned from her
father, but we put our heads together and she
finished her biology studies and I finished
this week’s “procrastinated” edition of “News
& Notes.”
The Katonah Museum of Art will
be showcasing the Young Artists 2014
Exhibition on Sunday, March 2, through
Sunday, March 9. Young Artists is an annual
program for local student artists to participate in all aspects of a museum exhibition.
The exhibition will feature artwork from
nearly 400 local high school seniors.
We like to read our books the old fashioned way… by actually picking up a book,
not by downloading it onto a tablet of some
sort. That being said, it seems that we have
read every book in the house during this
housebound winter! So we will be heading
over to support the Friends of the Ossining
Library this Friday, Saturday and Sunday
as they have their general book sale in the
Gallery on the lower level.
Much to my wife’s dismay, I love to
collect hats, they’re all over our house…
so you know I won’t miss “HATtitude:
The Milliner in Culture and Couture” at
ArtsWestchester where they will be showing
unique headwear through April 12th, more
than 160 hats will be featured in this exhibition that has gathered over 40 contemporary
milliners, many of whom are sought after
by fashionistas around the world. Through
hats that range from playful expressions
of individuality to symbols of propriety or
sculptural masterpieces, the show highlights
the hat’s function in global cultures, as well
as its prominent position in 20th and 21st
Century couture fashion.
Want to dig into your family history, but
don’t know where to begin? … Come to The
Field Library in Peekskill on March 19th
for a Genealogy Computer Class. Discover
the amazing resources available through the
library, and “Ancestry Plus.” This class is free
of charge and open to the entire community.
The Clarke Preserve on Autumn Ridge
Road in Pound Ridge is offering a volunteer
work session with the Pound Ridge Land
Conservancy on March 1st at 10am; learn
the best practices of trail maintenance and
to identify invasive species. Spring will come
and this is a great way to give back and to
get outdoors!
Here is one my favorite events… the
10th annual Hudson Valley Restaurant Week
is set for March 10 – 23 with over 180 restaurants participating, I’m not sure I can
Mark Jeffers resides in Bedford Hills, New York,
with his wife Sarah, and three daughters, Kate,
Amanda, and Claire.
CURRENT COMMENTARY
The Crime of Selling Your New Car
By LARRY M. ELKIN
The right to resell personal
possessions drives everything from neighborhood
yard sales to Craigslist to
eBay.
Say Kate sells John a radio. At some
point, John buys a new model or simply
tires of it, and offers it for sale to Jack.
Kate is unlikely to know when and under
what circumstances Jack buys the radio.
After all, John paid her fully and fairly for
it. Such a transaction seems to be entirely
straightforward.
Now say that instead of a radio, Kate
sells John a luxury car. And that Kate is a
saleswoman at a dealership. John purchases
the car legally and pays for it in full. Then
John sells the car to Jack – only this time, Jack
happens to live in China.
Evidently we now need to involve
federal prosecutors.
So it seems, at least, based on a
recent article in The New York Times, which
examined federal prosecutors’ efforts in six
states to prosecute buyers who purchase
luxury vehicles and resell them in China
where demand – and prices – are high.
United States Attorney John Kacavas, of
New Hampshire, told The Times, “What
we have found is a scam or people looking to
make a fast buck.”
Fraud is a crime. Wanting to earn
money, on its own, is not.
I thought I owned a car once I bought
it, and that ownership lets me do with it
what I want. These cases raise some questions, such as: How long do I have to keep
the car before I can resell it without triggering alarms? Why does it matter if the buyer
is American, or Canadian, or Chinese? And
how on earth did federal prosecutors get
involved in sorting these questions out?
I am not the only one to ask. Aitan
Goelman, a former federal prosecutor, questioned whether limited resources might be
better applied elsewhere. “If you can prove
some kind of deception, that usually is
enough to let you bring the case as a legal
matter,” he said. “But the more interesting
question is, should you, considering scarce
prosecutorial resources.” Actually, I thought
that in most cases of fraud, someone must
be not only deceived, but also injured.
(Otherwise, beware of inviting your romantic
partner out to dinner as a pretext to arrange
a surprise party. You might be charged with
defrauding them out of dinner.)
Back to the subject of car exports.
Continued on page 6
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CURRENT COMMENTARY
The Crime of Selling Your New Car
Continued from page 5
personal purchases. Other buyers are actually
deceptive, giving prosecutors a jumping-off
point for their pursuit. In New Hampshire,
two men fraudulently obtained local driver’s
licenses as part of their operation, triggering
the only instance of the federal investigations
known to involve criminal charges thus far.
The straw buyers pay for the cars,
usually with cashier’s checks, and register
them under their own names.They then turn
over the cars, receiving payment for their
labor, and the exporters have technically used
vehicles in hand that can be sold overseas.
Exporters are fighting back against
prosecutors’ efforts to seize vehicles and
bring lawsuits in what is, they argue, essentially a civil dispute. Michael Downs, of
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has proactively filed a
lawsuit in federal court, attempting to secure
a declaratory judgment that his business
is legal. Downs told The Times that his
company complies with all state and federal
laws, though New York prosecutors have
sought to freeze a company bank account
and seize cars.
Ely Goldin, an attorney representing
a couple who have also run afoul of federal
prosecutors’ efforts to stop this practice, told
The Wall Street Journal that the government
should not make a criminal case out of a civil
dispute between car dealerships and their
customers. “Why should a buyer of a car be
prohibited from exporting a car after he paid
top dollar for it?” Goldin asked.
The question is a good one, and the
government has yet to provide a satisfactory answer. And as China’s used car market
continues to grow, the large gap between
the cost of a new luxury car in the U.S. and
a pre-owned car’s resale value in China will
continue to attract the attention of entrepreneurs willing to expend the time and effort
to pursue the venture.
Automakers have rules forbidding
dealerships from willingly selling cars to
known exporters. Those rules should make
this business a struggle between auto manufacturers and resellers – a dispute in which
federal prosecutors have no clear place. But
until someone like Downs can get a judicial
opinion, the threat of criminal prosecution
will continue to dominate what should be a
matter for, if anything, private litigation.
People looking to make a buck, absent
any fraud, is just capitalism. Federal prosecutors should have better things to do than
serving as the muscle behind car makers and
their dealers.
My approach when evaluating Albany
tax policy is skeptical to the point of
cynicism: I assume any new taxes are permanent, any repealed taxes may be resurrected
at any time, and any deferred tax cuts may
or may not actually occur, with roughly the
probability of the Mets winning the World
Series. It isn’t scientific and it may not even
be fair, but my approach does not let me
down too often, either.
Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®, has provided
personal financial and tax counseling to a
sophisticated client base since 1986. After six
years with Arthur Andersen, where he was a
senior manager for personal financial planning
and family wealth planning, he founded his
own firm in Hastings on Hudson, N.Y., in
1992. That firm grew steadily and became the
Palisades Hudson organization, which moved to
Scarsdale, N.Y., in 2002. The firm expanded to
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 2005 and to Atlanta
in 2008.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
New Rochelle’s City Council Flouts Armory Decisions
By PEGGY GODFREY
The Armory proposals are
in limbo in New Rochelle.
None of the recent deadlines that were given for the
City Council to make decisions have been met. Ron Tocci, former New
York State Assemblyman and New York
State Deputy Commissioner of Veterans
Affairs at the New Rochelle Citizens
Reform Club meeting said that nothing
has been done about the Waterfront Design
Competition for the Armory competition award. There were four finalists: Arch
Techtonics, CDR Studio, Hariri and Hariri
Architects, and SHOP Architects (for the
Save Our Armory proposal). Dates were
projected as December 10, 2013 for the
top ranking teams to present to the City
Council; December 11, 2013 announcement
made by Architects Newspaper and City of
New Rochelle on the top ranking team;
and December 16, 2013 - January l0, 2014,
exhibit of winning competition proposal in
the Waterfront Design Competition. The
person chosen to lead this endeavor, William
Menking of Pratt University the City
Council now wanted presentations from all
four finalists. But the city council still has not
heard their presentations.
The next challenge according to Tocci
for residents is “not to spend $40 million to
move the City Yard to Beechwood Avenue.”
He had personal concerns about this
proposed site’s adequacy including how the
New Rochelle Public Work’s Department
of Sanitation’s long distance trucks which
would have to travel to the city’s north end
from the southern part of the city.
He reminded the group that Shop
Architects, a leading architectural firm, had
shown residents how their Armory plan
could be developed. Shop Architects are
known for their work on the Barclays Center
at Atlantic Yards for Forest City Ratner
and several waterfront projects. Financing
was possible. Interested developers include
Jones Lang LaSalle which sent a letter to
the Department of Development on the
Save Our Armory project and another is
PIKE who also contacted the Development
Department. A restaurant owner proposed
a second floor restaurant of 10,000 square
feet. However, nothing can happen, Tocci
warned, without the needed memorandum
of understanding (MOU) for one year from
the City Council.
These developers are interested in the
general area as the initial Forest City plan.
They feel nearby parcels such as the Fire
Islands Park could be used for a restaurant
and museum.
Tocci suggested the last election results
are “beginning to pay off ” and the public
has been taking notice of what is happening in New Rochelle. A few “swing votes”
are needed on council to move the Armory
proposal forward. Citing the diverse opposition to the Echo Bay proposal, he urged
everyone to stay involved, and summarized,
“It makes a difference.”
Looking back at the recent council
history on the Armory, two proposals were
originally submitted for the building: one by
Good Profit and the other by the Save Our
Armory Committee in collaboration with
the United Veterans and other arts groups.
Good Profit had proposed as a primary
indoor use, vendors of locally raised and harvested food, and other space for a restaurant,
displays and possibly space for the American
Legion. The Save Our Armory Committee
in collaboration with the United Veterans
Memorial and Patriotic Association and the
New Rochelle Opera group had projected a
theatre complex, two restaurants and a local
history museum for the Armory building,
veteran facilities and an educational gallery
in the hall. Peter Parente, President of the
United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic
Association, had stated their plan was l00%
compliant with the deed for this Armory. In
contrast the Good Profit proposal did not
meet these requirements.
The Save Our Armory group had
engaged Shop Architects. They were asked
by the Save Our Armory group and several
neighborhood groups to show their plan
to the residents at City Hall. This meeting
took place the night before a City Council
meeting. However, suddenly a new August
24 “deadline” for proposals was imposed
by the then Development Commissioner
Michael Freimuth. Subsequently City
Council at their September 2013 meeting
voted for the Good Profit plan.
Several months later it was learned
that the Good Profit developer had failed
to comply with the letter of agreement with
the city. In a new search, the proposal by the
veterans was again turned down by the jury
for the design competition initiated by the
city. Soon after, Development Commissioner
Luiz Aragon said one applicant had backed
out and the Save Our Armory proposal was
back in the running.
The members of the New Rochelle
Citizens Reform Club have had a continuous interest in saving the Armory. One
question Tocci was asked about was the
Armory’s roof that is in desperate need of
repair and the murals, which Forest City
Residential is storing for the city. Tocci was
concerned about the present condition of
the Armory, but alluded that nothing could
happen until the MOU for Forest City
expires in February 2014.
Peggy Godfrey is a freelance writer and former
educator.
HEALTH
More On What We Put Into Our Bodies
A Summary of Items in Our ‘Medications’
By GLENN SLABY
My last column (January
30th, 2014) focused on the
quality of specific foods
placed in our bodies when
eating out. Now, I look at
our medications.
From sensitivity to religious beliefs to
toxicity in our medications, there are issues
with what is placed inside the drugs we place
inside our bodies. My Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder has led me to this topic. (Maybe a
little bit of good can come out of mental
illness). I am insecure about the power the
profit motive may have on this industry
combined with the cultural trend that
smaller government is better government,
(thereby reducing oversight) and the use of
foreign manufacturing facilities.
Background: To make medications
function properly there are certain ingredients added other than the active component
needed to keep us healthy.These items in our
medications, vitamins and supplements are
called excipients. Wikipedia defines them
as: inactive substances formulated alongside
the active ingredients of medications, with
various objectives from bulking-up formulations to therapeutic-enhancing purposes,
such as facilitating drug absorption. The
choice of excipients depends on factors such
as the manufacturing process, route, dosage
form and the active ingredient. Some of
the various names and types are: binders,
coatings, fillers, flavors, colors, lubricants,
preservatives and sweeteners.
