Free Republic

The constant hum of the air conditioning units across the street could be heard clearly from Ralph Moss's home. At a word, they were shut off. Sounds of talking neighbors rose through the silence. "My front porch has become my haven, and my haven is threatened," Moss said, sitting on his porch on North Albany Street. "It's so much of a nuisance, I have to go inside and close my doors and windows to get some peace." Moss has lived in the neighborhood facing the east entrance of Beverly J. Martin Elementary School on and off since 1982. The newest...

A campus Christian group that receives funding from the student activity fee is coming under scrutiny after a student was asked by advisors to step down from its leadership team when he told them that he had openly accepted his homosexuality. This incident is also raising questions about the effectiveness of campus mechanisms for addressing instances of discrimination. Chris Donohoe ’09, who joined the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship when he was a freshman, said he had been openly struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his faith in Chi Alpha before he was asked to step down from the leadership team...

As Cornell University faces greater need for donations in the current recession, it also faces having to get more funds with less money as a result of the economic crisis. In order to better focus its fundraising efforts to meet its needs and in response to the university cutting its budget by 5 percent, Cornell’s Department of Alumni Affairs and Development recently laid off 41 employees, around 10 percent of the department’s workforce. Richard Banks, associate vice president for alumni affairs and development at Cornell, said the positions were cut based on which positions were least crucial. He said Cornell...

ITHACA, NY--Nearly six months after the Presidential election, former Monty Python star John Cleese needs some new material.According to the Cornell Daily Sun, Cleese, in an appearance on campus, turned serious and launched into an attack on former President George W. Bush: Americans... are “much too respectful to the president,” said Cleese, who went on to say that George W. Bush would not be able to survive a single press conference in England. “It’s pathetic!” he exclaimed. “This is the most important country in the world ... It’s embarrassing because we want America to be great. There is emotion when...

ITHACA - The Ithaca Town Board supports raising taxes on New Yorkers who make more than $250,000 in order to stave off some cuts to education and healthcare and other "essential services." The Board unanimously passed a resolution Monday urging state leaders to pass the Fair Share Tax Reform Act of 2009, which would increase tax rates for the top 3.5 percent of New Yorkers, according to their resolution. Those with taxable income over $250,000 would see a 1.4 percent increase, to 8.25 percent of their total income. Those with income over $500,000 would see a 2.12 percent increase, to...

ITHACA, NY--Love — or, at least, lust — was in the air on Ho Plaza yesterday at 12:15 p.m. A group of roughly 20 students lined up to hold a colorful banner that read “QUEER KISSIN’ … in progress” and then proceeded have a queer kiss-in, which lasted about five minutes. Direct Action to Stop Heterosexism sponsored the event, according to kiss-in participant Ashley McGovern ’09. She explained that heterosexism is “kind of like homophobia except heterosexism has to do with all facets of society … so the normalization of heterosexuality in society.” Heteronormativity refers to the idea that heterosexuality...

ITHACA - A protester dressed in his 1950s-era military uniform threw his shoes at Mayor Carolyn Peterson and brought Common Council's Wednesday night meeting to an almost hour-long standstill, insisting that he wanted to be arrested in protest over the Council's position against the "immoral wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Long-time Ithacan and former Weather Underground member Robin Palmer began speaking at about 7:15 p.m., near the beginning of Council's privilege of the floor, during which any citizen may speak on any topic. Palmer handed out packets of information on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, a Navy vessel sunk during World War...

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...