Fourth Branch of America, LLC The Informed Constituent RFourth Branch of America? 15 Inside this...

Determined not to relinquish any of what he perceives to be their right as a sovereign nation, Iran’s recently elected President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad has decided that his country will proceed to develop nuclear technology, despite enormous inter-national pressure not to do so. In accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the monitoring requirements of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran had the IAEA remove the seals at the Isfahan uranium con-version plant, opening the facility back to full operation, that being for the enrichment of uranium. The en-riched uranium can be used as fuel in nuclear power plants or, in higher concentrations, act as the key com-ponent for making nuclear weapons. Iran had voluntarily suspended its nuclear program in October 2003 under the immense international pressure that came about after the existence of their nuclear program was disclosed by an Iranian opposi-tion group in 2002. The European Union and the United States say they are suspi-cious of Iran's nuclear activities be-cause for 18 years prior to that dis-closure, Iran hid its nuclear pro-gram, in violation of international law, and they are concerned that un-restricted, Iran will secretly attempt to create nuclear weapons. Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, member nations are allowed to develop nuclear energy so long as they are monitored by the IAEA to ensure that their nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only, and not to develop weapons. To this end, the IAEA has now installed surveil-

lance cameras and equipment, and will begin monitoring the produc-tion at the plant. IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said the he would have preferred that Iran had not broken the security seals or resumed their nuclear program, but claims the plant “is fully monitored” and does not produce enriched uranium. That could be done, however, as a later step. The resumption of Iran’s nu-clear program followed the failed negotiations between Iran and the European countries of Britain, France and Germany, sometimes referred to as the E3. The negotia-tions aimed to dissuade Iran from pursuing their own capability to produce enriched uranium in re-turn for promises to help Iran in developing a civilian nuclear pro-gram for producing energy. In the deal, Europe would provide Iran with the enriched uranium they

This Month’s Features

• Inside look at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant

• Eminent Domain examined

• Legislative dockets of state and federal bills

• Community events and projects

• ...and more!

Ramifications of the Real ID Act In June the House passed the bill H.R. 418, more commonly known as the Real ID Act. The Real ID Act, specifically Title II of the bill, sets forth new federal standards for the issuance and security of driver’s li-censes and personal identification cards in a manner in which many see as being the first step towards national ID card legislation. Attached to a larger bill that pro-poses tightened federal standards dealing with asylum law in an age where global terrorism has become a chief concern, the Real ID Act of-

fers sweeping changes to current Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) regulations. The Real ID Act will come into full effect sometime in 2008 and many are wondering just what sort of effect these new rules will have on our every day lives. The crux of the bill creates a new federal stan-dard for the issuance of driver’s li-censes, superseding and negating current standards that vary on a state-to-state basis. These standards, at the minimum, include verification of the applicant’s status as either a US citizen or legal resident by way

of a social security number or proof of ineligibility to obtain one. For the first time, the issuance of driver’s licenses will become a federal mandate. In addition to the new standards regarding the issuance of ID cards, several new security measures will be put into place in compliance with the Real ID Act. These in-clude the mandatory digital cap-ture of each applicant’s face to be held on federal record, the reten-tion of paper copies of the appli-cant’s source documents including

Volume 3, Issue 8 August 2005 New York State Capital District Edition

By RICHARD MATHIASEN

By BILL PELTZ

would need for such a power plant, and then remove the spent fuel so that all the uranium was accounted for. Russia had previously offered Iran a similar deal. I ranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad rejected the package, calling the European Union proposal an insult to the Iranian nation. To ac-cept the proposal would subjugate Iran into being dependant on other countries, and portray Iran as being a villain country that needs to be con-tained. In a telephone conversation with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Ahmadinejad stressed that the peace-ful use of nuclear energy is an obvi-ous and legal right for Iran which cannot be ignored. Europe and the United States, however, have threatened to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions against Iran if

(continued on Page 2)

(continued of 2)

Eminent Domain Issue Hits Home, Literally

Fourth Branch of America, LLC ™

“Bringing your government to you” ™

Ramifications of the Real ID Act 3

Union Power Shifts as AFL-CIO Splinters

5

Summer Space Highlights; NASA Scores Some Victories

5

The Legislative Dockets 6

Tour of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant

8

New Voting Systems to be Chosen

10

Legislators Ride Busses to Support Public Transportation

12

Opinions and Letters to the Editor 13

Who is the Fourth Branch of America?

15

Inside this issue:

The Informed Constituent R

(continued of Page 3)

Iran’s Confrontational Stance Concerns Critics By RAY FELICIANO

[top left] The newly elected President of Iran, Mahmud Ahmadinejad. [top] Iran in relation to neighboring countries, like Iraq

and Afghanistan. [bottom left] A model of an atom, with a nucleus and orbiting electrons, is the symbol of nuclear power.

Persian Gulf

IRAN

The 5th Amendment to the Con-stitution ends with “nor shall pri-vate property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The question for the Supreme Court was “what does 'public use' mean?” In the case of the condem-nation of a working-class neighbor-hood in New London CT for the purpose of private economic devel-opment, the Supreme Court de-cided, 5-4, that 'public use' means any 'public purpose', like increased tax revenues for the city. A key re-striction, however, is that any use of this power of ‘eminent domain’ must be part of a comprehensive plan for redevelopment of the area in question. (Supreme Court: Kelo v. New London) The decision, handed down on

The Informed Constituent

Iran’s Confrontational Stance Concerns Critics it does not halt their nuclear program. Cyrus Naseri, Iran's chief delegate said European countries should “think twice” be-fore taking any action that might be considered “coercive.” He said, “That would be a course of action that would lead to a situation where everyone would lose.” One possible threat implied in that warning would be for Iran to withdraw from the Non-proliferation Treaty if its case was sent to the United Nations Security Council. If they did that, by international law, there would be noth-ing legally to prevent them from producing en-riched uranium for any purpose, including weapons production. In an attempt to allay those fears, Iran's su-preme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree Thursday declaring that the “production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons” would violate the tenets of Islam. “The leadership of Iran has pledged at the highest level that Iran will remain a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and has placed the entire scope of its nuclear activities under IAEA safeguards and additional protocol, in addition to undertaking voluntary transparency meas-

Corrections The Informed Constituent makes every effort to ensure that the news and information reported is accurate at the time it is written. The following are corrections to articles contained in our July 2005 issue: • HEY! WHAT HAPPENED TO JULY??? Glad you asked. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the July 2005 issue to print for a number of reasons, including that we are in the process of relocating, and did not raise the cost of the print. NOTE: All subscribers and advertisers will auto-matically have their subscriptions or ad campaigns extended.

We appreciate your understanding.

PAGE 2 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005

Ever wanted to try your hand at being a political

cartoonist?

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The Informed Constituent would love to see your work! Please send your submissions to: The Informed Constituent P.O. Box 8558 Albany, New York 12208 Email: [email protected] Or call (518) 475-0303 to arrange an interview.

