U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay Cuba at the White House on January 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) For anyone wondering how one of President Obama’s signature pledges seemed to unravel between Monday and Friday, here’s a look […]
EPA Attorneys Criticize Obama Nominee
by Joaquin Sapien The Obama administration’s nomination of Ignacia Moreno to head the environment division of the Department of Justice is moving quietly through the confirmation process, with hearings expected to begin in the next few weeks. Moreno has worked for the environment division before, during the Clinton administration. But her most recent job — as […]
Scores survive Turkish airliner crash in Amsterdam
HAARLEMMERLIEDE, Netherlands (AP) — A Turkish Airlines jetliner plummeted out of the mist and plowed into a muddy field Wednesday near Amsterdam’s main airport, but nearly everyone on board — 125 people — survived. The nine dead included both pilots. The Boeing 737-800 was en route from Istanbul to Amsterdam carrying 134 people when it […]
Heard By a Bird: July 25
"The Cubist painters sadly neglected the banjo." – Clive Bell A Letter Dearest Sparrow: A new book entitled Can’t Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research by Sue Halpern says the secrets to improving your memory are 1) prayer, 2) meditation and 3) blueberries. I thought your absent-minded […]
Dobbs Ferry’s Miserly Waterfront Parking Ban
From high above, the Hudson River reveals itself as one of the New York region’s natural wonders, pinched by the Hudson Highlands into vistas of artist-inspiring beauty, then broadening downstream, guarded by the majestic Palisades, before flowing under the George Washington Bridge and past a jagged Manhattan. But zoom down to one spot […]
Another Boring Budget Cycle
Everyone likes to complain about taxes. It is one of the great underrated spectator sports. But few people do anything about taxes. Very, very few people take the time to study a budget. Budgets are dull, confusing and require a couple of hours to understand. Those who read a budget figure out pretty quickly that there is not much discretionary […]