“Pharmaceutical regulations and standards require that all ingredients in drugs,
as well as their chemical decomposition
products, be identified and shown to be safe.
As with new drug substances and dosage
forms thereof, novel excipients themselves
can be patented; sometimes, however, a
Continued on page 7
Page 7
one-third showed outright substitution,
meaning there was no trace of the plant
advertised on the bottle.
• Many were adulterated with ingredients
not listed on the label, like rice, soybean
and wheat, which are used as fillers.
• “The regulations are very appropriate and rigorous,” said Duffy MacKay,
Council for Responsible Nutrition, a
supplement industry trade group. “But
we need a strong regulator enforcing the
full force of the law. F.D.A. resources are
limited, and therefore enforcement has
not historically been as rigorous as it
could be.”
• “Unfortunately, we are seeing a very
high percentage — approximately 70
percent — of firms’ noncompliance,”
Shelly Burgess, FDA spokeswoman.
Problem, Red dye. Various web sites
report: Allura Red AC, a red azo dye going
by several names including: Allura Red,
Food Red 17, Red 40. Originally manufactured from coal tar, is now mostly made
from petroleum. It has fewer health risks
compared to other azo dyes. Some studies
have found some adverse health effects. In
Europe, it’s not recommended for consumption by children. It’s banned in Denmark,
Belgium, France, and Switzerland. Also
banned in Sweden until the country joined
the European Union. The European Union
approves Allura Red AC as a food colorant,
but EU countries’ local laws banning food
colorants are preserved.
In the United States, Allura Red
AC is approved by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for use in cosmetics,
drugs and food such as soft drinks, children’s
medications, and cotton candy. It’s the most
commonly used red dye in the U.S. In June
2010, the Center for Science in the Public
Interest called for the FDA to ban Red 40.
Summary, Tips from various sites:
Make friends with your pharmacist.
Ask your doctor for first-choice and
second-choice prescriptions.
Call the drug company yourself and
recheck periodically.
Prepare to argue with your insurance company.When generic medications
are available, your insurance company will
probably not approve the brand-name drug.
Generic medications are not the same as
the brand name formulation. If you need
a brand-name medicine because no safe
generic alternative is available, call your
insurance company to learn what you’ll need
to get approval for the more expensive form.
Give an advance call before any outpatient medical tests, verifying the status of
whatever they’re going to give you.
If you require an unusual medicine
for which no formulation is commercially
available, ask your pharmacist to put you in
touch with a pharmacy that does customized
compounding.
Every life is temporary. Each life must
be lived as meaningful and productive as
the individual soul warrants. Every individual deserves the right to know and live as
healthy as possible especially in our materially advanced culture.
sumptuous plate of chocolate decadence that
was offered to me. It was at that moment I
suggested to her that we use our “vicarious
bite” exercise I wrote about in my book The
Mouth Trap: the butt stops here! In it, I discuss
how to use our ability to watch someone else
enjoying eating something we’d like to eat
and get imaginary pleasure just by watching.
I picked Shannon. She’s the woman on
the cover of The Mouth Trap: the butt stops
here! She was such a great sport and allowed
being photographed with a mousetrap on her
lips. I told her about the “vicarious bite,” and
she immediately understood the concept.
Then I asked her, “Could I watch you take
a few bites of your cake?” She laughed and
said, “Sure, let’s sit over there.” We sat on bar
HEALTH
More On What We Put Into Our Bodies
particular formulation involving them is
kept as a trade secret instead (if not easily
reverse-engineered).”
Generic Drugs: Scientific American.
Nov 12, 2009, by Molly Webster. “A generic
drug contains the same active ingredient,
which provides therapeutic benefit, as does
brand-name versions. But having the same
medicinal component doesn’t mean the two
pharmaceuticals are identical. They may
contain different inactive ingredients, for pill
coatings and color or to bind the constituents into tablet form.” The Administration
has posted staff in certain regions (including
China, India, Europe, and Latin America)
for oversight of imported, processed, medical
products. What are the details of these
inspections? Who monitors the monitors?
Problem, Vegetable or Animal. British
Medical Journal, Feb 4, 2014, summarized:
• Most medications prescribed in primary
care contain animal derived products.
It’s unclear whether they’re suitable for
vegetarians.
• Labeling of animal content is poor and
variably instituted.
• Patients with specific dietary restrictions are likely to be consuming animal
products unwittingly.
The website, The Examiner, February
23, 2013, via the British Medical Journal:
Quoted the authors: “We already know that
doctors are fairly ignorant about the issue of
excipients in medication”. “Vegetarians and
those on restricted diets unwittingly eating
animal gelatin in meds.” “Clearer content
labeling, the adoption of a vegetarian symbol
as is done for foodstuffs, and changes in the
manufacturing process could all help patients
make informed choices as well as promoting
best practice in medical care, they suggest.”
Problem, Supplements. The New
York Times, Health, November 3, 2013,
by Anahad O’Connor. An estimated $5
billion a year industry on unproven herbal
supplements.
• Of 44 herbal supplements tested,
Glenn Slaby is married and has one son. A
former account with an MBA, he is a freelancer with The Westchester Guardian, writes
part-time, and struggles with mental illness, yet
works at the New Rochelle Public Library and
at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, New York.
LIFESTYLE
Make It Fun and It Will Get Done!
The Vicarious Bite of Chocolate
By PAM YOUNG
My husband and I went to a
neighbor’s surprise birthday
party last Saturday night. It’s
always exciting to go to this
home. The couple is exotic.
The birthday man was a concert pianist
turned executive of a large company. He has
an adorable Belgium accent and is movie star
gorgeous. His wife, who is also stunningly
beautiful with a tall, slim body crowned by a
head of flaming, (not from a bottle) red hair,
was an opera singer turned wife, homemaker
and mom.
The house is enchanting. It actually
looks like an Italian villa perched high on
the hill overlooking its own vineyard (all the
neighbors are wondering when our resident
herd of 36 elk will decide to frisk among the
rows of pinot gris grapes).
We arrived with our donation to the
potluck, hot chili from my freezer. I always
make double batches of stews, soups and
chili and freeze half. For this party I mixed
three different batches (no two are ever alike)
spanning three different seasons from last
year. The combination was an interesting
melting pot of past chili feeds.
Michelle, one of our neighbors brought
a homemade German Chocolate Cake for
dessert. She’s the best baker in the neighborhood and the cake looked alluringly
attractive. Nelly (my inner child) said,
“We can have some can’t we?”
“No, sugar is poison, remember what we
read in Why We Get Fat?”
“We’ll it’s Pascal’s party and it wouldn’t
be nice to not join in the cake part of his
birthday. And you’ll hurt Michelle’s feelings
if you don’t eat her cake.”
“No, we won’t be stepping on anyone’s
feelings by passing on the cake.”
“But, I WANT some!”
“Don’t get sassy with me Nel, and if I
stare much longer at that cake, somebody’ll
think I’m stoned or something. Now let’s go
find someone to play with.”
I left the table and found several good
conversations to take Nelly’s part of my mind
off the treat. The party was fun and I was
basking in the collection of happy people.
Suddenly I heard the tinkle of a spoon on
someone’s wine glass and Nelly piped up,
“It’s time for the cake!”
After singing Happy Birthday, Pascal
blew out the candles; the cake was cut and
passed around.
Nelly was upset when I declined the
-
Continued on page 8
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Page 8
LIFESTYLE
Make It Fun and It Will Get Done!
stools surrounded by a throng of busy cake
eaters who had congregated in the most
inviting room in a home, the kitchen.
Shannon cut into the cake with her
fork and scooped up a bite about the size
of a cherry tomato. I sat with my eyes about
eight inches from her mouth and carefully watched as the cake-filled fork moved
slowly from the plate to her mouth. When
she opened her mouth and put the bite in, I
moved within four inches of it and watched
as she began to delight in that first bite.
“Ummmmm,” she moaned, her eyes
slitting to enhance her sense of taste. I
watched as her mouth moved and her
tongue did its perfect work until it was time
to swallow. She opened her eyes to see my
face far into her comfort zone, as I expressed
utter joy in her experience. She burst out
laughing and I could smell the rich chocolate
on her breath.
“Oh, Shannon, that was good! Take
another bite.”
“You direct where.”
“Right there in the frosting between
layers. Get the cake on both sides of the
frosting.”
“Here?”
“No a little to the right!!”
“Oh yeah, this is gonna be good. Oh my,
ummmmm, ohhhh, this is so good!
”Ummm, yes, I can taste it! Wow, wow.”
Just short of making a scene like Meg
Ryan made in the restaurant in When Harry
Met Sally, Shannon and I enjoyed those two
bites of chocolate cake. It was as good for
me as it was for her. And I didn’t have to eat
sugar!
February is, one of candy company’s
biggest sales months. If you made a New
Year’s Resolution to cut out sugar in 2014,
don’t let the push of candy in beautiful heart
shaped boxes, jerk you off your resolve. Get
your candy fix vicariously.
For more from Pam Young go to www.
makeitfunanditwillgetdone.com . You’ll find
many musings, videos of Pam in the kitchen
preparing delicious meals, videos on how to get
organized, ways to lose weight and get your
finances in order, all from a reformed SLOB’s
point of view.
MUSIC
THE SOUNDS
OFBLUE
By Bob Putignano
“True to the Blues:
The Johnny Winter Story”
Johnny Winter turned seventy on February
23, 2014. In acknowledgment Columbia/
Legacy has issued a four-CD box set that
collects fifty-six tracks extracted from
twenty-seven albums released on eight different labels (Imperial/Capitol, Columbia,
Blue Sky/Epic, Alligator, Point Blank, Friday
Music, Megaforce, and now Columbia/
Legacy) ranging from1968-2011.
Johnny Winter has/had been a force
that has been on the music scene for nearly
fifty years. “True To The Blues: The Johnny
Winter Story” kicks-off with two tracks
from his (still available) 1969 Imperial/
Capital and raw album “Progressive Blues
Experiment,” (with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
soon-to-be bassist Tommy Shannon.)
That debut LP captured my ears some
forty-five years ago, and is still meaningful.
Onto the Fillmore East where you’ll hear
Johnny jamming with Al Kooper, Michael
Bloomfield and friends on a lengthy “It’s
My Own Fault.” Not long thereafter Winter
signed with Columbia Records and releases
“Johnny Winter,” “Second Winter,” the
studio (and often forgotten classic) “Johnny
Winter And” with second guitarist Rick
Derringer, and again with “Johnny Winter
And/Live.” Note: The live “Johnny Winter
And” set is immensely riveting, wild and
fiery. For me this period was the zenith of
Johnny Winter’s creativity capturing him
at full-flight and exploding with energy,
with a band that was up to his lofty guitar
expressions. Their cover of B.B. King’s (also
credited to John Lee Hooker) slow blues
“It’s My Own Fault,” this version is mindbending, as is their hair-raising rendition
of the Stones “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Whew!
There are also two previously unreleased
tracks from the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival:
“Eyesight To The Blind,” and “Prodigal Son”
that are very welcomed inclusions.
Moving forward in the seventies (and
out of rehab) “Still Alive and Well” and “John
Dawson Winter III” finds Johnny moving
closer to a more rocking sound in a power
trio. Back to the blues there’s a classic jam “I
Done Got Over It” with master bluesmen
Muddy Waters and James Cotton. Other
noteworthy additions are a live take of
“Highway 61 Revisited” from Bob Dylan’s
1993 thirtieth anniversary concert. Finally
this compilation closes with two recent
tracks from Johnny’s recent 2011 “Roots”
album: “Maybelline” featuring the talented
guitarist Vince Gill, and “Dust My Broom”
with the always outstanding Derek Trucks
who will soon depart the Allman Brothers
Band.
For the most part the sound throughout is solid. The informative liner notes
by (Guitar World magazine editor Brad
Tolinski) offers a biography of Johnny’s
historical accomplishments and musical
contributions, mostly from the dialect of the
blues.
