And why aren’t parents allowed school choice for their children?   Oh, wait, there are no good answers to that question.

A school bus fight, mostly among girls from a city elementary school, spilled onto an East Side street Thursday afternoon, and when adults arrived, at least four shots rang out and two were injured, Buffalo police said Friday.

Here’s the good part.

“Once the bus stopped and the students were off, some way, somehow, the altercation continued with family members and other people in and around the bus stop,” said Mychajliw, a spokesman for School Superintendent James A. Williams.

The adults apparently were notified of the disturbance by cell phone calls from the pupils on the bus.

One unidentified man fired four rounds in the direction of the bus, although no one was hit, police reported.

“According to the students on the bus, the gunshots were fired from like a football field away, about 100 yards,” Mychajliw said.

During the fight, at least two people were injured; a 26-year-old man was slashed in the back with a knife or box cutter, and a 33-year-old woman was punched in the face three times, police reports indicated.

No arrests have been made, according to police, and there were no reports of anyone being hospitalized from the fight.

Wake up people, public schools are dysfunctional and parents need the freedom to determine where to educate their children.

The Buffalo News: Home: Shots fired, adults injured as elementary school fight spills from bus into street

Buffalo, Government | No Comments »

But she has no brains! Instead of trying to squelch an investigation in to the alleged wrong doings under her watch, she should be welcoming any investigation that uncovers the truth. Unless, she is guilty as charged.

McKinley High School Principal Crystal Barton is requesting that School Board member Ralph Hernandez be censured for seeking a state investigation into allegations of improprieties at the school.

In light of the serious allegations, it is time for Crystal Barton to step aside until a thorough investigation is complete. The school’s purpose is educating children, not doing the bidding of Crystal Barton.

The Buffalo News: City & Region: Barton demands censure of Hernandez

Technorati tags: McKinley High School, Principal, Crystal Barton, Ralph Hernandez, school board, New York State Power Authority, Department of Regents, education

Buffalo | No Comments »

Unable to sign their potential unrestricted free agent to a long-term deal, the Buffalo Sabres have traded defenceman Brian Campbell to the San Jose Sharks for forward Steve Bernier and a first-round draft pick.

TSN : NHL - Canada’s Sports Leader

Buffalo, Sports | No Comments »

Buffalo ranks 16th out of the 50 most stressful metro areas in the country.  Luckily, there wasn’t a category for taxes as a percentage of income.  Follow the link for the complete story and rankings.

bizjournals: Stress rankings for 50 metros

Buffalo, Musings | 2 Comments »

The Ron Paul Party and Fundraiser will be held Monday, January 21 at Off The Wall on Elmwood.

How many millions will be raised during this money bomb?  Join the fun, socialize and meet other liberty-minded people.  More information is available on the Tonawanda Ron Paul Meetup site.

It is no coincidence that this party is being held on Martin Luther King Day.  Ron Paul strongly advocate equal opportunities for everyone.

Buffalo, Government, National, Ron Paul for President | 1 Comment »

That could be the headline if a voucher system were implemented.  The winners would be the students, parents and the City.  The losers would be under-performing schools.

One of several things Democrat John O. Norquist became famous for during his four terms as mayor of Milwaukee was his enthusiastic implementation of a school-voucher system for his city.

The popularity of the school-choice program, which started in 1991 with 1,500 students and now serves more than 12,000 of the city’s roughly 110,000 students, has helped to reverse Milwaukee’s population decline, Norquist says. It has lured new residents to the city of 602,000 and it has kept many families from leaving for the suburbs when their kids hit school age.

Norquist is currently the president of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Chicago, where he was Thursday, Jan. 10, when I spoke with him by telephone.

Read it all:  Townhall.com::John Norquist and the Lessons of School Choice::By Bill Steigerwald

Buffalo, Government | No Comments »

The Ice Bowl came and went.  You couldn’t ask for a more exciting game, perhaps a different outcome, but the game was terrific!

Below are a couple of photos taken by my 17 year old son.  He braved the cold with his brother to watch the event.  Click on the photos to display a larger version.

Buffalo, Events, Sports | No Comments »

The membership figures cover Meetup groups within a 50 mile radius of Buffalo, New York.

Ron Paul          255

Mike Huckabee  25

Barak Obama      6

The rest, including Hillary, Rudy, and Mitt, adds up to a big fat zip, nada, zero!

Buffalo, Erie County, National, New York State, Ron Paul for President | No Comments »

By and large, the people of Erie County are happy with the state of affairs.  I can only hope that the local economy takes a major turn for the worse.  Maybe then we can get some fresh blood in the Erie County Legislature instead of the same old crowd headed by Marinelli.

Chris Collins overwhelming victory is only a token cry for change from the voters.  If they really wanted change, it would have occurred in the legislature as well.

Len Lenihan’s suggestion that Collins won because of a Republican conspiracy to keep the city vote down is ludicrous.  If anything, it shows that the people who didn’t vote don’t believe Collins will affect them detrimentally.  Keane lost because he is Keane.  Enough said.

