Stories from
Political parties serve their own ends first
Many years ago, I read George Washington's Farewell Address, and I was immediately struck by the prophecy of his words.
All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.
However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
By the time I read this long ago, I had already left the Democratic Party (I've been a Republican at one time as well).
Washington's warning cemented within me a an already hardening distaste for political parties, which serve not even an ideological end, let alone more noble aims, but rather are purely filled with avarice. Cunning, ambitious and unprincipled indeed. Pick for me any Republican or Democrat of any real power in Washington or Albany today and you will have selected just such a man or woman. Their care is far more for the fate of the party than the fate of you or me.
The sole goal of the political party to which its insiders swear faithful allegiance is to preserve the party, to ensure party members win elections and gather unto themselves more power, money and influence to help others within the same party win more elections, and thus the cycle is perpetuated. Political parties are about winning elections, not serving the people.
It is indeed fortunate that our two party system has thus far prevented either party from gaining a despotic claim on the government, but it is equally true that the blind ambition of party loyalty has prevented many reforms and improvements, and it has also led to much corruption and dishonesty.
To help break the strangle hold today's political partisans have on our government, there are two basic reforms that should take place.
First, as a matter of privacy, bar the state registrar from asking for party affiliation. People must register to vote, but it should not be a matter of public record which party a person chooses to join. It is, in fact, an invasion of privacy to even ask the question. Stop asking the question.
The result, political parties will need to find private means to identify, retain and motivate party members. This will be harder work for the party bosses, and a good number of people will find it too much bother to associate with any party. This will be a good thing for democracy.
As for your right to be a member of a political party, why should it be any different from your right to be a Mason, or a Rotarian or a Methodist? When you join a political party, it should be a matter of joining that party -- signing a membership card, paying dues and attending meetings. Otherwise, stay home and watch TV. This would actually tend to make party membership more meaningful and lead to more active and diverse parties with greater participation, because members would actually feel like members, and those who opted out would not matter.
When political parties must actually compete in the open market place for members, then parties will need to better define their agendas, what they stand for and against and how they plan to get things done. Parties will need to better differentiate themselves, and third parties will have a greater chance to make their case with voters.
The second reform has to do with political primaries. Political parties are private organizations, so why do taxpayers fund their political primaries? The parties should hold their own caucuses and elections at their own expense and according to their own rules. It is neither the public's nor the government's business as to how and when parties select their standard bearers, so long as they have qualified candidates to represent them in general elections. We should stop wasting tax payer money on helping political parties select their candidates.
The end of publicly funded primaries would lessen the public attention on the two primaries, which will mean the leading candidates will have less publicity come time of the general election. This will mean that what we now call third party candidates -- who've already be given greater access to new party members by voter registration changes -- will have a better chance of getting their message before the voters.
Isn't it time we the people take power back from the political party elite?
Job Posting form fixed
It turns out that for the past week, we had an error on our job submission form and somebody finally brought it to our attention. It's fixed now. If you tried to post a job and couldn't, you shouldn't have a problem now.
Daily News declares itself nothing more than a fly swat
It's disappointing to learn today that the Daily News thinks of itself as serving no other higher public good than acting as a fly swat.
Well, I suppose it could also be used to line a bird cage, wrap a fish, clean a window or mulch a garden.
At The Batavian, we're pretty proud of the fact that we're here to serve the community by helping people become better informed and giving all residents a chance to have a voice in their community.
You can subscribe to the Daily Fly Swat at BataviaNews.com.
New WBTA for The Batavian ad features friend of the site
We've been advertising The Batavian on WBTA since the site launched in May. We're very happy with the results, but agree with Dan Fisher that our ad should be switched up once in a while to keep the message fresh.
A week or so ago, I sent Dan over a new script and he suggested hiring a female announcer this time to change the tone of the ad.
The new ad started running yesterday. It features Nici Johnson, a young, ambitious Batavian who is working to break into broadcasting.