Artist - Petar Pismestrovic , Kleine Zeitung, Austria

ures with the agency that have even gone beyond the requirements of the agency's safeguard sys-tem,” Khamenei said in the statement. Some countries are not convinced that Iran needs nuclear power for energy. The country last year was the world's fourth-largest producer and exporter of oil, averaging about 4.09 million bar-rels a day, and has sizable reserves of natural gas. But Iran argues that a growing population and economy are raising its consumption rates, leav-ing it with progressively less oil to export. In ad-dition, some scientists believe the world only has 30 to 40 years left of oil before it’s depleted. Nu-clear energy can be a viable and efficient energy alternative. One half-inch pellet of enriched ura-nium produces as much energy as three 42 gallon drums of oil, or 1 ton of coal, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. [See our feature story - page 8] The U.S. bottom line, according to President Bush, is that “we don't want the Iranians to have nuclear weapons.” However, since the United States has no diplo-matic relations with Iran, they can only negotiate with Iran indirectly through other countries. The U.S. broke off relations with Iran in 1979, when Iranian students stormed the American embassy, taking 52 hostages at the start of the Iranian revo-lution that led to the theocracy they have today.

[top] Diagram of how nuclear power is used to produced electricity. (See our feature on page 8) [bottom] One of the cameras placed to monitor Iran’s nuclear program to ensure that material is not diverted to developing nuclear weapons.

(Continued from Page 1)


Ray Feliciano — Publisher, Sr. Editor Kimberly Feliciano — Director of Operations, Editor Student Internships: Jamie Monckton Education Consultant: Kasa Wahl Contributing Writers: Lucile Brewer, Melissa Bruno, Ray Feliciano, Dennis Karius, Helena Kosorek, Richard Mathiasen, Jamie Monckton, Bill Peltz, Winston Wolfe Photographers: Kimberly Feliciano, Ray Feliciano

Copyright © 2005 Fourth Branch of America, LLC. All rights reserved. ‘The Informed Constituent’ is published monthly. Our subscription rate for home delivery is $29.95 (Student/Senior/FBA rate $19.95). To place ads or speak with Customer Service, call (518) 475-0303. Advertisements, as well as letters and column content do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the TIC staff.

Please send comments, suggestions, complaints, and letters to the editor to:

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978) U.S. anthropologist

Ramifications of the Real ID Act (Continued from Page 1)

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005

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their social security number) for no less than seven years, and tightened security at DMV sites. Logistically speaking, these new stan-dards will require an entirely new training and enforcement program for employees of the De-partment of Motor Vehicles, one that some critics complain will force the DMV to act on a new and inappropriate level as a sort of law en-forcement agency. The Real ID Act has come under fire by crit-ics as granting an undue amount of control to the federal government by denying states what was traditionally their area of jurisdiction. Some, such as the ACLU, regard the bill, along with the oft-maligned Patriot Act, as the action of a “Big Brother” government entity. How-ever, proponents of the bill argue that the crea-tion of a universal federal standard is a neces-sary security measure needed to combat the threat of terrorists seeking to gain entry and ac-cess to the United States. Despite the unease many feel at granting the government such authority, the Real ID Act is still less severe than current legislation being pushed by the European Union in terms of bio-metric technology (using fingerprinting or reti-nal scans to verify a citizen’s identity). Though it seems like something out of A Brave New World, this technology has been actively pur-sued by most industrialized nations since the mid-1990’s. The bill solidifies its authority in stating that the new federally issued licenses will now be

the only common form of identification accepted by the government. However, in a move likely cre-ated to avoid criticism, states will still be allowed to issue licenses that do not conform to the new standards. Of course, according to the bill, those licenses issued that do not conform to the new stan-dards will be unacceptable for “official purposes,” which in layman’s terms, pretty much runs the gamut from access to government facilities to ap-plying for financial assistance or social service pro-grams. In addition, those who are issued licenses outside of the new standards will have their infor-mation reported to federal authorities as sort of a “red flag.” So what does all of this mean for the rest of us? Not a whole lot in reality. This is NOT a national ID card. When asked by a reporter if the U.S. needs a national ID card, Secretary of Homeland Secu-rity, Tom Ridge replied, “The legislation that cre-

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ated the department specifically prohibited a national ID card, but I must tell you that there are areas where identification, and cards in-cluding biometrics, are needed and part of our mission in homeland security to get done...So no national ID, but what we have is an oppor-tunity to use biometrics, and particularly to identify people who have access to certain ar-eas: nuclear power plants and airports and the like, or the driver's license; we're working to-ward a little more regularity and a certain standard that we would be able to use across the board.” We can all still get licenses from our re-spective states in pretty much the same fash-ion as always. Remember to bring proof of your citizenship or legal status as a guest in the United States in the form of a passport, visa, social security card etc. Licenses will now only be valid for eight years as opposed to the normal ten. The physical appearance of the cards may differ a little and are likely to contain a new security strip for verification. Beneath the surface of all of this however, know that your address and social security number will be on file with the federal gov-ernment when you apply for a license. Of course, that information is already on file with the government, so any discomfort with this issue may be unwarranted. All in all, the Real ID act should prove to be neither the panacea security measure its supporters suggest, nor the Orwellian night-mare its critics fear. For most of us, it will probably go unnoticed save for an extra ago-nizing half-hour on line at the DMV.

Dept. of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, believes that while it may not yet be time for a national ID card, biometric technology in our identification documents could help thwart terrorists from

gaining easy access to sensitive American facilities.

HONDURAS - Highlighting how dangerous it has become in certain parts of the country, American DEA Special Agent Timothy Markey was shot to death by two 13 year olds who belong to one of the ruthless youth gangs known as “maras” that flourish in the high crime areas. IRAQ - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has waived the immunity of a former UN procurement officer accused of seeking kickbacks under the former Oil-for-Food program for Iraq. JAPAN - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi an-nounced that Japan has pledged an additional $500 million to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS. NIGER - The situation in Niger appears to grow more desperate, as thousands face starvation due to wide-spread famine and drought. RUSSIA - The Russian government has barred television channel ABC from working in Russia after the channel broadcast an interview with the Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, according

to the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow. “ABC is now unwelcome to contact any Russian state organizations or bodies.” It said broadcasting the Basayev interview “was a clear case of helping to propagandize terror-ism”. Basayev has claimed responsibility for lead-ing the Chechen gorilla soldiers, including what could be considered some of the most horrific acts of terrorism, such as the school hostage situation, where many children and teachers were killed. Basayev admitted to be-ing “a bad guy, a bandit, a terrorist” but said Russia was worse. SAUDI ARABIA - King Fahd passed away after ruling the oil-rich Arab nation for the past 23 years. that is home to Mecca and Me-dina, the two most holy shrines of Islam, . Crown Prince Abdullah, who had helped King Fahd run the country’s daily affairs since the King suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995.

International Corner – News Around the World By RAY FELICIANO VENEZUELA - Catholic Cardinal Rosalio

Castillo claims that the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez has become “a paranoid dicta-tor”. He continued, “There is no democracy here...This is a despotic government.” He claims the President is so bad, he “has the devil inside him” and needs “an exorcism.”

PAGE 4 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005 The Informed Constituent

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[clockwise from top left] 1. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney 2. A split symbol of the 50 year old AFL-CIO union of unions. 3. Teamsters President - James Hoffa.

VOLUME 3, I SSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005 PAGE 5 The Informed Constituent

In what amounted to a seismic shift in Union power, several large factions of the AFL-CIO broke away from the coalition, purportedly be-cause they were unhappy with the direction the union was taking. In particular, there was a gen-eral feeling among the dissatisfied that the union was focusing too narrowly on backing political candidates they found favorable, many of them Democrats, and not enough on grass-roots re-cruitment and labor contract negotiations. The seceding unions included the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and UNITE/HERE. All told, nearly 1/3 of the AFL-CIO’s total member-ship has left the 50 year old union. “These six unions are poised to grow,” Team-ster President Hoffa insists. “We are committed to organizing the unorganized and negotiating the wages and benefits workers deserve.”

