Calculating Whether Hybrid or Electric Cars Are Right For You

Since you can't quite tell whether it makes financial sense to buy a hybrid car or the plug-in electric car such as the Chevy Volt, or even the all-electric Nissan Leaf, based simply on pronouncements made by the companies themselves about mileage estimates, here's a handy dandy calculator that can help narrow down the choice.

It lets you compare hybrids, hybrid-electric plug ins, and all electric cars with each other and even to gas powered cars using information you can plug in for how many miles you drive, the kind of miles driven, costs for gas, electricity, and the purchase price after tax credits are taken into effect.

What it shows may be surprising to some, but not to me.

I found that when using my own mileage information, the Toyota Corolla ends up saving me thousands of dollars over 10 years compared with the Chevy Volt (nearly all of the difference due to the higher purchase cost). The Nissan Leaf may actually eek out a victory over the Corolla due to its lower price point, but it takes nearly 10 years to do so.

More Misinformation About ARC Tunnel Costs Emerge

It appears that Gov. Christ Christie has again delayed his decision to can the ARC tunnel project.

That comes on the heels of a Star Ledger report that claims Christie has conflated the Portal Bridge project with the ARC tunnel in coming up with a combined budget of $11 to $13 billion - cost overruns that total more than $3 to $5 billion and that the cost overruns for the ARC Tunnel are really about $1 billion. The headline is that the federal estimate is lower than what Christie continues stating.

Except that isn't what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said. He gave a range of cost overruns for the ARC Tunnel starting at $1 billion - an amount that New Jersey still can't absorb. No figure was given for the high estimate.

Moreover, the Portal Bridge is facing cost overruns from the $750 million as originally proposed; the latest figures show $1.34 billion for the bridge replacement project. Both projects are necessary to eliminate choke points on the Northeast Corridor, but the ARC tunnel creates a different set of problems since the tunnel doesn't lead to space sufficient to handle the traffic flow expected down the road.

So, it doesn't matter whether Christie combined the two projects or not. The cost overruns are still there and they're still substantial enough to give the Governor pause on going forward with a project where New Jersey lacks the ability to absorb the cost overruns.

Then, the Star Ledger misstates the length of the tunnel. It claims that the tunnel is going to be nine miles long. That is a mischaracterization of the length. The physical length of the tunnel will be 3.5 miles including separate tunnels under North Bergen and then under the Hudson River into its terminus. By counting each tunnel boring separately, you get 9 miles (but by that estimate - the $10 billion Gotthard tunnel would be 70 miles in length; 35 miles multiplied by 2 tracks).

Water tunnel #3, linking New York City with upstate reservoirs is more than 60 miles long and costs $6 billion when it is completed in 2020. That project, which includes multiple tunnel boring machines, carving out huge connecting valve galleries to permit shutoff and maintenance of the first two tunnels with upstate reservoirs build early last century.

This project is poorly conceived, particularly on the Manhattan side, where the rail tunnel terminates under Herald Square and there is no place for trains to go once they have disembarked their passengers except back into New Jersey. There is no surplus storage, and the site is hemmed in by that water tunnel. The better route would have been to connect directly into Penn Station, where disembarked trains can then travel into Sunnyside Queens or utilize the space on the West Side.

Moreover, those citing the lower cost projections themselves caution that estimates are imprecise and are subject to revision. It never seems that those projections go down - only up. The Record indicates that the ARC tunnel was on budget through August 31, but notes that NJ Transit and the Federal Transportation Authority were both indicating a range for the completed project above the $8.7 billion.

That's why Gov. Christie is doing what he can to make sure that New Jersey taxpayers and commuters aren't on the hook for the higher costs.

Indeed, why is it that so many proponents of the project are pooh-poohing the $1 billion cost overage as though that is nothing to sneeze at. The New Jersey budget is roughly $32 billion, and will cost the state hundreds of millions in debt costs every year until it gets paid off (if ever - considering that all too frequently the debt gets refinanced to lower the immediate payment but lengthens the term of repayment considerably). Cost overruns need to be addressed, and proponents have not done a sufficient job of explaining why they are occurring here.

And it's curious why Assembly Transportation Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) wants to compare the inability to build this tunnel with the Gotthard base tunnel project, when the costs per mile favor the Swiss project by a considerable margin. In fact, no one can explain why the costs for the ARC tunnel are so much higher per mile even when factoring in acquisition costs for real estate to carry out the project in Manhattan and New Jersey.

