Western New York- The Buffalo Bean

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Crime, Erie County, Media, News on 01 24th, 2010 | 13 Comments

Guess the Hate Crime isn’t a fun game. But it’s unfortunately being played in Erie County. Consider two recent infamous attacks within the jurisdiction. In both, it goes without saying that the victims deserve infinite sympathy while the perpetrators should face ample time in a cell...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Campaign 2008, Campaign 2010, Commentary, Economy, Erie County, Federal Government, House of Representatives, News, U.S. Senate, White House on 12 28th, 2009 | No Comments

It’s nice to agree with your congressperson every so often. Concurring with one’s representative makes one feel, well, represented. That’s true even if accord happens for some as rarely as seemingly every area of the country except Buffalo gets walloped with Christmas-week snow. Anything...

Posted by Matt in Campaign 2010 on 12 9th, 2009 | No Comments

Rick Lazio got an important upstate endorsement this week from Niagara County GOP Chairman Mike Norris The Buffalo News had the story. Lazio insiders said Norris, who recently assumed the Niagara County Republican helm from former Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek, will make the official announcement at 4:30...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Buffalo Bills, Commentary, Economy, Entertainment, Erie County, NY State Government, News, Sports on 12 7th, 2009 | No Comments

Well, that was a fantastic atmosphere for the second Buffalo Bills home game not played at home. The matchup in the erstwhile SkyDome was as lively as a surgery being performed in a morgue. Perhaps curious Canadians remain puzzled about the mysterious fourth down or why there wasn’t a team named...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Economy on 11 23rd, 2009 | No Comments

There’s no law that everyone has to be equally miserable, although the present Congress might soon address that. Until then, Buffalo is nonetheless going with the flow down the drain instead of floating above the present nationwide depressing standard. G. Scott Thomas from Business First notes...

Makeovers Don’t Last...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Economy, Entertainment, Media, News on 11 17th, 2009 | 6 Comments

I’d rather track scarcely talented American Idol contestants, get caught up on Glee’s let’s-relive-high-school plotlines, or endure a fan’s lecture about how Earth-shatteringly wonderful 30 Rock is before hearing another hyped word about Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Many...

Having Fun Making Fun of Artvoice...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Economy, Erie County, NY State Government on 11 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment

The Artvoice Dilemma comes down to whether it’s worth pointing out any random article’s problems. It’s usually best to avoid the chore of reading an issue, much less critiquing its contents. But sometimes they churn out something so egregious that it deserves a shredding. For...

Hope for Non-NY 23 Conservatives...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Amherst, Breaking News, Buffalo, Campaign 2009, Campaign 2010, Commentary, Erie County, NY-20, NY-26, NY-27, NY-29 on 11 4th, 2009 | 1 Comment

Imagine if the National Republican Congressional Committee had supported Doug Hoffman from the start. Instead of throwing money at a left-winger who remained on the ballot after she quit and repaid the organization by endorsing her erstwhile Democratic foe, Hoffman would be running for re-election...

New York’s Empty Feeling...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Economy, NY State Government, News on 10 28th, 2009 | Comments Off

Having fewer bad congressional representatives isn’t worth it. And, while it’s nice to enjoy shorter waiting times at restaurants and cope with less traffic, it’s ultimately not fun to have a broke ghost town to yourself. The remaining residents of New York State are coping with...

A Missed Chance for Private Charity...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo Bills, Federal Government, Sports on 10 26th, 2009 | 1 Comment

We would have helped if asked to contribute to a noble cause. That’s especially true if Jim Kelly did the asking. A high percentage of Western New Yorkers would hack off a limb if the only Buffalo Bill with an officially retired number made the request. With that in mind, it’s curious...

Posted by Matt in Campaign 2010, Featured Articles, Interviews, NY State Government on 10 21st, 2009 | 3 Comments

I had the opportunity to sit down with Rick Lazio while he was in town yesterday. I’d never met him before. I wasn’t a New York resident during his unsuccessful Senate bid, so this was not only my first time meeting him, but my first real opportunity to assess him as a candidate that I might...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Federal Government, House of Representatives, News, The Skyway, U.S. Senate, White House on 10 12th, 2009 | Comments Off

The Commander-in-chief’s Nobel Peace Prize aside, there’s a war to win. Regrettably, some of our representatives aren’t eager to back the crucial effort in Afghanistan at a critical time. General Stanley McChrystal’s call for 40,000 more troops is being met with opposition...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary, Economy, Featured Articles, Federal Government, Kook Left on 09 10th, 2009 | 4 Comments

There’s only one thing worse than a miserable human being self-righteously lecturing you about what you should be eating. Namely, it’s a miserable human being who’s funded by the government self-righteously lecturing you about what you should be eating. Unfortunately, the latter’s a reality in...

Gipper > Craig...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo, Commentary on 09 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off

Craigslist is like representative democracy in Western New York: it’s a great idea in principle that often frustrates in reality. Just as it’s disheartening being led or represented by individuals such as Louise Slaughter, Byron Brown, or every aggravating soul in the Erie County Legislature who...

Buffalo Needs to Stop Slumming...

Posted by Anthony Bialy in Buffalo on 08 24th, 2009 | Comments Off

You can tell a lot about people by the company they keep. If that maxim also applies to urban areas, Buffalo is in trouble. Queen City delegates recently convened to compare notes with fellow blighted former jewels: They met at the Dayton Convention Center last weekend to swap ideas about how to...