Union Power Reshaping as AFL-CIO Splinters By RAY FELICIANO

Summer Space Highlights; NASA Scores Some Victories By MELISSA BRUNO

Planet X Found? Astronomers have announced that a tenth planet in our Solar System has been discovered. The object, known for now as ‘2003 UB313’ is about one-and-a-half times the size of Pluto and is three times as far from the Sun than Pluto. The object was first photographed by the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on October 31, 2003 at the Palomar Observatory. Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech, made the announcement during a NASA tele-conference on the evening of July 29th. The an-nouncement was hastened due to the fact that someone had hacked into Brown's website and stole the data relating to the new discovery. While the data analysis continues, the flames of an old debate have been stoked by this dis-covery. Is ‘2003 UB313’ really a planet after all? Even if it is larger than Pluto, the object's orbit is highly eccentric--its orbit is inclined at 45 degrees from the plane of the Solar System. Looking at the Solar System from edge on, its orbit would appear to rise and dip below the or-bit of our current set of nine planets. Many as-tronomers view the new object, and several other distant Solar System objects recently dis-covered, as merely members of the Kuiper Belt, which is a large cloud of small frozen objects located at the far reaches of the Solar System. Some astronomers believe that Pluto isn't a planet at all, but a Kuiper Belt object captured by Neptune's gravitational pull. Currently there is no definition of what a planet is. The debate will rage on. In the mean-time, Brown and his team have submitted a pro-posal to the International Astronomical Union to give ‘2003 UB313’ a real name, “Xena”.

Shuttle Returns to Flight--A Few Glitches On Tuesday, July 29th, the Space Shuttle Dis-covery returned to space after the Shuttle pro-gram had been grounded for almost three years. After multiple delays, the 7-person crew blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 10:39 am., right on time. STS-114 commander Eileen Collins spoke to reporters before the flight, say-ing, "We're very prepared." In addition to Com-mander Collins, the crew consists of pilot James Kelly, flight engineer Stephen Robinson, and

mission specialists Andrew Thomas, Wendy Lawrence, Charles Camarda, and also Soichi Noguchi from the Japanese Aerospace and Ex-ploration Agency. On Friday July 29th the Shut-tle docked with the International Space Station and delivered an Italian-made pod filled with research equipment, food, and clothing. Despite the exhilaration of the Shuttle's re-turn to flight, familiar dark shadows have been tagging NASA for years. Upon launch, multi-ple pieces of foam broke off from the orbiter's external tank, including one piece more than two feet in size. Back in February 2003, Shuttle Discovery broke up upon reentry after a chunk of foam blasted a hole in its heat shield during launch. Images of the shuttle taken during launch cannot confirm whether any foam struck the orbiter. Following this glitch the current Space Shuttle fleet has been grounded from any future launches until the problem of foam separation is fixed. Shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to fly in September, will not return to space until a solu-tion is found. There are only three shuttles left including Discovery and Atlantis. Endeavor, the third and final shuttle, is currently undergo-ing the same safety modifications performed on Discovery and Atlantis. The Discovery crew performed spacewalks to inspect the orbiter's heat shield to verify any damage. No damage was apparent, and the shuttle landed safely back to Earth. The current state of the Shuttle program and its continuing glitches furthers the speculation that a new space vehicle may be needed before future flights are attempted..

Deep Impact a Success After Deep Impact's close encounter with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4th, scientists are ex-citedly sifting through preliminary data gath-ered during the fireworks. Deep Impact's 820-pound impactor, traveling at 23,000 mph, struck the comet at a 25-degree angle, yet still managed to create quite an explosion and a cra-ter estimated to be 330 feet wide, a mere pock-mark on the 7-mile wide comet. Early images taken of the comet show a crater-strewn sur-face, much like the surface of the moon. The comet itself appears to be too soft to be made

of ice—once thought to be the primary ingredi-ent of comets. A steamy mix of water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide was also de-tected--clues that could shed light on the early composition of our Solar System. Many astrono-mers believe that comets provided the "seeds" for life on Earth over 4 billion years ago. The data collected from the Deep Impact mis-sion will need to be analyzed more thoroughly, and hopefully will shed some light on the origins of life on our world.

The Truth About Mars At a recent doctor's appointment, my doctor struck up a conversation with me about the latest astronomy happenings. “And did you hear about Mars?" he asked me, “sometime in August Mars will appear as big as the full moon! And it will be the closest to Earth in any of our lifetimes!” This instantly struck me as dubious. Wasn’t Mars the closest to Earth in August 2003—an event that would not happen again for thousands of years? Just two years later I'm hearing the “it-won't-happen-again-in-your-lifetime” speech. The truth is, the latest Mars buzz is a hoax. From the perspective of our puny lifetimes, Mars passed closest to Earth in August of 2003. It will not appear as large as the Full Moon, both to the naked eye and through a telescope. I'm sorry to say, news about the brilliant apparition of Mars has come to the public eye two years too late. Mars and the Earth catch up to each other every couple of years or so, and the current meeting will be in October and November, not August. And Mars will appear to be about 20 arcseconds in diameter—much less than the full Moon which measures 30 arcminutes across. Mars still, and always will, appear as a very bright star in the sky. I hope this has cleared up some confusion! I'm sorry stories like this hit the e-mail lists and then gain momentum to become an incompre-hensible urban legend, giving the public a false view of astronomy and at the same time desensi-tizing their curiosity about the cosmos.

Stay tuned for more science updates from your friendly neighborhood space enthusiast. In the meantime, keep looking up!

“Workers cannot wait for a change in the political or corporate climate to organize,” UFCW Presi-dent Joe Hansen said in a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “In fact, the current hostile political and corporate climate is the result of a failure to organize.” An AFL-CIO spokeswoman said the decision is “a real tragedy for working families...Only our enemies win when unions split our strength.” Sweeney admits the breakup will be devastating to the union’s strength, but that it would not be a ‘death knell’ for union power. Some pundits have speculated that the breakup favors Republicans because unions tend to back Democ-rats. James Hoffa has said he would be open to courting both sides.

Bills in the U.S. Congress PAGE 6 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005