The Aqueduct Casino Bidding Process: A Scathing Indictment of NY Graft and Political Folly

A new report by the state inspector general has found widespread problems with the process by which the Aqueduct racetrack was set out to bid for turning it into a hotel and casino complex and how several key Democrats engaged in unethical behavior in order to secure a bid for AEG.

Suffice it to say, none of the top Democrats in Albany come off looking good in this. That includes Governor David Paterson, top Senate Democrats John Sampson and Malcolm Smith, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:

The report says that the bidder, a consortium called the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, marshaled funds at the behest of the state’s Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, casting “a taint on the motives behind the Senate leadership’s support of” Aqueduct Entertainment. The investigation included interviews with senators and other state officials, as well as internal e-mail among Aqueduct Entertainment members and lobbyists.

Citing possible violations of laws governing public officials by John L. Sampson, the Senate Democratic leader from Brooklyn; Malcolm A. Smith, the Senate president from Queens; and Angelo Aponte, the appointed Senate secretary, the inspector general’s office said it was referring its findings to federal and state prosecutors and the Legislative Ethics Committee.

“At each turn, our state leaders abdicated their public duty, failed to impose ethical restraints and focused on political gain at a cost of millions to New Yorkers,” Inspector General Joseph Fisch said in a statement. “Shamefully, the public’s best interest was a matter of militant indifference to them.”

The report — following a classic outline of state business distorted by lobbyists, politics and money — emerges in the final weeks of an election season in which candidates across New York State have vowed to clean up Albany.

Besides the Senate leaders, the report faults close aides to Gov. David A. Paterson for not keeping him apprised of concerns about Aqueduct Entertainment, blames the governor himself for relinquishing control of the process and criticizes the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, for Sphinx-like silence despite his own knowledge of Aqueduct Entertainment’s problems.

Mr. Paterson, along with leaders of the Senate and the Assembly, selected Aqueduct Entertainment in January to operate 4,500 electronic slot machines at Aqueduct, a franchise worth tens of millions of dollars a year to the operator and an estimated $1.5 million a day in tax revenue for the state’s depleted coffers.

The franchise was ultimately revoked by Gov. Paterson over outcry over the problems with the AEG bid and the new contract was ultimately won by Genting New York, a subsidiary of the Malaysian casino consortium.

This wont be the last we hear of this as the matter has been referred to federal investigators look into criminal and ethical malfeasance by those named in the report. Most egregious is the finding that Senate officials leaked confidential information to AEG’s lobbyists, and got campaign contributions in return. Also named in the investigation is Buffalo Democrat State Sen. Antoine M. Thompson, who allegedly received $8,600 for his lobbying efforts on behalf of AEG for pushing the AEG bid.

Protests and Riots Continue As French Protest Pension Changes; UPDATE: Senate Approves Pension Reform

Protests continue across France as a result of ongoing protests and riots against the French government's plans to adjust the retirement age for pensioners. It's caused widespread fuel shortages as protesters have blocked fuel shipments from refineries around the country. Efforts to stop the blockades have been mixed as problems continue in some parts of the country. The country has even been forced to import electricity from neighboring countries as workers at nuclear power plants have been hit with a rolling strike cutting production.

France was forced to import electricity as unions announced that strikes against an increase to the retirement age would spread over the next two weeks.

The unions said production had been cut at four nuclear power plants because of a 10-day rolling strike, while at least 12 of France's 58 reactors are closed for maintenance. Work has stopped at two of three liquefied natural gas terminals.
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With all of France's oil refineries out of action and a quarter of its petrol stations without fuel, police took action yesterday.

They took control of the entrance to the Grandpuits oil refinery, scuffling with pickets and dealing with a barricade of burning tyres.

The officers advanced without batons or tear-gas, clearing an 80-strong ''citizens' cordon'' of strikers and local supporters cordon with bare hands, although there were scuffles as the officers cleared the entrance.

France's Environment and Transport Minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said in a radio interview the police operation had not been designed to restart refining at Grandpuits, but to gain access to fuel already stocked there.

The retirement age is to be raised to 62 from 60. This has sparked protests and riots, despite the need to keep the pension fund solvent.

UPDATE:
Despite the protests, riots, and fuel and energy distribution disruptions, the French Senate has passed the pension reform bill, which will now head to a conference reconcile the versions passed by the National Assembly and the Senate before it can be signed by President Sarkozy into law.

On Monday, a joint committee of senators and members of the National Assembly will work to reconcile the two versions of the measure, and the final package could be ready for President Nicolas Sarkozy to sign later in the week.