I know her mostly as a waitress/short order cook at the Pok-A-Dot, one of my favorite fine dining establishments in town (previous post), but Nici is also working for WBTA, a couple of radio stations in Buffalo (in promotions) and teaches modeling on Sundays.
Young people who work that hard to get ahead always do, so we can expect great things from Nici.
Here is an MP3 of the spot.
It's very cool, we think, that Dan picked Nici to do this spot.
Small change to comments on blog posts
This isn't a major site change, but it does have a lot to do with how people participate in the site ... We've changed the way comments display under a post.
They are no longer "threaded," which means direct replies to a previous post no longer appear under the comment being replied to. While the intent of that format is to make conversations easier to follow, it never really works that way.
The "old school" way of displaying comments on posts is in a flat list with the oldest comments on top, newest on the bottom. That's what we're doing now.
News Round Up: Village walks and no-hitters
So what's the bigger local story: That Federer-Nadal make a good tennis match, that CC Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, or that Tyler Pratt threw a no hitter to lead Batavia over LeRoy in the 11-12 Division of the District 3 youth baseball tournament?
Federer-Nadal dominate the sports page of today's Daily News (it's a wire story that was all over the Internet hours before the DN presses ran), and Sabathia gets a good 8 inches of copy with picture (and I bet if you follow baseball, you already knew all about the trade last night), while Pratt's heroic efforts gets two paragraphs.
If Tyler or his family reads this, or any of you know him ... The Batavian would be happy to post anything you have on the game (or you can post it yourself) ... pictures, video, a first-person account. Let us know ...
Batavia's next game is Friday at 6 p.m. against Oakfield, which beat Wayland 10-7. If you're going, take a video camera and post a few shots to YouTube. We'll repost it here.
Before we move off the sports page, we learn that tabloids love A-Rod (hold the presses for that one), and the Muckdogs lost in Vermont to the Lake Monsters 3-2 when Blake Stouffer hit a walk-off home run.
On the front page of today's Daily News, Joanne Beck covers Walk The Villages. The 45-minute walk begins downtown Saturday at 6 p.m. It's a chance to get some exercise, meet some neighbors and learn a little bit about local history, culture and architecture. Oh, and there might be a couple of ghosts encountered along the way.
The other front-page story of note, Scott DeSmit follows up on the parachuting death of Joseph Schickler. Officials are looking at the rigging of his chute. An autopsy revealed that Schickler had some heart problems, but it cannot be determined if that was a contributing factor to the accident.
And in the final item to include in our round up today, on A-5 eleven area girls who are competing for Fair Queen are profiled.
The are Katie Fales, Batavia High; Anastashia Spikes, Batavia; Elysia Summers, Corfu; Desiree King, Elba; Lauren Mullen, Byron-Bergen; Taylor Patterson, Pembroke; Damainique Bruce, Batavia; April Meier, Pembroke; and, Alyssa Hilderbrandt of Pavillion Central School.
As always, you can pick up a copy of today's Daily News at a local news stand (such as Main Street Coffee), or, better yet, subscribe on the DN web site at BataviaNews.com.
News Round Up: Billonaire political donations and accidents
WBTA reported this morning:
- Billionaire businessman Tom Golisano of Rochester may form a PAC, enabling him to spend vast amounts of money in support of favored political candidates.
- U.S. Parachute Association is also looking into the death during the holiday weekend of Joseph Schickler. The FAA has already launched an official investigation.
- A tractor trailer hauling brand new Dodge Chargers caught fire along Route 63 near Geneseo.
Tune into WBTA 1490-AM for these and other news updates throughout the day.
Top 10 posts for June
According to our tracking, the following 10 posts received the most page views on The Batavian in June.
