By Michael Calleri

Buffalo Alternative Press Movie Editor

     There’s a clue to his point-of-view in the title of Werner Herzog’s beautiful new documentary Encounters At The End Of The World. The title not only refers to Antarctica (the fabled South Pole), but it’s also a hint at Herzog’s idea that humankind is rushing headlong into oblivion. The end of the world, indeed.

    I guess it was just a matter of time before eccentric filmmaker Herzog arrived in Antarctica. He is now the only director in motion picture history to make a feature-length movie on all seven continents. Encounters At The End Of The World is a superb example of the director’s unique documentary work. It is thoroughly accessible, fully entertaining, and not a little bit alarming. The photography is wondrous, especially during the diving sequences. In fact, there is so much underwater footage in the film that at times you forget you’re in the never-ending grip of a frozen wasteland.

By Joe Schmidbauer

In 1996, Alt published an article entitled, “The Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) and the Smell of a Dying City.” This was followed by a series of articles over the past eight years about incompetence and corruption in the BSA.  These problems continue under the new Brown administration.

We have an unconfirmed report that last week there was another major environmental incident.  The whistle blower stated that the eight main digesters that contained the bacterium used to digest organic material have all broken down and have overflowed and flooded the island with millions of gallons of raw sewage.  The clean up has taken over a week.  The unnamed sources stated that sewer authority has been quietly discharging untreated sewage all summer.

Folks on the river front have been smelling sewage all summer.

More on this later

By Alex Blair

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Douglas Turner auditioned for a spot on Fox News in the July 7, 2007 edition of the Buffalo News. In one of the never-ending series of attacks on the efforts of workers to earn a decent living, he uses a heap of incomplete and irrelevant facts to add to the News’ charges that unions are destroying the economy of New York State. In this particular case, Mr. Turner compares the limping New York State economy with the “Virginia Miracle.”

          Essentially, for Mr. Turner, Virginia’s economic miracle—it’s remarkable performance vis-à-vis New York—boils down to two things. First, Virginia has a right-to-work law that requires unions to represent workers who don’t pay dues. Second, Virginia has no public sector unions to speak of.

By Michael Calleri

Buffalo Alternative Press Movie Critic

     History as seen through photographs will always seem more real, more gripping, more commanding.

    When the notorious images of the abuse of inmates at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison were first released - in censored form - they managed to shock the world. Maybe even offering a little more shock (and awe) than that actual opening bombing campaign that began over Baghdad on March 20, 2003. I recall one American military official commenting that because of those photographs, the United States had lost the war in Iraq.

by Flora Nerk

          Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end; they were forever and a day.

 Is that all there is?  Is that all there is?  

    Shocked, absolutely shocked I am at the latest price increase in oil and gasoline. Why ten dollars more a barrel is absolutely ridiculous and the cost of a gallon has gone so high I’ll have to get another job just to fill my Hummer let alone top off the tank in my Escalade. Absolutely no excuse why we Americans have to be at the mercy of these oil barons and Arab Sheiks and besides why don’t we just start pumping more oil and drill more wells so the price will be affordable. Do polar bears buy anything and who cares if the Polar Caps are melting when I live quite a distance from the sea and have a thirty-five foot cabin cruiser? Definitely a conspiracy between the big money boys and government types who make a killing by manipulating the markets in oil so that it appears that we are running out of petroleum.

By Stuart N. O'Toole

    Ordinarily, you’d think the affluent citizens of Orchard Park wouldn’t be interested in having a Wal-Mart in their town, especially since there already is one conveniently located nearby, just over the line in the not-as-posh Town of Hamburg, which probably has a greater number of shoppers who may believe they have a “need” for Wal-Mart. Well, you’d think wrong. Wal-Mart is now taking aim at Orchard Park, that upscale land of Pilgrim’s pride; home of the Range Rover, Ethan Allan patio furniture, and Harry And David home deliveries.

     Of course, Wal-Mart’s plan is to abandon its existing emporium near Hamburg’s Seven Corners intersection, with its acres of parking in front of the chain’s typical squat, square building, which is Wal-Mart's usual misguided and outdated approach to development, an approach that likely will be repeated should they gain access to their desired new spot. The current Seven Corners location is close to the McKinley Mall, as well as myriad other commercial enterprises along McKinley Parkway and Southwestern Blvd. There’s a large Tops Market across the street from the existing Wal-Mart. Residents and outsiders alike all know that Seven Corners is a very busy, very complex intersection. The current Wal-Mart location can be reached via McKinley Pkwy, Southwestern Blvd. (also know as Route 20) and Big Tree Rd. (a.k.a. Route 20A). It's a straight shot down 20A from the Village of Orchard Park’s vibrant commercial district. One wonders what the reasoning for a new Wal-Mart location would be. Aside from the existing store‘s proximity to the often-clogged intersection, the current location seems ideal, until you take into consideration the desired new site on Mile Strip Road (Route 179) between Abbott Road and Southwestern Blvd. in the Town Of Orchard Park. A new store would still be convenient to Hamburg's humbler masses, but it offers other opportunities for the merchandising behemoth.