Protesters have scuffled with police and blockaded oil refineries and terminals for days as tensions flared over the proposal to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 -- a measure that the government says is necessary to save money.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government's announced goal is to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of gross domestic product by next year, an ambitious goal.

What Happens If Republicans Win Big And Nothing Changes?

Republicans are looking like they're going to regain control over the House of Representatives and a slim chance at winning control of the Senate. A divided Congress would mean that the only way that key legislation could get through - and that includes the budgets, military appropriations, etc., is on the basis of compromise.

Such compromise isn't exactly in the vocabulary of the Tea Party voters who are trying to send a message to Washington that the status quo is unacceptable. Their candidates that do get elected will quickly find themselves in a position of having to vote on measures that should deserve their vote.

These are candidates who have overpromised change and fiscal responsibility, but which will get a bitter lesson in the fiscal realities of the federal government. They may hope to overturn the health care legislation enacted earlier this year only to find that they lack the votes or wherewithal to get that legislation passed through Congress, let alone obtain sufficient votes to overrule a Presidential veto that would surely come with such efforts.

They may hope to cut funding on social programs, but find that they again run into the same political realities.

That, in turn, may result in a moderation of the party leadership into a more pragmatic view towards the long term. What this may do to the Tea Party is nothing short of causing apoplexy.

In other words, just as Republicans once painted Democrats as socialists, Marxists, and communists for their health care plans and takeover of whole sectors of the economy - the reality turned out to be quite different. Democrats did make hash of the health care reform (as I've repeatedly pointed out problems with the legislation that actually impose higher costs on consumers - not reduced costs as promised).

Now, we've got Democrats painting Republicans as extremists and the reality may turn out to be quite different.

Or one could hope.

If the Republicans do indeed turn out to be far more radical in their policy shift than their public persona - the Tea Party - then we will face a far more acrimonious two-year period running up to the 2012 elections than in any recent election.

So, what would happen if the Republicans don't win the majority in the House, and fail to take the Senate. Then all bets are off as to what the Tea Party would do. They would probably riot against the Republican leadership and blame the leadership for failing to win the votes rather than finding that the real fault lay in truly flawed candidates who were incompetent, racist, and blowhards, out-of-touch with reality, and far more radical than their constituencies (all voters, not just party faithful).

Cholera Outbreak Threatens Public Health In Haiti

Haitians who are still recovering from the devastating earthquake that destroyed much of the capital of Port au Prince are now facing a medical threat in the form of a cholera epidemic.

Haiti's President Rene Preval confirmed the outbreak of cholera Friday in the quake-hit country's central region, saying his government was taking measures to try to stop the disease spreading.

"I can confirm it is cholera," Preval told Reuters, as Haitian and international health officials confronted the poor Caribbean nation's biggest medical crisis since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The outbreak in the rural Artibonite region, which hosts thousands of quake refugees, appeared to confirm relief groups' fears about sanitation for homeless survivors living in tarp cities and other squalid settlements.

"We have been afraid of this since the earthquake," said Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor, which was preparing to fly in donations of antibiotics, dehydration salts and other supplies.

Many of the sick have converged on St. Nicholas hospital in the seaside city of St. Marc, where hundreds of dehydrated patients lay on blankets in a parking lot with IVs in their arms as they waited for treatment.

The epidemic has broken out in areas that weren't greatly affected by the quake, but instead became refuges for those fleeing the capital. Prompt medical assistance is critical in reducing and eliminating mortality among those suffering from the disease, which can cause rapid dehydration through severe vomiting and diarrhea. Primary treatment is with orals or intravenous rehydration solutions.

This outbreak again refocuses attention on the dire situation in Haiti and the slow pace of rebuilding the infrastructure in the country to deal with the threats posed by quakes and tropical storms.

Investigations Continue Into Malfeasance and Fiscal Shenanigans In Bell, California

The more investigators dig, the more they find. Shenanigans abound from the petty to substantial and it indicates a culture of corruption and entitlement pervaded the city government.

A separate redevelopment account, the Capitol Projects Fund, was also inappropriately charged $242,268 for labor. The former CAO was paid $171,444, the DAS was paid $38,117, and former Assistant CAO Angela Spaccia was paid $27,066 from the fund. Once again, these payments were made without any evidence that any work activity was related to the fund.

Members of the Bell City Council also served on the Redevelopment Agency’s governing board, and were authorized to charge $60 a month for serving on the agency’s board. The Controller’s audit revealed, however, that the members were receiving $55.38 every two weeks, instead of the maximum $60 a month. In addition, two former board members received a stipend of $27.69 every two weeks even though they were no longer members of the board. The audit revealed that the agency’s governing board rarely met, and when Bell City Council members did convene as the agency’s governing board, the majority of those meetings lasted for three minutes or less.

