Red cross has been there all week, don't believe everything you see on TV

They need money more than stuff. Stuff requires storage space and people to sort, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/nyregi...

Cannot wait. This place makes bombers look like taco bell.

Has there ever been a better argument for consolidation of government in Schenectady County?

The county pays for medicaid and welfare because they are obligated to by state law, the state also pays for over half and although much of it goes to City residents, seniors in nursing homes on average are the biggest recipients of Medicaid. Either way that funding does nothing to help City government pay bills and reduce the burden on the city so paying for medicaid and welfare is irrelevant.

I don't care where the sales taxes are collected, that is a function of retailers location trying to avoid property taxes. Because a store happens to be 5 feet over the city line in Niskayuna that means Niskayuna generates all the revenue? Over half the population in schenectay county lives in the city yet only 1/5 of the sales tax revenue comes back?

Is Carl Erikson the only person on the Council who can understand a budget deal? Peggy King is worried about the library, once again proving herself the longest serving clueless elected person ever.

Those are not cash benefits. Cash benefits for a family of 4 are about $300 per month.Look it up on the states OTDA website. Medicaid payments go directly to doctors or hospitals not to recipients, who are mostly children and seniors and disabled by the way. Maybe we can put those lazy fat pre-schoolers to work. Food stamps are also not cash but used on a debit card for food only, unless there is fraud. Food stamps are a federal benefit, championed by George Bush and no different in NY than Alabama. This woman may have lied and cheated to get her benefits and she was caught. She didn't get something becauseNY is too liberal. Why don't you try learning some facts before you spout off your simple cliches

Ok just to be clear, although I have differed with Carl on his treatment of Israel, my thoughts about Muslims and Arabs have nothing in common with those espoused by wmarincic.

I am all in favor of ending this outdated identification of people by religion or ethnicity or race and having nations where it doesn't matter. All I am saying is that I think Israel for all its obvious flaws, is actually closer to that ideal than any of its neighbors or a potential Palestinian state. I'm for a non-violent, democratic, universal, secular state but not suicide.

Would jews who protest in support of palestinians in Israel (not an insubstantial number) worry about their lives for acknowledging it publicly as the people below? Carl take a look at what the mindset is on the other side of this fight, and as I said before the story didn't begin in 1948. If the war of 48 ended differently we would have a much different situation although just as bloody. So maybe the jews should have lost and not created Israel. What is your point Carl?

October 3, 2011
Israeli Army, Muslim Soldiers

McSweeney's is a literary quarterly that's featured the likes ofJonathan Franzen and Elmore Leonard. Quality fiction that gets under your skin is its hallmark. Nonfiction stories about Arab-Israeli soldiers fighting terrorism? Not usually its thing.

In the magazine's latest issue, however, there is just that: a 60-page essay by journalist Chanan Tigay about Arab soldiers (some Christian or Druze, but the majority of whom are Muslim) in theIsrael Defense Forces. The article opens with a literal shock: two of the brigade's Jeeps are driving down a dirt road, and one is blown up by a bomb. The driver is killed.

What prompted McSweeney's to feature Arab-Israeli soldiers was simple: No other media outlet would. Had the jeep's driver been Jewish, writes Tigay, his death would have been plastered across the country's newspapers. However, this Muslim soldier received a civilian burial and no press coverage--all at the request of his family, who lived in Arab villages and feared repercussions from other villagers harboring anti-Israel sentiments.

Life as an Arab Israeli soldier is a conflict on every level. They're a minority within a minority, often contending with violence and distrust both from their fellow soldiers and from the Arab villages where their families live. Tigay never flinches from describing these soldiers’ heroism, and also the difficulties they face.

good one paul. Tell him to ask Salman Rushdie or the Danish cartoonist whether they would rather publish in Israel the intolerant, tribal jewish state or Greater Palestine after Hamas consolidates control.

I'm jewish and have seen too many of my "tribe" throw accusations of anti-semitism when someone criticizes Israel and judaism. Its a lazy person's response to a well written column. My problem is that what good is Carl's analysis for the mid-east reality. If Israel were to cease being a state that favors one tribe , the Jews, and became part of a larger "democratic" palestine what would happen? You think there would be a more tolerant government or society? Israeli jews live in a tribal world and the other tribes outnumber them and would be happy to kill many more of their adults and children, its just that they are not as effective at it as the Israelis. Yes the tribal mentality and view of the world is not what I believe a nation should be built on, but as they say, what is the alternative in that situation? The other tribes living there didn't start hating the jews when Israel declared independence or after the jews defeated them in war. Unfortunately the tribal hatred and killing has gone on for too long and is whipped up by much of arab society and government. Maybe if tribal and religious identity goes away Israel can become part of a true US style "open for anyone" democracy. How we get to that point is the question, but Carl don't just ask for the jews to change.

pbd, He likened it to apartheid but that would mean all palestinians were subject to the rules of the west bank but that is not true for palestinians who are israeli citizens. It is not apartheid but martial law. You may argue it a difference in name only, I believe Israel's policy and treatment of palestinians on the west bank is wrong and unfair, but Israel hardly compares to South Africa under apartheid. There are real risks of death to Israelis from people on the west bank, so there is some security basis, although that doesn't make Israeli policy there right. As far as your comment that how does US support oppressive regimes or policies, LOL you need to learn some history and foreign affairs my friend. Do you buy products and indirectly support the government of china? Ask the minority tibetans and others how they feel about that oppressive regime? You buy petroleum products originating in Saudi Arabia? Ask minorities such as Shia muslims how they like that oppressive regime? No only Israel is the monster nation worse than Syria? Burma? Tell me where. Do you even have an idea what Israel as a nation is like, the open democracy, protests in favor of west bank citizens, etc.? Tell me another nation in the middle east even close to Israel in freedom of press, rights for women,etc. etc.