Speaking truth to LATFOR

by: simonstl

Mon Aug 22, 2011 at 17:07:58 PM EDT

New York State legislators have spent at least the past few decades gerrymandering, allowing the Assembly majority to draw district lines for the Assembly, while the Senate majority draws lines for the Senate. Unsurprisingly, we end up with legislative lines badly tilted toward the parties that drew them.

Way back in 2007, while redistricting was mostly theoretical, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton hosted a forum on the issue, and I posted a transcript and posted an article here about it.

County Legislator Michael Lane was the voice of sanity at that forum, and I'm delighted to see that he's continued to press the issue as LATFOR - the joint legislative committee managing the deals, I mean districting - is holding hearings. In his closing, he even used the accurate word that legislators least like to hear: corrupt.

I would conclude by saying that the current process is undemocratic. Let's do it the right way. If this Task Force, or the Legislature as a whole, recommends districts in the old corrupt fashion, then I hope the Governor will keep his word and veto them. It would not be pretty and court actions might have to come into play. Whatever occurs, it is definitely time that self-serving partisan gerrymandering come to an end. Make it happen.

I've posted his whole statement below the fold, which includes notes on Tompkins County's own redistricting as well as the way the county is treated for congressional and state legislative redistricting.

What The Bloody Hell Is Going On?

by: phillip anderson

Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 23:43:05 PM EDT

Five children between the ages of 7 and 16 were found dead in a mobile home Saturday, apparently shot by their father, who was found dead near a casino miles from the scene, police said.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, called it a domestic violence situation and a murder-suicide.

"We believe they all died of gunshot wounds," Troyer said.

Auburn police found the father, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car near the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. Pierce County deputies checked the mobile home, which is about 20 miles southeast of the casino, and found four of the children dead in their beds and the fifth in the bathroom.

This is madness.

Jiverly Voong Loved Guns, Wanted To Kill The President

by: phillip anderson

Sat Apr 04, 2009 at 10:58:18 AM EDT

The maniac who shot 13 people dead in a Binghamton immigration center before killing himself was described Friday as an angry loner who loved guns, hated America and talked about assassinating the President.

Kevin Greene, who once worked with 41-year-old mass murderer Jiverly Voong, said a question about a New York Yankees T-shirt he was wearing brought out his dark side.

Greene said, "I asked him if he liked the Yanks," and "he said, 'No, I don't like that team. I don't like America. America sucks.'"

Greene, who lives outside of Binghamton, said he worked with Voong - whom co-workers knew as Jiverly Wong - for a few months at the Shop Vac assembly plant in Binghamton before it closed in November.

He told FBI investigators he and a buddy used to joke about how they thought Voong "would come in mad one day and shoot people. He seemed like that kind of guy."

Yeah, well, that joke is on all of us now.

Thoughts On Binghamton

by: phillip anderson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 19:06:01 PM EDT

Reflections on the Binghamton shooting

We all have our grownup sensibilities about the towns we come from, especially those of us that moved to Big Cities- all our bravado about how glad we are that we "got out," our vows to never look back (maybe), or quietly and smugly looking back at those quaint li'l places. But there is something special about Binghamton. It was never a thriving metropolis, but it got by alright, and that's what most of the folks that live there seem to live by.

I once wrote that the people from my hometown were never the stars of the production. We were always happy to be in the background, providing the scenery. Maybe once in a while, we were the people that got a line, fingering the suspect. "That's the guy," we'd say. It would be straightforward, without fanfare. That's how people from Binghamton operate.

Being brought to a national stage like this, under such horrible circumstances, is devastating. Not only do "things like this" not happen in Binghamton, but additional layers - economic duress, the immigrant aid center where it happened - make it all the more sharp.

The whole thing is well worth a read.

Gunman Dead In Binghamton, Apparently Shot Himself

by: phillip anderson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 14:48:29 PM EDT

As Many As 13 Dead In Binghamton

by: phillip anderson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 13:36:32 PM EDT

Gunman kills up to 13 people in Binghamton, New York: reports

A gunman killed as many as 13 people and took up to 40 people hostage at an upstate New York immigrant counselling centre this morning.

Police sources, speaking on background, said as many as 12 or 13 people had been killed, according to a reporter with WNBF radio, who described the gunman as being of Asian descent, and in his 20s. Between 20 and 40 people were held hostage, and some hostages have been released.

UPDATE: CNN reporting that not one, but two men have been taken into custody and the remaining hostages have been released.

UPDATE: Terrible news. Police are reporting 12 fatalities.

Governor Paterson just released this statement:

"This is a tragic day for New York. While the situation is still developing and details are being gathered, we do know that a gunman entered the American Civic Association in Binghamton this morning and that there are fatalities. We are monitoring the situation and I have directed the State Police to assist the Binghamton Police Department in any way they can.

"I speak for all of New York when I offer my prayers for the victims and families of this tragedy."

UPDATE: A third suspect?

Scanner reports indicate that police are following another man under the Court Street bridge.

At Least Four Shot, Dozens Taken Hostage In Binghamton

by: phillip anderson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 12:32:30 PM EDT

Report: 4 shot, hostages taken in Binghamton, NY

At least four people have been shot and several people taken hostage at an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y.

Mayor Matthew Ryan tells The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin on Friday that the gunman has a high-powered rifle.

The newspaper reports there are 41 hostages in the building of the American Civic Association. It says apartments are being evacuated.

Four people have been taken from the building on stretchers and moved to hospitals. The Binghamton SWAT team is on the scene.

The incident started about 10:30 a.m.

Shooting In Binghamton

Binghamton Police have surrounded 131 Front Street, the American Civic Association. Action News crews on the scene say they saw people being carried out of the building. Scanner reports say there are 41 people inside the building, with as many as 4 people shot.

Scanner reports say a man went into the building and started shooting.
When the shooting started, people inside escaped to the basement in search of safety. More than a dozen people are hiding in a closet, for more than an hour now. Emergency dispatchers are in contact with some people inside by phone. Police have sent some people to Wilson and Lourdes Hospital, and have requested ambulances to the scene.

UPDATE: Some hostages released.

According to police reports, about 40 hostages were in the building -- 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room.

Shortly after noon, about 10 people were released from the building, with hands on their heads. The police searched some of them.

Around 12:40 p.m., another 10 were released from the rear of the building, clad in white sheets. They were shaken and hugged each other as they boarded a BC Transit bus.

"A number of people are dead"

A gunman with a high-powered rifle shot at least four people and took dozens more hostage Friday inside an upstate immigration services center, authorities said.

"A number of people are dead," Binghamton Police Capt. Alex Minor told the Daily News from the scene of the shooting.

I'm hearing that a radio station in Binghamton, WNBF, is reporting that 13 people have been killed, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that. So hope that they are wrong bout that.