When asked his impressions of this opening performance, regionalism guru Kevin Gaughan expressed dismay. “It was poor, very poor. It didn’t seem to convey a genuine understanding of the importance of conducting an open process. This has to be conducted as an open process,” Gaughan said.

Unfortunately, running government like a business requires the abandonment of the open process, in the philosophy shared by most of those who are enmeshed in the local political-business nexus. It mirrors the changes that have taken place in this country under George W. Bush.

As if to underscore that connection to the grander scheme of things, rumor has it that control board member and M&T Bank CEO Bob Wilmers had as his lunch guest none other than former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, Jr.

Given the deep pockets of many of the players on the Buffalo scene, the question remains: why has there been practically no investment in this community? Could it be that Buffalo is broke by design?

As long as the control board operates in secrecy, these sort of questions will remain.

PBA Hearings Assemblymember Richard Brodsky of Westchester County chaired a public committee hearing on the Peace Bridge Authority’s eminent domain proposals on July 16 that highlighted a lot of the reasons why, one year after the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Peace Bridge, there is still no new bridge under construction.

To realize its goal of expanding capacity at the existing crossing, the Peace Bridge Authority has requested power of eminent domain on the American side to cover all possible plans that are on the table.

That pre-emptive insurance policy, however, renewed some of the major problems that the PBA has faced throughout the entire process, which has gone on for nearly a decade: mistrust, fear, and a suspicion, whether real or imagined, that the PBA is either unable or unwilling to communicate effectively with the community on this side of the border. Some of the residents who have been directly affected by increased traffic and who may be evicted by construction in the area were on hand to express their anger at the PBA and to plead their case against granting the PBA the extraordinary powers that it has requested.

Yet after some very tough cross-examination of the PBA and its American and Canadian counsel, Brodsky said, “I do not sense a tremendous wave of opposition to the PBA moving forward.”

He added, “An enormous amount of improvement in the process could be made by better communication.” Of course, both The Buffalo News and Artvoice did a great deal to fuel the public mistrust and opposition to the PBA. Now that it has become clear that no signature span will be constructed with public money, the only alternative to the PBA’s plan has been presented by The Detroit International Bridge Co., a company in which Buffalo News, Chairman Warren Buffett held (still holds?) a substantial stake. Opposition to this plan appears to be strong on the Canadian side, as it would require a new plaza. That doesn’t mean, however, that the PBA will be able to avoid further delays, accusations, and complaints about the public process that it must, by law, pursue to achieve its objective of expanding capacity at the border crossing in Buffalo.

While the Detroit International Bridge Co. would like to control truck traffic at an additional crossing here, limitation of commercial capacity at the Peace Bridge also benefits its interests.

Now That’s Italian!: Local GOP Plays Ethnic Card Word is that one of the main goals of County Executive Joel Giambra's administration, now that it is counting its chickens, has to do with reform -- reform of Italian-Americans who are Democrats, that is. Buffalo has a long history of myopic tribal leadership and the current county executive is certainly no exception. Making the GOP the default political association for as large and diverse a population as Italian-Americans represent might not appear to be the greatest area of need that Erie County faces, but it is if you’re Joel Giambra.

Now that the Buffalo Common Council has been reduced to a sort of academic debating society through downsizing and the governor’s draconian control board, you wouldn’t think that it would be a focus of intense campaigning. Yet, Common Councilmember Marc Coppola will be under intense pressure this fall as the GOP spends big on its strategy of eliminating as many Italian-American Democrats as possible. The hope is that voters of this ethnicity will switch their loyalty to the Republicans, based on nothing more than ethnic loyalty to Italian-American Chieftain Joel Giambra. Ironically, Coppola was loyal to Giambra in the push to trim black political representation on the Common Council. His refusal to join the party of the Plutocrats may be his downfall.

Other targets include Al DeBenedetti, former chairman of the Erie County Legislature, and Lynn Marinelli, an artificial Italian by marriage. All of these offenders will be faced by other “good” Italians who are either crypto-Republican Giambracrats or flag waving followers of our “education president.” Joel’s trying to pull an Italian job. It’s a shallow, parochial, and extremely cynical “anti-ideology,” the kind of mindset that has always held this community back. But when you have no new ideas, sometimes it's best to just make believe and keep doing things the old-fashioned (tribal) way. | Add as favourites (21) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 1142

Rokke, whose first experience of war was Vietnam in 1967, said that Gulf War Syndrome, a permanent effect of war, was a "large incidence of 'friendly fire.'" The causes are exposure to DU munitions, low levels of chemical and biological warfare agents and smoke from the burning oil fields of Iraq and Kuwait, and a wide variety of toxic chemicals. Military personnel experienced compromised immune systems after being given up to eight shots at a time, including the never-approved anthrax vaccine. The government denies the existence of Gulf War Syndrome because it doesn't have the money to take care of all of the victims, Rokke said. More than 221,000 Gulf War I veterans are on permanent disability, and more than 10,000 veterans have died, Rokke said. Veterans' children, born since the war, show an increased incidence of birth defects and learning disabilities.