- Lewiston Road fire claims life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney, by Howard Owens
- D&C story makes it sound like Legislature is Do-Nothingers when it comes to property tax relief, by Howard Owens
- On the Agenda (City Council): Moving youth football, by Philip Anselmo
- Rainbows, by Daniel Cherry
- Powers camp critical of Jack Davis in release of Energy Policy, by Philip Anselmo
- Batavia food company enters into partnership with Disney, by Howard Owens
- City Council: Overdrive, by Philip Anselmo
- Police Chief by the end of the week?, by Philip Anselmo
- Batavia to Florida, by Joseph Deni
- Video: World War II Veteran Louis O'Geen, by Philip Anselmo
Friday's Muckdog's game drew record crowd
Nice little tidbit buried at the bottom of the Buffalo News story on Jeff Weaver signing with the Bisons.
The Muckdog's game drew a record crowd: 3,021.
We were there handing out water bottle kozies -- we gave out 1,000 of them prior to the game. They were a big hit with people who arrived before we did coming from the stands to ask for their own once they saw they were available.
We also handed out about 750 at the Ramble yesterday. Again, big hit.
It was fun to meet so many people who already visit The Batavian regularly, and we made several new friends, I think.
But back to the Muckdogs, please be sure to check out Eric Manning's post on the Muckdog's hot prospects. I stumbled about Eric's blog Future Redbirds the other day and asked if he would be willing to fill us in on who the top players are on the Muckdogs. If you're a St. Louis Cardinals fan (and there seemed to be several of them at the game on Friday), Future Redbirds seems like a must-read web site.
And while we're talking about Muckdogs coverage, the Muckdog's intern Molly Radzinski, a broadcasting major from Albion, has been doing a great job of providing us game recaps. Here's one.
I couldn't stay for the whole game Friday because I promised my wife I wouldn't be gone long, but I need to get back to Dwyer Stadium soon -- it's a great ballpark. There isn't a bad seat in the house, near as I can tell, and the fans are really into the game.
I need to go to a game soon, and so should you.
The Batavian now offering free job postings
The Batavian continues to grow. We continue to add new features to the site.
Now, we're offering FREE job postings for employers (and for job candidates, a new online source to look for a local job).
Employers in the region -- Genesee County, Buffalo, Rochester and all point in between, are invited to post their job openings for free on The Batavian.
To post a job, simply click on the "jobs" tab above, and then look for the link that says "click here." Or, click here.
The person posting a job on behalf of an employer will need to be a registered user.
The "Employment" form to post a job will also appear under the "Create Content" tab on the left menu.
At a time of high gas prices and a slowing economy, we hope these free job postings will help local business and local workers.
We ask everbody to respect the opportunity to post free job openings by offering only legitimate employment opportunities -- not "work for free" opportunities, or multi-level marketing opportunities or other shady "business opportunities," but legtimate, paying jobs.
Freedom Weekend in Genesee County
Philip and I will be at the Muckdogs game Friday evening handing out water bottle kozies (assuming the shipment arrives today as expected). Game time is 7 p.m. at Dwyer Stadium and fireworks are scheduled to follow the game.
Weather.com is predicting continued showers through today, partly cloudy for Friday and Saturday and isloated thunder showers on Sunday.
We're all hoping for better weather than that.
Here are other events scheduled for Freedom Weekend in Genesee County
Today:
Batavia Boogie -- Skydiving
Until 5 p.m. today, and continuing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sunday at the Gensee County Airport.
Art Exhibt, “The Key” by Karen Reisdorf
Until 5 p.m. and continuing at P.I.E.C.E.S. Gallery, 109 Main St., Batavia. “Karen transforms a series of spontaneous mono-prints into representations of Greek Mythology. The exhibit examines our human search for understanding through process.”
Batavia Muckdogs
Tonight at 7 p.m., against the Lowell Spinners (Red Sox farm club). Dwyer Stadium.
Friday:
Independence Day Celebration
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- Genesee Country Village & Museum, 1410 Flint Hill Road, Mumford
19th-century-style event with parades, pageants, music, performances and an immigration and naturalization ceremony. There is also an 1837-style picnic available for an additional charge.. Free with museum admission. Picnic $15, $7.50 ages 4-16. Reservations recommended. Picnic basket, $13 per person while supplies last.
