The first in a five-part series examining the impacts of NY State’s recent tax hike on cigarettes
by Alex Cole
Smoking in New York State isn’t as easy as it used to be. Just ask Jill from Olean.
She smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes every day. Sometimes even more if stress stirs her up. And it’s harder to afford each year.
Jill’s small apartment rests on the corner of a street in Western New York. Waves of smoke and ash loom in the air, rushing to the nostrils and blocking out other scents. Thick chips of paint crumble off the building’s exterior. Pay no mind to the cigarette butts scattered across the lawn.
The flickering light on her aged porch illuminates her pacing profile. She turns and smiles.
“I’ll be done in just a minute,” Jill says. “Hold on.” Full Story »
. . . rumors are running rife in Tehran’s huge central bazaar that the United States is on the verge of establishing some sort of diplomatic office in Iran for the first time since shortly after Iran’s 1979 revolution. That would probably cause a mass stampede, since half of Tehran seems to have a relative in the United States, and even many that don’t would love to have a U.S. visa. Full Story »
Orcs by Stan Nicholls is too much of a good thing. Perhaps because the book is a promotional tool as much as a literary experience.
Orcs contains three of Nicholls’ novels, Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder, and Warriors of the Tempest, packaged together into a handsome bundle that’s currently being pushed at the major book chains in advance of the 2009 release of Nicholls’ next round of Orc books. Orcs also contains a short story that serves as a prequel to the novels, plus a lengthy author interview.
My plan was to read one of the three novels in the omnibus, go on to something else, then come back to the other pieces at some undetermined point in the future.
At Cabot Cove near where I grew up in western New England, the Millers River meets the Connecticut. The Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio, erected a one-lane bridge over the Millers in 1898 for $7,000 — or so an old plaque on the cross-beam over the western end used to proclaim. Standing on the bridge, you can see the Connecticut rush by 100 yards downstream of the bridge. In spring, the Connecticut sweeps the surging effluent of the Millers to the south and eventually inhales it, adding the silt of the Millers to its own.
The bridge connects East Mineral Road in Montague to River Road in Northfield. It’s no marvel — just a turn-of-the-century, strut-and-truss iron bridge with a paved roadway. Montague had the bridge inspected in 1989. The engineers from the state said the abutments – then made of stone — were unsafe. Full Story »
“Hamas. … deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people. … This has two purposes. First, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas figures civilian proximity might help protect at least part of its arsenal. Second, knowing that Israelis have new precision weapons that may allow them to attack nonetheless, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage — or, if it is really fortunate, an errant Israeli bomb — will kill large numbers of its own people for which, of course, the world will blame Israel.” [Emphasis added.]
We’re all familiar with this argument, made in this case by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post today. You often hear it from those who reflexively support Israeli offensives, as well as conservatives in general on the subject of urban warfare. Full Story »
In 1977, former president Richard Nixon offered up some interesting thoughts on the concept of legality.
FROST: So what in a sense, you’re saying is that there are certain situations, and the Huston Plan or that part of it was one of them, where the president can decide that it’s in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal.
NIXON: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.
One-hundred and forty-six years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation.
While Lincoln’s intent was unmistakably noble—and incredibly politically shrewd—the words of the Proclamation appear to be among the most inelegant words Lincoln ever wrote.
Although it’s frequently misconstrued as the document that freed the slaves, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free a single person. Based on Lincoln’s powers as commander in chief, the proclamation freed slaves only in areas that were in rebellion—in others words, only in the Confederacy. Lincoln had no way to enforce the proclamation except through military victories (and on January 1, 1863, his armies weren’t doing so hot). Full Story »
The holidays began this year sometime around the ides of November, with a surprise in the mailbox: a birthday card addressed to me in my younger brother’s wretched handwriting. After the obligatory “older than I am” joke, he had written:
You’re old, old, old, old, old. And crazy.
Love, Jason
I’m continually appalled, although no longer surprised, by what both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (”the conflict” from now on) are willing to do. Islamic Jihad sends a suicide bomber and blows up a bus loaded with Israelis who’s only crime is being Israeli - Israel bulldozes the bomber’s family’s home. Israeli special forces assassinate a leader of Hamas - Hamas responds with Katyusha rockets launched willy-nilly at Israeli towns. Hezbollah kidnaps Israeli soldiers - Israel invades Lebanon and cluster bombs on entire Lebanese villages.
It’s been going on for so long now that we can’t even assign blame anymore. I got pull-off-the-road-and-calm-down furious on Monday when, in an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered Monday afternoon, a Gaza politician claimed that either a) Israeli collaborators had launched the rockets into Israel as a pretext or b) there had been no launches at all and Israel was faking the whole thing. And I got just as furious this morning when I the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. refused to admit that Israeli commandos had been assassinating Hamas leaders during the cease fire in yet another NPR interview.
Hammurabi came up with the first written code of laws - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And the result of following that law is that Israelis and Palestinians have each become toothless, blind, deaf, mute, and stupid. Full Story »
Update #2: NASA’s Earth Observatory has false-color LandSat images of before and after the spill. Amazing shots. I’ll add them to the image slideshow rotation above when I have a chance.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas last week. Many of us here at S&R have been taking some time off from blogging as well, which is why it’s been days since the last update on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal (ash) in the stocking story. So it’s past time for another roundup of the latest news and opinion. Full Story »
In the latter part of his long and storied life and career, the late standup comedy legend came off as a crusty, irate, disappointed, extremely cynical bastard who freely admitted he’d given up on the hopeless human race and reveled in its plentiful fuckups and contradictions.