The Redevelopment Agency also was cited for repeatedly failing to comply with the State’s Health and Safety codes. The agency did not correctly adopt an annual budget, compile annual reports, properly set aside housing funds, or prepare five-year implementation plans. The agency also overstated its outstanding debt in financial reports.

A separate audit of the city’s Gas Tax Fund and Traffic Congestion Relief Fund disclosed a number of inappropriate expenditures. An earlier report from the Controller found the city had paid the consulting firm D&J Engineering – which, at the time, was owned by the city’s Director of Planning Services, Dennis Tarango – $10.4 million without a written contract. This audit found the city also inappropriately paid the firm $301,810 from the Gas Tax Fund during the past three years, and without a contract for services.

The Controller found several other unallowable payments made to contractors from the Gas Tax Fund, including:

* $129,600 in overpayments for general maintenance services on public streets
* $76,992 for street sweeping services without a written contract
* $7,806 for painting house numbers on curbs, a benefit to property owners, not the public
* $4,878 in overpayments to an asphalt contractor

All of these inappropriate charges, illegal billings, and costs were borne by taxpayers in Bell, who faced among the highest tax bills in the state despite being among the poorer municipalities per capita. It was part of the systematic fleecing of taxpayers in Bell by city officials and the arrests and indictments are not going to be sufficient. The state has enacted legislation to help Bell residents.

Food Fights Revisited

You might think that Mayor Mike Bloomberg's move to curb calories on restaurant menus or transfats might be a new fad. You might think that banning some products from sale is new.

Heck, you might think that portion sizes are larger now than they have ever been and are contributing to the nation's problems with obesity and related health issues.

You might be surprised to learn that you would be wrong.

In the most recent book to grace my nightstand, Appetite City, A Culinary History of New York, what's old is new again. It's a fascinating history of New York and the people who kept the city fed. From humble beginnings, the city developed into a mecca for food - innovating and reinventing itself regularly.

It's in that process of reinvention that we see some of the same issues come up from time to time.

Calorie counts on menus are hardly a new idea. Some restaurants experimented with calorie counts on their menus - before they went out of business.

Portion size was always an issue - lobster houses catered to patrons on the basis of how much you could get for your money. Bang for your buck was the name of the game, and not much has changed.

Then, there's the matter of obtaining food locally and from only the freshest sources. It's something that is in vogue today, even though experts frequently can't tell the difference between food obtained at a greenmarket and the supermarket. Local-vorism, which emphasizes obtaining foods locally might seem like a new trend, but it was something restaurateurs were experimenting with at the turn of the last century.

Some restaurants attempted to showcase locally grown food in immaculate setting. Gustav Stickley, one of the foremost advocates of the Arts and Crafts style and the Craftsman movement, built a restaurant at his furniture showroom and department store in Manhattan and stocked it with food fresh from his farm - Craftsman Farms in New Jersey. The restaurant didn't succeed, but the farm is still there.

So, far from being new trends, these are issues that have faced consumers since there were restaurants.

The National 9/11 Museum and Memorial Should Never Impose Entry Fees

Joe Daniels, the president of the organization putting together the national 9/11 memorial and museum project at Ground Zero told WNYC radio that he believed that an entry fee would be necessary to offset the annual operating costs that would run $50 million a year. (Via Gothamist).

That is simply unacceptable.

While Daniels hedges that families of 9/11 victims would never have to pay the fee, how exactly is he going to make sure that the fee isn't collected from those folks.

Several national parks and monuments around the nation do not currently charge entry fees. Mount Rushmore doesn't collect an entry fee, but does impose a $10 parking fee that defrays the cost of the new parking garage built a few years ago.

The monuments in Washington, DC do not impose entry fees, including the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or World War II memorials (to name a few).

The Pearl Harbor Memorial does not impose entry fees.

Nor should the 9/11 memorial and museum at Ground Zero.

Congress - and in particular the New York and New Jersey delegations should make sure that the funding is set aside for the National Park Service for perpetual care and maintenance at the memorial and museum.

Meanwhile, four years ago a bill that would have prevented the imposition of fees if the museum and memorial charged entry fees died at the hands of Gov. Pataki who refused to sign it into law. No measure has been taken up since by either the state Senate or Assembly.

With the opening of the facilities to the public in less than two years (parts of the memorial will be open next year for the 10th anniversary of the attacks) securing the financing is paramount.