H.R.3199 Rep Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [WI-5] “USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005” To extend and modify authorities needed to combat terrorism, and for other purposes. Related Bills: H.RES.369, S.1266, S.1389 Latest Action: 7/29/2005 Resolving differ-ences / Conference -- Senate actions. Status: Senate insists on its amendment, asks for a conference, appoints conferees Specter;Hatch; Kyl; DeWine; Sessions; Roberts; Leahy; Kennedy; Rockefeller; Levin. S.471 Sen Specter, Arlen [PA] “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005” To amend the Public Health Service Act to pro-vide for human embryonic stem cell research. Related Bills: H.R.810 Latest Action: 2/28/2005 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. H.J.RES.24 Rep Hoyer, Steny H. [MD-5] “Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitu-tion.” [Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment reads as follows: ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.’] Latest Action: 4/4/2005 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Sub-committee on the Constitution. S.1313 Sen Cornyn, John [TX] “Protection of Homes, Small Businesses, and Private Property Act of 2005” A bill to pro-tect homes, small businesses, and other pri-

vate property rights, by limiting the power of eminent domain. [bill reads in part ‘The protec-tion of homes, small businesses, and other private property rights against government seizures and other unreasonable government interference is a fundamental principle and core commitment of our Nation's Founders.’] Related Bills: H.R.3083, H.R.3087 Latest Major Action: 6/27/2005 Referred to Sen-ate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. H.R.1146 Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] “American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2005” To end membership of the United States in the United Nations. [bill reads in part ‘The President shall terminate all participation by the United States in the United Nations, and any organ, spe-cialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body of the United Nations...No funds are authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for assessed or voluntary contri-butions of the United States to the United Nations or any organ, specialized agency, commission or other formally affiliated body thereof, except that funds may be appropriated to facilitate with-drawal of United States personnel and equip-ment. Upon termination of United States mem-bership, no payments shall be made to the United Nations or any organ, specialized agency, com-mission or other formally affiliated body thereof, out of any funds appropriated prior to such ter-mination or out of any other funds available for such purposes.’] No related bill in House or Senate Latest Action: 3/8/2005 Referred to the House Committee on International Relations. H.R.3045 Rep DeLay, Tom [TX-22] “CAFTA Implementation bill” To implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement. Related Bills: H.RES.386, S.1307 Latest Action: Became Public Law No: 109-53

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Bills in the New York State Senate

chapter 713 of the laws of 1988 relating to the ignition interlock device program. Same as S.3896 04/21/2005 referred to Transportation A.7577 O’DONNELL Provides for the exemp-tion of contributions made by an employer to an accident or health plan for the benefit of an em-ployee’s domestic partner from federal gross in-come for tax purposes. No ‘same as’ bill in Senate. 04/20/2005 referred to Ways and Means A.7572 TONKO Creates the crime of compan-ion animal hoarding. This bill would create a violation of companion animal hoarding, which is defined as neglect in terms of their surrounding environment and a lack of care. The bill further allows a court to order mental health examina-tions and prohibit possession of such animals as penalties. No ‘same as’ bill in Senate. 04/20/2005 referred to Agriculture A.7568 LAVELLE Creates the legislative commission on health coverage to examine, evaluate and make recommendations concerning health coverage to all New Yorkers in confor-mance with the mandates of the state constitu-

tion; provides for the repeal of such commission six months after submission of the required re-port; appropriates $500,000 therefore. Same as S.4928 04/20/2005 referred to Health A.7564 FINCH Provides for certain nutritional standards for food served or sold in public schools and requires that fruits, vegetables and dairy prod-ucts that are served or sold in public schools be produced in New York state. No ‘same as’ bill in Senate. 04/20/2005 referred to Education 06/01/2005 amend and recommit to Education A.7554 ZEBROWSKI Establishes the crimes of attempting to lure or entice a child; defines a child as less than 17 years of age; classifies such crime as a class D felony; establishes that a per-son is guilty of attempting to lure or entice a child when he or she attempts to lure a child into an isolated area for the purpose of criminal conduct or communicates with a child by means of a com-puter to solicit certain criminal conduct. Same as S.1517 04/20/2005 referred to Codes

S.3661 SPANO Authorizes nurses and phar-macists to dispense emergency contraception upon the prescription and order of a non-patient specific regimen by a licensed physi-cian, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife; enacts the “unintended pregnancy prevention act”. Same as A.116 03/25/2005 referred to Higher Education 06/22/2005 committee discharged and committed to Rules 01/31/2005 PASSED ASSEMBLY 01/31/2005 delivered to senate 01/31/2005 referred to Higher Education 06/22/2005 PASSED SENATE 08/04/2005 delivered to governor 08/04/2005 VETOED memo.47 S.5252 JOHNSON Expands the existing solar electric generating equipment personal income tax credit to be a solar energy system equip-ment credit; solar energy system equipment shall mean an arrangement or combination of components utilizing solar radiation, which, when installed in a residence, produces energy designed to provide heating, cooling, hot water or electricity for use in such residence. Same as A.8263

04/28/2005 referred to Investigations and Gov-ernment Operations 06/09/2005 committee discharged and commit-ted to Rules 06/14/2005 PASSED SENATE 06/14/2005 delivered to Assembly 06/14/2005 referred to ways and means 06/23/2005 PASSED ASSEMBLY 07/21/2005 delivered to Governor 08/02/2005 SIGNED chap.378 S.5239 VOLKER Establishes the crimes of criminal possession of criminally diverted prescription medications and devices in the fifth, fourth, third, second and first degrees and the transfer or receipt of prescription medica-tions or devices by persons with no medical need for such medications or devices and from persons not authorized to sell them; estab-lishes rebuttable presumptions with respect to such crimes. Same as A.7591 04/26/2005 referred to Codes S.5235 LEIBELL Provides additional protec-tions against financial fraud and other abuses by the officers of not-for-profit corporations; pro-hibits self-dealing between an officer or director and such corporation in certain cases.

Same as A.7825 04/26/2005 referred to Corporations, Authorities and Commissions S.5217 LIBOUS Provides for the mandatory sus-pension of a license for possessing or using a forged license and certain other sanctions for alco-hol related offenses. Same as A.8471 04/20/2005 referred to Transportation S.5156 DUANE Validates a marriage between same sex parties; provides that a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or differ-ent sex; makes appropriate gender neutral correc-tions to the section of the domestic relations law granting authority to the town or city clerk to ac-cept an application for a marriage license; further makes gender neutral corrections throughout the domestic relations law and civil practice law and rules relating to actions to annul, separate or di-vorce from a marriage. Same as Uni. A7463 04/18/2005 referred to Judiciary


Bills in the New York State Assembly

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A.7589 LENTOL Decreases the number of firearms necessary for conviction of criminal sale of firearms offenses from ten to five; makes criminal sale of a firearm to a minor a violent felony offense. Same as S.4127 04/21/2005 referred to Codes A.7587 LENTOL Provides for the success-ful completion of a firearm safety course as a condition of firearm licensure; provides that the division of state police, in consultation with the department of environmental conser-vation, shall develop a firearm safety test to be administered to license applicants as part of the firearm safety course. No ‘same as’ bill in Senate. 04/21/2005 referred to Codes A.7583 GANTT Provides for the mandatory suspension or revocation of the registration of a motor vehicle operated by a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs; makes a blanket exception for school buses and for ve-hicles operated by someone other than the owner if such owner will deny the convicted person access to the vehicle, and for families with only one vehicle; extends provisions of

The NY State Legislature is currently in recess until January 2006. This can be a good time to contact your representatives and let them know what issues are important to you!