“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. This country is finished.” - GC
Offstage though, Carlin was a kind-hearted, selfless, encouraging friend to myriad pluggers on the comedy circuit. His daughter and colleagues say he was nothing like the persona he developed in the face of advancing age and frustration with the agonizing lack of progress in the nation he loved as much as he lampooned. Full Story »
Though raised Catholic, my father was Jewish (Lithuanian and Romanian). The most WASP-ish Jew you’ll ever meet, though, he imparted none of his ancestral religion to me. My wife, who’s of Scot-Irish descent, likes to joke that she knows more about Judaism than me.
But whenever Israel launches an offensive against Palestine, it brings the Jewish in me to the fore. Full Story »
By now you’ve probably seen the clip of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today. In measured tones, he weighed in on the Gaza crisis with host Joe Scarborough. In return for his troubles, he was subjected to the traditional “Hamas shoots rockets at Israel, which has the right to defend itself by any means necessary” line.
At one point Brzezinski said:
“You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
The I-80 corridor in eastern Iowa, for those motorists interested only in hastening their way between Des Moines to the west and Iowa City to the east, may appear empty save for fields that produce part of the state’s 2 billion bushels of corn each year.
But north and south of I-80 lie many small towns, populated by only a few hundred or few thousand Iowans. Towns like Belle Plaine, Brooklyn, Benton, Marengo, Montezuma, North English, Williamsburg, Parnell, Homestead, Oxford and Holbrook. These are towns whose median household income is less than the $47,000 statewide average.
The people who live in those towns need information to effectively make political and consumer decisions. They need it just as much as people in big cities do. But come Monday, local news may not flow quite so freely in Benton and Poweshiek counties. Full Story »
We got through Christmas without having NORAD accidently blow Santa out of the sky, but don’t let your guard down yet. While visions of sugarplums danced in our heads, the Pentagon flew another escalation strategy under the radar. On the eve of Christmas Eve, Dexter Filkins of the New York Times reported “Taking a page from the successful experiment in Iraq, American commanders and Afghan leaders are preparing to arm local militias to help in the fight against a resurgent Taliban.”
Merry Christmas, fellow citizens. Odds are now almost certain that your country will be in a state of war throughout your lifetimes, and possibly throughout your children’s lifetimes as well. Full Story »
Tom Yulsman of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado ran the following post on the toxic nature of coal combustion byproducts at the CEJ’s blog, CEJournal. Tom has been kind enough to permit S&R to crosspost his work here. This is Tom’s second guest post: his first (on a very different topic) can be found here, and the original of this post can be found here.
A truly frightening video from ground zero of the coal ash catastrophe
The New York Times reports today that the coal sludge that surged out of a breached Tennessee Valley Authority impoundment in Roane County was actually three times larger than previously estimated. The updated total is 5.4 million cubic yards, “or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep,” Times reporter Shaila Dewan reports.
The discrepancy casts doubt on the credibility of assurances from the Tennessee Valley Authority that the coal combustion waste from its Kingston Fossil Plant poses little risk to residents of the area. (Several days ago, one TVA official told the Associated Press that the waste “consists of inert material not harmful to the environment.”)
In fact, evidence has been gathering for years that the waste dumps pose a very serious risk to human health and the environment. Full Story »
Once upon a time the Denver Post was a pretty good newspaper. These days? Well, it’s pretty much like every other newspaper. And that isn’t a compliment. On Sunday last (the 21st) we were presented with a front-page, above-the-fold case study in what happens when budget cuts drive too many professionals out of the newsroom and talent that might once have served the public interest in a journalistic role turns to public relations.
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Link of the Week (as opposed to the Weakest Link)
Orcs contains three of Nicholls’ novels, Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder, and Warriors of the Tempest, packaged together into a handsome bundle that’s currently being pushed at the major book chains in advance of the 2009 release of Nicholls’ next round of Orc books. Orcs also contains a short story that serves as a prequel to the novels, plus a lengthy author interview.
At Cabot Cove near where I grew up in western New England, the Millers River meets the Connecticut. The Iron Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio, erected a one-lane bridge over the Millers in 1898 for $7,000 — or so an old plaque on the cross-beam over the western end used to proclaim. Standing on the bridge, you can see the Connecticut rush by 100 yards downstream of the bridge. In spring, the Connecticut sweeps the surging effluent of the Millers to the south and eventually inhales it, adding the silt of the Millers to its own.
In 1977, former president Richard Nixon offered up 
One-hundred and forty-six years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Emancipation Proclamation.
The holidays began this year sometime around the ides of November, with a surprise in the mailbox: a birthday card addressed to me in my younger brother’s wretched handwriting. After the obligatory “older than I am” joke, he had written:
I’m continually appalled, although no longer surprised, by what both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (”the conflict” from now on) are willing to do. Islamic Jihad sends a suicide bomber and blows up a bus loaded with Israelis who’s only crime is being Israeli - Israel bulldozes the bomber’s family’s home. Israeli special forces assassinate a leader of Hamas - Hamas responds with Katyusha rockets launched willy-nilly at Israeli towns. Hezbollah kidnaps Israeli soldiers - Israel invades Lebanon and cluster bombs on entire Lebanese villages.
Once upon a time the Denver Post was a pretty good newspaper. These days? Well, it’s pretty much like every other newspaper. And that isn’t a compliment. On Sunday last (the 21st) we were presented with a