Fighting From Behind The Lions

Patiently standing guard in front of City Hall, and a short block north of County Hall, are four very large marble lions.  Since their arrival in 1907,  they’ve been majestically perched ground zero in the heart of the city, with a towering view in all directions.

Well, I say for nearly a hundred years, our lackadaisical lions have done little more than lounge around. It’s high time we put them to work.

Before Buffalo as a city became stupid, we used to be smart. After the turn of the century, our lions proudly watched as Buffalo became the eighth largest city in the U.S.,  able to tout a rich legacy of visionary foresight. They saw a city that was a mesmerizing magnet that attracted the very best and the brightest. Olmsted, Richardson, Wright, Sullivan and hundreds of luminaries in  practically every field flocked here to do business.

Now, a hundred years, and several thousand bad decisions later, Buffalo is a mere shell of its former glory. Through a century of myopic leadership, we lost our vision and systematically discarded and destroyed the riches it helped create.

Fortunately, hope is beginning to raise its head above the ashes.

Where are the checks, balances?

by Keith Olbermann – MSNBC

Bush has been ‘making it up’ for too long, and the people have let him

We are, as every generation, inseparable from our own time.Thus is our perspective, inevitably that of the explorer looking into the wrong end of the telescope.

But even accounting for our myopia, it’s hard to imagine there have been many elections more important than this one, certainly not in non-presidential years.

And so we look at the verdict in the trial of Saddam Hussein yesterday, and, with the very phrase “October, or November, Surprise” now a part of our vernacular, and the chest-thumping coming from so many of the Republican campaigners today, each of us must wonder about the convenience of the timing of his conviction and sentencing.But let us give history and coincidence the benefit of the doubt—let’s say it’s just “happened” that way—and for a moment not look into the wrong end of the telescope. Let’s perceive instead the bigger picture:Saddam Hussein, found guilty in an Iraqi court.Who can argue against that?He is officially, what the world always knew he was: a war criminal.

Mr. Bush, was this imprimatur, worth the cost of 2,832 American lives, and thousands more American lives yet to be lost?Is the conviction of Saddam Hussein the reason you went to war in Iraq?  Or did you go to war in Iraq because of the weapons of mass destruction that did not exist? Or did you go to war in Iraq because of the connection between Iraq and al-Qaida that did not exist? Or did you go to war in Iraq to break the bonds of tyranny there, while installing the mechanisms of tyranny here? Or did you go to war in Iraq because you felt the need to wreak vengeance against somebody, anybody? Or did you go to war in Iraq to contain a rogue state which, months earlier, your own administration had declared had been fully contained by sanctions? Or did you go to war inIraq to keep gas prices down?

The Buffalo River: What do we do next?

Spend $165 million, $500 million, or do it right for $1 billion—who decides and who pays?

by Bill Zimmermann
The Buffalo Waterfront Alliance will hold its second part of series of waterfront agenda open forums on Wednesday, November 8th at the CPO Club at the foot of Porter Avenue from 6-7 pm, free and open to all.This month’s meeting focuses on: Our Buffalo River and the WNY waterways pollution facts, as well as resolve plan options. A month ago Buffalo News’ Mike Beebe did an excellent two-day coverage article reporting hard news and details about our fate as a community regarding our rivers and our waterways… it was truly an amazing piece of helpful community journalism – a positive orientation pointing leaders to conditions of our most cherished natural resource. So what now?Present for this month’s forum panel: Mike Beebe of the Buffalo News, Julie O’Neill of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeepers, other members from Riverkeepers, and a few more notable panel guests. It’s free and open to the public, starts at 6 pm and runs till 7 pm at CPO Club. CPO Club is located next to the Buffalo Yacht Club at the foot of Porter Avenue.

Some of the questions we’ll ask the panel at November’s Buffalo Waterfront Alliance meeting are:

·          Did most Buffalo folk read and absorb Mike Beebe’s articles on the Buffalo River and WNY waterways?

·           Do we believe the public is sincerely interested in our dilemma of waterways pollution, and if not, why?

·          Is the government and general media interested in continuing to profile this as a big issue?

·          Do we have a responsibility as a community to respond? What are the tools we have access to?

·          What are the next steps our community/government/media should take to make this issue more prevalent?

·          Do we research and talk about what they’ve been doing successfully in Hamilton?

·          What are the next action/funding/resolution steps, and who will run with them? If we do not actively participate, will our voices and opinions be heard?

·          Was this a serious story, and if so, do you think the media and community responded, and if not, why not?

·          And what steps would it take to let the people know they have a voice?

·          Does Buffalo really care about its rivers, and waterways, or was the silence following this story a matter of weakness due to our economic inability to react?

·          Is it just an unattractive subject compared to, say, our skyway teardown issue?

We know that the facts of the story shed both shocking truisms and yet no one refuted the facts, so why the silence in the aftermath?
What can community media-supported action groups do to initiate a strong voice in this discussion?

Can we use the power of community media bloggers and community led groups to effect change in order to make this an apt issue of concern in our community?

Please attend: Wednesday, November 1st, CPO Club (at foot of Porter, next to Buffalo yacht Club…FREE to all). If you wish to be a panel discussion member: contact Bill Zimmermann at 716-885-6936, or wnysail@yahoo.comOur Buffalo Waterfront Alliance: a truly open forum for voices and action, diversified but eager and participating, forming committees, alliances, and voices that can Stand Up and Make Change for Buffalo and its Waterfront…