Bob Putignano continues to be the heart of
WFDU (http://wfdu.fm) for over fourteen
years with his Sounds of Blue radio show:
www.SoundsofBlue.com. Previously a senior
contributing editor at BluesWax, Blues Revue,
and Goldmine magazines, and a regular contributor to The Westchester Guardian: http://
www.WestchesterGuardian.com. Bob can be
contacted at: [email protected].
POLITICS
Astorino Needs to Decide, Tea or Me?
Maybe Bramson was Onto Something
By BOB MARRONE
The Westchester County
Republican
Committee
has sent out a tea-laced
email inviting the faithful
to attend an event this week to meet with
County Executive Rob Astorino. Astorino,
his stature still growing following his decisive
win over New Rochelle Mayor Noam
Bramson, is considered by some to be the
favorite to run against Governor Andrew
Cuomo. The email’s tea flavoring is included
in the header advertising a fight against
HUD and Obamamcare.
As for the two banner issues, to be fair,
Astorino has always been very clear and
upfront about the HUD affordable housing
debate. The public knows what he believes
and voted for him. That is how our system
works and no matter where you stand on the
issue, that is that. But the Affordable Care
Act is another matter entirely as it affects
all of us, not just those with million dollar
homes among Westchester’s upper crust.
You and I can actually die from this one and,
as such, a life and death issue demands that
we take a harder look at the county executive,
and perhaps a still deeper look into the failed
tactic of the Bramson campaign of labeling
Astorino a Tea Party guy.
I too, was highly critical of the Bramson
strategy right here in this space. And I
still believe it was a lazy, nationally-based
campaign in a local race with an effort
Continued on page 9
Page 9
I might be working two of them… have
coverage. During those same forty years I
developed a heart condition, or lung failure,
or kidney failure, or prostate cancer, or sicklecell anemia… no one will cover me. I have
years to wait for Medicare. I have made early
withdrawals from my retirement to pay my
medical bills, and if anyone else in my family
gets sick, or even needs tests, I may lose my
house.
Obamacare, warts and all (By the way
those warts come from the viruses that your
tribe used to poison the AFA in the hopes of
killing it) saves my life ,as I see it, both real
and financial.
So, once again, I ask you, what is your
plan? What do you propose to do? Tell us?
And to you, Rob Astorino, I still can’t
believe that the Republican Party is hanging
their single minded tea-laced plan on you;
you, a father, son, husband and familyfriendly conservative breath of fresh air?
Was Bramson right? Will we now witness
the bait and switch, reasonableness for Tea
Party extremism, now that the election is
over? Our lives depend on it, and so does
your future.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely
Bob Marrone
POLITICS
Astorino Needs to Decide, Tea or Me?
reminiscent of a national agenda. But now
I find myself asking the following question:
Are the Astorino people going to pick up
the dodged label and wear it as a new badge
of honor? I wonder, and you should too…
again, your life depends upon it. These are
not easy words to write. Rob Astorino is a
good and decent man who has done what
he said he would do if elected. It is, I believe,
the primary reason he won a second term.
He has always been fair to me on the air, and
even helped me critique a demo I once made.
But, still, this is life or death.
You see, it is the healthcare thing that
sticks in my craw and burns with indignity.
I loathe that it is used across the Republican
universe to gain votes from those who don’t
have to worry about their health or future,
and others whose fear and aversion to those
less fortunate makes them think they will
suffer if they have to share anything with
the great unwashed, whom they have vanquished in our winner take all system. It
makes me so sick that I best not dwell on
it. For without Obamacare, I will be out in
the insurance cold when my own COBRA
runs out.
So what follows is an open letter to Rob
Astorino and any other tea addicted party
members, candidates or office holders. Let
me preface that this incorporates a question
that no one in opposition to Obamamcare
has answered in my ten years of wearing
headphones that hear well; nor has it been
answered anywhere in the press or from
policy statements of the GOP. Also, while
the following has elements that are rhetorical, it holds true for millions of people:
Dear County Executive:
I am between 50 and 64 years old. Like
many my age I have been laid-off in favor
of younger and cheaper alternatives. I have
been working for forty years and always had
health insurance. Now, none of the available jobs, which pay much less… indeed
Bob Marrone is an author and freelance writer.
PRO-LIFE
A Classic Young Adult Novel Contains a Pro-Life Parable
Chris Rostenberg
Part Two of Four
Cowslip and his associates
do not have a chief, which is
strange in a warren, and don’t
want one. A leader’s – and
a government’s – first job is to protect the
weak from the strong. Any legitimate human
leader would oppose the extreme bigotry that
kills babies. A leader makes judgment calls,
and we know how the unborn-child-killers
hate “judgmental people”. Those on the
Left hate having a functional constitution,
where words retain their original meaning.
Liberals’ idea of a “living constitution,” where
the judges discover whatever meaning they
want, or whatever policies those who put
them into power want, is a dead law.
When a friend of Hazel states that
rabbits will always need tricks, a young
poet rabbit named Silverweed, who is a
member of Cowslip’s warren, says No,
“Rabbits need dignity and above all, the
will to accept their fate.” Cowslip explains,
“We think Silverweed is one of the best
poets we’ve had for many months.” Not for
many seasons or years or generations, only
many months, because, as Cowslip refuses
to acknowledge, his kin keep getting killed.
Cowslip says of Silverweed, “His ideas have
a great following.” Silverweed is a politically correct entertainer and his name is not
unlike “Hollywood”. The word “dignity” is
used by euthanasia supporters in “death with
dignity.” When Cowslip says rabbits need
“the will to accept their fate” we are reminded
of pro-choicers saying unborn babies must
be denied legal protection against those who
would kill them because, “There’s no way
you can stop people from having irresponsible sex,” and, “Women will always pursue
abortion, and if it is illegal, women will die.”
Nine-month pro-choicers are fatalistic in
more ways than one.
Pro-choicers, and Cowslip (and friends)
share a hostility toward the natural order. In
all their talk about “women’s empowerment”
in the “right” to kill children, do pro-choice
anti-life activists accept women for what they
are? Is pregnancy naturally reversible? Do
wombs come with a kill-switch? No and no.
Do pro-choicers accept this? Resoundingly,
NO! Pro-lifers accept women’s bodies
as normal and natural and the way it is
supposed to be. As one pro-life feminist puts
it, pro-lifers change society to suit women’s
bodies while pro-choicers change women’s
bodies to suit society. Pro-choicers are so
furious that healthy women can be pregnant
New Anti-Matriarchy. As nine-month prochoice abortion fanatics detest the nature of
the womb, and the natural limits put on sex
for those who don’t want to create and raise
children, or create and kill children, Hazel
and his friends are constantly amazed that
Cowslip’s countrymen are so unnatural:
[Cowslip] did not seem aggressive.
On the contrary, there was a curious, rather
unnatural gentleness about the way in which
he waited for them to come nearer …
The baby killers do not consider
themselves aggressive either: It’s not that
I like abortion, I hate it. Nobody is ‘proabortion,’ I’m only pro-choice. In a perfect
world there would be no need for abortion.
We should discourage the surgery, but not
make abortion illegal. Now let’s kill unborn
“That wasn’t why they destroyed the warren.
It was just because we were in the way.
They killed us to suit themselves.”
Toadflax, Watership Down
when they don’t want to be, they tear apart
the bodies of millions of children. They treat
the healthy wombs of healthy women as a
sick curse upon women by a twisted Mother
Nature both malicious and mad. In fact, the
deity of the nine-month pro-choice childsacrificing cult is an Unnatural Anti-Mother
who hates the female face of the human condition and “spites” females with a womb that
“demands” that all mothers have the liberty
to chop up their own children, then sell the
corpses for medical experiments or flush
them down toilets. Today, the real threat to
women is not the Old Patriarchy, but the
children through all nine months under all
circumstances in every state by the millions
and lie about it to women.
“Were they likely to be attacked? The
stranger’s manner told nothing. [Cowslip]
seemed detached, almost bored, but perfectly friendly. His lassitude, his great size
and beautiful, well-groomed appearance, his
unhurried air of having all he wanted and
of being unaffected by the newcomers one
way or another – all these presented Hazel
with a problem unlike anything he had had
to deal with before. If there was some kind of
Continued on page 10
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Page 10
PRO-LIFE
A Classic Young Adult Novel Contains a Pro-Life Parable
trick, he had no idea what it might be.”
No, neither America nor the world
has ever dealt with an issue like prenatal
homicide before. Yes, of course there has
been abortion through the ages, but not
like this. Unborn children are essentially
slaves, and we’ve seen that before, but these
are killable, which is a bit different. The idea
of the government deciding that certain
human beings are not people with a right
to live, leading to the killing of millions of
such human beings has been done before,
but Nazis and nine-month pro-choicers are
psychologically and ideologically very different (but not completely different). So Hazel,
like people today facing the issue of whether
children should be rendered killable, is really
dealing with something new.
Another interesting matter is that
Cowslip does not value his own life:
“[Cowslip] moved easily, without haste
and showed less caution than they in crossing
the field. Hazel felt more mystified than ever.
The other rabbit evidently had no fear that
they [Hazel and his friends] might set upon
him, [many] to none, and kill him. He was
ready to go alone among a crowd of suspicious strangers, but what he stood to gain
from this risk it was impossible to guess.”
Hazel simply cannot understand how
divorced from reality Cowslip is. Dina
Madsen, who worked in an abortion clinic
in Sacramento but then became pro-life said,
“So I was looking at these babies as something to be disposed of. I didn’t see them as
important. I didn’t see life as important. I
didn’t value my own life so how could I value
anyone else’s life?”
Fiver is Hazel’s runt of a brother and
a psychic, and he comes as close to being
a clergyman as any other character in the
book. Appropriately, Fiver recognizes at
once the menace of the deadly warren but
he is ignored. Pro-lifers can identify. Fiver
says the entertainers in the strange warren
were squeezed under the terrible weight of
the warren’s secret until they gulped out fine
folly-about dignity and acquiescence, and
anything else that could make believe that
the rabbit loved the shining wire.
Meanwhile, today’s leftists love the
choice to kill children and call it a fundamental human right, without which women
would be enslaved by their own bodies.
Also, self slaughter is loved as a part of basic
human nature.
But one strict rule they had; oh yes,
the strictest. No one must ever ask where
another rabbit was and anyone who asked
‘Where? -except in a song or a poem-must
be silenced.
To say ‘Where? was bad enough, but to
speak openly of the wires-that was intolerable. For that they would scratch and kill.”
This is why pictures of unborn children,
dead or alive, intact or broken, do not appear
in the media. Imagine if the media did not
show the 9/11 images of violence.
Fiver also criticizes the sick warren for
having abandoned their folk hero or god,
El-ahrairah and for adopting weird culture.
Hazel’s bunch are religious conservatives
while rabbits of the shining wire warren are
atheist radicals.
should always be our priority. My heart
screams out, “No to any assisted suicide.”
We need to put our priorities on finding
new cures for disease and enabling people
to live to ripe old ages so that one day while
watching Andy Griffith we just sort of nod
off and wake up in a better place. Our society’s priority must never focus on how we
can more readily help our sick and aged die
faster but how we can heal and help life to be
more enjoyable. However, life cannot be very
enjoyable if we are imprisoned in a body that
will not function.
Physician assisted suicide is also legal
in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and
Vermont. Terminally ill patients in those
states can now have their doctors prescribe
a fatal prescription. Patients must make the
request. Keep in mind this is illegal in most
of our country. Also, in many cases persons
get beyond the point of making such a
decision and linger often in vegetative states.
This is where a living will comes into play
so that life support can be removed and
Hospice can assist.
I will be redundant. I don’t like the idea
of ending anybody’s life. About a month
before my wife died our doctor called me off
into a corner and said, “Glenn, there comes a
time. She has struggled with this for so long.
We have done all we can do. My response
was, “ I want you to help her live.” “Okay, we
will do all we can, “ he assured. They did try
and she lived about another month. I will
always be glad for that one more month as
we talked about things I would otherwise
have missed.
