New York State Governor Elliot Spitzer was in Rochester yesterday where he announced as part of his revitalizing Upper New York State plan that the Midtown Plaza in downtown Rochester is coming down. In it’s place, a brand new, world headquarters, for PaeTec Communication. This is a huge announcement for Rochester as city leaders have been trying to figure out for years how to turn the downtown area around.

But, here’s the rub. Clear Channel owns 7 radio stations in Rochester, all located in the Midtown Plaza!

I wonder if the Governor, or PaeTec Communication, took into account that you just don’t move radio stations over night. The next few years for some radio stations in downtown Rochester just got a whole lot more interesting.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

A famous line from Al Gore as he continues to push his global warming agenda. It’s true, we do have a planetary emergency on our hands. But, it has nothing to do with global warming. Instead, the emergency revolves around the fact that for some reason the Nobel Peace Prize people decided to award Al Gore the prize for his work on global warming!

What? Come on folks, lets get real here. His so-called Inconvenient Truth movie is nothing more than a movie filled with inaccuracies which recognized scientist around the world laugh at. Why is there such a fascination with a man who still says the election was stolen from him. The Nobel Peace prize used to be a well recognized, and well sought after acknowledgment. But now it’s nothing more than a joke.

All I can say is this, when I was a kid growing up I was taught that by the year 2010 we’d all be dead from starvation as the earth would be covered in ice and snow. Why? Because we were heading for an ice age. The inconvenient truth put forth by Al Gore revolves around the fact that he’s a man with a little bit of knowledge about many topics. He then proof texts what he wants to believe and because of who he is, people listen.

In response to that there are two things we need to remember. First, when you proof text, sooner or later your proof text becomes a poof text as it all goes up in smoke. Secondly, Al Gore is no E.F. Hutton, so it’s time we stop listening when he speaks.

Just my two cents;
Dr. Rus

The Buffalo Bills made a rare appearance on Monday Night Football last night. It’s been 13 years since the last time the Bills had a home game broadcast on a Monday night and the fans turned out in grand style. The Bills took on the Dallas Cowboys and almost won! As a matter of fact, it appeared like the Cowboys didn’t really turn it on until the last 20 seconds of the game. They went on to beat the Buffalo Bills by one point on a field goal.

While it was an exciting end to the game, I must admit I’m getting really tired of the antics some coaches have been pulling lately in the NFL. With just a few seconds remaining in a game, many teams try for a field goal to get the win. Then, all of a sudden the whistle blows as the team about to lose, calls a time out. Come on guys, give me a break! Is that the best you can do? Multi-million dollar player and coaching contracts and that’s the best you got? This is nothing more than a cry-baby-school-yard-antic that 10 year old kids pull while playing a game of pick-up football.

Any major league coach that stoops to this level of play and distraction should be embarrassed at the cry-baby antics and leave the field for good. It’s called poor sportsmanship and you’re an embarrasment to sport.

Just my two cents;
Dr. Rus

It’s another sad and tragic story, that didn’t need to happen.

On September 29 three teens and one recent high school graduate all lost their lives in a terrible accident near Canisteo, New York. The wrecked car containing their bodies wasn’t found until late Monday afternoon, nearly three days after the tragic accident. The four had left an all night party to get a snack around 3 o’clock in the morning. That was the last time they were seen alive.

Now a New York State Police report says all four were intoxicated at the time of the crash. The driver was 17 years old and only had a junior license. That means he wasn’t even supposed to be driving after 9 o’clock at night, and when he did drive, he was supposed to have a parent or legal guardian with him. The teen had a blood alcohol content of .13, which is over the legal limit, three days after the party! The others killed in the crash were a 15 year old, another 17 year old and a 21 year old. Three were high school students, while the 21 year old was a recent graduate. New York State Police also say all of those in attendance at the all night party were underage, and that means someone served them alcohol, illegally.

Now, as I said above, this is a terrible tragedy. However, it begs the question, will the adults who own the property where the party was held, be held responsible? I think they should be. After all, bartenders and bar owners are held responsible for patrons who leave their establishments drunk and get into an accident. There is also an even larger issue going on in this case. Not only did the adults know the party was going on and that there was drinking, they also had to know all of those attending the party were underage. The police know where the party was held, so why not track down the owners, and arrest them? Will this happen? We’ll have to wait and see.

