Year by year, the rights given to us citizens by the Founding Fathers in our Constitution are being amended. Now, under the cloak of ”it’s for the good of the country, for the good of stopping terrorist intrusion”, it seems that the government is listening to us citizens. With all of the intelligence networks available to our government, it seems to me that looking for terrorist clues in the electronic footprint of America, is like looking for a needle in a needle haystack. I’m sure there are legit reasons for keeping tabs on some factions under the national security shield, but they were in place also pre-9/11. While a catastrophic event like that will hopefully be avoided in the future, paranoid President’s will not help the matter. An event like the Boston Marathon bombing just cannot be avoided. You get two nuts together, with supposed terrorist ties, there isn’t anything you can do to stop them. Only hope to minimize the damage. It was apparent in the way the gun control act was so overwhelmingly rejected by the government — just as the Safe Act will be eventually be overturned in New York — that the ideals of our forefathers are still front and center in the minds of Americans. Stockpiling of data on your citizens is not the way to go Mr. President.……….The past week began the gathering of petitions for people seeking to be on the ballot for the September primary. To my surprise, the committeeman in my Ward (the 15th) was carrying a separate sheet for Corey Ellis. Now, I don’t remember the Party coming out and endorsing Ellis in the wake of Kathy Sheehan’s refusal to be on the same ballot as Gary Domalewicz. I thought all the Progressive Democrats were banding together. It seems that Leif Engstrom was still on the ballot with Gary and Carolyn McLaughlin. It was a shame that the Party chose her over John Marsalais. It must mean that each Ward leader will decide who to support for Mayor. I guess it’s not really a surprise that the 15th Ward went with Ellis. I don’t think our Councilman Frank Commisso Jr. is a big Sheehan fan.……….Speaking of Frank Jr. He was the only councilperson to come out against the ridiculous new ”Complete Streets” legislation passed by the Common Council last week. The law, which is just a carbon copy of the legislation initiated by the state back in 2011, which requires new street construction to adhere to a criteria called Complete Steets. The law was designed to make new roadway construction more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists (ie. common sense.) That means that all construction on the streets of our 327 year old city will make sure that we take into mind the needs of folks riding a bicycle. Gee. Why do we have so many one way streets in Albany? Could it be because you can’t accomodate cars going both ways?……….Now if you want to see some first class roadway engineering and construction, you have to go no further than to the former intersection of Washington Avenue Extension and Fuller Road. While the new rotary’s can be tricky to navigate at first, the traffic flow, no matter at two or four in the afternoon, is smooth and non-congested. Not only is it an engineering masterpiece, it’s also pleasing to the eye. And yes, bicyclists, stay away from the flyover bridges, but you can still take your bike to Crossgates (a bus would probably be better.)
Are We Really Headed In The Right Direction?
And that is “The Daily Take”