Rokke explained the attraction of DU munitions. "It's like playing darts, except that it's ten pounds of solid uranium. This thing comes out of the gun, flies through the air, and catches fire immediately. You fire a DU round at a vehicle, at a building, at a bunker, and they're destroyed." DU munitions were shot from Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and were present in cluster bombs and landmines. They blew up anyone in their path, including enemy soldiers and small children. DU is now also used in bunker buster bombs, machine gun rounds, and parts of cruise missiles.

Problems began occurring. It took Rokke and his team three months to clean 24 Abrams tanks, destroyed by friendly fire. In the process, he and his team developed respiratory symptoms and rashes. Rokke said that he has been trying, since then, to get medical care for his team and himself, with little governmental cooperation. In 1994, Rokke was asked to direct the army's DU project in Nevada, where they discovered that protective devices didn't work. "During Gulf War I, people wore gas masks and still smelled it and tasted it (uranium particles) . The particles were going right through the filters."

A destroyed tank equipped with DU munitions is "a toxic wasteland. But we found out how much contamination, how you clean it up, and we wrote up the procedures," Rokke said.

In 1996, Rokke went to work at the Edwin R. Bradley Radiological Laboratories, at Fort McClellan, Alabama." The job "didn't last long because I kept adding proper education, medical care, and environmental cleanup." At the same time, the United States developed "Project SHAD" or "Shipboard Hazard and Defense." It involved testing biological and chemical germ warfare agents on U.S. naval crews and marine personnel.

"Did we just go to war because Saddam Hussein and Iraq used chemical and biological agents on their own population? We knew that, in 1990, Iraq did possess chemical and biological weapons. We knew that because the United States gave the weapons to them. We kept the receipts." The U.S. military blew up those weapons during the 1991 war. "Hey, guess what?" Rokke said. "Project SHAD was the deliberate use of chemical and biological munitions on U.S. citizens. And it's still going on." Rokke said that the U.S. government continues to deny the dangerous effect of DU munitions. Another reason for the recent war was to prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons. Yet, Rokke pointed out that the United States, which signed the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, has given tactical nuclear weapons to Australia. "How many people know that we want to take tactical nuclear weapons and warheads to Auckland, New Zealand?"

Rokke charged that the government has engaged in an elaborate system of denial. U.S. officials told a reporter in 1998, "army regulations are not applicable to soldiers in combat" and "overexposure is not applicable to the deployed army." All references to his team's research has been excised from the Pentagon's website. The last time that Rokke was tested at the DU medical project in Baltimore, Maryland, was in 1999. "They found all kinds of problems and they sent me back home. And that's the last I'd heard from them. The doctor does not return my phone calls or my doctor's phone calls."

But Rokke said, "When you use uranium munitions, you contaminate air, water, and soil and the military has confirmed that it makes the food and water unusable. There is no safe level of low-level radioactive exposure."

Chemistry does not create better living, despite the 1960s advertisements, Rokke said. And it doesn't create better wars. "The lesson from Gulf War I illness is the fact that extremely healthy individuals, when they have complex exposures to chemical, biological, and radiological sources, are going to get sick," Rokke said.

Rokke, a warrior for many years and who now works as a substitute teacher, said that he would still fight to protect his country. But he added, "War is a toxic wasteland. We've got to start living together and talking or we're going to contaminate everyone's soil. I'm a warrior but I'm here to tell you that war is obsolete." | Add as favourites (20) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 1028

The 5:45 p.m. Reuters newswire update is reporting the deaths of Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay. They were killed in a shootout with U.S. paratroopers in a villa in the city of Mosul. The entire administration must be breathing a huge sigh of relief. U.S. casualties are mounting, and the home front is getting restive, as the folks back home may actually have to think about the war. With the Hussein boys shot out of the saddle, the opinion polls will swell again with approval, and the general population can return to its grave concerns regarding the upcoming nuptials of JaLo and Matt.