A Not Quite Rightous Rant on the ARC Tunnel Nonsense

Brian Donohue at the Star Ledger has a story on their site about the craziness surrounding the ARC Tunnel and the bickering among the politicians and Gov. Christie's demand that the state not be held accountable for cost overruns. He even has a video with a not quite righteous rant about the project.

The ARC tunnel saga: a sad state of affairs

In that video, he mentions that the wars in Iraq cost $1.1 trillion dollars and that we could have built quite a bit with that money (except that no one knows what money would have been spent considering that in the years prior to 2001 the government never spent more than a few billion dollars on infrastructure in New Jersey as a part of the federal transportation bills such as TEA-21).

Donohue mentions that if New Jersey repeals the law requiring self-service gas, prices at the pumps could drop a few cents and the state could raise the tax a few pennies to keep prices at the current levels. That's just trimming away at the margins, because the state's fiscal problems are much deeper than just trying to salvage the Transportation Trust Fund that spends a significant percentage on debt payment - far more than it can bear.

No, what gets glossed over is the fact that the Swiss recently reached a major milestone in completing the Gotthard base tunnel - a 2 tunnel system with miles of additional connecting passageways and emergency stations carved out of solid rock, which stretches 35 miles and cost $10 billion. The ARC tunnel is just over 1 mile in length including approaches and we're talking about $10 billion. What justifies that kind of cost?

No one wants to discuss that particular aspect, nor does anyone want to pay serious attention to the fact that the French have been able to lay high speed rail by the mile at a fraction of the cost of projects here in the US. That includes the proposed Las Vegas to California route through vast expanses of open desert.

Major infrastructure in the Northeast in particular was built more than a century ago, and it's showing its age and wear and tear. That means that the operating costs for those projects are higher because of higher maintenance. The Brooklyn Bridge is undergoing just the latest in a series of rehabilitation that will make it capable of carrying traffic for the next two decades, but costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

The existing pair of Hudson River tunnels was built a century ago, and besides the PATH tubes, are the only rail links into Manhattan from New Jersey. That has to change, but the ARC tunnel isn't the way to get it done.

As I noted yesterday, misplaced priorities plays a big role in NJ Transit being in a fiscal bind it faces. It has cut service and has shown itself incapable of maintaining the system at its current level, yet it is clamoring for a new rail station and tunnel system that it wants the state to cover on cost overruns but which it can't afford. Instead of linking the tunnels back into Penn Station, NJ Transit wants a separate terminus in Manhattan that does nothing to alleviate congestion or problems if a disabled train blocks one of the tracks to Penn Station.

Then, there's the issue with the Portal Bridge (a movable span on the Hackensack River), which is yet another bottleneck that Donohue doesn't mention. That bit of infrastructure is also 100 years old and is the site of repeated delays. Replacing that bridge is just as important, and even that project is expected to run $1 billion or more. Building that fixed span replacement would eliminate many of the delays that customers regularly face on the Northeast Corridor, and yet the state and federal government couldn't find the money in the stimulus package to get work underway last year. That is on the New Jersey congressional delegation that includes Sen. Frank Lautenberg who is on the transportation committee and whose name graces the Secaucus Transfer.

A replacement for a critical piece of infrastructure doesn't get nearly the press of a new tunnel system, but the outcomes are the same if they don't get built - delays and reliance on obsolete infrastructure that increases travel times along one of the most heavily traveled stretches of rail in the nation.

Hiram Monserrate Indicted For Skimming $100k+ From His Nonprofit Organization

Former New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate, a Democrat from Queens, was indicted on federal corruption charges, including mail fraud and conspiracy.

Mr. Monserrate, who was a New York police officer before entering politics, was accused of steering $300,000 in discretionary city money to a group he controlled and using at least one-third of it to pay for his first run for the New York State Senate.

It is unclear how much of it was put to legitimate use. “We are still in the process of looking at information and calculating things,” said Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.

The charges are another embarrassment for Mr. Monserrate, whose political career was unraveled by a criminal conviction that resulted in his becoming the first lawmaker expelled from the State Legislature since Calvin Coolidge was president. Mr. Monserrate surrendered on Tuesday, becoming the latest lawmaker from New York City to stand accused of public corruption.

According to an indictment, workers at Libre served as an extension of Mr. Monserrate’s campaign, going door to door in western Queens, registering voters and collecting signatures to get Mr. Monserrate on the ballot in 2006.

“Worthy nonprofits have access to public money because they’re meant to be a resource to the community, not a piggy bank to politicians,” Mr. Bharara said at a news conference.

