WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNENovember 23, 2006

Like Klockwork

volume 1 • Number 12

BRIEFING

LLC

A & EGallery Du SoleilPg. 1

Good Counsel ArtistsPg. 4

Jenna’s DreamPg. 6

Purchase Jazz OrchestraPg. 6

AUTOMOTIVEShifting GearsPg. 5

BOOKSMorton’s Steak BiblesPg. 1

The SpoofPg. 3

BUSINESS2007 County Budget ExplainedPg. 3

Closing The DealPg. 3

Yonkers Raceway ReturnsPg. 6

CHARITYKnicks Guard Jamal Crawford Plays Host at The WestchesterPg. 1

CLASSIFIEDSPg. 7

CUISINEThe WesFoodie’sPg. 1

CULTURE50th Anniversary of the Hungarian RevolutionPg. 6

ENVIRONMENT Earth TalkPg. 7

EPIPHANY PARKPg. 2

HEZITORIALPg. 1

LETTERSPg. 2

MEDICINEOffshoring U.S. Patients No Cure for...Pg. 4

Real MedicinePg. 4

Senator Klein on What’s Best for Patient CarePg. 4

OP-EDGun ControlPg. 3

Like KlockworkPg. 1

New York CivicPg. 1

Weir Only HumanPg. 1

WORSHIPAll Things CatholicPg. 6

AssurancePg. 7

see New York Civic pg. 2

Pages 1Weir Only Human

Page 1New York Civic

Page 1

The HezitorialBarbara Smith, Joe Cotter Empower Community Through Development

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see Weir Only Human Pg. 3

The WesFoodie’s:Eating in the

BurbsPlaying to Suburban

Taste

see The Hezitorial Pg. 2

see Giving Thanks pg. 2 see Gun Control pg. 3

see The WesFoodie’s pg. 7

Restaurant Founder Klaus Fritsch Signs Steak Bibles

see Gallery Du Soleil pg. 3

Like Klockwork

Morton’s Steakhouse founder Klaus Fritsch signed copies of the Morton’s Steak Bible at the November 16th booksigning at Morton’s Steakhouse in White Plains. Co-author Mary Goodbody (center), a Fairfield County resident, surprised the crowd and turned up to sign books as well. The event was a lavish cocktail party that included a silent auction to have dinner for eight people prepared in your home by a Morton’s chef. Money

raised went to a scholarship fund for the Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Kim O’Donnell, Catering Manager for the White Plains Morton’s (seated far right) was on hand to assist.

Jean-Claude Canfin (left) owner of Gallery du Soleil in Tarrytown, and Joe Santore, general manager of Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center, enjoy an exhibit of paintings by artist Ira Barkoff that is open to

the public in the lobby of the newly-restored hotel.

TARRYTOWN, NY -- The artistry of painter Ira Barkoff is on exhibit in the lobby of Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center, now through the end of the year. The announcement was made by Jean-Claude Canfin of Gallery du Soleil in Tarrytown, and Joe Santore, general manager of Tarrytown House, a property of Destination Hotels and Resorts. “We are delighted to welcome these extraordinary works of art to our lobby,” said Santore. “Ira Barkoff’s landscapes are both powerful and beautiful and it is a pleasure for our guests and our

Gallery Du Soleil Exhibits Paintings at Tarrytown House Work by Artist Ira Barkoff on View in Lobby Until

the End of December

staff to have them displayed here.” The exhibit of fourteen Barkoff paintings was arranged through Gallery du Soleil, Westchester’s leading destination for contemporary artwork of excellence and prominence. “We are devoted to making high-quality art both accessible and affordable,” says Gallery owner Canfin. “We feel particularly privileged to be able to exhibit an artist of Barkoff’s stature in a setting as distinctive as Tarrytown House.” Ira Barkoff has been featured in

by Jason Gooljar The second amendment to the United States Constitution reads as follows; A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. The fear that this amendment will be eradicated is brought up often by many gun owners and manufacturers all across the nation when you start to talk about the dreaded “gun control” issue. While the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby is there to represent gun owners and manufacturers, I feel that they often take the right to bear arms way too far. For example, why did the gun lobby set out to weaken the Brady Bill so that it wold eventually

Getting Real on Gun Control

expire? The Brady Bill signed into law back on November 30, 1993 initially required that someone wait up to five days for a background check to be done before they could purchase a firearm. What’s so wrong with having someone wait five days? In 1998, when the Brady Bill expired thanks to it’s weakening; it was replaced with a National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This is what the Brady Campaign (www.bradycampaign.org) had to say about the instant background check system; “The ‘instant check’ system is not ready. By necessity, an ‘instant check’ system relies upon information that is complete and instantly accessible. But many criminal records are not complete, not computerized, or not currently accessible by a national ‘instant check system.’’’ Even more enlightening and important was that I was able to learn about something called a “cooling off period.” The five days can actually act as time for a person whose intent to buy a weapon is to either commit murder or suicide, to “cool off” and think their situation over. Why in this country should there be people in such a rush to acquire a weapon? If they intend to possess a firearm for legal purposes and have a clean background, they should be

By Joe Klock, Sr.