The end of life is a tough conversation
for anybody facing it regardless of which side
of the bed you are sitting.
The Bible says there is a time to die.
Having someone we love voluntarily make
that decision about ending his or her life
just doesn’t seem like that is what the Bible
is talking about. However, keep in mind that
God is bigger, more loving and far more forgiving than are we.
companies, such as Compaq, Tandy,
Gateway, Dell, AST, and the many cheap
clone imports, could build totally compatible
systems -- some more powerful, some much
cheaper – was looking for a way to recapture leadership in the market and saw a new
powerful operating system as a springboard
to do so. With benefits apparent to both
firms, IBM and Microsoft signed the “Joint
Development Agreement” in August 1985 to
provide a new Operating System to answer
the perceived limitations of MS-DOS,
provide the Graphic User Interface that
Microsoft had been trying to “get right,”
and re-position IBM in the microcomputer
hardware competition.
Under the terms of the agreement,
Microsoft would be the owners of the
basic OS/2 and the right to license it to
any PC vendor, while an enhanced version
“OS/2 Extended Edition” (“OS/2 EE”) would
support new high-speed peripherals usable,
at least initially, only in a new line of computers from IBM, the “PS/2” (all of the faster
new models of the PC, based on the 80386 chip,
were 32-bit processors but only transferred data
to peripherals at 16-bit speed. The PS/2s would
have new I/O slots, called “micro-channel” to
provide for 16-bit transfer).
I was at the Announcement and Press
Conference for OS/2 in April 1987 – and
it was an impressive rollout. In addition to
Microsoft and IBM, the leading developers
of software for MS-DOS, including Lotus
Development and Word Perfect (neither of
which had embraced Windows), were there
to pledge to have GUI versions of their
software available for OS/2.
During the question period, two
hardly-noticed answers that would have
great impact on the industry were elicited
-- Bill Gates, when asked whether the
development of a GUI-based OS/2 would
mean the end of the Windows effort, said,
something like “No. OS/2 will be for the
business market. We will continue to develop
Windows for individuals and home office users;”
a little later, Jim Manzi, Lotus CEO, when
asked if Lotus’ development of a GUI-based
OS/2 version of its industry leading “1-2-3”
spreadsheet meant that it would also provide
one for Windows, replied with something
like “No, you heard Mr. Gates’ earlier comment
about the audience for Windows. That is not our
market.”
Word Perfect, the provider of the
industry leading “Word Perfect” word processing program, followed Lotus’ lead in
the decision not to support Windows – a
decision that led to the ultimate demise of
both firms.
Meanwhile, in the Macintosh world,
SOCIETY
Assisted Suicide in America
By GLENN MOLLETTE
Physician assisted suicide
is becoming a bit more
popular in America. A New
Mexico judge recently ruled
that terminally ill, mentally
competent patients have the right to ask a
physician to end their lives. This would make
New Mexico the fifth state to make it legal.
My first wife died progressively over a
twelve-year time frame. Multiple sclerosis
diminished her capacity from a vibrant active
person to a total invalid, able only to speak
– nothing more. She was a prisoner inside
her own body, incapable of functioning to
any degree whatsoever. On New Year’s Eve
three years before she died she begged me
to call Dr. Kevorkian, who became famous
for assisting 130 people in their deaths. She
later tried suicide and once begged me to put
her in our closed garage and start the car. She
did not want to die and leave her family but
living trapped inside of a body ravaged by
disease was excruciating for her.
I know how I personally feel. Should I
get to the point where I am without hope of
ever enjoying this momentary world I would
like to simply go on over to the other side to
be with my Lord.
There are some problems herein. Life
Glenn Mollette is the author of Silent Struggler:
A Caregiver’s Personal Story, and nine other
books.
Contact him at [email protected]. Like
his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
glennmollette.
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
Mr. Gates Is In The Building!
The OS/2 fiasco and the “Browser Wars” – Part II
By JOHN F. McMULLEN
Despite the great success
of MS-DOS and the PC
platform, it became obvious,
as more sophisticated uses
of PCs developed and the
hardware became much more powerful, that
MS-DOS was too limited to keep pace with
both user demands and the improvements
in hardware. The major deficiencies seen in
MS-DOS were:
No ability to address main memory
above 640K (although new processors such as
Intel’s 80386 (“386”) processor could address
much more – people were buying 386-based
machines for the greatly increased speed of
the processor and then complaining about the
inability to use additional the memory).
Inability to have more than one application program in memory at the same
time and flip back and forth between them
– called “multi-tasking” or “multi-programming,” a feature contained in operating
systems, such as UNIX, designed for larger
computer systems.
No “network ability,” having a number
of PCs able to work on the same data,
transfer information from PC to PC, and
perform other multi-user functions found in
UNIX and more robust operating systems.
IBM, which had seen its monopoly
in the early PC market erode once other
Page 11
computing world until after 2000. The shortsightedness of this became rapidly apparent
and, in 1996, when the paperback version of
the book appeared, it had been substantially
revised to focus on the Internet.
More importantly, Microsoft had been
re-tooled to play catch-up with the Internet.
It put a crash effort into developing “Microsoft
Network (“MSN”), a network, similar to
AOL’s, providing users with mail, search,
and browsing capability. It licensed a version
of Mosaic from “Spyglass” (which had, in
turn, licensed it from NCSA), modified it, and
released it as a free download under the name
“Internet Explorer” (“IE”).
While Microsoft had been getting its
act together, the lead developer of Mosaic,
Marc Andreessen, had, with Jim Clark, one
of the founders of Silicon Graphics, Inc.,
and four other former students and staff of
NCSA founded Netscape Communications
Corporation (originally called Mosaic
Communications Corporation until it was sued
by NCSA) and released “Navigator,” a free
web browser that rapidly became the leader
among computer users.
When Microsoft released IE, users now
could have choices between it and Navigator
and / or have both downloaded into Windows
95 (the successor to Windows 3.x) and do comparisons. In many cases, those satisfied with
the earlier available Navigator just continued with that choice and did not bother to
download IE.
The “terms-of-battle” changed when
Microsoft announced plans to make IE part
of its Windows 98 operating system upon its
release. Netscape immediately cried “foul,”
complaining that Microsoft was using its
monopoly position in operating systems
unfairly – a view that many industry pundits
agreed with – as did the Federal Trade
Commission and eventually the Department
of Justice.
As the debate concerning Microsoft’s
action raged on, I heard Gates speak at a conference in New York where he laid out the
technical reasons for the browser “belonging
in the operating system” – “browsers needed to
handle audio and video ‘plug-ins’ and operating systems were used to that with ‘drivers,” “the
browser, with its multiple open sites, requires
memory management and interchanging
windows and operating systems do that best”
and other technical reasons. After hearing
his presentation, I sent him e-mail stating
that his talk reminded me of his debates with
Dan Fylstra over where the GUI belonged.
He replied that it all belongs in the operating
system – voice would ne next (and, while he
wasn’t right that the browser had to be in the OS
– think of “Chrome” on non-Chromebook systems,
“Safari” on non-Apple systems, and “Firefox,” he
seems to have been right about voice – think of
“Siri” in iOS and voice on Android systems).
The US Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
filed suit against Microsoft on May 18, 1998,
accusing it of being a monopoly and engaging
in abusive practices contrary to the Sherman
Antitrust Act 1890 sections 1 and 2. DOJ was
represented by Joel Klein (later Chancellor of
the New York City Department of Education).
The case dragged on until November 5,1999
when Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled
that Microsoft was indeed guilty of Sherman
violations and, on June 7, 2000, the court
ordered a breakup of Microsoft into two
separate units, one to produce the operating
system, and one to produce other software
components.
Microsoft immediately filed an appeal
and the DC Court of Appeals overturned the
penalty, sending it back to the lower court.The
DOJ announced on September 6, 2001 that it
was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft
and would instead seek a lesser antitrust
penalty and on November 2, 2001, the parties
reached a settlement under which Microsoft
agreed to share its interfaces with third party
companies; it was not prohibited from tying
IE or other future software into Windows.
A number of states that were involved with
the suit objected to the settlement, complaining that it was too lenient but, June 30, 2004,
the U.S. appeals court unanimously approved
the settlement with the Justice Department,
rejecting those objections.
Netscape was sold to AOL in 2000 and
AOL stopped supporting Netscape software
in 2008. IBM discontinued OS/2 support on
December 31, 2006. Microsoft was undeniably
“king of the hill” with its Operating System, Office
Suite and Web Browser!
that peak and wane. They will be more than
happy to get back to their regular diet once
the snow is gone.
What to feed them? Birds are not picky
eaters. Bread is fine. (It is an urban myth that
it will swell up in their stomach and is bad
for them.) Most any kind of left over baked
goods will be gobbled up. Crumbs for the
ground feeders like the slate gray juncos and
sparrows, larger pieces for the jays and cardinals. Watch the jays fly away with pieces only
to return a minute later. They are stuffing it
in nooks and crevices for future eating. Dry
cereal works, especially if it has raisins in it.
Oatmeal, cooked or uncooked is a treat. A
couple dollars’ worth of beef suet (fat) from
the grocery store is excellent. Nail it to a tree
trunk or hang it is net bag and the downy
woodpeckers will love you until it is all gone.
Most grocery stores carry wild bird feed in
their pet section. Black oil sunflower seed is
by far the best. It is cheaper by the ounce to
get it at Home Depot but you have to buy a
much bigger bag.
What you are offering is some temporary help to get our feathered friends over a
particularly hard time. They deserve it, if only
for all the mosquitos and other insects they
will eat this summer. So, do your part now
and feed those birds!
CREATIVE DISRUPTION
Mr. Gates Is In The Building!
Microsoft had implemented GUI-based
word processing (“Word”), spreadsheet
(“Excel”), and presentation graphics (“Power
Point”) programs in 1984, 1985, and 1987,
respectively and bundled them together
into a “suite,” “Microsoft Office” (“MS-Office”),
released in 1989 – the same year it also
announced but did not release MS-Office for
Windows and OS/2 -- they were released in
1990.
1990 was also the year that Microsoft
released Windows 3.0. Although slightly
buggy, Windows 3.0 was the first really usable
version of Windows as, by this time, computer
monitors were sufficiently developed to allow
clear presentation of bit-mapped text and,
with MS-Office, users had quality productivity software available. Windows 3.1, introduced
in 1992, eliminated many of the bugs and
provided a number of enhancements.
By 1992, there were many problems in
the OS/2 world. The PS/2 micro-channel
feature that was supposed to have resuscitated IBM’s position in the marketplace
hadn’t worked out.The slots weren’t “backward
compatible” with the older peripheral cards so
a firm would have to buy all new modems,
hard-disk and net-work controllers, etc. when
purchasing a PS/2. Competitors rapidly
addressed this by coming together in “a gang
of nine” (AST Research, Compaq Computer,
Epson, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Olivetti,Tandy,
WYSE, and Zenith Data Systems) to develop
the “Extended Industry Standard Architecture”
(“EISA”) a “BUS” (slot) standard that would
accept both the shorter 16-bit cards and the
longer 32-bit ones.
Additionally the relationship between
IBM and Microsoft had begun to deteriorate.
IBM was particularly resentful that Windows
was given away with MS-DOS with every
new Intel-based computer sold while OS/2
was an expansive add-on. It appeared to
IBM that Microsoft’s head might be in both
operating systems but its heart was in the
Windows one.
Even with the technical success of
Windows, its deployment was fairly slow
as corporations, wedded to “1-2-3” and / or
Word Perfect were unwilling to take the leap
into a new platform and software that would
require retraining, purchase of MS-Office
software, and a general disruption of its operations. Moreover, most pure techies were not
taken with Windows – “I can do more at the
command line” and “It has an overhead that
slows it down.”
The deployment picked up dramatically
with the announcement of the first Graphic
Web Browser, “Mosaic,” by the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications
(“NCSA”) at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign. Available free in 1993
for Windows, X-Windows (UNIX) and
Macintosh, the browser opened the door
to end-users for information gathering and
shopping, and to businesses for advertising. It
led a charge to the use of Windows.