For those who have followed Monserrate's exploits, this is not surprising. Monserrate has done little to show that he upholds the law and has repeatedly shown that he is nothing more than a thug in a suit (witness the conviction on misdemeanor assault on his girlfriend and subsequent expulsion from the Senate).

The truly sad part is that many politicians have set up nonprofits that operate in much the same way that Monserrate had done. They then feed those nonprofits from member items that are included in the annual budget and put their own family and friends to work at those nonprofits.

Among those whose nonprofits are being scoured for criminality, Monserrate's partner in crime, Pedro Espada Jr. It was this duo that decided to shut down the State Senate and engaged in a "coup" to give power back to the Republicans because the duo wanted more power and control in the Democratic caucus. Four other New York legislators have found themselves in jail for similar setups.

Restaurant Review: Taverna Mykonos In Elmwood Park

Taverna Mykonos is a welcome addition on Route 4/Broadway and further signals a renaissance of dining choices from Fair Lawn to Paterson. Already, there are several good choices for dining - Gotham Grill, Empire Hunan, and Campania in Fair Lawn.

Taverna Mykonos outshines them all.

As the Record review indicates, they've got impeccable credentials and bring tons of experience to the table. They've taken that background and they've put together quite the selection of classic Greek dishes with excellent flavors and preparations.

We shared a platter of zucchini and eggplant fritters with the tangy tzatziki sauce. They were devoured in an instant - with the fritters lightly seasoned with a hint of sea salt and which brought out the fresh flavors.

I had the gyro platter, and while the meat was everything that I expected, the fries were a bit of a disappointment. It looked like they were merely store bought fries that got a dusting of salt and oregano and mint. Perhaps they had been waiting too long and wilted a bit while the order was being prepared, but with the pile of gyro meat and pita, it was more than enough. Mrs. Lawhawk had the filet mignon kebabs, and while they came out a bit more rare than she ordinarily likes, they were quite tasty.

The wait staff was quite receptive despite how busy it was on Sunday night and it appears that they took the Record's review to heart to make sure that everyone's water was topped off and that crumbs were cleared off the dark wood tables promptly. However, our waiter didn't ask us how Mrs. Lawhawk wanted her steak cooked. But that was a minor oversight considering.

Dessert, in the form of a complementary pairing of cinnamon baklava with pine nuts and walnuts and ekmek with a puffy whipped topping, was incredibly tasty. I'm normally not one who cares for ekmek (which is a custard over a shredded wheat base and topped with whipped cream), but I was able to overlook the lack of chocolate among the choices. There were some bits of chocolate in the baklava, which was a great mix of puff pastry, pine nuts, walnuts, honey, cinnamon, and a few piece of chocolate.

I'd say that Taverna Mykonos is a restaurant worth visiting, and that reservations may be a necessity in coming months. After all, if it was packed on a Sunday night, they must be doing something right.

Price-wise, you're getting a good value and while it isn't as cheap as It's Greek To Me (a staple with outlets in Englewood and Ridgewood among others), the quality and dining experience is more sophisticated and the dishes are more polished.

When Transportation Priorities Are Backwards

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held to celebrate the first phase of building the Moynihan rail station to replace the decrepit New York Penn Station that is built underneath Madison Square Garden.



It's named for the former US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who championed the project to build a grand entrance for passengers to the Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit commuters who use the station and to hearken back to the grandeur of the station that was demolished to make way for the Garden.

The first phase is expect to cost $267 million of the approximately $1.5 billion project, which will shift Amtrak's platforms West underneath the Farley Post Office Building and constructing new entrances to the station. The additional phases will include building hotels and restaurants in sections of the Post Office Building that are no longer used by the post office.

A grand entrance to Amtrak is a worthy endeavor, but does it actually improve service and reliability? This station does not expand capacity. It does not improve reliability. It is getting done because the financing for this long overdue project finally came through.

However, it came through at a time when $1 billion could finance the construction of the new Portal Bridge. That bottleneck is the site of repeated problems causing delays on the entire Northeast Corridor and affects not only Amtrak but New Jersey Transit commuters. Just this morning, a disabled train in the vicinity of the Portal Bridge caused 30-45 minute delays because the train blocked one of the two tracks through the area. Indeed, long after rush hour is over, residual delays are causing ongoing delays of 10-15 minutes on the affected lines.

