Free Republic

The body of the article is here. It cannot be reposted thanks to the cretins at Gannett News. However, the upshot of the editorial is that the only daily paper in Ithaca is cutting news pages AND advertising.All together now, cut the world's smallest violin:

From the beginning, Ithaca Hours was tied closely to the activities and the personality of Paul Glover. Glover's energetic championing of Hours included soliciting grants from a multitude of organizations, both local and national, ranging from Ben & Jerry's to the Whole Earth Quarterly. He fought to have Ithaca Money distributed more widely, such as taking on Center Ithaca when they balked at stocking the newsletter, and he spoke extensively and exhaustively to media ranging from local news outlets to international film crews. He networked with other local currency supporters and sold a mail-order "Hometown Money Starter Kit" for $20....

After fighting 15 months in Afghanistan, 22-year-old Trevor Loope of Texas went AWOL from the Army. Stationed at Fort Drum, he left his post one year ago to seek better health care for depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He's hoping Ithaca's Common Council will hear his plea. Flanked with veterans at his side Wednesday night, Loope and his attorney approached city officials asking them to help him avoid criminal charges under Ithaca's new "Community of Sanctuary" law. The law, passed two months ago, is aimed at allowing veterans to exercise free speech and peaceful protests of war in the...

On October 1, 2008, the Ithaca, NY, Common Council declared Ithaca a "Community of Sanctuary" for protestors against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but denied sanctuary status to supporters of the wars. Proponents of the sanctuary resolution used a false narrative of "suppressed" anti-war protestors to justify having government protect only locally popular speech content. Similar tactics can be expected nationally, as Democrats use government power to protect only liberal speech under the guise of promoting "fairness." {Snip} Nonetheless, the sanctuary city proponents used this false narrative of "suppressed" protestors to support its petition drive. The resolution sought to...

Six University Presidents are touring Iran to increase “collaboration in science and higher education” at the same time the nation’s religious government is moving closer to developing an atomic bomb and taking steps to censor more information from its citizens. According to CBS News: The presidents of six leading U.S. universities are touring Iran, the latest in a series of exchange visits involving senior academics and scientists. The American academics include the presidents of Cornell, Carnegie Mellon and Rice Universities. "We believe it is important to maintain and renew academic ties between our two countries as a means of laying...

ITHACA NY--A traveling evangelist claims in a lawsuit that police in Ithaca wouldn't let him preach in a public commons even after he showed them a federal court decision saying the local noise ordinance they cited was unconstitutional. "Christians shouldn't be penalized for expressing their beliefs, especially when a court has expressly upheld their right to do so, as is the case here," said Nate Kellum, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based legal group that seeks to protect and preserve religious liberty. The ADF filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Syracuse on behalf of...

When the New York State Electric Gas company decided two weeks ago not to fund the construction of a new basketball court in a downtown Ithaca park, it brought an apparent end to an ongoing struggle between neighbors of the park and city officials that had resulted in allegations of racism and stereotyping. The controversy began earlier this year as the Greater Ithaca Activities Center searched for an alternative site for its youth and adult basketball leagues because its current basketball facility was contaminated with coal tar and had to undergo a two-year-long clean up project. Since NYSEG was found...

the Cornell Coalition for Life clashed with the College of Engineering administration on Wednesday morning when Dawn Warren, administrative assistant, removed the organization’s “Elena Campaign” signs from the Engineering Quad. The CCFL is a non-partisan, pro-life advocacy group on campus. According to the CCFL, the Elena Campaign is composed of “a series of light-hearted educational signs with pictures and text detailing the biological development of an unborn child.” Tristen Cramer, former CCFL president, explained that the signs did not contain political statements, but rather “biological facts on fetal development,” including ultrasound images and text. According to Cramer, the group put...

Ithaca is Officially A “Community Of Sanctuary,” following a Unanimous Vote Wednesday Night by the Common Council. The Measure Guarantees The Rights Of Military Personnel And Veterans To Speak Out And Take Part in War Protests. Alderman Eric Rosario Proposed Council Add Language To The Resolution Stating That Other Opinions About The War Be Supported As Well, But That Motion Failed. Alderperson Maria Coles Says Supporting Other Views Of The War Would Have Watered Down The Resolution's Meaning. She Added That Declaring Ithaca A “Community Of Sanctuary” Isn’t About Supporting The First Amendment But About Protecting The Safety And Rights...

The Cornell Review controversy over printing an article about campus “ghettos,” “bitter minorities” and affirmative action became even more pronounced yesterday when students proposed a resolution to the Student Assembly to ban the use of the Cornell name by the biweekly journal’s title. The article, “What to Expect: The Angry Minority,” said students in program houses — only at Cornell because of affirmative action and scholarships — complain about brutal oppression from “whitey.” Students Nikhil Kumar ’11, minority representative-at-large, and Nicole Rivera ’09, president of the Minority Business Student Association, brought the resolution to the table. “As a student here...