There is still a hot war cooking in Afghanistan, but it seems t be out of sight and out of the mind of the mainstream media. The Taliban has regrouped and is launching counter attacks against just about everybody. The so-called government of Hamid Karzai now barely controls the capital city of Kabul. The rest of the countryside has long since fragmented into its traditional tribal and clan groups with their own alliances and controlling warlords. The fact that Afghanistan has reclaimed its lost title of number one opium producer in the world is hardly mentioned anywhere. Last season’s harvest was the largest ever, approaching 5,000 tonnes. The beneficiary of this agriculture has been the Afghan farmer, some of whom are putting their kids into private schools. (Editor’s note: that was a joke; there are no schools in Afghanistan). The victim of this now revitalized heroin industry will be the politically punch-drunk and staggering government of a now-under-siege British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Great Britain gets 90 percent of its smack via the Afghan-Moscow-London connection. British cops are not happy.

And, as Blair hid out in Beijing last week, he was notified that one of the country’s premier biological weapons experts had apparently committed suicide. This occurred after he was unmasked as the alleged source of the BBC’s stories charging the Blair government of “sexing up” its Iraq WMD claims. Apparently, Dr. David Kelly took pain- killers, slit his left wrist, and then calmly sat down and waited to bleed to death. The conspiracy industry, myself included, is gearing up for weeks of solid copy, as the British government is sure to mishandle this entire sordid affair.

Wherever you find a Bush family member, you are certain to find oil. They just can’t help themselves. It’s the family business.

In the July 4 issue of Alt, we reported the new American interest in west African oil. One of the world’s smallest and poorest counties is the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe. Fortunately, for its 170,000 citizens, that nation is sitting on just about 10 billion barrels of oil. Drilling permits is expected to generate about $100 million in revenue this year. Sao Tome will do a 40-60 split the swag with neighboring Nigeria, with Sao Tome getting the short end of the oil platform.

Sao Tome is interested in the constructing a naval base and other facilities and having the United States protect its new oil fields. The United States has shown some interest and has sent some high-ranking military people to have a look. Up till now, no decisions seem to have been made.

I say up to now, because, last Wednesday, there was a coup in Sao Tome.

Hardly noticed domestically, this was a big story in Europe and Africa. The president of the country was visiting friends on the mainland when one of the army of 900 officers led the uprising. They took over the capital, arresting government officials, and taking over the radio and television stations. Fortunately, no one was injured. At press time, the rebels are still in control, although the prisoners have been released. Their ambiguous demands seem to be related to the above-mentioned $100 million.

And this past weekend, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld signed a new deployment order. A three-ship Amphibious Ready Group, stationed off of the coast of the Indian Ocean near the Horn of Africa, was ordered to pull up anchor and set sail up the Red Sea and enter the Mediterranean. This naval group, led by the USS Iwo Jima, will wait there for orders.

Presumably, their destination will be the civil war-torn nation of Liberia. But as rebels close into the besieged capital of Monrovia and African dictator of the week Charles Taylor, one can wonder and speculate about the timing. The Iwo Jima is at least ten days steaming time from Liberia. By then, the fighting may well be over, and Charles Taylor long gone with his bagful of Krugerrands.

By then, there will be little for the complement of 4,500 sailors and marines to do but clean up the mess, help bury the dead, and evacuate anyone who couldn’t escape sooner. Then again, the coast of Liberia is just a few days from Sao Tome, and its still-running coup. And the president has yet to decide where to put these troops ashore.

Paul Wolfowitz was heard to quip about Iraq, “It’s swimming on a sea of oil,” or words to that effect. Sao Tome doesn’t have its own sea of oil just yet, but it’s close.

And, of course, no national affairs column is complete without reporting that the Pentagon is spending more money on another private military contractor. A few days ago, the Independent (UK) reported that a US PMC, known as Kroll, Inc., was being considered to take a contract to train Iraqi security guards. I sent them a note requesting confirmation, but they have yet to reply.

And, given the state of security on the ground in Baghdad, Kroll, Inc., just might consider staying home. After all, there are safer places, such as Sao Tome. | Add as favourites (32) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 2200

An internal memo code-named “Gallant Piper,” obtained by Alt, shows that the governor and his administration understood perfectly well that the Mohawk Warrior Society was a dangerous faction of the Six Nations. Of course, the governor, then serving his first term, had chosen to throw caution to the wind. He launched the kind of assault on Native American sovereignty more suited to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth.

In attempting to collect New York State taxes on Native American soil at gunpoint, the governor, wittingly or unwittingly, drove Native American popular support into the arms of the very same militant group about which his advisers were warning him.

The memo stated, “DSP (Department of State Police) is expected to be met with resistance from the pro-gambling warrior society dissidents who have demonstrated violent militant resistance to occupation or intervention by DSP in the past.”

If the Department of State Police issued such a statement about the Warriors, why is it that now, in the Post 9-11 world of homeland security, that that the governor has welcomed this alleged “violent” and “militant” group is welcomed with open arms? Could it be that political cronyism is more important than threats to public safety?