A replacement Portal Bridge, which would cost over $1 billion but would increase the number of tracks to five on two separate fixed spans over the Hackensack River (one bridge would have three tracks for northbound traffic, the other two tracks would be for southbound traffic). The increased reliability and reduced delays that would result from that project are more than worth it since improved reliability and on-time performance would encourage people to commute by rail rather than dealing with auto traffic into the City.

NJ Transit and Amtrak have both consistently gotten their priorities backwards. Penn Station isn't a priority, nor is the ARC Tunnel's destination terminus at Herald Square - building out a rail system that is robust and can handle existing levels of traffic is necessary and prudent since on-time performance is a big selling point for Northeast Corridor traffic in hopes of luring passengers off air shuttle flights. The Portal Bridge would also enable trains to travel through the area at much higher speeds, reducing travel times considerably.

Moreover, the Portal Bridge project is as close to being a shovel-ready project as any around the country and yet finding funds for this vital piece of transportation infrastructure was hard to come by. How is it that both New Jersey senators Menendez and Lautenberg are busy complaining about Gov. Christie's prudent actions to protect New Jersey from cost overruns on the ARC Tunnel but silent about getting funding for the equally necessary and vital Portal Bridge project, which would have as great an impact on commuters?

France Shuts Down Over Pension Reform Plan

The French lifestyle is under assault and pensioners aren't sitting back and letting the Sarkozy government impose the austerity measures that are designed to prop up the existing system. They're protesting in the streets, and the protests are getting increasingly violent. Indeed, it looks like the carbeque is making its return.

Among the changes are an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 62. Yet, riots have broken out around the country in nationwide strikes that have all but shut down the country. The strikes include major oil refineries, which has put a crimp on the transportation sector, including rail and air travel. Airlines have been told to reduce flights into the country because of scarcity of jet fuel.

Train operator SNCF said it expected 60% of trains to run on Tuesday, the Le Monde newspaper reported, with Metro and local trains around Paris also expected to keep some services running.

Despite the disruption, one opinion poll on Monday suggested that 71% of those surveyed supported the strikers, despite the increasing effect on people's lives.

There was more opposition among those travelling as the strikes began.

"We shouldn't think it's still acceptable to stop working at 60 years old - we should work until 65. Like other European countries we have to work longer than 60 years," insurance worker Frederic Deraed told the BBC's Matthew Price in Lille.

"It's completely useless," said housewife Nadine Gestas.

"We can't pay the pensions and we can't avoid increasing the age of retirement. Every country in Europe is raising the age of retirement."

But Olivier Sekai of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) said he saw support increasing for the protests.

"The government is acting as if we didn't have a rich country, as if we didn't have the money. The thing is we do have the money," he told the BBC.
Crisis cabinet

The week-long fuel crisis has added a new dimension to France's public discontent.

Chechen Terrorists Attack Chechen Parliament

This video shows the aftermath of a terror attack on the Chechen Parliament.



Chechen terrorists chanting "Allahu Ackbar" attacked the Chechen Parliament earlier today, causing at least six deaths and 10 injuries. Russian authorities say that all the attackers were killed.

The attack included at least one suicide bomber and several others carrying automatic weapons:

At least one attacker appears to have set off a suicide bomb just outside the building before the others rushed inside, exchanging fire with security guards.

They could be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - as they ran inside, according to Chechen security sources.

A spokesman for the Chechen parliament, Zelim Yakhikhanov, said deputies had feared they would be taken hostage when they heard shooting outside the building.

"We managed to take refuge on the third floor where we stayed until the end of the operation," he told AFP news agency.

Mr Kadyrov said the operation to suppress the attack took between 15 and 20 minutes. The official killed was reportedly the parliamentary bursar.

The terrorists apparently followed the car of a high ranking parliamentarian into Grozny before carrying out the attack. Two terrorists were apparently cornered by special forces, but blew themselves up rather than be captured by forces loyal to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

Chechnya remains a hotbed for terrorism, with Russian suppression mixing with Islamic ideologies and longstanding animosities to create favorable conditions for ongoing violence.

Bronx Bombers Convicted In Shul/Stewart Airport Bombing Plot

Four men accused of plotting to blow up two Bronx synagogues (shuls) and planes taking off from Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, New York, as part of an independent jihad, were found guilty today.

Onta Williams, Laguerre Payen, James Cromitie and David Williams IV will face up to life in prison after a jury deliberated for eight days on terror related charges.

The jury found that the defendants were guilty on all but the following counts: Williams and Payen were found not guilty of one charge, attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States.