In 1995, Gates’ book, “The Road Ahead”
was a big seller but did not focus on the
Internet as coming to being the center of the
Creative Disruption is a continuing series
examining the impact of constantly accelerating
technology on the world around us. These changers
normally happen under our personal radar until
we find that the world as we knew it is no more.
(Next week – The Resurgence of Apple and the
Emergence of Google)
John F. McMullen is a writer, poet, college professor and radio host. Links to other writings,
Podcasts, & Radio Broadcasts at http://www.
johnmac13.com.
THE MERRY GARDENER
Hungry Birds
By MARILYN ELIE
You think we humans are
having a hard winter? Try
looking at it from a bird’s
point of view. Just as the days
are getting longer and you
are starting to feel like singing and looking
around to establish a nice nesting territory
and maybe attract an attractive mate, winter
comes roaring back. Snow and more snow,
covering the bushes, including those that
still had a remnant of berries, covering the
ground so that there is no chance to scratch
around and find a bite to eat. Keen eyed
starving predators are waiting to pounce
from the air or from behind big drifts of
snow. And the colder it gets the more food
it requires to stay warm. No wonder so
few birds choose to stick around for twelve
months and not go south.
Claiming your territory and holding on
to it, impressing the opposite sex, building a
nest that is safe from predators and feeding
all those hungry babies is enough to turn the
brightest of feathers gray and worn. And that
is in the spring when the sun is shining.
In other words – feed those birds! The
snowy winter has covered up most of the
food sources birds would normally depend
on. Right now they really are relying on
humans for a few extra calories to tide them
over until the snow is gone and they can
forage on their own. If you have a bird feeder
and regularly watch who comes to your back
yard you know exactly what I mean. If you
have not been putting anything out for our
feathered friends, now is the time to start.
Don’t worry about making them dependent
or think that you will have to do this for the
rest of your life. This is a temporary situation
and birds are used to seasonal food sources
Westchester resident Marilyn Elie is completing
her studies for Master Gardener certification
from Cornell.
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Page 12
EYE ON THEATRE
Novelistic Musicals
By JOHN SIMON
“The Bridges of Madison
County” was first a novel,
then a movie with Clint
Eastwood and Meryl
Streep, and is now a
Broadway musical with much younger
actors, which makes better box office but a
little less sense.
This is the story of Francesca, an Italian
war bride whom Richard “Bud” Johnson,
an Allied soldier in Italy, brought back as
his wife to his Iowa farm, where she bore
up well enough, bore him two children,
and was a not unhappy but bored housewife. Then one day a photographer from
National Geographic drove up in a truck,
asking for directions. His assignment was
the picturesque covered bridges of the
region, the seventh of which he was unable
to locate. Francesca’s husband and children
were away at the state fair for a few days
with a potential prize-winning steer and
Francesca was perfectly willing to ride with
the photographer, Robert Kincaid, to guide
him to the hard-to-find bridge.
This leads to her inviting him for dinner,
then to a meeting at dawn when, apparently,
covered bridges are at their most photogenic.
This brings about another dinner invitation and a nascent mutual attraction, and,
what do you know, getting under the covers
together. But what will happen when Bud
and the kids return? Will Francesca run off
with Robert to new-found excitement, or
will she stay dutifully with her family for the
rest of an uneventful life?
There is a bit more to the story. There
is a very ordinary friendly neighbor couple,
Charlie and Marge, who, thanks to Marge’s
nosiness about Robert, provide comic
relief. There are the small-town Iowa folk
who allow for choric numbers and, under
director Bartlett Sher’s clever direction, also
serve as scene-shifters. There is a trip to Des
Moines for the lovers, and a brief vision
of Italy and Francesca’s sluttish elder sister
Chiara, as well as a detour to where Robert’s
guitar-playing ex-wife gets a song about her
ultimately unhappy life with Robert.
It is not the ideal material for a musical,
although Michael Yeargan has provided nice
scenery, even an estimable skeletal covered
bridge that descends piecemeal from above
and must, like various houses, remain mere
contour, so as not to block our view. The
real problem, though, is how to convey the
gradually increasing feeling between Robert
and Francesca and its eruption into passion,
which might be more convincing if the characters were portrayed older, as intended by
the novelist, with more of a sense of a last
chance to fill in for a lack of romance.
I would not fault the libretto by
Marsha Norman for not being able to do
in detail what the novel has ample opportunity for, but I do question the achievement
of the composer / lyricist Jason Robert
Brown. Most of Brown’s music severely
lacks melody, and it’s not till near the end
of act one that he manages to grind out a
tune or two. With the lyrics he is in even
deeper trouble, though it is admittedly hard
to find words both striking and suited to
very ordinary people.
Consider only this from Robert: “But
wouldn’t it be fine to share/ The weather in
her eyes, her hair,/ Her footsteps as she climbs
the stair,/ The shadow in her light.” And a
bit further: “And everything that makes you
you/ Collides against the night,” whatever
that means. Moreover, Brown is obsessed
with repetition; in one lyric, “It all fades away”
recurs sixteen times. Granted it is the song’s
title and serves as a refrain, but even refrains
should refrain from too much entitlement.
The principal actors are extremely
fetching. Kelli O’Hara is an extremely
appealing Francesca from top to bottom.
Stephen Pasquale is a fine Robert,
handsome without excess, masculine in
an understated way. Hunter Foster’s Bud
manages to be, strong Midwestern accent
and all, a likable enough hayseed. Other
characters are insignificant, but similarly
well handled, notably by Michael X. Martin
and Cass Morgan as the neighbors.
Nevertheless, the story has its obvious
appeal. What spouse does not recollect a
brief affair from his or her youth that in the
afterglow of nostalgic retrospect becomes
a periodic bittersweet pang murmuring “It
might have been”?
Venue: Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre,
236 West 45th Street, between Broadway
and 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10036. Tel:
(212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com.
The Irish Repertory Theatre offers
“Transport,” a musical about those Irish
women who, for the most minute or
even invented crimes, were shipped off to
Australia to provide wives for the genuine
felons deported to the penal colony of New
South Wales, and alleviate the region’s
underpopulation.
We get the imagined goings-on on
a real transport ship ironically called The
Whisper. Thomas Keneally (author of,
among others, Schindler’s List) who wrote
the book for “Transport,” has a wife whose
greatgrandmother, back in 1838, was such
a deportee for merely stealing a bolt of
cloth. The ship is carrying four females:
the doughty, rebellious Kate O’Hara,
Bride Riordan brutally separated from
her husband, childlike Polly Cantrell who
brings along her hapless infant, and Maggie
Carroll, a fierce older woman with dread
prognostications of the future.
The men are Captain Winton, a tough,
uncompassionate old salt; Father Manion, a
none too happy priest; Surgeon Delamare, a
humane doctor who feels for these women,
especially Bride; and Henessy, a yokely
sailor who develops a crush on Kate, the
rebellious girl who tries to kill the captain
and divert the ship to democratic America.
The story is interesting enough, but
suffers from mere utility music and pedestrian lyrics by Larry Kirwan, and a book
that does not allow for sufficient development of any of its characters. An even
bigger problem is that the small stage and
limited technical and financial resources
prevent conveying the furious winds and
waves that sweep one of the women to
watery death.
Tony Walton has directed decently
and also designed a creditable but not quite
credible abstraction of a ship that precludes
our full involvement. Still, all the performers
are good actors and estimable singers—
notably Edward Watts as Dr. Delamare
and Jessica Grové as fiery Kate--but there
is no escaping that what is meant to be a
horrific mass transport buffeted by monstrous storms when reduced to only four
women and no palpable danger smacks
somehow of today’s tourism on cargo ships.
A worthy dramatic subject unfortunately
suffers shipwreck.
Venue: Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd
Street, Suite 2, New York, NY 10011. Tel: (212)
727-2737. Website: www.IrishRep.org .
Tickets: www.irishrep.org/boxoffice.htm
John Simon has written for over 50 years on
theatre, film, literature, music and fine arts
for the Hudson Review, New Leader, New
Criterion, National Review, New York
Magazine, Opera News, Weekly Standard,
Broadway.com and Bloomberg News. Mr.
Simon holds a PhD from Harvard University
in Comparative Literature and has taught at
MIT, Harvard University, Bard College and
Marymount Manhattan College.
To learn more, visit the JohnSimonUncensored.com website.
Page 13
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
Playin’ Dirty In Some Mississippi Mud
that tossing the beads was to be taken seriously. We threw and threw and threw. Rest
the arm? …you didn’t dare!
By the same token, because this was a
more up-close-and-personal event, it was
so much more special. Our float stopped
frequently along the route and the spirit
and frenzy on the sidewalks below rose up
to gob-smack us directly in the kisser - and
in the heart. This is what it was all about,
the sweet connection between people. Hey,
we’ve waited all year for this!
Mardi Gras 2014 promises to be every
The Gulf Coast’s Merry Mardi Gras Festivities
By BARBARA BARTON
SLOANE
It’s that time again –
Mardi Gras time, that is.
The Carnival season of
“Fat Tuesday” is widely
and wildly celebrated around the world in
places such as Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad and
Tobago, Venice, and of course New Orleans.
None, however, can make the claim that
their Mardi Gras offers the chance to get
down and dirty – literally – in the famed
Mississippi Mud!
I was sitting on the dock of the bay
in Biloxi last year just about this time, but,
unlike Otis Redding, I wasn’t wastin’ time.
No, there was far too much to do and see
on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I wasn’t
about to miss any of it.
Costumes fit for Queen
A fine place to start Mardi Gras meanderings is at Biloxi’s Mardi Gras Museum.
Located in the historic Magnolia Hotel,
this museum traces the three hundred year
history of Mardi Gras on the Gulf Coast.
The costumes are outrageous and quite
beautiful and the photographs of bygone
celebrations gave me a true understanding
of the history and continuing importance
of the Gulf Coast’s strong Mardi Gras tradition. Speaking of costumers, the man is
Carter Church. In fact, this gentleman bears
the title of “Costume King.” Meeting him
was a delight. He regaled us with tales of
his experiences through decades of creating
exquisite designs. Church’s mentor was none
other than Romain de Tirtoff, the Russian
born painter and designer known around the
world as Erté.They met in New Orleans and
later in Paris; a strong friendship developed
and Erté’s influence can be seen in much of
Church’s work today. When he sees his creations walk on stage at the balls, Church says
“It feels like a million dollars… the pomp, the
pageantry… it all comes alive…” If you don’t
happen to be invited to one of the majestic
balls during Mardi Gras, the next best thing
is to pay a visit to the Mardi Gras Museum.
Another museum with an entirely different Biloxi bent is the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum
of Art, a five-building campus designed by
architect Frank Gehry to “dance” with the
ancient live oaks on the four-acre site. Dance
it does. As I gazed up at the commanding
façade, it seemed there could be no better
design than the one Gehry realized – it so
perfectly “fits” its surroundings. Construction
began in 2004 and was delayed by damage
during Hurricane Katrina. Finally three of
We never have enough beads!
the buildings opened in 2010 including its
affecting Gallery of African Art; the last two
openings quickly followed.
Food, Glorious Food
The Gulf Coast is a lively destination
that seems to just about have it all: casinos,
beaches, historic sites, and unique activities
like kayaking the backwaters of the bayou
and bird watching in quaint towns filled
with legends and lore. And food? You’ll
forgive me if I use a very New York phrase
here: fuhgeddaboudit! Simple, complex, off
the boards – it is all amazing and you must
not miss it! I had breakfast at Daddyz. Is
there anything more soothing than smooth,
Everyone Enjoys Mardi Gras.
for over 40 years. Well, shut my mouth…
and I mean this literally as I returned home
with an extra five wholly unwanted pounds.
Throw Me Something Mistah!