NY Senate—http://www.senate.state.ny.us NY Assembly—http://assembly.state.ny.us


Q: Did Entergy buy Indian Point just a few days before 9/11? “Entergy signed the purchase agreement with Consolidated Edison on September 6, 2001. So, while the deal was inked days before 9/11, the deal was actually in process for over a year.” Q: Did 9/11 cause the new owners any major concerns over security? “If 9/11 had been 9/6 instead, the finalization of the purchase would probably have been de-layed. It was significant. Probably more signifi-cant for Indian Point than any other nuclear power plant in the country because of its prox-imity to NYC. It was significant to all of the power plants.” Q: Is the federal government helping Entergy with security improvements? “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission looks at security issues across the industry. Homeland Security looks at security issues for all critical infrastructures. As for footing the bill? Entergy shareholders pay for security improvements.” Q: Does that include military personnel? “That’s the National Guard. It is and has been there. That’s our tax dollars at work. Q: There are those who feel that nuclear en-ergy is not safe. They worry about environ-mental damage by nuclear waste or that an accident could kill or sicken millions. How would you address their concerns? “Take a look at the track record. We started commercial nuclear power in 1962 here in West-chester County. There has not been a single ac-cident that’s affected public health and safety, including Three-Mile Island which was the most severe accident that ever happened in the U.S. Two-thirds of the core melted down; it was a significant accident but it still didn’t release harmful amounts of radiation. There was some radiation released, this is true, but less than you would get on a typical x-ray. Nothing has hap-

PAGE 8 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005 The Informed Constituent

Q: Is it true that Indian Point, under Consoli-dated Edison, was one of the first nuclear power plants built in the United States? “Indian Point Unit 1 was the first commercial nuclear power plant in the country. Units 2 and 3 were mid-generation plants that came into our area. 1962 is the date of its initial operation.” Q: Fusion or fission: What is the difference? “The fission process (splitting the atom apart) uses uranium-dioxide. It’s the U-235 atom that actually splits in two—that’s fission, which re-leases heat and fission products. What is essen-tially a massed energy conversion, produces a lot of energy, E = MC². So, a small amount of mass produces a large amount of energy. Fusion, on the other hand, is the combining of molecules. Principally, hydrogen molecules with helium molecules produce the largest and best fu-sion reactor in the area.” Q: Is nuclear power really just boiling a pot of water, producing steam to power a turbine? “Essentially, yes. All steam electric plants pro-duce electricity essentially the same way. They produce steam which turns the turbine, which produces an electric current that is sent out on the grid. The difference with nuclear versus a fossil fuel is in the amount of energy produced. A very small amount of Uranium can produce a signifi-cant amount of energy relative to coal, oil or natural gas.” [see details in lead story on Iran.] Q: How much electricity is produced here? “About 2100 megawatts—about 10% of the state’s energy supply; and anywhere from 25-40% of Westchester and New York City.”

FBA Welcomed at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Q: How many houses is that? “A couple million. We are 25-40% of Con-solidated Edison’s load, and that is primarily Westchester and the Five Burrows.” Q: What’s the cost to produce nuclear? “Nuclear can run anywhere from about 1.5 cents/Kwh to 2.5 cents/Kwh, depending on various conditions. We’re somewhere in the middle. As for your bill, the generation cost—the cost to actually supply the electricity—is about half of your debt. The rest is distribution, transmission charges, taxes, special funds, etc.” Q: The production of electricity, in the end, comes down to spinning a magnet within a coil of copper. Is that right? “The turbines go into what is essentially the generator. Inside it are stationary scatter bars that are copper-coated, and there is a rotating electro-magnet. That magnet induces the cur-rent in the copper coils and sends it to the grid. Most high school physics classes have seen the essential means of that. We are large, so the differences are in how we cool it; we use both hydrogen and water as a coolant. Q: We’ve seen a lot of wind farms develop in Texas but it takes quite a few of them to pro-duce a significant amount of electricity. Is it speed or the radius of the coils that affects the efficiency of electricity production? Falciano: “The hold is like a break, trying to hold the generators back. To produce a larger mass of electricity, you need higher energy to produce a higher torque. That would be a func-tion of the size of the equipment. It’s a little bit of everything you mentioned. It has to do with

the physical size, that you can turn the genera-tor on wheels, with the amount of force to turn that.” Q: When you say a “good market for elec-tricity” you mean there are a lot of consum-ers? “Yes, and the demand is increasing.” Q: How far into the future does Entergy look as far as allocating for the growth of people? “We sell everything we produce. We’ve re-cently done ‘power upgrades’ to improve effi-ciency. We’ve probably gone about as far as

we can go with these units to increase our output. statewide. That’s a major economic and political issue for the state. NY ISO, Independent System Operator, which essentially is the marketing clear-ing-house economically for power, as well as the grid operator, is projecting the demand in NY to increase anywhere from 3500–8000 megawatts in the next five years.” Q: What would be the plan then? Where would we go from there? “The solution is probably two-fold; we have to cut back on demand or we have to build more power plants. Albany is once again looking at building new plants.”

By RAY & KIMBERLY FELICIANO

pened anywhere near that since 1979. A lot of changes occurred as a result of Three-Mile Is-land; in terms of security, design, safeguards, training, you name it. The industry in 1989 was very different from what it was in 1979.” Q: Is the waste taken care of in a way that ensures the protection of the environment? “The low-level waste, which is the waste that is mildly contaminated, goes to a couple differ-ent depositories in the country. When I say ‘any’, I don’t mean absolutely zero, but certainly if you stack the record of environmental controls or low-level radioactive waste facility against any other—I don’t care if it’s toxic garbage, haz-ardous waste, you name it—the record is ster-ling. The same is true for transportation of nu-clear waste—a sterling record. There has never been a significant accident that has released ra-dioactivity into the environment through trans-portation, and that’s been through 50+ years.” Q: What do you want people to know about nuclear power? “I think people should know that nuclear sup-plies about 20% of our electrical capacity. That’s true in NY State and that’s true nation-ally. We have operated safely in this country since inception, despite a couple missteps here and there. If you look at the safety of this power supply, it’s second to none, and that’s from con-struction, operation, waste, the entire cycle. It’s competitive, in terms of cost. In some areas, like hydro, may be somewhat less, but overall it’s cost competitive and safe. I don’t believe it is a terrorist target like people like to believe. Nu-clear facilities have significantly upgraded their security. We designed it safely. We designed containments to hold huge amounts of pressure. It can hold from within, and it can also withstand attacks from without. Indian Point is probably the most secure nuclear facility in the country.

[top] Indian Point Nuclear Reactors 1 & 2 [bottom] Our welcome sign. Entergy’s Patrick Falciano and Kathy McMullin spoke with us before showing us the facility.

(Photos: Ray & Kimberly Feliciano)

FBA Founders Ray and Kimberly Feliciano inside Indian Point Nuclear Reactor 2

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005 PAGE 9 The Informed Constituent

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Meetings and Announcements

• Sept 5 (Mon): 11am-6pm: Cultural Festival: "Labor Movement Meets the Hip-Hop Movement" labor Day celebration in Washington Park, Al-bany. Join the Capital District Area Labor Federation & the Solidarity Committee. This replaces the usual Menands Solidarity picnic. Emcees, DJs, Breakdancing, Live Art, Labor Unions, Community and more. Contact Prairie: (518) 272-1000 or email [email protected]. Websites: www.solidaritycommittee.org or www.cdalf.org.

• Sept 13 (Tues): Vote in your parties’ PRIMARIES—for your city mayor, judge, councilman, treasurer, town/city/county clerk, sheriff, etc • Sept 17 (Sat): LARKfest! 10:30am-5pm on Lark St in Albany. LARKfest is known as one of upstate NY’s largest festivals with 60-80,000+

visitors. Diverse array of vendors selling crafts, merchandise, and great food, while showcasing some of the Capital Region's best musicians. Contact the Lark Street BID at www.larkstreet.org or call 434-3861 x3. Email: [email protected]. Vendor registration deadline is Sept 3rd.

• Sept. 17 (Sat): 10:30am-6pm, Albany Skill Share—workshops focused on sustainability and self-sufficiency, including canning, converting your car to veggie oil, bike repair, making salves & tinctures, welding, fermentation, beekeeping, seed saving, wood harvesting, wilderness skills, photography, silk screening, how to start a free school, spinning wool. Free Lunch at noon and Bike-in Movie at Dusk. $3-10. For info and to register: [email protected], peakoil.org.