ITHACA — A Common Council committee voted unanimously Tuesday night to declare Ithaca a “‘Community of Sanctuary' thus respecting the rights of its residents to support lawfully and proactively military personnel and veterans who are organizing to stop the wars in and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.” The sanctuary resolution was written and submitted by Peace Now Ithaca, which staged a march to Fort Drum in May with members of the Fort Drum chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Veterans who participated in the march “lamented about the suppression and intimidation they experienced” in protesting the wars, said Alexis...

ROSENDALE, NY—Controversial upstate New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey has been ordered to town court to answer a charge that he struck a constituent during a July event. Democrat Hinchey, who represents Ithaca and much of the state’s Southern Tier, has been directed to appear in Rosendale Town Court on September 9 to answer a charge of Harassment Second Degree. According to the Kingston Daily Freeman the charge stems from an altercation between Hinchey and a local member of the National Rifle Association: Paul Lendvay, 46, of Rosendale, the chairman of the Catskill Regional Friends of the National Rifle Association, had...

[A]s a public service, the Surrounded by Reality Welcome Team has put together a very brief supplement to last week's Newcomers Guide. No guarantees that you'll be able to pass as a bona fide Ithacan, but it might spare you some small measure of embarrassment: **** Politics - When I voted downtown in February for the primary, the line for the Democratic booth snaked out of the building and it took over an hour to vote. During that time, a single Republican skulked in, looking like he'd just punched out the home team mascot. The concern in Ithaca is that...

Ithaca, N.Y. — The Best Of Everything? By REBECCA JAMES   The Commons is a popular gathering place in downtown Ithaca, N.Y. (Photo by Gloria Wright)     ITHACA, N.Y. — When your town has made more than 25 lists that call it one of the best cities in America, you might be surprised that one magazine would call it one of the "Twelve Great Places You've Never Heard Of."But along with that 2006 designation from Mother Earth News, Ithaca seems to make the grade no matter what's being ranked. It's one of the "lesbian friendliest cities," has the "best...

Climate change and its effects on ecosystems is the No. 1 crisis facing the world, according to Cornell faculty -- but it is a phenomenon not easily reversed. The most important problem that is more easily solved? Insufficient education in science, critical thinking and environmental issues.That is according to a new study that surveyed Cornell's academic staff on the world's leading crises. The new study is published online in Frontiers e-View and will be published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. How Cornell faculty rate the world's most important and the most solvable problemsOn a 5-point scale,...

Last Tuesday, a group of local activists held a friendly demonstration of gratitude outside of Congressman Maurice Hinchey's (D-NY, 22) office at Cayuga and Green Streets, thanking Hinchey for being the seventh representative to sign on to and co-sponsor Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich's impeachment bill. "Our main focus was to thank Hinchey," said resident John Hamilton. It's very clear it was the right thing to do. We're delighted. Politically, it's a big step. Democratic leadership is trying to brush all the crimes of this administration under the table. This is a courageous step for Hinchey to take, and we want...

ITHACA — Legislation further restricting smoking in the City of Ithaca should reduce exposure to secondhand smoke while not creating unintended consequences, according to members of the Smoke-free Zone Legislation Subcommittee. The smoking ban legislation Common Council is exploring includes ... a huge variety of outdoor, public spaces, including parks, natural areas, outdoor concerts and festivals, trails and walkways, parking garages and lots, transit shelters, Newman Golf Course, and city cemeteries. This would include outdoor dining areas at all times, and entire parks or the entire Commons during festivals like Ithaca Festival or the Chili Cook-Off.... It could also include...

Can you be an obscure, self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar and manage to be an effective university president?  University of Wisconsin at Madison is hoping “yes.” It has picked Biddy Martin, Cornell provost and women’s studies professor, as its new chancellor. Her best-known work is a little something called Femininity Played Straight, which features chapters entitled “Sexualities without Gender and Other Queer Utopias” and “Teaching Feminism.” The one review that Amazon.com has picked up on the book is truncated to a single sentence, though it pretty much sums up the obtuseness of Ms Martin’s field: “Martin's eccentric use of the body...

Welcome To The Life Of A Superdelegate By MIKE McANDREW   Irene Stein, chairwoman of the Tompkins County (N.Y.) Democratic Party, is an uncommitted superdelegate, one of only three uncommitted delegates from New York state. (Photo by Gloria Wright)     ITHACA, N.Y. — Irene Stein once let Hillary Rodham Clinton sleep in her daughter's bed.She served the first lady breakfast at her kitchen table.She's never met Barack Obama.But Stein, an uncommitted superdelegate from Ithaca, said that doesn't mean she's going to try to help the senator from New York capture the Democratic presidential nomination.One of three uncommitted superdelegates representing...

Ah, Memorial Day in Ithaca, NY, a town that looks upon Berkeley, CA as suspiciously conservative. OK, perhaps not quite, but Ithaca is so liberal than in her 2006 Senate primary [bet you didn't know there even was one], Hillary lost the City of Ithaca to a [very] little-known far-lefty named Jonathan Tasini. So liberal that a certain NewsBuster lost a 1990s mayoral bid to the then incumbent, a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America. So how does our hometown newspaper celebrate Memorial Day? What does it choose as its biggest headline on the front page? "Military Faces...