Go Arts' Fourth of July Picnic in the Park
Centennial Park, North and State streets
Live entertainment, arts and crafts, food and children's activities; presented by Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council. Noon to 5 p.m. July 4., Batavia. Free admission.
Saturday
Downtown Batavia Public Market
9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Center & School Street Parking Lot (across from O'Lacy's Irish Pub)
The market offers fresh produce & fruit, baked goods, coffees, flowers, handmade crafts, bbq chicken & pork, hots and hamburgers and a variety of food and other items.
The Ramble Music and Arts Fest 2008
Noon to 6 p.m., Jackson Square in Downtown Batavia.
Sunday:
BBQ, Raffle and Car Cruise
11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Rt. 63 in East Bethany.
If you know of any other events, in the area, please leave a comment.
Check out The Batavian sign at Dwyer Stadium
I love baseball, so with a certain amount of pride, I walked into Dwyer Stadium today and snapped this photo of The Batavian sign out in right field.
We're proud to be a 2008 sponsor of Batavia's legendary minor league baseball team.
This summer, we're also a sponsor of the BID's summer concert series.
We're looking at a couple of other sponsorship opportunities over the next couple of months. If your group or organization is putting on an event and need local business sponsors, let us know, because we'll certainly consider it (we can't sponsor everything of course, but we have some money left in the budget for a couple of more sponsorships this summer).
Help get the word out about The Batavian
Community Leader #1: "I'm eager to see the Daily News today to find out what they say about the youth football program."
Community Leader #2: "Why? I've already found out all I need to know on The Batavian."
I'm hiding the identities of the two people in the conversation because it was just casually mentioned to me, but it's been on my mind all afternoon.
That's exactly what we want people to get about The Batavian. We're timely and complete and trustworthy.
Philip has done a great job of covering the controversy surrounding where youth football should be played, and we've gotten useful and informative comments from people on the posts to help supplement the coverage.
We're not a big believer in people relying on just one source of information for news -- that's why we always encourage people to subscribe to the Daily News and listen to WBTA -- but we also want to be as complete as possible (which is why we also tell you about the Daily News and WBTA coverage).
The other aspect of the conversation is the value of word-of-mouth promotion. That's something you can't buy, so it's great to hear about people spreading the word about the work we're doing.
We're very happy with the results of our advertising in the Genesee Valley PennySaver and on WBTA, and I just did a post about our community sponsorship efforts. Without that advertising, it would be hard to get the word-of-mouth marketing going.
Still, if you think The Batavian is good for Batavia, good for Genesee County, please tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers. There is strength in numbers, and the more people who visit the site the better for our business, but just as important, the better for the community conversation and the better for keeping all of us better informed.
Post our web site address in your school bulletin or group newsletter. And let people know they can send us news, too, or post it themselves.
If you're new to The Batavian, follow this link for previous posts about who what we do and why.
D&C story makes it sound like Legislature is Do-Nothingers when it comes to property tax relief
Here's a gloomy story to start of your Saturday with: Don't expect property tax relief soon.
The impression left by the D&C story is that the state legislature is dissecting the issue into particle detail rather than just dealing with the basic issue: Property taxes are too high.
All sides have expressed a desire to do something about property taxes, but the way to get there, like the path to so many goals in Albany, is clouded.
A property tax cap, proposed by a state commission put together by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, has won the support of Gov. David Paterson. But state lawmakers, including those who represent Monroe County, are not convinced Paterson's proposal is the answer.
Back in the 1970s, when Californians got fed up with the state Legislature's wishy-washy, spineless approach to property tax relief, they passed Jarvis-Gann, better known as Proposition 13.
While the transition to new ways of funding and operating schools and government hasn't always been easy for California, property taxes are a lot lower and everything still operates just fine. Maybe there needs to be a voter revolt in New York, cause it's sure sounding like the Legislature wants to sit on its hands.
