Good enough for the old folks but ...

Bill Lambdin at News Channel 13 has a story about the Albany County Elections Commissioners complaining that the County has given them the now empty Ann Lee Home to store their new voting machines. Ann Lee is out near the airport and was closed sometime earlier this year after it was targeted by the State's Berger Commission.

Albany County Commissioners wish they had the Schenectady set-up.

So why is Albany County making its change-over so differently than Schenectady County? There's no clear answer. Cost is definitely an issue for Albany County. The Ann Lee Home is here and just sitting empty. There is a conscious disregard of the election commissioners. And there is a different political atmosphere. In theory, the Ann Lee Home is a temporary choice. We'll see.

I want to know whether Lampdin would still be complaining about Albany spending extra money on a new building while the old one sat empty if the County had made a different decision.

And if the building was good enough for a bunch of sick, elderly people why isn't it good enough for a bunch of machines?

Maybe not such good advice after all

Yesterday, the news (News Channel 9) included a bit about Comptroller Mike Conners shilling ethanol. You'd think he was running in the Iowa Presidential primary rather than trying to keep his job in an Albany primary for a job he doesn't seem to have much interest in actually doing.

Today's news (News 10) is that maybe it's not such a good idea to add it indiscriminately as he suggested.

More interest sparked Sunday when Albany County Comptroller Mike Conners urged the driving public to blend E-85 with gas no matter what they drive - though he did add they should check with the car maker and local dealer.

Still, the advice left some car shoppers confused.

"I would hate to try and save a few pennies using ethanol versus gasoline, and end up costing me three to four-hundred dollars to fix it," Mike Schell says, who is shopping for a new car.

DePaula says she would not recommend experimenting on your car.

That sounds about right. Superficial thought, quick decision, media coverage, and leave somebody else to take the risk or clean up the mess.



Update: Now News Channel 9, which did the original story is backing off and raising questions about what Conners is pushing. Their story, "Ethanol/gas mixture stirs controversy," is quite different from yesterday's:

Albany Radiator & Car Care Manager John Oliver had a different take on the mixture. "My professional recommendation is don't do it," he said. Oliver says many people will not only get fewer miles per gallon if they use such a mixture, they'll simply ruin their cars. Put in too much of the stuff that comes from the yellow pump and most vehicles could have big problems, he says. "It's probably going to skip, buck, misfire," said Oliver. He also says you might want to think twice about adding ethanol to your car's gas tank because doing so could void your car manufacturer's warranty.

They end their story by saying, "But with some accidental bad math and no flex-fuel vehicle, you could end up causing yourself some real pain at the pump."

I hope Conners is putting that stuff into his own car and not a county car.

Another gasbag posing as a journalist

After gagging on Newt, I went out for the paper and I flipped on the Chris Matthews show when I returned. He does this round-robin thing during which he asks several reporters to "tell him something he doesn't know." Sometimes it's interesting.

This morning, Howard Fineman said something interesting, but in doing so he also revealed a bias. Fineman said that Colin Powell has been advising Barack Obama on foreign policy and if Obama gets far enough into the process, Powell will endorse him. Given Powell's being a Republican who served in both Bush Administrations and his role in selling the war in Iraq, that's interesting. It certainly says something about his attitude toward the current President Bush. That bit of reporting was newsworthy.

But Fineman couldn't resist falling prey to Washington talking points and political framing. He introduced his bit by saying that the reason for Powell's advisory role was Obama's inexperience. Now what are the odds that someone in the Obama camp actually told him that? Nah, that's his own bias or a plant talking. The interesting thing about the "inexperience" rap on Obama is that he's got more foreign policy experience than W had before becoming President (and probably has now), he's got more than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, and if Senate terms count as experience only a bit less than Fred Thompson or John Edwards. But Fineman doesn't talk about them that way. He just reads from the Washington script. That's neither news nor journalism.