The prosecutors were able to overcome defense claims of entrapment and the four made actual attempts to carry out their nefarious plot:

Prosecutors say the men planted three devices packed with the plastic explosive C4 in two cars. One was parked outside the Riverdale Temple and one was parked outside the Riverside Jewish Center. They were planning to later fire heat-seeking Stinger missiles at military planes at an Air National Guard base located at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, prosecutors said.

All of the weapons had been disabled by the FBI and were provided to the suspects by the informant, who was posing as a member of the Pakistan-based terror organization Jaish-e- Mohammed.

The case is U.S. v. Cromitie, 09-cr-00558, U.S. District Court, SDNY.

Anti-Evolution Advertising Plastered On Penn. Turnpike Billboard

What is it with some religious groups that think that evolution is incompatible with their religious beliefs?

Religious groups are free to believe whatever they want, but they are not entitled to their own facts. Denying that evolution has occurred, or that the science on evolution is well founded ignores reality. Indeed, even the Pope has declared that evolution and religious belief are not incompatible. So, why is it that some groups continue to plaster anti-evolution billboards?

The billboard that I saw is pretty much identical to the ones that were spotted in Massachusetts. It wasn't spotted on some rural highway either.

I spotted this one on the Pennsylvania Turnpike not far from the bridge over the Delaware River into New Jersey. It's just outside Philadelphia and one of the highest trafficked corridors in the region.

I don't know who's sponsoring these billboards, but they clearly couldn't care about science. It's all about the agenda.

Where ARC Tunnel Proponents Fail To Grasp Fiscal Responsibility

Proponents to the ARC tunnel have good reason to be upset over the potential elimination of the project. It would presumably double the rail traffic that could flow into Manhattan from New Jersey. That's a good thing and would improve the redundancy by eliminating a chokepoint on the Northeast Corridor and therefore reduce delays and improve service.

What's missed by the proponents is the cost to increase service. New Jersey Transit has reduced service because its operational budget can't afford the existing level of service. That includes services like the woefully underutilized River Line and operating costs for the Secaucus Transfer.

If the tunnel is built, NJ Transit does not have the budget to cover the increased costs of operating the tunnel and terminus in New York. That is fiscally irresponsible and is an issue completely aside from the capital construction costs and the concerns made by Gov. Christie.

Alfred Doblin of the Record notes that poor plans don't get better with age, and cites the higher costs of the project as being a legitimate reason to sack the project as it is currently conceived. Proponents are claiming that Gov. Christie has lumped together the Portal Bridge in the cost of building the ARC tunnel when citing ultimate costs of $11-14 billion.

That's nonsense.

The Portal Bridge, which is an essential project just South of Secaucus is a huge problem on the Northeast Corridor. Problems with the bridge can result in massive delays on its two track right of way. The replacement bridge project is expected to cost $750 million and is a separate deal.

Even if Christie lumped the two projects together, it ignores that the $8.7 billion project is now running anywhere from $10 billion to $13 billion (as opposed to $11 to $14 billion). That's on top of the already bloated budgeting estimates previously reported from when the project was originally released as a $5 billion project.

NJ Transit can't keep the costs contained, and they have no interest in keeping costs down since the state picks up that tab. Amtrak has no interest (and no money) in this project. The Port Authority has no interest in keeping the costs down since New Jersey picks up the tab. Only New Jersey is in a position to demand cost accountability.

There's something fundamentally wrong with infrastructure projects in the region when so few stakeholders in the project have a vested interest in keeping the costs contained and limiting taxpayers and commuters from higher costs.

It's for these reasons that the project needs to be addressed on its costs and sustainability once completed. Building a new tunnel is essential, but it can't be built unless costs are contained and NJ Transit can show that it has budgeted for operating the tunnels once completed.

Misogyny Watch: UAE Court Rules Man Can Beat Wife So Long As No Marks Left

The highest court in the United Arab Emirates ruled that a man could beat his wife so long as he left no physical marks. He was also found to have beat his daughter, who was too old to be disciplined.

In the case debated by the Federal Supreme court, the daughter was bruised on the hand and knee, while the wife's lip and teeth were injured.

According to the court, the injuries showed that the man had over-stepped his rights under Shariah, or Islamic law, the newspaper reported. He had originally been fined 500 United Arab Emirates dirhams ($136), but appealed the case twice.

At 23, the daughter was deemed too old to have been disciplined, the newspaper said.

According to Shariah law, a man can beat his wife and children as long as he has first tries unsuccessfully to discipline them by admonishing and then abstaining from sexual relations with his wife.

Islamic scholars don't agree on the definition of "beating" but they do agree that it should not be too severe.

Sesame Street Does Mad Men