Perhaps the New Orleans Mardi Gras
is the ne plus ultra of this celebration, but
for me, I prefer doings that are slightly less
frenetic and a lot more intimate. That is the
Gulf Coast Mardi Gras. I had the exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime chance to ride
on a float in one of the parades. Wow. It is
more fun than one can possibly have while
still sober (did I say sober?) Tons, yes tons
of green, silver, gold, and purple “throws”
(beads) lined the walls of our float and it was
clear to all of us from the outset that, for the
next several hours, this was our job – we were
the “throwers” and just one look at the faces
of the “throwees” on the street below told us
bit as gay and lively as ever. There’s the Mardi
Gras Mayhem with a Jambalaya Cook-Off
in February and non-stop from there,
parades every day. On March 3, there’s a teen
Mardi Gras Ball and a Children’s Walking
Parade for kids 12 and under. This is a
Before speaking to the police...call
George Weinbaum
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Throw me somethin’ mistah!
It works swell.
creamy grits and cheese to wake up one’s
palate? I think not. Another morning found
me at McElroy’s on the Bayou, besotted by
biscuits and sausage topped with pepper
gravy. For dinner, I loved Mary Mahoney’s
Old French House Restaurant situated in a
mansion dating back to 1737. The “Mary”
of her namesake restaurant actually once
catered a party for President Regan on the
White House lawn and she’s served many
celebrities and dignitaries in her restaurant
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Page 14
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
Playin’ Dirty In Some Mississippi Mud
non-motorized event so it’s bikes, skates,
skateboards, scooters and wagons. On the
Big Day, March 4, Fat Tuesday culminates in
scores of events, including the Mystic Krewe
of Seahorse Parade, the Krewe of Neptune
Parade and the yearly Gulf Coast Carnival
Association Parade.
Whew… right now don’t you just
wanna find some cute bar, hike up on a stool,
look around at all the others as dazed and
confused as you and order yourself a nice,
long Pensacola Bushwacker. I know I did works every time!
There are loads of fun festivals coming
up in the Gulf Coast Region this spring and
summer. In April, the Southern Miss Jazz
and Blues Festival, in May the Live Oaks Art
Festival; there’s the St. Paul’s Seafood Festival
in June, July ushers in the Gulf Coast Deep
Sea Fishing Rodeo and at summer’s end, the
Shedhead Blues Festival in September. Oh,
and one mustn’t forget the Piece de Resistance:
Christmas on the Bayou, a lighted boat
parade at night in December. Exceptional.
People, mark your calendars and come
on down to play on land, on sand, and for
sure in that rich and lovely Mississippi Mud!
Gulf Coast 411:
Mississippi Gulf Coast
www.gulfcoast.org
Mardi Gras Museum
www.biloxi.ms.us/museums/mardigras/
Beau Rivage Hotel & Casino
www.beaurivage.com
Photos by Michael Sloane and courtesy of
Michael Sloane Travel Photography.
Travel Editor Barbara Barton Sloane is constantly globe hopping to share her unique
experiences with our readers; from the exotic
to the sublime. As Beauty / Fashion Editor she
keeps us informed on the capricious and engaging
fashion and beauty scene.
TRIVIA
Wednesday Night Trivia at the Finn Tavern
By RICH MONETTI
I love trivia - especially when
I get to show off my chops.
So upon hearing of the Finn
Tavern’s Wednesday trivia
night in Somers, New York,
I unglued myself from my couch and was
ready to put the competition in its place.
I teamed up with Polly Peace, whom I
know from the Country Children’s Center
in Cross River where she is the executive
director. We proceeded from a very similar
mindset. “You have knowledge, this gives
the chance to test yourself, and you get the
opportunity to bring it out,” said the Somers
resident.
Not much a TV watcher, she was happy
to know I’d have that area covered and I
delivered almost immediately. What recent
SyFy original featured Tara Reid, asked
MC Rick Peace, who is Polly’s husband. I
pounced on the pen and slid Sharknado into
the five spot.
Letting her bewildered look go, we
coasted through, what war did the Treaty of
Versailles end, which ocean is Pitcairn Carne
Island in, and what century did Julius Caesar
live.
Finishing with eight out of ten in the
first of five rounds, we tied for first and won
an appetizer. Yeah, we were going to clean up,
and I was ready to let the room know.
The back table heard from me first.
John Stam and Matt Murphy weren’t ready
to concede and knew what Wednesday is
about. “Winning,” said Stam, whose team
has won the last two of three competitions.
Taken aback, but not tipping my hand,
I was curious how they did on the math
question that tripped our team up. “We
made it our b**ch,” Stam said with joking
confidence.
Bluster aside, he welcomed the
Wednesday change of pace in comparison
to what can be found elsewhere. “People
drinking too much, this is something different,” said Stam.
His teammate brought a more cerebral
point of view. “Its a little brain exercise,”
Murphy said describing their weekly
participation.
Returning to my seat, I felt poised to
sweep into the next round. But not knowing
the dimensions of a chord of wood set the
tone, and we lost our bid for free shots.
Unable to duck for cover as part of
the job description, I took my questions to
Brittany Gray and Danielle Crecco, who
both seemed a bit overmatched by the
minutia. “We got a four that round,” Brittany
sighed in resignation.
Still, they bantered with the boys sitting
by their side, and weren’t shy about pointing
out the ungentlemanly advantage held in the
standings. “They stink,” said Crecco, while
also being certain their competition would
share some of their winnings in the form of
drinks and food.
But Will Galli stopped that idea in its
tracks. “No, I got my own team to worry
about,” he poked at the girls.
Removing myself from the crossfire,
Polly put my so-called literary advantage
to shame. What do you call a word that
imitates the sound associated with the
objects or actions they refer (such as buzz or
hiss), asked Rick Peace. Fortunately before
my incompetence could reveal itself, Polly
penned out “onamonapia”.
I would redeem myself of my armchair
expertise in astrophysics. Nine minutes, I’ve
long known it takes light to reach the earth
from the sun. And having never heard of the
1972 sinking of a famous vessel in Hong
Kong Harbor, I was able to piece together
the right answer.
The former British Colony, I had the
country of origin, and knowing of the QE2,
I figured out something bad must have
happened to the first one.
Then collaborating on the year Jimmy
Carter lost the presidency and the number
of Supreme Court Justices, we certainly did
not overlap on two queries involving stone
settings and fashion. But there’s no “I” in
team, and we would win the final round.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to
win the evening. Will Galli’s team took the
honors.
Licking my wounds, I thanked owner
Gina Shaub for a fun night out. “We try to
keep it social and current so it’s a good time
throughout and everyone can do it,” she said.
Very quaint, but I have work to do.
else could they say but what they were told
to say? Even if one of them dared to say the
“wrong thing,” it naturally would have been
edited out. Who knows how many takes
it took to get the video—which includes a
bizarre clip of the nuns having a snowball
fight with their abductors—just right?
One thing, however, although minor,
speaks volumes concerning the nature of
their captivity. Although these same nuns, in
pictures before they were kidnapped, often
appear wearing the large pectoral crosses
that nuns often wear, these are all gone in the
recent video.
This is to be expected, considering the
“pious” nature of their captors. According
to strict Islamic teaching, Christians and
other non-Muslims are forbidden to show
any signs or expressions of their “polytheism” (shirk in Arabic). Indeed, this is spelled
out clearly in the Conditions of Omar, which
mainstream Muslim teaching attributes to
the second caliph of the same name.
After the seventh century armies of
Islam conquered a particular Christian
region—possibly and ironically in Syria—
Omar stipulated several conditions for
Christians to accept, including “Not to
display a cross on them [churches], nor raise
our voices during prayer or readings in our
churches anywhere near Muslims; Not to
produce a cross or [Christian] book in the
markets of the Muslims” (see Crucified Again,
pgs. 24-27 for my new translation of the
entire text of the Conditions of Omar).
From here we understand the true
plight of the captive nuns: to their captors,
not only are the Christian women hostages
to be used for leverage, but ideologically
speaking, they are “infidel” inferiors—near
sub-humans who are more akin to animals.
Indeed, the same Caliph Omar whom
Syria’s jihadis are hearkening to regarding
Rich Monetti has been a freelance writer since
2003 and lives in Westchester.
MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Kidnapped Nuns No Longer Bear the Cross
By RAYMOND IBRAHIM
A new video of the twelve
Christian nuns kidnapped
in Syria recently appeared.
In it, the nuns are taped
sitting in a room and being
questioned by an unseen man, presumably
a member of the kidnappers. He asks them
how they are, if they’ve been mistreated, etc.
They respond that they are being treated
fine, that they very much look forward to
being returned to their convent, that they
heartily thank the world for its concern, and
that they continually pray that God grant
peace to all nations.
Their words say one thing, their expressions and demeanor another. Put differently,
as female captives of Islamic jihadis, what
Several of the kidnapped Syrian nuns. (Image source- YouTube video by kidnappers).
Page 15
MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Kidnapped Nuns No Longer Bear the Cross
the ban on Christian crosses is also on record
saying that the life of a non-Muslim is equal
to the life of a dog (Western readers should
bear in mind that in Arab/Muslim culture,
dogs are among the lowest life forms.)
As such, the plight of the kidnapped
nuns remains precarious—all their scripted
words aside. (See here for more on the
history of Islamic jihad on Christian nuns.)
As for the effects of removing the nuns’
crosses, an Arabic column by one Father
George makes an interesting point highlighting the difference between outwardly
observant “Salafi” Muslims, presumably
like the kidnappers—with their beards and
prayer callouses on their foreheads—and
inwardly observant Christians like these
nuns:
St Paul says “But God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians
6:14). You removed the cross from the nuns’
breasts. Remove it! We do not rely on the
visible. But know that the cross is firmly
planted in the hearts of each and every one
of those nuns.
18, 2014;
http://www.meforum.org/3734/
qaradawi-us-jihad
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again:
Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians
(Regnery, April, 2013) is a Shillman Fellow at
the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an
Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
First published in World Magazine February
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Seeds of Doubt
By SHERIF AWAD
Samir Nasr was born in
1968 in Germany to an
Egyptian father and a
German mother. His family
moved to Libya when he
was a young child where they lived for
four years, and Nasr subsequently attended
school in Cairo. He graduated with a degree
in Business Administration in Germany.
Thereafter he applied to various film schools
and was accepted by Germany’s prestigious
Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg, where he
specialized in documentary filmmaking.
Nachttanke (Night Station), the documentary he made in his final year of study, was
shown at several film festivals and garnered
a number of prizes. His debut feature
Folgeschöden (Seeds of Doubt), has already
won several awards in Germany, including the CIVIS Media Award, which was
presented for work that promotes cultural
diversity, coexistence, integration and tolerance in Europe, and the Tankred-Dorst
Award. Folgeschöden -- literally translated
Egyptian German filmmaker Samir Nasr.
means damaging after-effects -- begins at the
intersection where seemingly fixed notions
of identity crumble under the pressure of
politics, the place Graham Greene termed
“the dangerous edge of things”.
“The original script of the film,” says
Nasr, “was radically different from the final
version”, so much so that Nasr was unsure
whether the TV editors who had commissioned him would want to continue
with the project after he had voiced objections to the original plot. The original script
included a Pakistani secret agent protagonist
who insinuates himself into the life of a
German woman and her Muslim husband,
the purpose is to follow the gradual radicalization of the husband. Nasr suggested the
story be drastically changed so as to avoid the
stereotypical concepts and clichés attributed
to Arabs common in German TV and film.
Nasr suggested the character would be best
understood if he were seen contending with
the disparate cultural intrusiveness upon
their marriage. Nasr wanted to shoot a love
story that would appeal to the audience both
emotionally and visually. “I like to create an
atmosphere of complicity between the spectator and the camera and then expose the
spectators at the end of the film; showing
them that they have been involved in a
process of stigmatizing someone out of sheer
ignorance.”
Weeks of silence followed Nasr’s initial
objections to the script and he had already
forgotten about the project when the producers contacted him once again. They
agreed on the basic plot: Tariq, an Algerian
Muslim living in post-9/11 Germany,
married to Maya, a German woman,
suddenly embroiled in politics when he finds
himself the subject of a police surveillance.
Nasr is a conservative and pragmatic
filmmaker. He favors clear, cleanly cut films.
He does not take his audience on a conducted tour of experimental film aesthetics
intended to subvert their expectations, nor
does he engage in shaky Dogma--like
camera shots. There are no narrative ellipses,
no traces of the melancholy so characteristic of German auteur films portraying fallen
angels in soulless urban landscapes as they
engage in a futile search for love. Folgeschöden
is a TV movie, heir to the long and successful tradition of TV crime thrillers. Narrative
continuity remains uninterrupted until the
unexpected denouement uncovers the story
and reveals the spectator as an accomplice
in crime.
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Silke Bodenbender as Maya in “Seeds of Doubt.”
[email protected]
Page 16
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Seeds of Doubt
“The spectator sees the whole story
through Maya’s eyes; she is the main protagonist, the one who undergoes a painful
development - from loving wife to police
informer, yet finally realizing that she had
erred. The spectator usually identifies with
protagonists who undergo change,” says
Nasr.
The basic plot is simple, occasionally bordering on kitsch, especially when
Nasr tries to elaborate visually on emotions
between the couple and on Maya’s cultural
ignorance of Tariq’s Algerian background.
Tariq Slimani, played by Algerian actor
Mehdi Nebbou, is a cosmopolitan scientist
living in Hamburg -- he speaks German
with a French accent -- where he is conducting research on Ebola viruses. His wife Maya
is a successful art director and they have a
son, Karim. The film opens with the couple
preparing to go out for dinner. So far so
good; but the atmosphere at the dinner party
with Maya’s colleagues and editor-in-chief
is tense. Maya’s boss makes anti-Muslim
comments, telling Tariq that he read the
Quran after 9/11 and came to the conclusion that Islam was a backward religion.
Tariq responds with seemingly insouciant sarcasm, but the dinner party provokes
the first crisis in Maya and Tariq’s hitherto
idyllic relationship. Maya, the good-natured,
blonde provincial wife with no clue as to
where her husband comes from or what he
undergoes comes to realize that her husband
is no longer willing to silently accept sudden
hostility for the sake of peace.
Then the unimaginable happens:
Maya’s angry superior denounces Tariq to
the police, reporting his allegedly anti-American comments. The police then discover, via
a video of a wedding party, that Tariq had
attended the same function as one of the
perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. Rumors
spread and his son Karim faces growing difficulties at school, where his classmates begin
to describe his father as a terrorist.
Tariq is then denied entry to the US,
where he has been invited to give a guest
lecture at Harvard. Finally his jealous, and
soon to be jobless assistant Doro lies to the
police about the loss of virus stems from the
laboratory, implicating Tariq in the hope of
taking his place. Tariq is accused of having
yet they remain so popular in Egypt. AbdelHalim Hafez would certainly not have
seen the songs as propaganda. How did he
manage to make these songs come alive for
us even today when the reality we live in
has proven so painfully different from past
expectations?”
And there is more to come. Nasr’s next
film project will be an adaptation of Sonallah
Ibrahim’s novel Sharaf, that Nasr says made
a great impression on him in terms of frankness and courage. He will write the script,
again a portrait of Egyptian society, this time
reflected from within prison walls.
Mehdi Nebbou and Silke Bodenbender in “Seeds of Doubt”.
stolen the viruses to plan attacks in Europe. from criticism of all sides -- remains a point
Cornered, Tariq seeks to leave Germany, of reference in his work. He is currently
considers returning to Algeria, but then working on a documentary -- Abdel-Halim
heads for Paris. Meanwhile, his relationship Hafez and Songs of the Revolution in which
with Maya is unraveling; she submits to he will trace Egyptian history from 1952
cooperating with the police who persuade
until 1970 through the music of Abdelher of her husband’s guilt and convince her Halim. “The question I was asking myself is
to spy on him.
why it is that patriotic songs -- and AbdelDespite Nasr’s deeply-rooted Western Halim’s songs were propaganda -- are no
longer heard in any other part of the world
upbringing, which does not prevent him
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Sherif Awad is a film /
video critic and curator. He is the film editor of
Egypt Today Magazine (www.EgyptToday.
com), and the artistic director for both the
Alexandria Film Festival, in Egypt, and the
Arab Rotterdam Festival, in The Netherlands.
He also contributes to Variety, in the United
States, and is the film critic of Variety Arabia
(http://varietyarabia.com/), in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), the Al-Masry Al-Youm
Website (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/
node/198132) and The Westchester Guardian
(www.WestchesterGuardian.com).
GovernmentSection
LEE HAMILTON COMMENTARY
There’s an Alternative to the Imperial Presidency
By LEE H. HAMILTON
In his State of the Union
speech to Congress last
month, President Obama
drew widespread attention for pledging to use his
executive authority to advance his priorities. He insisted he intends to act with or
without Congress, and listed well over a
dozen actions he plans to take by executive order. “Wherever and whenever I can
take steps without legislation to expand
opportunity for more American families,”
he said, “that’s what I’m going to do.”
Plenty of people were happy about
this. The speech was applauded by
pundits who have given up on Congress,
and believe the only way to move forward
is by strengthening the presidency. Our
political system, they say, is weighed
down by too many interest groups; too
many checks and balances, and too few
avenues for circumventing a Congress
that is both polarized and highly susceptible to the wishes of its donors. The
present government is paralyzed, they
believe. A stronger presidency would get
Washington moving again.
As you’d expect, others are alarmed
by this approach. The President, they say,
is trampling on the constitutional separation of powers, grabbing powers for
himself that were meant to be shared
with Congress. They point out that the
Constitution gives Congress a primary
role in making policy.
The problem with this debate is that
it’s missing a key part of the equation. Yes,
our system needs a strong presidency. But
it also needs a strong Congress. We are
best off as a nation when the two consult,
interact, and work together as powerful
branches.
In truth, every president in recent
memory has expanded the power of
his office and been accused of a power
grab. They’ve had plenty of motivation
to do so. The modern world demands
quick, decisive action. Americans tend
to support presidents who act forcefully.
Congress is complex, convoluted, and
hard to work with; it is far easier for an
administration to act on its own. Even
members of Congress often defer to the
President, counting on him to address
issues they don’t want to tackle or can’t
agree upon.
And presidents have wielded executive orders to great effect. Abraham
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,
FDR’s Works Progress Administration,
John Kennedy’s Peace Corps, affirmative
action under Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson
and Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan’s
enshrining of cost-benefit analysis as
the key to regulatory review — all came
about through executive orders.
Yet there are limits to this approach,
because in the end there is no substitute
for legislation. Presidents cannot write
a budget, raise the minimum wage,
or reform entitlements by themselves.
Because executive orders lack the permanence and force of law, they can be
hard to implement and can be summarily
cancelled by a later president. They are
more subject to legal challenge than legislation. And most important, executive
orders are a unilateral exercise of power
and do not benefit from a process of consensus-building and consultation with
voices independent of the President’s.
Consensus-building can’t happen
in a vacuum, however. Without a strong
Congress able to find its way effectively
through the thickets of lawmaking, this
President and his successors will surely
continue to address the nation’s challenges on their own. The question is,
how far down that road can we go before
Congress becomes irrelevant, with too
much power — and too much potential
for the abuse of power — in presidential
hands? Like our founding fathers, we
should be skeptical of the concentration
of power.
Politico recently detailed a spate of
executive orders planned by this administration, which would affect everything
from how power plants operate to how
we commute to how the environment
will be regulated. Taken together, they
will “push deeply into everyday life” for
Americans, the article noted.
Whether a president oversteps his
authority with these and other executive
orders is inevitably colored by whether
you agree with the proposed order.
But my point is different. It is that the
march toward presidential unilateralism,
whether the president is a Democrat or
a Republican, dangerously undercuts our
constitutional system. Before we give
up on the separation of powers, let’s try
strengthening Congress. This may not be
the easy route, but if we don’t take it, representative democracy itself is in doubt.
Lee Hamilton is Director of the Center on
Congress at Indiana University. He was a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives
for 34 years.
Now on Facebook you can find information
about the Center on Congress at Indiana
University’s educational resources and
programs, and you can share your thoughts
about Congress, civic education, and the citizen’s role in representative democracy. “Like”
them on Facebook at “Center on Congress at
Indiana University.”
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Astorino Away From the County 20% of
the Time After Being Elected
By NANCY KING
The dead of winter is traditionally a quiet time in local
politics but that is hardly
the case here in Westchester
County. This week three
Democratic leaders had more than a few
harsh comments about the manner in which
County Executive Rob Astorino is governing Westchester County. County Legislators
Peter Harkham (D), Ken Jenkins (D), and
Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni held a
press conference in White Plains where they
claimed that Astorino had been out of the
county nearly 20% of the time since he was
re-elected back in November 2013. Though
he hasn’t formally announced it yet, it is
widely believed that Rob Astorino will challenge incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Astorino has already opened an exploratory
committee and there is already a Facebook
page with Astorino for Governor online.
According to those three lawmakers, within a Nano second of being elected
to a second term as County Executive, Rob
Astorino hit the road; literally. Starting with a
trip to the Los Somos Conference in Puerto
Rico, and almost immediately after that, a trip
out to Arizona to meet with the nation’s other
governors. When he’s not out of the state, he’s
crisscrossing it hoping to raise enough money
to finance a gubernatorial campaign and to
gain some face time with voters and donors
throughout the state.
But, while Astorino is out on his meet
and greet campaign, who is running the
County? Presumably it is Deputy County
Executive Kevin Plunkett and Chief of Staff
George Oros. Both of these chaps, with their
years of experience and intellect are certainly
able to “mind the store” while the shop keeper
is away. Is this really what the voters and
residents of the county were expecting when
they overwhelmingly re-elected him back to
office. Astorino said he needed the extra four
years to finish the work that he started in his
previous term. And just what is needed to be
done?; plenty!
First up is HUD. We all heard an awful
lot about that debacle during Astorino’s
first term, but lately not too much (with the
exception of the fine residents of Chappaqua
who are screaming “NIMBY”, pretty loudly
NIMBY). To be honest, I actually agree
with them on this complaint. Hunts Lane
in Chappaqua is where HUD wants to plop
an affordable housing building in a largely
heavily industrialized area, on the banks of
the Metro-North tracks and quite a distance
from a bus stop. If I were about to be plopped
up there, without a car, perhaps not proficient
in English, I don’t think I’d want to live there
either.
Next up is the county’s aging infrastructure. An example, is our old stone bridges
which are already fatigued by virtue of their
age; add a severe winter complete with a
couple of polar vortex incidents, multiple
snow storms and the constant plowing and
salting of these old structures, and you can
see them crumbling before your eyes. A few
of them are in such bad shape that they’ve
gotten protective orange fencing surrounding their crumbling facades. I know I’m
not the only motorist who holds my breath
when traveling either over or under them.
Nobody really heard much about this when
Astorino addressed the Westchester County
Association (WCA) last month; what we
heard was that there would be $270 million in
capital improvements in the county, most of
which will focus on the I-287 corridor.
Job creation was also high on Astorino’s
campaign platform. Touting that the county
had saved and helped create 35K jobs during
his first four years in office, there isn’t really any
talk of job creation this time around. I suppose
we’re going to have to rely on the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge to bolster
those numbers. What folks don’t realize is that
many of those construction workers who will
be constructing our new bridge aren’t hopping
on a Bee-Line Bus to build that bridge; these
men and women are from all over the country.
In the meantime, Rob Astorino is
traveling the state from Suffolk to Erie
Counties, hunting for money and taking
jabs at his potential contenders Carl Paladino
and Donald Trump. This past Wednesday,
Astorino took aim at Donald Trump stating,
“This circus stuff has to come to an end,” after
Trump criticized Astorino’s leadership, or
lack thereof, in Westchester County. Another
potential challenger, Conservative Carl
Paladino was overheard at the Conservative
Party’s Conference late last month in Albany
telling conference goers that if Trump doesn’t
run against Astorino he will. And finally you
have Rob Astorino himself happily telling
those same conference goers that he had
never seen so many extreme Conservatives in
one place. Oh happy, happy; joy, joy.
Finally, Astorino’s biggest hurdle continues to be Governor Andrew Cuomo. Sure
the Conservatives are peeved with Cuomo
offering free college to inmates and his closure
of the New York State Thruway during this
winter’s snow storms and the loss of the
Remington Firearms factory. But Cuomo has
well over $35 million in his campaign coffers
as opposed to Astorino’s $1 million - catching
up to the sum garnered by Cuomo is going
to be tough.
