Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
McCain signs in Brooklyn
A New York Times article published October 21, 2008 titled An Outpost in the Blue Sea of Brooklyn caught my eye. Its about four houses in the city that have McCain signs in their windows and doors. There must really be no support for McCain in the city because the whole story details how its a big deal that these people have the signs up. The quotes are colorful and funny.
Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/nyregion/22slope.html?scp=4&sq=mccain%20signs%20in%20brooklyn&st=cse
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Should ex-felons have the right to vote?
This is a video from http://english.aljazeera.net/, in the US Elections 2008 section. It is an interesting topic that I had heard about before, but had not given much thought to lately. I like how both sides of the issue are presented.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Ex-Klansman in the senate?
During another night talking politics, my dad introduced me to the fact that the Democratic Party has an ex-member of the Ku Klux Klan in it!
Because the Democratic party is often portrayed as the party of "racial tolerance and understanding", this really shocked me.
Not knowing much about who's who in politics, I googled his name- Sen. Robert Byrd, of West Virginia. I found out he is 91 years old!
I came up with a lot of sites. I chose an article published in 2001 by Capitalism Magazine. I have never heard of the publication, and do not know if it is biased or not.
The article definitely seemed to have a bias against Democrats, but it was still an interesting read. I would consider going to other sites with reputations of fairness to make sure and get the whole story.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Funds recommended by Tompkins County Budget not enough for Public Library
By Laura Gallup. October 3, 2008.
ITHACA--- The Tompkins County Public Library has not received all the money it requested, even after The Expanded Budget Committee of the Tompkins County Legislature voted in favor of adding $20,000 in funding for the library for 2009.
Sunday Hours
The library asked the county for $20,000 to go toward financing Sunday hours all year long, but that is only one-third of the total projected cost. According to the 2009 Tompkins County budget proposal, the library proposed tha
t the total cost be split three ways between the county, the Town of Ithaca and the City of Ithaca. In the past, the Tompkins County Public Library has only been open on Sundays because of special funding.
“Sunday hours are always so popular,” Jablonski said.
Library Collection Depends on Other Sources of Funding
Money was requested for more than just Sunday hours. According to the 2009 Tompkins County budget proposal, the library requested $145,708 to expand the library collection. The county administrator recommended only $50,000. The requested money would be used to purchase library materials such as books, magazines, recorded books, audio-visual materials, and to repair or replace damaged items. Reference librarian Larry Carey said that at times the library may need to purchase 30 copies of bestseller books such as the Harry Potter series.
“We don’t have enough books, plain and simple,” Jablonski said.
The library in Ithaca receives funding from two sources that are separate from the county. The Tompkins County Public Library Foundation and The Friends of The Library are organizations that contribute large amounts of money. Jablonski said that almost all of the money used to buy books comes from these two groups. She said the situation is not typical, and that usually cities and counties give their libraries enough money to buy books. As to why the county does not give more money to the library, Jablonski said, “They just don’t have it.”
In a press conference on Monday, Tompkins County Administrator Steve Whicher said that when the library was built in 2000, the actual costs were never addressed. Jablonski said that this is untrue. She said that private funds were originally intended to help with the start up of the library, but that the county funding would rise accordingly.
“They knew that all along,” Jablonski said.
Technology
The library also requested $69,700 to fund specific technology. The library’s budget request included 41 computers, four printers, three wireless access points, and one 3M check out workstation. The county administrator recommended $36,500 for the expenses. Jablonski said that the public computers are used every hour of every day, leading to wear and tear.
“Technology is the backbone of what we’re able to do here,” Jablonski said.
Positions
In the request to expand the library collection, the library also asked for money to fund three half-time clerical support positions and two half-time librarians. According to the 2009 Tompkins County budget proposal, a study on the library funded by Tompkins County in 2007 showed that more staff are needed to select, order, receive, catalog, circulate and re-shelve materials.
Watch Obama All Day Every Day!!
When I was home last week, my dad and I were watching television. As he tried to type in a channel on the remote, he pressed some buttons that resulted in a channel that does not exist. Usually, this would bring us to some "Dish Network" screen- letting one know that one does not have this channel. But last weekend, channel 73 popped up. The channel was called "Obama", and Barack's face came onto the screen. My dad told me that this has been happening him for a few weeks. We watched the channel for a few minutes, and I learned that the whole channel is Obama speaking about his ideas and policies- continuously. How weird is that?
Read this short article from the Huffington Post on the subject: Obama Campaign Buys Channel 73 on Dish Network
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Ithaca mentioned in New York Times
I have become obsessed with reading The New York Times "Modern Love" essays. They are each two pages long, and usually about love and relationships. "Disassembling My Childhood" by Dan Beachy-Quick was published on Auguest 3, 2008, and the author writes about how his childhood summers were spent in Ithaca! It really doesn't mention anything specific, but it's still exciting!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
