Fire Chief Caufield: Before he departs for Cincinnati, maybe he can tell us what's up at East High? |
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Rochester Fire Dept. 'Trainee' Program is Unethical, & Unsafe.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 Rochester, NY - According to anonymous but reliable sources inside the Rochester Fire Department, a fire fighter trainee program administered at East High School allows functionally illiterate, unqualified high schoolers to earn a minimum of $16.00 per hour, as well as allegeldy placing themselves, qualified fire fighters, and perhaps the public, in jeopardy. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot |
Irony: Joe Morelle heads the Democratic Party but is no fan of competitive democracy for city voters |
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Why do Smugtown Elites Hate Democracy?
September 7, 2010 When the Who's Who of Smugtown fell into line behind Mayor Robert Duffy's goal of taking over the city schools, they blithely dismissed the anti-democratic consequences of their position. They focused on poorly-performing schools and a unanimously agreed-upon need for change. But now some of those same elites are floating another idea that takes power away from voters: a special election for Rochester Mayor that would likely freeze out most potential candidates. What is everyone so afraid of? Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks |
Albany Legislator, driving a Ford Crown Vicotria, on 'state business', all on your dime. |
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Legislator Largesse, at Taxpayer Expense
Monday, September 6, 2010 Rochester, NY - We at the Smugtown Beacon are proud and excitied to welcome former Rochester City Councilman Bill Pritchard to our writing staff. In Mr. Pritchard's first article on SmugtownBeacon.com, Bill looks into taxpayer funded perks for Albany types, including 'public' vehicles for some State Senate and Assembly members. Read More ...
Bill Pritchard - 3 opinions posted |
One sign the world is near an end: Hawaii Five-O is being resurrected for the fall TV season |
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I Don't Want to Scare You... But I Think We're Doomed
Friday, September 3, 2010 The Smugtown Beacon has been ringing the alarm bell on state and federal debt, ineffective government and several indicators of decline in our state and nation. In an effort to tie some of these thoughts together in advance of the 2010 elections, this author has tentatively reached the following conclusion: we are doomed. Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks |
One of these candidates will face a Republican in November -- but would any of them face down fellow Albany Dems? |
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What Message Will 131st AD Dems Send?
September 1, 2010 In two weeks, voters in the 131st Assembly District (parts of Rochester, Wheatland, Rush and Chili) will identify the Democratic candidate for the November election. Unlike past years where incumbent Susan John held down the fort (sometimes with nail-biting margins), this year Democrats defend an open seat. This makes the September 14th primary even more important: will Democrats pick the candidate they think can hold the seat, a reformer, both or neither? Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks - 8 opinions posted |
Smugtown TV ad will run until 10/31/10, ending 2-days before the general election. |
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Sneak Peek our Newest TV Commercial
Checkout our new Fall TV commercial which will begin airing on WHAM TV-13 on Wed., 9/1/10, WHEC TV-10 on Wednesday, 9/8/10; and our radio spot on WHAM-1180 AM, also on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 !
Click here to view the spot on YouTube.com
We'd love your opinion. Please tell us what you think! Read More ...
Staff Report - 1 opinion posted |
Albany hates the private sector: Businesses close while Albany increases spending 7.5%. |
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Political Predictions: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
Monday, August 30, 2010 Rochester, NY - The following will serve as somewhat cynical election day predictions about alleged New York State voter outrage, and the likelihood that most if not all incumbents will be returned to Albany & Washington. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot |
Seemingly harmless? Hardly. |
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Alcohol: The Drug of the Nation
Thursday, August 26, 2010 Rochester, NY - Alcohol. For centuries, the great social elixir, used to enhance the taste of food (wine), and to initiate the young (beer), as well as separate the men from the boys (liquor). But would it surprise you to know that 25% of the average senior class, at the average American high school are binge drinkers; that computer and data processing workers have, by industry, the highest rate of heavy alcohol consumption; and, that consumption of the drug, alcohol, causes, by far, more violent acts by heavy users than any other drug, whether legal or illegal? After reading this article, you might think twice about taking that next drink. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot |
Ladies, Gov. Paladino will now teach you personal hygiene |
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Paladino's Poorhouse Proposal Produces Primary Pother
August 24, 2010 Republican candidate for governor, Carl Paladino has not campaigned as a button-down Chamber of Commerce Republican. Instead he has taken the fire-breathing, populist approach. His latest proposal: voluntary "dormitory" residency for poor people where they can learn a trade and, in Paladino's words, "personal hygiene." What does Paladino's proposal say about the state of politics in New York? Is this reflective of New York Republicans' platform? Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks |
In Albany, all incumbents are enemies of reform |
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Ed Koch: Octogenarian Reform Hero?