And so, I have to agree with Harckham,
Jenkins, and Idoni… we need a full time
County Executive. I’m all for reaching across
the legislative aisle and working together as
it’s supposed to be but what is the sense in
making the effort of cooperation when the
governing body of the county has a part-time
leader. As usual, the voters and the residents of
the county have been duped into voting for a
leader who lied to them and has failed to show
up to do the job he was elected to do.
Nancy King is a freelance reporter.
ECONOMIC FORECAST
Using the Calm Before the Storm
It’s Time to Prepare
By LUKE HAMILTON
The lull is almost over.
Now what?
I don’t need to tell the savvy
readership of The Westchester
Guardian that this economic “recovery” has
been a combination of smoke and mirrors,
held together with a shoestring and bubble
gum. The plummeting economy, triggered
by the collapse of our government-inflated
housing bubble, was temporarily slowed
in its break-neck decline by the Obama
administration’s decision to shovel astronomic amounts of taxpayer money into a
hole. In June 2010, after the first round of
Quantitative Easing, the Fed had holdings
of $2.054 trillion. In November 2010,
deciding that things weren’t improving fast
enough, QE2 was launched and we bought
up another $600 billion of assets/debt. When
that failed to stimulate the market into a
full-on recovery, QE3 was announced in
September of 2012. At that point, the Fed
declared that they would be buying $40
billion/month for an open-ended duration.
Should be sufficient, right? Even the
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Page 17
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ECONOMIC FORECAST
s world? On a most basic
Using the Calm Before the Storm today’
level, we need to be prepared phys-
piggish appetites of our central bankers
should be sated by an open-ended allowance of $400 million EVERY SINGLE
MONTH, right? Wrong. Just 3 months
after the announcement of QE3, the Federal
Open Market Committee declared that the
bond-buying would be increased from $40
billion a month to $85 billion, more than
doubling the amount of debt the American
people were being given every month. Make
no mistake; there is no money to spend on
these debt purchases. This is referred to as
“fiat money” as it is created by fiat, not by
any market mechanisms or wealth creation.
Each time money is created in this fashion,
the dollar you hold in your wallet or your
401(k) gets a little weaker. The greedy progressives behind this diabolical process have
discovered that they can rob you without ever
touching your billfold, simply by watering
down the funds they already control.
This has worked, to a degree. Along
with a slavish press, the sheer volume of
money spent has provided them a little cover
over the past couple years. The same way
that 200 gallons of plasma would keep an
abdominal gunshot victim alive for a time.
But if the plasma runs out and surgery hasn’t
been undertaken, the dude won’t be around
too much longer. Our cupboard is now
running dry. China is too highly leveraged
to give us any more actual money and inflation is starting to creep into the economy.
The Consumer Price Index for 2013 was the
highest it’s ever been, with a price inflation
of 133% over 1982 prices. We’re starting to
look like the Town Drunk, hunched over a
half-full glass of warm beer, 10 minutes after
Last Call.
So now what? We know that
Washington doesn’t care about us once we’ve
punched their chad in the voting booth.
There are only a handful of politicians in
DC who are willing to serve the people
they represent and those few are increasingly
ostracized from the legislative process by the
statists on both sides of the aisle. It’s true that
things are looking increasingly hopeful for
November’s election; but even if we repeat
the success of 2010, the fruits of this election
will not be felt for months (perhaps years).
As the remnant has done throughout history, we must prepare. The storm is
coming, there can be little question about
that. Even Doctor Evil himself has tipped
his hand enough to show that he believes
a major market slow-down is likely. If even
cretinous Marxists like Soros are openly
preparing for another economic disaster,
shouldn’t we? There has never been a better
time for the American people to batten the
hatches and our window of opportunity
might be closing soon.
What does preparation look like in
ically to protect and provide for our
families. That means equipping ourselves
with the means to survive even if the social
structure breaks down. Yes “prepper” supplies
are a great idea, both for social collapse and
disaster preparedness, but we should also
be inculcating our families with survival
knowledge that extends beyond the gear and
supplies. There are plenty of good resources
for this level of preparation, but two I follow
and recommend are Creek Stewart of
Willowhaven Outdoor and David Morris
of Urban Survival.
Additionally, we should be preparing
to protect ourselves and our families. In any
scenario where the social compact breaks
down, the predators emerge. Whether it is
during a natural disaster, riots, or a targeted
attack, the chaos which follows provides
enough distraction for the asocial predators in our midst to operate. We must be
prepared and aware enough to protect
ourselves from them. Purchase a firearm.
Practice with it until you are comfortable and
accurate. Apply for your CCW permit, even
if you don’t plan to use it. By the time you
need to use a firearm, it’s too late to prepare.
Finally, we need to prepare mentally
and spiritually. As much as we need to
elect strong conservative men and women
to office, our responsibilities do not stop at
the polling place. We need to develop our
knowledge of the issues facing our country.
Gone are the days when we had scrupulous
“experts” which could be (at least provisionally) relied on to do the right thing. Romans
3:10-18 has never been more apparent than
today. Have you read Saul Alinski and Karl
Marx? Are you familiar with the teachings
of the Koran? Do you have a copy of The
Coming Insurrection? These are the foundations upon which our opposition has built
their campaign. There is no excuse for us to
be unfamiliar with the enemy’s foundational
tracts and tactics.
We can no longer afford to be ignorant
of the repugnant. As Oliver Cromwell so
aptly stated, “Keep your faith in God, but
keep your powder dry.”
Luke Hamilton is classically-trained,
Shakespearean actor from Eugene, Oregon
who happens to be a liberty-loving, right-wing,
Christian constitutionalist. When not penning
columns for ClashDaily.com, Hamilton spends
his time astride the Illinois-Wisconsin border,
leading bands of liberty-starved citizens from
the progressive gulags of Illinois to [relative]
freedom. Hamilton is the creative mind/voice
behind Pillar & Cloud Productions, a budding
production company which resides at www.
PillarCloudProductions.com. He owes all to his
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose strength is
perfected in his weakness.
LE G A L N O T I C E S
SUMMONS, NOTICE AND BRIEF STATEMENT OF NATURE OF ACTION
CONSUMER CREDIT TRANSACTION
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER
Index No. 60186/2013
GENERATION MORTGAGE COMPANY,
Plaintiff,
-against
Thomas A. Reale as Heir-at-law to the Estate of Albert Reale;
Donna Mills individually and as Beneficiary of the Estate of
Albert Reale; Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development;
All Unknown Heirs, Devisees, and Personal Representatives
of the Estate of Albert Reale and any of his, her or any of their
successors In right, title and interest; United States Of America;
New York State Department Of Taxation And Finance; “JOHN DOE
#1- #50” and “MARY ROE #1- #50”, the last two names being fictitious, said
parties intended being tenants or occupants, if any, having or claiming an interest
in or lien upon the premises described in the complaint,
Defendants.
TO THE DEFENDANT ALL UNKNOWN HEIRS, DEVISEES AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF ALBERT REALE AND ANY OF HIS, HER OR ANY OF
THEIR SUCCESSORS IN RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST:
YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to serve upon plaintiff’s attorneys an answer to the complaint in this action within twenty (20) days after
the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after service is complete if the Summons is not personally delivered
to you within the State of New York. The United States of America, if designated as a defendant in this action, may answer or appear within sixty (60)
days of service hereof. In case of your failure to answer, judgment will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the complaint.
Trial is desired in the County of Westchester. The basis of venue designated above is that the real property, which is the subject matter of this action,
is located in the County of Westchester, New York.
NOTICE
YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME
IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE MORTGAGE COMPANY WHO FILED THIS FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT A DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR HOME.
SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY OR GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER THE
SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION.
YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING
THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.
HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE
New York State Law requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully.
Summon and Complaint
You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the summons and complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home.
Please read the summons and complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney or local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to
protect yourself.
Source of Information and Assistance
The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal
aid office, there are government agencies and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including
trying to work with your lender during this process.
To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by the New York State Department of Financial Services at to
1-800-269-0990 visit the Department`s website at www.dfs.ny.gov.
Foreclosure rescue scams
Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions
in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you
pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes
the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all
such promised services.
The foregoing Summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of Honorable William J. Giacomo, Justice of the Supreme Court
of the State of New York, signed on the 27th day of January, 2014, in White Plains, New York and to be duly entered in the Westchester County Clerk’s
Office, in White Plains, New York.
The Nature of this action pertains to a note and mortgage held by Plaintiff on real property owned by the above named defendants as specified
in the complaint filed in this action. The above named defendants have failed to comply with the terms and provisions of the said mortgage and said
instruments secured by said mortgage, by failing and omitting to pay the balance due and owing and the Plaintiff has commenced a foreclosure
action. Plaintiff is seeking a judgment foreclosing its mortgage against the real property and premises which situates in the Village of Irvington,
County of Westchester and State of New York and is commonly known as 12 Grinnell Street, Irvington, New York 10533 and all other relief as to the
Court may seem just and equitable.
DATED: February 11, 2014
SCHILLER & KNAPP, LLP
BY: WILLIAM B. SCHILLER, ESQ.
Attorneys for Plaintiff
950 New Loudon Road
Latham, New York 12110
Telephone: (518) 786-9069
Page 19
LE G A L N O T I C E S
30 EAST 76TH STREET #3B, LLC Articles of
Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 1/7/14.
Office in Westchester Co. SSNY design.
Agent of LLC upon whom process may be
served. SSNY shall mail copy of process
to C/O Stern Keiser & Panken, LLP 1025
Westchester Ave Ste. 305 White Plains, NY
10604. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Formation of ASH ST. PROPERTY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY on
10/31/2013. Office location: MOUNT VERNON. SSNY designated as agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served. SSNY
shall mail process to LUIS MORILLO 75
PARKWAY EAST, MOUNT VERNON, N.Y.,
10552. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
EMER LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of
State (SSNY) 1/29/14. Office in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon
whom process may be served. SSNY shall
mail copy of process to C/O Zussman Law
PLLC, Attention: Michael J. Zussman, Esq.
425 East 79th St Ste. 1F New York, NY 10075.
Purpose: Any lawful activity.
COPYWRITE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY)
10/18/13. Office in Westchester Co. SSNY
design. Agent of LLC upon whom process
may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of
process to The LLC 2983 Sherman Ct. Mohegan Lake, NY 10547. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Registered Agent: John D. Ellis
2983 Sherman Ct. Mohegan Lake, NY 10547
BLUEPAC ADVISORS, LLC Authority
filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on
11/27/13. Office location: Westchester Co.
LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 9/17/13
SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon
whom process against it may be served.
SSNY shall mail process to The LLC 20
Oscaleta RD South Salem, NY 10590. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange ST Wilmington,
DE 19801. Arts. Of Org. filed with DE Secy. of
State, PO Box 898 Dover, DE 19903. Purpose:
any lawful activity.
BLUEPAC PARTNERS, LLC Authority
LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 9/17/13
SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon
SSNY shall mail process to The LLC 20
Oscaleta RD South Salem, NY 10590. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange ST Wilmington,
BLUEPAC PARTNERS FUND, LP Authority
LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/8/13.
SSNY designated as agent of LP upon
SSNY shall mail process to The LP 20
Oscaleta RD South Salem, NY 10590. DE
address of LP: 1209 Orange ST Wilmington,
WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
LEGAL ADVERTISING:
914.576.1480
10:30AM-5PM
GLORIA LOUZAO LLC Articles of Org. filed
NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 1/29/14 Office in
Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC
upon whom process may be served. SSNY
shall mail copy of process to C/O Zussman
Law PLLC, Attention: Michael J. Zussman,
Esq. 425 East 79th St Ste. 1F New York, NY
TRINITY SHARP REALTY LLC Articles of Org.
filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 9/17/13 Office
in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of
LLC upon whom process may be served.
SSNY shall mail copy of process to C/O
Solomon Borg 630 Third Ave New York, NY
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February 27, 2014 - WestchesterGuardian.com

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