Archive for May 10th, 2006
The fans showed up under a sunny sky and 80 degrees to cheer on the local hockey team. The Buffalo Sabres were looking for their 3rd win against the Ottawa Senators. (they got it!)
From 4:30 to 6:30 the crowd was entertained by Nik and the Nice Guys. The band was great, they had a multitude of singers which allowed them to play all kinds of music. They did covers from Kelly Clarkson, the Bloodhound Gang, Santana, Lyrnrd Skynrd, and many others. One of the songs was dedicated to Dominik Hasek, the song was Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman”. The fans were dancing and enjoying it all.
Kevin O’Neil, the why guy, introduced many guests including Rick Jeanneret, Larry Playfair, Derek Smith, Darrin Shannon and Tom Golisano. Golisano, by far, received the biggest cheer of the event. The crowd went wild and chanted “thank you Tom, thank you Tom”. It is moments like this that make you appreciate the good things in Buffalo.
Dunn Tire Park was opened and televised the game on the Jumbo-tron for a mere $2 donation that went to charity. If anyone is interested, they will be showing tomorrow’s game on the Jumbo-tron as well.
For those of you who couldn’t make it downtown today, I put together a slideshow of the event. There will be another rally outside the HSBC Arena for tomorrow’s game, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
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If you use FireFox, here’s a handy tip I just ran across. If your mouse has a scroll wheel or middle button, clicking it on a link will automatically open that link in a new tab. Once you get used to doing that, you will be hooked.
Another neat feature of FireFox, combined with the Google toolbar is the Google-bar’s built in spellchecker. It works great for blogging. Anytime you are writing a post or comment, you can use the toolbar spellchecker. That is so easy, that there is no more excuses for misspelled words!
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Erie County was given permission by the U.S. District Court on Monday to join the lawsuit in Federal Court aimed at preventing the casino from being built downtown. The State Supreme Court has not issued a decision yet as to whether or not the County can join the lawsuit filed in State Court.
I am not opposed to gambling, just the stupid deal that Pataki arranged with the Senecas. Also, I am not opposed to a deal with Senecas either, it is just that the current deal is so one-sided that I can’t imagine what was going through the Governor’s head.
Threre have been many news stories about the problems the military is having with achieving recruiting goals. They have lowered standards by signing people with lower test scores, criminal records and even drug problems. I thought that was all pretty bad until I read the following story. The Military has hit a new low and is now recruiting people who are no where near being mentally competent.
An Army of one wrong recruit
Autism - The signing of a disabled Portland man despite warnings reflects problems nationally for military enlistment
Jared Guinther is 18. Tall and lanky, he will graduate from Marshall High School in June. Girls think he’s cute, until they try to talk to him and he stammers or just stands there — silent.
Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Jared is polite but won’t talk to people unless they address him first. It’s hard for him to make friends. He lives in his own private world.
Jared didn’t know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall — shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Southeast Portland strip mall and complimented him on his black Converse All Stars.
“When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, ‘Well, that isn’t going to happen,’ ” said Paul Guinther, Jared’s father. “I told my wife not to worry about it. They’re not going to take anybody in the service who’s autistic.”
But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he not only had enlisted, but also had signed up for the Army’s most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.
Officials are now investigating whether recruiters at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Southeast Portland improperly concealed Jared’s disability, which should have made him ineligible for service.
And if that isn’t enough . . .
A family in Ohio reported that its mentally ill son was signed up, despite rules banning such enlistments and the fact that records about his illness were readily available.
In Houston, a recruiter warned a potential enlistee that if he backed out of a meeting he would be arrested.
And in Colorado, a high school student working undercover told recruiters he had dropped out and had a drug problem. The recruiter told the boy to fake a diploma and buy a product to help him beat a drug test.
Violations such as these forced the Army to halt recruiting for a day last May so recruiters could be retrained and reminded of the job’s ethical requirements.
When Jared’s mother spoke to one of the military recruiters about Jared’s autism the recruiter got cocky and said “he’s an 18 year old man, he doesn’t need his mommy to make his decisions for him”.
The Guinthers are eager to hear whether the Army will release Jared from his enlistment. Jared is disappointed he might not go because he thought the recruiters were his friends, they said. But they’re willing to accept that.
“If he went to Iraq and got hurt or killed,” Paul Guinther said, “I couldn’t live with myself knowing I didn’t try to stop it.”
Unbelievably, after numerous contacts with the army by the family, and The Oregonian newspaper, the Army has still not officially released Jared from his contract to enlist.