• Sept 19 (Mon): Fourth Branch of America, publisher of The Informed Constituent newspaper, will meet at Albany Public Library (161 Wash-ington Ave) at 7:00pm in large auditorium. Help expand the newspaper as an educational tool in classrooms. 475-0303

• Sept 22 (Thurs): 6-8pm, “Unseen America New York State” – free photography classes sponsored by NYS AFL-CIO and The Bread and Roses Cultural Project of 1199 SEIU, Workforce Development Institute, 24 Fourth Street, Troy. This photography project gives voice to work-ers who are invisible in society. Free 10-week workshops taught by professionals. Classes held for 10 consecutive Thursdays. For more info: Zoeann Murphy 518.272.3500 [email protected].

• Tuesdays 7-8:30pm: Prison Families of New York, Schenectady women's support group for prison families, ex-offenders and interested com-munity members. Men by special permission only. Schenectady YMCA, 44 Washington Ave. Call (518) 453-6659

• Thursdays (3rd of every month): 5:30-7:30PM: NY State Capital Area Chapter of the United Nations Association meets at the Pastoral Cen-ter at 40 North Main, Albany. Entrance is at the back, near the parking lot, (ask the receptionist which room). Visitors welcome. [email protected] or call 392-2151.

• Last Friday of every month 5:30pm: Critical Mass Bike Ride at Veteran's Memorial in Washington Park, Albany. Critical Mass is open to anyone using non-motorized transportation to raise awareness about and protest car culture, lack of space for pedestrians and bicyclists, and pollution. More info: 518-436-0929

• Albany Center Galleries is looking for artists for the upcoming Menagerie Art Circus to be held in the newly renovated Washington Armory on Oct 22. Are you a performance artist, installation artist, multimedia artist? Think nostalgia, think circus, think freak, think fun. Call Sarah Martinez at (518) 462-4775 if you would like to perform, present a multimedia project or reserve a FREE artist booth for an interactive project.

Both groups agree that a paper ballot provides a dependable means to provide a recount.

President of the LWV of New York State, Marcia Merrins, included this recommendation in a letter addressed to local and state officials: “. . . we request that you support precinct-based optical scan voting systems with accessible marking devices to replace lever voting ma-chines currently in use in the state.” She added these systems were endorsed “because they best meet League criteria of secure, accurate, recountable and accessible.”

Bo Lipari expressed election commissioners may be tempted to choose touch screen or push button computer voting systems because some look like the lever machines presently used in New York State. “The best analogy I can give is this- A horse and buggy has four wheels and a car has four wheels. That’s where the similar-ity ends!… For polling place workers, the start up procedures, the canvassing procedures, and the emergency procedures are all different. Don’t you be fooled by this!”

Company representatives have made claims that push button DRE systems are not com-puters. Bo explained the systems, whether

touch screen or push button, are still computers despite the difference in how the input mecha-nism works. After the input mechanism, the process is still run by a computer.

Lipari made it clear that all the costs of touch screen voting systems must be considered, not just the initial outlay. The claim by lobbyists about the cost advantages of a DRE is that they would cost “roughly $7,500 an election district.” “Omitted have been the differences in storage, training and transportation costs for DRE sys-tems over paper ballot and optical scanners. Computers need to be kept in a climate con-trolled environment.” Bo added the optical scan-ner does not need that type of storage control. He also noted that the transportation of expensive computer equipment will certainly be more costly. He gave the weight of a touch screen ma-chine at about 228 lbs. versus 29 lbs. for an opti-cal scanner, stating as well, that the optical scan-ner fits in a storage suitcase that can be stacked.

The NYS bill requires voting systems used in the state to be handicapped accessible. The paper ballot system can be teamed up with a newly cer-tified AutoMARK ballot marking device which is highly accessible for those with audio or visual disabilities, or a language barrier. Some of the DRE systems appear not to have this capability.

Bo concluded, “The optical scanners while not the latest technology have proven reliable and long lived… and have been used in Okla-homa for fourteen years.” Aimee Allaud pointed out that 35% of precincts across the U.S. have chosen the paper ballot optical scan system.

The League of Women Voters has available a sample letter that can be sent online to election commissioners at the website www.lwvny.org under the heading CATT.

PAGE 10 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8

New York State News State Legislation Passed: Voting Systems to Be Chosen


The manner in which New Yorkers cast their vote may be decided shortly – with or without them. Voting systems companies have been lobbying heavily for the adoption of touch screen voting in New York State. Touch screen voting in the voting system industry is referred to as DRE or Direct Recording Elec-tronic. Outside the industry some have dubbed the process “black box voting. This term im-plies that results for votes cast on computers are unknown because directives in the software within the computers are often unknown

At the end of June, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that would take advantage of federal funding pro-vided by the federal 2002 Help America Vote Act. The decision as to which voting system will be used in the counties and various voting precincts will be determined by election com-missioners and other state and local officials

The League of Women Voters of New York State and Bo Lipari, founder of New Yorkers for Verified Voting are currently engaged in a campaign to inform the officials and commis-sioners throughout the state that the decision regarding the choice of voting systems should not be based solely on information provided by the voting machine lobbyists. Common Cause sited lobbying dollars for N.Y. from 2002 to June 2005 as high as $1,053.339.

Bo Lipari, a software engineer for over fif-teen years, stated the problem with touch screen voting is essentially the data collected is not necessarily the data provided at the end of the vote process. NYVV and The League of Women Voters have endorsed a paper ballot system counted with an optical scan system.

Traditional lever-pulling voter booths, like the one depicted above, are soon to be relics of the past, replace by electronic polling devices.

(photo: Ray Feliciano)

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look very differently at a homeowner from a real estate speculator or absentee owner or slumlord. Those people shouldn’t be able to hold hostage a reasonable development plan.” His view echoed that of the Albany Times-Union which editorialized in favor of defining public use as that which benefits the public as a whole, saying that it is only a problem if lo-cal officials are corrupted by bribes or politi-cal pressures to go along with powerful eco-nomic interests. The TU’s view is the com-mon one among those who support the deci-sion: “why should a few property owners have the power to block development that commu-nity officials and a vast majority of commu-nity residents want?” (On the TU’s facing op-ed page, however, conservative columnist George Will noted was of the opinion that the corporate "battalions" will always have more political power than "society's little platoons"; no overt bribery is required for the interests of the powerful to prevail.) The way the Albany situation stands now, Winn Development must reach a final contract with the city's Local Development Corpora-tion by August 17th. After that, their final pro-posal has to be approved by Albany's Com-mon Council. If the Council doesn't approve a plan by September 2006, the urban renewal program for Park South will expire. The Pine Hills program, as a private-public partnership, doesn’t require Common Council approval and began its first inventory-taking phase on August 1st.