We live in a time when many adults don’t want to parent their kids. Instead, they want to be their best friend and let them get away with drinking and other things that simply shouldn’t take place. While it’s true parents need to be friends with their kids, it’s more important that they parent their kids. That means being smart and not blantantly breaking the law.

No matter how you look at it, underage drinking is against the law and really stupid. Many times parents say “it will never happen to my kids.” But, the sad reality is, many times such drinking parties end in tragedy taking the lives of the innocent.

Lets find the adults who own the property where the party was held, and hold them responsible for taking the lives of four young people.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

It looks like someone inverted the field of drivers when looking at the starting lineup for the Nextel NASCAR race in Talladega today. Sitting in the number one position, none other than Michael Waltrip in the 55 NAPA car.

How in the world did that happen you ask. It’s actually quite simple. It’s an example of how racing is supposed to work. NASCAR has become so image concerned, blatantly catering to the big budget teams, that new teams, or even worse, single car teams, have little to no chance of making races on a weekly basis. Why? Because NASCAR has a silly rule that says if you’re in the top 35 in the overall point standings, you’re guaranteed a starting position, every week.

How silly is that!? For baseball that would be like saying since the New York Yankees have won 26 championships, 39 pennants, 14 division titles and have appeared in post-season play 42 times, they’re always guaranteed a spot in the World Series every year. Would that ever happen? Of course not. Mainly because if you don’t earn your spot on the field, you don’t get to play.

But, with NASCAR, the system is set up to favor the winning team. If they don’t work as hard as the other teams, that doesn’t matter. They’ll get a bye and end up in the race anyway. That’s exactly what happened with the race today. It’s an impound race which means once the field was set after qualifying, no one could touch their cars. As a result, the teams that know they’re in the show, didn’t care about qualifying. All they’re concerned about is race day. However, for teams that had to qualify, they worked hard and blew everyone else off the speed chart. I say way to go Mikey, and every other “go or go home” driver who made it into the race today. Even Jacques Villeneuve, whom I don’t think should be racing today because he has little to no experience in a stock car, I say way to go since he qualified 6th.

But, here’s another rub. Boris Said, who’s in a single car team, qualified 10th. One would think Said is very happy. But, he’s not. Why? Because he had to load up and go home. How in the world did that happen? He qualified 10th out of a field of 43 and he has to go home? That’s because he doesn’t hold one of the guaranteed spots for the race. In other words, people like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, or any other driver in the top 12 in points who decided to blow off qualifying, still made the race. But Boris Said, who went faster than any one of them, has to go home. And yes, just so I won’t show my bias too much here, even Matt Kenseth, the driver of the 17 car which I am a fan of, if he didn’t drive fast enough, then he too should go home.

How stupid is that. In my opinion, if you don’t drive fast enough to get into the race, then you don’t get to race on Sunday. Come on NASCAR, lets stop penalizing the little guy and stop sucking up to the guy with the big bucks. For the NASCAR officials who can’t figure out why their fan base is on shaky ground, give me a call, I’ll give you a few pointers as to what’s going on.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

The idea that our legal system has long been broken is no secret. However, this morning I arrived in the newsroom to find yet another blatant example of just how broken the legal system really is.

In 2002 Edward Rolon Rodriguez of Rochester, New York stabbed a woman eight times, including twice in the heart. He then dumped her body along some railroad tracks and set it on fire. In 2004 a jury found Rodriguez guilty of murder and a Judge sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison. But, now he could go free! No one questions whether he committed the killing because he freely admits he did it. But, now the case and the sentence could be thrown out because of a technicality.

Thrown out on a technicality!? The guy readily admits he did it, and now it could be thrown out on a technicality? No wonder people are losing faith in the judicial system. It just might be true - criminals do have more rights than the victim.

It’s a sad state of affairs when a person who admits he not only killed a woman, but stabbed her and then set her on fire, might go free because of some legal loophole. Instead of looking for technicalities to get criminals off, maybe more time should be spent on closing the loopholes.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus