Listener Comments to NCPR

BRFvolpe I consider myself an envirnmentalist but the apa and albany have a long history of completely ignoring the will of residents of the adirondacks and stifling job creation. The best thing that could happen for nny would be the reform or abolition of the apa.

I have to disagree with your claim that state government is extremely responsive to the public will. NY state government is extremely responsive to the will of legislative leaders and in particular shelly silver. He completely controls the agenda and essentially wrote the state budget. It's been a long time since NY state government was responsive to the will of the people and not just the agendas of the legislative leaders. Upstate residents in particular have no voice in state government. The APA being an infamous example of this.

Compared to NY state legislature Congress has done a wonderful job.

So did you expect anything different? At least they have tried to move past blaming the victims and then the government and then policing and after that the lawyers and now in some places its the insurance people - why not have a different go at blaming women now that they are no longer able to blame the children. The options are narrowing but I still don't think they quite get it yet.

Hopefully when they get through blaming all and everything else they will take a look at how they are going to fix things up even though that is something which keeps slipping below their radar.

I love this concept, George: Orthodox atheism.

-Brian, Saranac Lake

If the Catholic church is to survive it must evolve like the rest of human society.
This week's NYTs Book Review cover story about "The Evolution of God" gives some insight to this topic.

Mike from Lyons Falls

There is always a tension in relligious communities between innovators and traditionalists. Witness St. Paul's dressing down St. Peter. This Vatican inquiry
is but one example.

A well known sceptic recently provoked division within an organizaion of atheists which had asked him to speak. As he is a self described agnostic some of the atheists objected as he isn't of the true non-belief.

The article also contains a link to a paper that examines Reiki with respect to Catholic doctrine.

Quite interesting.

Good forum - refreshing to hear folks talking about Adirondack problems with a vision of how to work together toward solutions, instead of the usual griping about taxes and how the APA, DEC, and Albany are out to get us.

Unfortunately in the next election the major parties will put up the same bunch of candidates and any candidates who offer real change will have no visibility or real chance of getting elected.

Murphy will be fine as long as he votes as he is told.

McHugh voted as one would expect when trying to impress a soon-to-be boss. I am certain he was thinking forward to his confirmation hearing, wanting to look like he was playing for the right team.

Doc in Gouverneur

You are spot-on with the comment that the mid-term elections will be a referendum on Pres. Obama agenda. My fear is that the administration will not come through on their campaign promises. Patience tends to be in short supply when times are tougher and the American people may not respond well if they feel that they have been duped.

The Democrats need to take full advantage of their clear majority and ram as much of their legislation and projects through the system as quickly as possible. I have many concerns that this won't happen due to infighting within the party. It is encouraging that Speaker Pelosi is taking a hard line with the party defectors. Hopefully, she can bring them back into the fold and have them voting along party lines. The threats around support (or lack thereof) for upcoming elections should prove to work in her favor. This type of leadership allowed them to secure enough votes to puch the Cap and Tax bill through the House. With any luck, it will move quickly through the Senate. (The addition of the Minnesota comedian should help.)

We need the same type of force to push through the healthcare legislation. Each and every American should be able to have health insurance. Anything less than 100% would be considered failure. An older gentleman related a story to me over the weekend. He described raising a family of six on a North Country farm. He explained that he always had health insurance for his family. He explained that he did so by sacrificing some of the things that most folks consider to be necessities today. He said, "I always made sure we had health insurance, but you never saw a new vehicle, four-wheeler or boat sitting in my backyard. I had my priorities straight." This type of attitude is rare these days and that is one of the reasons that we need government-run healthcare. Our government needs to protect people from themselves. Congress needs to push healthcare reform through as quickly as possible. They need to quit worrying about how to fund it. Those with the ablility to pay will fund the program. If they don't like it, then they can leave. It's time to be PATRIOTIC.

I have been somewhat pleased with the movement to get our troops out of Iraq, while I do feel that it has been too long in coming and will not proceed fast enough.

Now is the time to strike and strike hard to push the Prsident's agenda through. Don't listen to the whining about running up the score. Just shrug and say, "Too bad. We won."

Hammond

Sent my own version, but basically the same to Suzi Oppenheimer.

UGH - this is ridiculous!

Will fax to Joe Griffo's office. Beyond the pale!

Legislative Office Building
Rm 302
Albany, NY 12247
(518) 455-3334
Fax: 426-6921

Nice post, Brian...

For myself, I don't buy into Global warming but do believe we need to cut back on polution.
Will it cost some? Sure. But it will cost less than the taxes I pay to smoke cigarettes.

If I remember but for the record, Pete Klein from Indian Lake, reporter for the Hamilton County Express and author of Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County, The Dancing Valkyrie and The Vampire Valkyrie.

Thanks for doing the hard work, Brian.
I'll send my letter to Sen. Little

Brian -- great letter. I copied and printed mine, and sent it off straight away.

Let me help your readers with a bit of contact information (assuming they mostly share my Senator):

Senator Aubertine
317 Washington Street
4th Floor
Watertown, NY 13601

315-782-6357 (fax)
Email: aubertin@senate.state.ny.us

It would take just one courageous senator to stand up, put politics aside, cross the aisle and provide the quorum needed to get the people's business done.

That's the reality. The rest is just rhetoric.

Get back to work, Senator Aubertine.

-- Mitch from Carthage

http://northcountrynow.com/nc-this-week/story-of-day/full-story.asp?uid=2762&area=NCNow+News

Thankfully, this is not another death. Just another casualty of the ATV's.

I believe every commenter should have to give their NAME as well as where they're from. Posting strong opinions on controversial topics anonymously is cowardice. The viciousness of the comment threads about the closed bridge in Cornwall are disgraceful and not in keeping with NCPR's community ethic. I believe this wouldn't have happened without anonymous commenting. If someone has a compelling reason to be anonymous (such as threat of economic livelihood or bodily harm) s/he should e-mail one of us directly, explaining the situation and we can post the comment without the name once anonymity has been granted. These are the rules we use in our stories - why should comments be totally different?

Boy! Everybody is going to know who I am if I include my town in my comment.
Is it OK if I shift my location to the next little town next door?

Mike, from Greig

It may provide a difference in how comments are viewed. Are you 'close" to the discussion or are you viewing from a "distance"?

Writing from Hammond

Thanks Brian-
We have seen a number of purple boxes hanging in the trees near Pierrepont, and now I know what they are for.
Lisa

I think it was actually only 1 vote over the minimum needed to pass it, of 218.

It apppears Murphy is one of many responsible for the last minute, 3 AM changes rammed in that no one had a chance to read and likely bought his vote -

http://www.poststar.com/blogs/?p=27014&cat=259

where he states:
?I had been battling with the authors of the bill about making sure that our paper mills were treated fairly. And we finally reached an agreement with that at the last minute,?

This guy may be a newcomer, but is just as corrupt as the rest. Regardless of your views on the content, the manner in which this bill was railroaded through without proper vetting is irresponsible at best, and should outrage to all who strive for fair treatment of all viewpoints. Murphy's first term needs to be his last.

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I don't understand why people think Dick Cheney is so great. He is the person who got us into all this war mess so he could sell armaments to the government without bidding. What a fortune he has made at the expense of our National standing in the World!

How about the NPR program "Says You" (but don't talk away "Car Talk," or "Wait, Wait...."!!!!!!!!

I am dismayed by the listening post acting like ncpr is worried about it's funding. I give aggressivelly to ncpr- they just completed the adirondack news bureau fundraiser- my bank account meets ncpr coming and going. I can't afford to give what i give- but the last thing I want to hear about is that, with all the fundraisers, ncpr is in jepordy. Please. How many more pledges does a listener have to give before public radio will stop complaining? In an environment where many of us can't pay our bills, or our taxes, but we're still giving, is it too much to ask that you don't complain?

The 14-year old piano player on the radio this morning was fantastic! I loved the first song in which he transcribed the guitar song into a piano tune was lovely. Thanks, NCPR, for highlighting regional talents like this. I heart NCPR.

I was very deeply angered with the Environment Report on the Monday 03/02/09 'All Before Five' with Jonathan Brown. On the last segment concerning burning gargage the report never mentioned at all that burning garbage is already illegal in all of NYS. See New York Code of Rules and Regulations Title 6 Part 215.2(a) under the Conservation Law and you'll find that burning garbage is a misdemeanor crime with a minimum fine penalty of $375 and up to $15,000. Your report gave the impression that the only consequence to burning garbage is pollution.

Hi Derek--

Our engineer, Radio Bob will be in Lowville today to fix the problem. Sorry about the echo...echo...echo...

There is a periodic story echo happening the past few days. Taped NPR features have this run over repeat to them. Could it be only happening in your tower relay tower?

Hi JP--

We added the gateway underwriting message to our stream last last week. As you have discovered, it does not play well with iTunes. We have a separate "Listen Live" option that excludes the gateway message and goes straight to the stream. Hover over "Listen Live" on our top navigation bar, and select "via iTunes" from the menu that appears below. This should correct the problem.--NCPR Online

I am a regular morning listener of North Country Public Radio; via iTunes. Sometime this past week you had made a change in the way the stream was setup and an introduction stream was added to the setup. Now I have the pleasure of an introduction to your station, but no substance. When the 16 second finishes, it rolls over to North Carolina Public Radio; thus missing out of the main course to my morning meal. Please address this mishap so I can resume my morning ritual. Thank You! JP

During the last round of threatened shutdowns of North Country prisons, it distressed me that nowhere in the reporting was there any discussion of the fact that having fewer people incarcerated is a good thing. Clearly, there are economic concerns when an institution that employs local people goes out of business, and I don't mean to downplay the importance of that. However, I hope that the discourse this time will include acknowledgment that the United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, why that's not desirable or necessary and ideas of how people can be employed in constructive and positive ways in our communities.

Andrew Beyer is correct about rogue trainers. In Europe trainers are required to explain to stewards any marked improvement in horses...and then they (stewards) monitor the horse's next performance (and the trainer may have to explain again). In the States, the stewards do an awful job and sometimes seem to be in collusion with the trainers. There is no one at the track these days in authority who seems to be protecting the general public...from abuse.

Fred

Thank you for the information about Oliver's War. Another book your listeners may want to explore is Journey Home by Paul Burke

We were disappointed that the annual North Country Public radio New Years Eve show with Ellen Rocco seems to have been disappeared replaced by a generic national production interrupted at 11:59:50 by a lone voice in your studio counting down and calling out happy New Year. It was kind of pathetic. We like Jazz but it had none of the immediacy, connection and high spirits that Ellen and Bob and the other hosts of past years gave us. Your usual new years eve potpourri of classic music covering all ages, styles, and artists have always been a radio highlight for us here in Indian Lake. We certainly hope you?ll resume the tradition next year.

I just wanted to let you know you can get this year's contribution for North Country Public Radio from the $80 I spent on Tickets for the Vinyl Cafe. Talk to the host, I'm sure he can give it to you in return for my empty seats. I have been a member for the last five years, but this year I think I might forget to mail it in, darn!

I was unable to use them because you wouldn't postpone the show in blizzard conditions, and I live in Canton. Obviously NCPR values Mr. McClean's convenience over your listeners safety.

If a show will cannot be postponed TELL PEOPLE THIS WHEN THEY BUY TICKETS. Do you honestly think I would have spent $80 on a show in December if I thought it wouldn't be canceled?


Good luck.

I think it was a couple of years ago now, you replaced "The Connection," hosted by Dick Gordon, with Tom Ashbrook's "On Point." I detest Tom Ashbrook. Every time I hear his insipid voice, I swear at him and turn the radio off. I cannot endure another one of his breathless fauxtroversy questions, trying desperately to stir up controversy where intelligent, thoughtful dialogue could lead somewhere interesting. A quick Googling turns up "NPR poobahs, says Fielder, are 'really high on Tom' for his edge and energy." How wrong they are. Did I mention that I f#$%&ing detest Tom Ashbrook? I love NPR, and he just puts a big dead spot in the day when I cannot bring myself to listen. Dear God, please take this man off your station and bring back Dick Gordon, or someone who knows how to conduct a #$%^! interview. I throw my shoe at Tom Ashbrook.

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