Capital District News

June 24th has created a populist political back-lash from both the left and the right, with the left fearing the power of corporate interests, the right fearing the power of government, and ur-ban dwellers fearing displacement by both. Legislators have been quick to respond. A resolution in the House of Representatives con-demning the decision passed 365-33. The House then amended an appropriations bill to prevent federal funds from being used in the next year for any project that uses eminent domain for pri-vate economic development. This passed on a somewhat bipartisan vote (231-189), with a sub-stantial minority of Democrats voting with most of the Republicans. The Democratic leadership, however, disagreed; the Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, called the bill an attempt to nul-lify the Court’s action, saying “this is in viola-tion of the respect of separation of powers in our Constitution.” Local congressmen Sweeney (R) and McNulty (D) both voted in favor of the restrictions. A bill to make that law permanent has 126 sponsors, mostly Republicans, but also several of the most liberal Democratic Repre-sentatives. Alabama and Delaware have already passed laws to limit the impact of the Court's decision. In Connecticut, a similar bill was defeated on a straight party line vote, Democrats defeating Republicans. Bills are in the works in at least a dozen other states. Most states expect to deal with the issue in their next legislative sessions. The decision was greeted with mixed feel-ings in some parts of Albany, as it supports the city's urban renewal program for Park South, a 9-block, 26-acre area south of Washington Park, with more than 1800 inhabitants - a plus for the city government. Many neighborhood residents, however, fear that they will be forced to sell their homes, and small business owners also

(continued from Page 1)

Eminent Domain Issue Hits Home, Literally

PAGE 12 VOLUME 3, ISSUE 8 - AUGUST 2005

fear being forced out. Although city officials say they want to avoid using their power of eminent domain, the city has the option to force the sale of homes and small businesses in order to create its desired mix of new offices, shops, apartments, sin-gle homes, and student housing. There were fears in the adjacent and much larger Pine Hills neighborhood that they might be similarly im-pacted by a revitalization plan for the “Education District”. The issue, however, may be moot. The Pine Hills project is not an urban renewal program; the Common Council hasn't voted on it. So, as yet, it involves no eminent domain power. As for Park South, the city has chosen a developer from Bos-ton, Winn Development, which has never invoked the power of eminent domain in any of its projects. Their assurances have led to a quieter wait-and-see attitude by some of the local leadership, who has had conflicting feelings; they want neighborhood improvements but fear being uprooted. Andrew Harvey, president of the Park South Neighborhood Association, for example, describes the Supreme Court decision as “nuanced”, saying, “not all property owners are equal.” Although he shudders at the image of eminent domain forcing out a homeowner, Harvey says “in Park South, I


Traditionally, the power of eminent domain has been used predominantly for such infra-structure projects as power lines and highways. The land owner who had this property

before these power lines were installed claims he was first ’notified’ that his property was being taken when a construction crew tore down his fence, letting his horses run loose.

(Photo by Ray Feliciano)

Bill Peltz is a retired anthropologist, teacher, photographer, printer, and stock broker.

His last job was Coordinator of the Capital District Labor-Religion Coalition and is

former Chair of the Albany County Greens.

It is essential to adequately support public transportation in our region. And in order for our elected officials representing the Capital District to gain a better understanding of how the system operates and why, each were asked to ride the bus to and from work at least one day during the week of June 13th. Out of all, it was Assm Bob Reilly who rode that week. Other representatives seen riding include Congress-man Mike McNulty, Assm Jack McEneny, and Albany City Councilman Dominick Calsolaro.

To improve the local bus services throughout the Capital District and surrounding areas, bus riders are realizing the need to mobilize and take action. Due to the work of Citizens for Transportation, a group of transit users in the Capital District, Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) is paying more attention to bus riders’ needs; evidenced last May when CDTA announced they would make changes.

They proposed changing certain routes in-cluding #30, #9 and #8. Riders of these buses were alarmed because many have come to ex-pect the buses to continue along the same

routes, and the changes would affect many people including those with disabilities.

So concerned riders started petitions, and letters were sent and calls were made to the bus company and to Mayor Jerry Jennings radio program on WROW. Due to this public outcry, CDTA decided to maintain the existing routes, for now.

Bus riders still need to show they are aware. Route service negotiations are continuing and CDTA expects to make a final decision in August. In this case, there is a good chance that these routes will not be changed because citizens have mobilized against them.

Citizens for Transportation recently completed a survey of bus riders and found that buses need to run more often along existing routes, that there is a definite need for more Sunday service, and a need to possibly add routes since more drivers are be-ginning to see the advantage of utilizing ‘park and rides’ rather than fight for parking spots. Progress has been made because more riders are getting involved with the Citizens for Transporta-tion bus group. Meetings are held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the Albany Public Library at 7:00pm. The group has monthly guest speakers, and CDTA representatives attend regu-

larly to hear concerns and suggestions. Concerned riders should contact their fed-eral and state legislators and tell them of the need for higher funding levels for public transportation services in the Capital District. There is a perception that public officials are more concerned about the roads and high-ways than providing adequate funding for public transportation. City officials can help to improve services for people who rely on buses for all of their transportation needs. Public transit is a public service. It benefits all of us through preserving the environment, eliminating parking problems, and providing a better quality of life for people that cannot, or choose not, to drive.

Contact NY Senate: (518) 455-2800 Sen Breslin, Sen Bruno, Sen Farley

Contact NY Assembly: (518) 455-4100 Assm Canestrari, Assm Casale, Assm McDonald,

Assm McEneny, Assm Reilly, Assm Tedisco, and Assm Tonko.

Legislators Ride Buses to Support Public Transportation By LUCILE BREWER

Lucile Brewer is Chairperson of Citizens for Transportation. Call Lucile at (518) 436-1944


Recent polls show an increasing number of Americans feel they were deceived by the Bush Administration over its reasons to invade Iraq in March 2003. Such allegations have persisted but have remained debatable. However, some believe there is now proof of President Bush’s deceit, and it could be enough evidence for his impeachment. The U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 4) states, “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Just this last May, a top-secret memo leaked to the British press. What became known as the Downing Street Memo (DSM), is a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting at his Lon-don headquarters, 10 Downing Street on July 23, 2002 - eight months before the invasion of Iraq. The meeting was attended by high-level British Intelligence officials, one of whom is referred to as “C” in this quote from their minutes:

"C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justi-fied by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record."

Comparisons have been made between the tes-timony in the DSM and statements that were de-livered to the American people:

Memo: "Military action now seen inevitable." G.W. Bush: “We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force.” (3/8/2003 Radio Address) G.W. Bush: “I think that presumes there's some kind of imminent war plan. As I said, I have no

timetable.” (8/10/2002 while golfing)

Memo: "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." George W. Bush: “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weap-ons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people… The re-gime has a history of reckless aggression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred of Amer-ica and our friends. And it has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of al Qaeda.” (3/17/2003—war begins 2 days later.)

Memo: "The NSC had no patience with the UN route ..." G.W. Bush: “I don't like war… That's why I first went to the UN to begin with, on 9/12/2002, to address this issue as forthrightly as I knew how. That's why, months later, we went to the Security Council to get another resolution, called 1441…I've not made up our mind about military action. [sic] Hopefully, this can be done peacefully..” (3/6/2003, White House Press Conference) George W. Bush: "America tried to work with the United Nations to address this threat because we wanted to resolve the issue peace-fully. We believe in the mission of the United Nations." (Mar. 17, 2003—the War begins two days later.) A group of 131 United States Congressmen, led by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), have re-peatedly requested of US President George W. Bush to respond to the contents of the docu-ment. He received over a half-million names who signed on to his letter asking President Bush to "respond to the following questions:"

• Do you or anyone in your administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked docu-

ment? • Were arrangements being made, including

the recruitment of allies, before you sought Congressional authorization for war? Did you or anyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade prior to this time?

• Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors in order to help with the justification for the war as the min-utes indicate?