August 18, 2010 Ed Koch -- former Congressman and Mayor of New York City -- is leading yet another effort to reform New York. Three weeks ago he named "friends" and "enemies" of reform. But will Koch and his list of friends bring real reform? Or are those of us seeking real change going to end up being merely a bunch of Koch's suckers? Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks |
Assemblyman Joe Morelle: His support of Mayoral Control was too much for teachers unions. |
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Morelle Dumped by RTA, NYSUT, and state AFL-CIO: RTA's Pavone to Call for Morelle's Resignation as Dem's Chair
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Rochester, NY - According to Rochester Teacher's Association (RTA) chief lobbyist and First Vice President John Pavone, N.Y. State Assemblyman Joseph Morelle has lost the backing of the N.Y. State chapter of the AFL-CIO, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), and the RTA. Exact details are still scetchy, but the news doesn't look good for the Chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Committee. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot |
FOX-News: Where the Men are Men, the Women are Few, & the Sheep are Nervous |
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Fall TV Preview, a la "The Onion", or "National Lampoon"
Friday, August 13, 2010 Rochester, NY - Television has gotten so bad, and dumbed-down over the decades, that the following list of the Smugtown Beacon's predictions for new network shows this autumn, is perhaps superior to TV's real offerings. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot - 1 opinion posted |
September 11, 2001: Would the Taliban or al-Qaeda allow the building of a Church or Jewish Temple if the roles were reversed? |
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No, to an Homage to Muslim 7th Century Philosophy Two Blocks from Ground Zero!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Rochester, NY - New York City bureaucrats, none of which, obviously, lost any friends or relatives in the 9/11/01 Muslim attacks on the Twin Towers, recently voted 9-0 to approve an Islamic Mosque and cultural center, a mere two blocks from Ground Zero. These insensitive bureacratic clods found nothing historically significant in the 1850's-era building currently occupying the future site of a meeting place for Muslim moderates--and extremists. Meanwhile, officials in Hamburg, Germany had the courage to close down the mosque where some of the 9/11 Islamic terrorists planned the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Will President Obama or Mayor Bloomberg ever grow a pair? Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot - 3 opinions posted |
"The Merchant of Venice": Our little tale might even be too bellicose for Shakespeare. |
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The Merchant They Menace: How City Hall May Have Rigged an Election
Monday, August 9, 2010 Rochester, NY - Mr. Alex White, owner of Baldo's Armory, a seller of board games on Monroe Avenue, Rochester, and a member of the Monroe Avenue Merchants Association, claims the City of Rochester rigged a recent election of new officers to the Monroe Ave. Merchants Assoc. As to the validity of this accusation, you be the judge. Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot |
Cruz to residents: "Let me get back to you on that..." |
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Anatomy of a Bureaucratic Blow-Off
July 28, 2010 As some residents spent the last year running for school board and considering the issue of mayoral control, other residents were engaged in something more mundane -- but important to them: trying to get the city of Rochester to respond to basic code violations in their neighborhood. The Smugtown Beacon has acquired the email correspondence between a neighborhood group and their Neighborhood Service Center coordinator, Jose Cruz. In these communications, it is clear that the "buck stops here" is not a philosophy distributed uniformly throughout the city administration. If this is how the city responds to residents asking for code enforcement, how will it treat parents concerned about their child's school? Food for thought...
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Aaron E. Wicks - 1 opinion posted |
Van White's petitions -- and residency -- will likely be challenged |
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Let the Petition Challenges Begin!
July 20, 2010 With the legal deadline passed for candidates to submit nominating petitions, we now know who is REALLY seeking office in 2010. What we do not yet know is how many of these would-be candidates will actually make it on to a September or November ballot. Inside, an interim look at who's running -- and who's not. Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks |
Your hard earned tax dollars are squandered, all in the name of provincialism masking as 'local control'. |
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'There's Gold in Them There Hills!' Can Greater Rochester's Over-taxed, Over-governed Residents Follow Maywood, California's Lead?
Monday, August 2, 2010 Rochester, NY - Tiny Maywood, California, a working class suburb of Los Angeles, just trimmed its municipal workforce to---zero. Maywood, CA may be the first municipality to sub-contract out all of its services. And you know what? Taxes are down, services to residents have improved, policing is less corrupt and more humane, and other struggling communities around the nation may follow Maywood's lead. Listening Rochester, Brockport, Batavia, Macedon Village, Webster Village, and Pittsford Village? Read More ...
Christopher J. Wilmot - 2 opinions posted |
Drill Sergeant Powell to NYS election law: "Hit the deck and give me fifty!" |
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Latest Party Petition Problems Inspire Powell Platform
July 26, 2010 The battle of the 23rd LD 20th Election District appears to be over. After Willa Powell submitted a slate of four committee members and MCDC did the same, the issue became the subject of competing petition challenges. Those challenges have been resolved, but the experience has convinced Willa Powell that Albany needs real reform, real soon. Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks - 1 opinion posted |
Tea 'Bagger' Party in snowy Rochester? Probably not, but this kind of racism is here, too. |
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'Tea Baggers' Throw a 'Party' for Jim Crow Supporters, KKK Types
Monday, July 19, 2010 Rochester, NY - A war of words reminiscent of the Antebellum South, and Reconstruction, has erupted between NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous (sic), and right wing racists like Matt Kibbe, and ex-Tea Party spokesman Mark Williams. Not since the 1950's and '60's (or was it the 1850's and '60's?) have we seen this kind of hatred and vitriol fired at African-Americans, in general; and President Obama, in particular.
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Christopher J. Wilmot - 2 opinions posted |
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Prop 8 is overturned -- law cannot be used to justify bigotry, period. |
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Judge Rules 52% of California Voters are Insufferable Twits Ignorant of the Law and Fundamental Rights
August 5, 2010 Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker -- a Republican appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1989 -- has ruled that the 52% of California voters who supported a ban on gay marriage were wrong. Wrong, that is, in their legal view that such a ban is legal under the United States Constitution. How will Judge Walker's decision hold up on appeal? That all depends on whether "strict constuctionist" judges maintain their philosophy (which supports Walker's ruling) or whether they decide that "judicial activism" suddenly has a newfound appeal. Read More ...
Aaron E. Wicks - 1 opinion posted |
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