Here's Steve Hawley's reply:
"I'm not sure we should be focusing exclusively on the school tax," said Assemblyman Stephen Hawley, R-Batavia, who was a member of the Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) before he was elected to the Legislature.
Hawley suggested exploring different property tax rates based on income and family situation, not strictly home value, and noted that government spending is the root of the problem.
"A reasonable solution is to stop trying to be all things to all people," he said.
Certainly, reducing waste in government and the size of government is a good place to start, but the idea that the government would A) develop an even more complex tax scheme (different rates based on family size and income?); and, B) start meddling in the structure of New York families doesn't sound very Republican-like.
Maybe Hawley can contact us or leave a comment and try to explain better what he's talking about, because this sound bite sounds more scary than helpful.
Video: Scene from Blondie's
In this video we found on YouTube, this Batavia toddler seems pretty happy with the ice cream at Blondie's.
25 things that made Genesee County famous
The Holland Land Office Museum announced on its blog yesterday that on June 13, it will begin an "online exhibit" series of 25 things that made Genesee County famous.
For this online exhibit, a panel of 15 people spent six months sifting through 100s of things know world wide. It was the panel's job to come up with a list of 25 things that made Genesee County famous. Every week, until November 28, 2008 the Holland Land Office Museum will release another item.
Cool idea, and it's interesting that this physical museum has chosen the digital world to highlight such a potentially fascinating list of events, people and items.
Anybody want to guess what some of these 25 things might be? Leave a comment. (I'm guessing #1 is anti-masonry and the Morgan Affair. Joseph Mancuso and the business incubator have to be pretty high up there, too.)
Thom Beers says he grew up in 'blue collar world'
Quote from Thom Beers about growing up in Batavia:
"Somebody taught me a long time ago, be true to who you are," Beers said by phone this week from Long Beach, Calif., where he and a crew filmed a bridge painter for NBC's "America's Toughest Jobs," another Beers production. "I grew up in a blue-collar world."
In his hometown of Batavia, N.Y., just east of Buffalo, his heroes were his uncles, Nick, a pizza maker, and Rocky, a mechanic, "salt-of-the-earth guys. Guys who told the truth, went to work every day and took care of their families. It's not that I saw an opening for a grand experiment. This is what I know."
UPDATE: Here's another story about Beers -- Life is never borig.
WBTA Auction set for Saturday, 9 a.m. to Noon
WBTA, 1490 AM, is gearing up for another of its periodic auctions. Dan Fischer has loaded the station's web site page with several more items.
Items include:
- Four-pack for Martin's Fantasy Island
- One-price pass for the Attica Rodeo
- Gift certificates for Oliver's Candy
- Bus trip for two to Seneca Niagara Casino
- Birthday blow out at The Gravel Pit
- Gift certificates for O'Lacy's
- Gift certificates for Center Street Smokehouse
Top 10 Posts for May
When people look at individual posts, we're able to count how many times that happens. That doesn't tell us precisely how many people read that post, because most people probably read a post on the home page and never click-through to the post on its own page.
Individual story counts are probably driven by people leaving or reading comments, or getting the permalink (story URL) to send to a friend.
With that caveat, here's our Top 10 posts for May (the first month of existence for The Batavian).
- Batavians choose not to live like they do in big cities, by Charlie Mallow
- Let's keep our culture: A chat with Marianne Clattenburg, by Philip Anselmo
- News roundup: "Secret" meetings at City Hall?, by Philip Anselmo
- Today's Question: How are gas prices effecting Batavia's commuters, by Howard Owens
- Feelin' it: Behind the scenes at WGCC 90.7 FM, by Philip Anselmo
- Register to Vote, by Daniel Jones
- You know you're from Batavia when…, by Ryan Sholin
- Lewiston Road fire claims life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney, by Howard Owens
- A Commentary on the Upcoming Presidential Election, by Conor Flynn
- It Is All Just Words, by Patrick Burke
Our most viewed video so far is of the Lewiston Road fire.