• At what point did you and Prime Minister Blair agree it was necessary to invade Iraq?

• Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British offi-cials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?

Although no one has contested the accuracy of the original memo, the Bush administration has failed to even respond to this letter which was sent two months ago. For many, the most interesting aspect of this situation is the incon-sistency of our own mainstream media which focused much more on President Clinton's in-appropriate sexual behavior than on this ad-ministration's apparent deception of the Ameri-can people in its run-up to invading Iraq. For more information about the controversy of the Downing Street Memo:

www.downingstreetmemo.com

http://www.conyersblog.us

Downing Street Memo: Evidence for Impeachment?

Opinions and Letters to the Editor! This is where we find out what you, the readers, think. Our purpose is to increase the conversation within our community, and better understand varying viewpoints. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Informed Constituent or its staff. OK. Here are the guidelines for submitting an editorial. Keep it civil. No profanity. No more than 600 words maximum. Electronic submission of a Word or Text file is best. Send to [email protected] or mail to The Informed Constituent, P.O. Box 8558, Albany, New York 12208

By DENNIS KARIUS


Dennis Karius is VP of the Capital Area Chapter of the UN Association - USA (www.unausa.org ) and co-host of “The Portside”,

a nationally syndicated radio program fo-cusing on renewable energy and sustainable

agriculture (www.theportside.com).

Contact Dennis at (518) 456-5721 or [email protected].

Experience Compassion Integrity

Vote Democratic Primary Day Tuesday, September 13th

Polls open 12:00 noon - 9:00 pm


More Opinions and Letters to the Editor! The Informed Constituent

Harry Potter is a smart kid. He washes dishes, sweeps the floor, and he's around when you need him. He’s a kid with no loved-ones around, just people who hate themselves and criticize others. He doesn’t take criticism well from oth-ers, though. The ones who surround him, includ-ing his so-called family, criticize him in a mean and hurtful way, an evil way. Harry Potter is a good little boy from the in-side to the outside. What is it like being in Harry Potter shoes? Alone! Everyone has their hands on you telling you what to do, where to go and choosing your choices for you. Harry Potter can witness a murder and show no feelings towards death, letting his anger get the best of him. That’s because Harry Potter wasn't taught to. He defines a kid who knows where he comes

from and is willing to learn. Besides practic-ing magic and listening to others tell him what’s wrong or what’s best for him, there’s not much Harry can do. He has a quick tem-per at times, and he used that anger to either save lives or destroy them. Question: Is Harry Potter bad or evil? No, he's just like any other kid. And every kid wants to be a Super-Hero. And, there's noth-ing wrong with that! Just separate the "super" from the "hero" and let’s learn the facts… Harry Potter goes to school where wizards and witches teach and mentor him of a way of life using magic to protect him against evil. For some reason ghosts surround him while his spirit works to know his true self, and he battles with these ghosts in order to save his soul from the devil.

Harry Potter doesn't fear anything or anyone, which is good, because fear is the mind killer. The only thing we are to fear is God. Harry learned something very important. It is not really about magic. Instead, it is about faith that produces miracles. Both miracles and magic deal with faith, but a miracle is much higher than magic—looking beyond mere religion. The differ-ence between magic and miracles is that Magic is the art of a person whom claims to be able to do things by the help of super-natural creatures or by his or her own knowledge of nature’s secrets. And a Miracle is something extraordinary, manifested as a supernatural work of God. From his ‘supernatural’ powers, Harry learned that the power we all have is the ability to conquer anything we put our minds to, with the help of God. “..with God all things are possi-ble.” (Matthew 19:26).

Is Harry Potter Evil?

Word of the Month trea-ty n.

1 [Obs.] a) negotiation b) entreaty c) any agreement or contract

2 a) a formal agreement between two or more nations, relating to peace, alliance, trade, etc. b) the document embodying such an agreement

Webster’s New World Dictionary & Thesaurus

Over the years many people have protested the government’s right to collect taxes. The Court’s decision in the case of Schulz v. IRS held that unless the IRS is in possession of a federal court order, it cannot force taxpayers to surrender personal and private property. It said that “no consequence whatever can befall a tax-payer who refuses, ignores, or otherwise does not comply with an IRS summons until that summons is backed by a federal court order.” This decision lays out limitations on the IRS which previously were not so cut and dry. It re-quires that the IRS grant a taxpayer his or her right to Due Process and therefore any coercion or punishments in relation to that taxpayer’s failure or refusal to pay must wait until a federal court order is in hand. This has the Department of Justice concerned. As it stated in its appeal to nullify the decision of the Schulz case, “...the Court’s opinion threatens to seriously impede the effective administration and enforcement of the nation’s tax laws.” On June 29, 2005, the Court decided against the Department of Justice’s plea to amend its earlier decision, reasoning that the Court could not go against its role as protector of the Peo-ple’s right to Due Process. In the rejection of the government’s interpre-tation of the tax enforcement scheme, the Court described the different arguments which were put forth during the case. The government ar-gued that “1) The government may use the fed-eral courts to punish taxpayers who disobey an

IRS summons even if the summons is not en-forced by court order, 2) If an IRS summons is enforced by a court order, the court may pun-ish disobedience of the IRS summons before providing the taxpayer an opportunity to com-ply with the court’s order; or 3) If an IRS sum-mons is enforced by a court order, the court may punish disobedience of the IRS summons even if the taxpayer complies with the court’s order.” All of these arguments were deemed inconsistent with the comprehensive tax-enforcement scheme. These events have significant effects on fu-ture legislation and judiciary protocol. The re-sulting policy of the Court’s decisions protects the taxpayer’s right to a judicial review. Ac-tions by the government—which create a situation where the taxpayer must make a choice between giving in to the IRS, or suffer-ing the consequences if refuses—are in viola-tion of the Constitution. The main argument of taxation protesters like Schulz, involves the Sixteenth Amend-ment which states: “Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes from whatever source derived, without appor-tionment among the several States, and with-out regard to any census or enumeration.” Objectors to the Sixteenth Amendment claim that it was never properly ratified be-cause there were slight differences among the drafts ratified in each state. These minor dif-ferences include capitalization, punctuation

and spelling. Another objection claims “…even if the Sixteenth Amendment was validly ratified, it merely implied the authority for an income tax, without explicitly creating it.” These claims of non-ratification have been rejected by federal courts. Addressing the claim that the Sixteenth Amendment never “explicitly created” the author-ity for an income tax, Mr. Justice Butler com-mented on the Supreme Court case of Bowers, Collector v. Kerbaugh-Empire Co. (1926): “It was not the purpose or the effect of that amend-ment to bring any new subject within the taxing power. Congress already had the power to tax all incomes. But taxes on incomes from some sources had been held to be ‘direct taxes’ within the meaning of the constitutional requirement as to apportionment.” A later case in 1955, Commissioner v. Glen-shaw Glass Co., defines the types of “income” to which the Sixteenth Amendment must be applied. It declares taxable income under the category of “accessions to wealth, clearly realized, and over which the taxpayers have complete dominion”. Using this as the defining factor, basically any in-crease in wealth is taxable. The question of whether the federal income tax is constitutional continues to be a high-profile topic in the U.S. court systems. Tax protesters have taken their arguments and objections straight to the source and have had minor victo-ries in cases like Schulz.

Questions About the IRS and Taxation

By WINSTON WOLFE

By JAMIE MONCKTON

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