Later in 1998, the INS launched “Over the Rainbow II,” in which several people associated with the Mohawk Warriors were arrested and charged with transporting large numbers of illegal immigrants into the United States. Both Pataki and Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, ignored this even greater threat to so-called “homeland security” was also ignored, as we shall see. Clearly, the governor knew who he was dealing with, when he negotiated the Seneca Gaming Compact. And, if it turns out that just one illegal alien slipped across the border with the help of the governor’s new friends and, at some point, commits the next 9-11, don’t think of the victims, think of the short term political benefit that George Pataki, Joel Giambra, and their local GOP Rat Pack are enjoying now.

Concerns Over Organized Crime Continue To Haunt Delaware North, Seneca Casino In an article published on July 12 of this year, The Washington Post revealed that Delaware North’s past links to organized crime appear to have scuttled the company’s plans to take over Rosecroft Raceway in Maryland.

According to the article, “Court papers filed last week by Delaware North shed new light on the deal’s collapse. The documents show that Centaur (ed. note: the company Delaware North was negotiating with) had repeatedly expressed misgivings about Delaware North’s 1972 conviction and decided to ditch its partner after a series of private meetings and conference calls failed to assuage its concerns.”

Delaware North, then called Emprise, was convicted of conspiring to conceal mob interests in the Frontier casino. Perhaps, more troubling than the conviction was the assassination by car bomb of journalist Don Bolles in 1976. He just happened to be doing an investigative report on Emprise at the time of his death. No evidence was ever found linking the company to Bolles’ death. The intense media scrutiny that followed, particularly a story by Sixty Minutes, did much to raise doubts about the company, and was perhaps more damaging than the criminal conviction.

Since that time, the company has changed its name, successfully countered its negative image, and has gotten back into the gaming industry in a fairly substantial way. Delaware North subsidiary Sportsystem is the largest operator of pari-mutuel betting facilities in the United States. Forbes magazine has it listed as the 153rd largest privately held company.

Naturally, the company can point out that, since these suspicious incidents took place decades ago, they can no longer be used as a measure of how the renamed company does business at the present time.

Or can they? The Buffalo News has not raised concerns about Delaware North’s past ties to organized crime, nor was the Washington Post story picked up here. Recent stories have centered around the company’s meetings with the Seneca Nation of Indians Tribal Council to build a casino in Cheektowaga. While the charges against Delaware North are old, concerns about the Seneca leadership’s association with criminal activity are relatively fresh.

The active involvement of convicted felon Arthur “Sugar” Montour on the Tribal Council and his association with the paramilitary Mohawk Warrior Society has raised plenty of eyebrows with casino opponents here and on both Seneca Reservations, but again, The Buffalo News has not mentioned that.

Delaware North spokesperson Wendy Watkins told Alt, “We have no agreement at all with the Seneca Nation, and I can tell you that we are not in negotiations with them,” downplaying the company’s involvement with the Tribal Council. “We’re not aware of any of those claims or charges. It’s certainly something that has never come up in any of our meetings,” Watkins said

When asked whether the company has a responsibility to look into some of the concerns surrounding the Warriors, Watkins said, “At the point where we’re actually going to have an agreement, we’d be doing due diligence.”

The company did, in fact, reach an agreement with the Senecas, according to The Buffalo News as far back as 1999, only to have the Senecas inexplicably pull out. Watkins, in commenting on Delaware North’s corporate policy, however, did go on to state categorically, “We never want to be involved with anything that is not above board, ever again.” Attention Tom Ridge: The Real “Shadow Enemy” Is Organized Crime!!!

On July 21, Tom Ridge gave a speech at the Chautauqua Institution, where he claimed, “Terrorism is a shadow enemy, and terrorist are shadow soldiers.” Unfortunately, terror has long been a tool of organized crime, and it can serve opposing political and economic interests with equal effect. In summary, Ridge has said that we need to be afraid of an unknown enemy that we can’t see. If we employ reason in place of fear, we can see that the most serious shadow enemy that this region now faces is organized crime, as represented by groups that have employed terror tactics in the past, such as the Mohawk Warriors. Sadly, our country’s leader against this threat, Tom Ridge, was governor of Pennsylvania, when that state also opened negotiations with members of the Warriors for a Native American casino. While those negotiations broke off, they have now reportedly been renewed with the influential Liggett family pushing its political weight in Harrisburg to strike a deal.

The lukewarm response that Ridge received at Chautauqua appears to have been justified. Until corruption, starting with the Enron crowd at the top and extending down to Casino Buffalo at the bottom, is dealt with in a serious manner, the “shadows” in this community and this country will only get longer. Until that time, it appears that the Department of Homeland Security is little more than yet another vast political patronage empire. | Add as favourites (20) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 3091