A bit of sanity prevailed in Amherst with the defeat of all three propositions on the ballot.

Buffalo, Erie County, Musings | 1 Comment »

The politics of fear is alive and well in Buffalo.  I find the prospect of being searched, in order to board the Metrorail, very intrusive.  I would probably elect to find other transportation if I were to be singled out for a search.  Also, the NYS Terrorism Tips Hotline is totally unnecessary.  People can call 911 to report the bogey man.

I haven’t been on the 2nd floor of the Main Place Mall in quite some time and was pleasantly surprised at the food court.  I ordered lunch from Buffalo Beef & Wing and had a decent Reuben sandwich, chips and a soda for only $5.50.  It was definitely a cut above the typical fast-food fare I was expecting to find.

It would be downright foolish to eliminate the Theater District Metrorail stop.  The distance might not be that great from the Fountain Plaza stop, but the wind chill downtown is enough reason to keep the stop. 

Speaking of the Theater District, it sure was dead at 3 PM this afternoon.

Buffalo, Food & Dining, Government, Ridiculous | No Comments »

The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.

— Voltaire

Buffalo, Erie County, National, New York State | No Comments »

This is exactly what I wrote about here. 

The Buffalo News: Home: Area economy ripe for environment-friendly development

Shibley said in time, with proper government planning, the pendulum could swing back to favor cities in the Great Lakes basin.

What a crock of (fill in the blank)!

A bunch of bureaucrats will sit around deciding who is worthy enough to receive cheap electrical power.

Instead, just dismantle the New York State Power Authority and evenly distribute the real cost of power to all businesses and residents in the area.  Individuals will spur an economic upturn by having more discretionary funds.  Businesses will all benefit and the competition will result in stronger, financially sound companies.

I am already fedup with paying more money for beef and other food because the government wants to subsidize ethanol.  That is a waste of good money.

We do not need a bunch of suits trying to second guess the market while handing out benefits to their cronies.  For once, take the politics out of this whole issue and the result is a no-brainer.

Buffalo, Erie County, Government Waste, National, New York State | No Comments »

Check out the fun details. 

Buffalo, Events, Food & Dining, Music | No Comments »

I managed to score 2 tix through ticketmaster for the Ice Bowl in January, aka, the Winter Classic, January 1, 2008.  The NHL says ideally the weather will be about 20 degrees.  Although that sounds pretty cold, I did survive a January 1994 Bills’ playoff game in Rich Stadium with a temperature of -5 degrees and 40 m.p.h. winds.

Buffalo, Events | 1 Comment »

And there’s no better time to fire up the oven and make a homemade pizza.

The first thing you need to do is make some good dough.  It is not hard and only takes about 10 minutes.  I used this dough recipe from Emeril.  It makes a nice thin, tender, to-the tooth base for your pizza with a bit of character.  After I made the dough I divided it in half and let one piece rise, according to the recipe.  I oiled the other piece, wrapped it in plastic wrap and saved it for tomorrow.  After the dough had risen, I spread it on a lightly floured surface to the desired size.  I sprayed a pizza pan with non-stick spray and dusted it with cornmeal.  Place the dough on the pan and resize it as necessary.  I prefer pizza pans with holes in the bottom.  I’ve had good results with the dough cooking through, and the bottom browning perfectly, without having to deck the pizza directly to the oven rack.  A 500 degree oven is a must!

Once you have the dough stretched and placed on the pan, use your imagination for toppings.  I mixed some ricotta cheese with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and spread it on the dough.  Next, I placed some thinly sliced fresh mozzarella on it.  Then, I grated some good parmesan cheese, using the large side holes on a stand-up, 4 sided grater and added that to the pizza.  Do not used pre-grated cheese, that is just laziness.  A generous grinding of pepper was added next. 

I purchases some roasted tomatoes and roasted mildly hot red peppers with garlic from the olive bar in Wegmans and added them to the pizza.  I shaved 2 cloves of the garlic very thin before adding to the pizza.  I plucked about 12 leaves from my basil plant, rolled them up and made a chiffonade to top off the pizza.  The last step before baking is to drizze some extra-virgin olive on the pizza.

Pop it into a 500 degree oven and bake for about 12 minutes.  Rotate the pizza occasionally to ensure even cooking and check the bottom when the top looks nearly done.  If the bottom doesn’t look nearly golden brown, slide the pizza off the pan and let it finish directly on the oven rack.  I use the rack on the second notch from the bottom.  Be careful not to overcook the pizza dough.

While the pizza is baking, uncork a nice red wine and let it breathe a bit.  I washed the pizza down with a full-bodied Napa Valley Cabernet, a 2005 Rooftop Red from C&T Cellars, purchased from wine.woot.com.  Woot has a different wine deal each week featuring good quality, moderately priced wines.

ENJOY! (click any pic for a large version)

Buffalo, Food & Dining, Raves | No Comments »