Finding Ulysses

It’s difficult to argue that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq aren’t corrupt. Bribery has been a standard practice among military contractors in both nations. Recently, in Afghanistan, it was revealed that military contractors were paying huge amounts of redirected money from the American taxpayer in protection fees that ended up funding the Taliban they were supposed to be working to defeat. With the revelations coming out of the Wiki Leaks documents about the war in Afghanistan, the corruption we know about has only gotten worse.

And then there was yesterday. On the same day:

- Auditors reported that the Pentagon cannot account for 8.7 billion dollars in Iraq.

- Trumansburg’s U.S. Representative, Michael Arcuri voted in favor of sending the Pentagon an extra 59 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether you’re a liberal against war or a conservative against wasteful spending, that kind of vote is difficult to justify. As a Blue Dog, Mike Arcuri long ago lost the support of the Democratic liberal base. With his many votes, like yesterday’s, in favor of wasteful spending, I don’t see how Arcuri will make up the difference with conservative voters.

Every year, as the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance winds down, the YouTube representation of the event begins, with a wave of new uploads that lasts several weeks, well into the autumn. The first of these videos have now arrived, starting out with a touch of Zydeco.

The official story is that engineering students at Cornell University set the record for the longest distance walked by an untethered robot. A robot named Ranger is said to have walked 14.3 miles in 11 hours.

It’s curious that 14.3 miles is close to the distance from Cornell University to the Trumansburg Fairgrounds, where the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance is taking place this weekend. I’m not saying that I know that Ranger was actually en route to hear Donna the Buffalo, but it would provide some motivation for going the distance.

I went to a meeting of the Trumansburg EMS Privatization Task Force on June 24th, one month ago.  I blogged about it here http://findingulysses.com/2010/07/04/mr-disingenuous/ You can hear, on the audio that I posted, Kevin Romer complain  that there were no minutes being taken of the meetings.  You can hear Fire Chief Jason Fulton agree that minutes should be taken and made available to the public because “this is a serious situation, and a serious meeting”.  Jackie Wright, president of the Fire Company, was present and volunteered to take minutes.

There was another Task Force meeting in mid July that I could not attend.  I’ve heard that Jackie Wright was there and took minutes and sent them to Trustee Chris Thomas.  I’d like to see them!  So I asked the Village Clerk.  She hasn’t seen them.  I asked Jackie Wright.  She said that she had sent them to Chris Thomas, and didn’t feel comfortable releasing them directly to me.  So I wrote to Chris Thomas and every member of the Village Board and the Ulysses Town Board, requesting the minutes, on July 17th.  I haven’t heard a word from any of them. So on Monday I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for them at Village Hall.

Travels with Clara loves our children’s village, the collection of small wooden houses next to the creek on Main Street:

“One of the best parts was this little play area right in the center of town that had three wooden play structures–a library, a school house, and a firehouse. It totally inspired imaginative play, but also physical (ladders, a pole to slide down in the fire house), and we could have spent the whole morning there.”

Thanks for the note to Clara and company, but I have to give a special smile at the blog’s report of the temperature of Cayuga Lake: “a chilly 70 degrees”. I’ll take a chilly 70 degrees with gratitude during these hot summer days.

A couple of days ago, the Washington Post published a fascinating resource, Top Secret America, which gives what information is available about a national government surveillance infrastructure that “has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”

Part of this project is a map showing where Top Secret government locations are. It turns out that there are 5 nearby: Two in Bath, one in Elmira, one in Binghampton and one in Ithaca.

I wonder what’s going on in that Top Secret Ithaca location.

Amy’s parents are very proud of her work at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.  The Music Department at the Trumansburg Schools helped prepare Amy for NEC.  Thanks!

Here’s a number from Amy’s Senior Recital.

This news from Life’s So Sweet on Trumansburg’s Main Street comes out this morning:

“To celebrate our recent rennovations and membership to the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, Life’s So Sweet and The Chamber are holding a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Tuesday July 20, 2010 at Noon (12:00pm) at 27 West Main Street in Trumansburg. Guests of the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony will receive free samples and a half price chocolate tour!

All Tompkins County Residents are eligible for half price Chocolate Tours on this day at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. Reservations are HIGHLY recommended and can be made by calling 607-387-4477 or emailing reservations@LifesSoSweet.com

Come and enjoy a sweet day with us!”

On Thursday (July 15) at 7:30 PM, our Ulysses Philomathic Library will be hosting a lecture entitled Perceptions of Egypt by Dr. Phil Lempert. There will be refreshments served afterwards.

Tomorrow night at 7:00, Eric Aceto and Doug Robinson will appear together at the Ulysses Philomathic Library. Aceto will play the violin, while Doug sings, it is promised, in three different languages.