The road of human life is potholed with sloughs of despond ranging from the temporary “blahs” to full-blown clinical depression. People who claim to have experienced none of that unpleasantness can usually be categorized as victims of self-deception or born-again airheads. Even the luckiest among of us are prone to the periodic entertainment of such unanswerable queries as “Why me?” and “Is this all there is?” and, among the lyrically inclined, “What’s it all about, Alfie?” Perhaps significantly, that last question, besides being unanswerable, was addressed by composer Burt Bacharach to nobody

Let’s Have No Misgivings AboutGiving Thanks

in particular, including Alfie. Our annual Thanksgiving Day is the arch-enemy of negative thoughts about the present, gloomy recollections of the past and dark visions of the future - none of which contribute anything to the betterment of our existence - now, then, or in the sweet (or sour) bye and bye. Granted, personal fulfilment is an elusive goal and no rose garden is without thorns, but the least attractive of life situations are seasoned with blessings - benefits, if you prefer - which become obscure when bright outlooks are traded for blue funks. Accordingly, we offer the following nosegay of positive personal assets which can be sniffed and savored long after the euphoria of Turkey Day has been supplanted by gastric hyperacidity and bathroom scale phobia. Let’s start with this rather obvious boon: If you’re reading this, even if with some difficulty, you can see, which many others in the world cannot; and if someone is reading it to you, you have a care giver. Aside: If you CAN see, but don’t understand, it is an ignorance of your own choosing, while illiteracy is the inescapable fate of millions in the Third World (some lurching

By Bob Weir

Last week, the Supreme Court began hearings on the federal partial-birth abortion ban that would prohibit the gruesome abortion procedure across the country. The court heard oral arguments over the question of whether the procedure is ever medically necessary and whether a health exception should be imposed if the life of the mother is endangered. In 2000, the Court said it was unconstitutional to ban the practice. In 2003, President Bush signed the national partial-birth abortion ban into law, but abortion advocates took it to court in three separate lawsuits and

Weir Only Human

When Recovery is the Enemy

By Henry J. Stern

NEW YORK, NY -- The struggle for the majority leadership of the House of Representatives, a powerful position recently held by Tom DeLay , made it to the top of page one of the November 17th New York Times in a story by Carl Hulse, entitled “Pelosi Rebuffed Over Her Choice for Majority Leader,” accompanied with a four-column picture featuring the unhappy couple. The surprising margin, in a secret ballot before which both sides claimed victory, was 149 for Hulse and 86 for Murtha. There have been four editorials on this subject in two days: Times: Fri - Speaker Pelosi Tempts Disaster; Post Thu - Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Payoff, News Thu - Pelosi’s

New York CivicIncoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi Finds Her

Troops Have Mutinied as Hoyer Beats Murtha, 149-86

Poisin Pick; Sun Fri - Pelosi’s First Drama. All the New York papers, both the liberal and the conservative ones, agreed that Hoyer was the more suitable candidate. A long profile of the new majority leader, Steny Hoyer, in today’s Times on A26, by Kate Zernike, “A Cultivator of Loyalties,” gives the story of his rise in Maryland politics. It was fascinating to read of his early interactions with Nancy D’Alesandro, only daughter of the Democratic boss and Baltimore mayor from 1947 to 1959, Tommy D’Alesandro. One of Nancy’s five brothers, Tommy III, was mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971. She and young Steny Hoyer were both Congressional interns, and later served on the staff of Maryland Senator Daniel Brewster. Nancy met Paul Pelosi in Washington, DC. When they married, they moved to his home town, San Francisco, where Nancy she won a special election to Congress in 1987, succeeding the late Sala Burton, who had replaced her husband Philip Burton, who died in1983. Nancy defeated a San Francisco supervisor, Harry Britt, who ran on her left. Pelosi’s next encounter with Hoyer came in 2001, when with the help of the large California delegation, she defeated him for minority whip. She advanced

By Jack 8. Kirby An unavoidable part of the experience of heading toward middle-age in the Burbs is having popular culture leave you behind. You don’t like pop music anymore, most movies seem entirely uninteresting, you don’t identify with pop icons, the new clothes are ridiculous costumes – oh, yes, it is happening. But folks, let me fill you in on a not so well kept secret: there’s nothing natural or inevitable about this. It’s done on purpose; by a relatively small number of people pulling the proverbial levers. It’s all about post-war advertising

By Hezi Aris

It took two years of due diligence, scrutiny and following governmental protocol to hit the proverbial wall; a most propitious and appropriate interlude in which to literally stop and think. At issue was Joe Cotter’s (iPark) proposal to develop a new Department of Social Services facility that would, in time, house the offices of Yonkers Department of Social Services along a ribbon of Warburton Avenue. The project would eventually come before the Yonkers Real Estate Committee for approval or disapproval of a Special Use Permit in favor of Hudson River Community Association (HRCA), and developer Joe Cotter, regarding the northernmost area held within the perimeters of iPark. Cotter’s adherence to protocol throughout the two-year period

is claimed by all Yonkers City Councilmembers to have not been divulged to them. Westchester Times

Tribune LLC knows otherwise. Divulged under assurance of anonymity, WTT has learned that Real Estate Chairman Dennis Robertson, Majority Leader Patricia McDow, among others were fully aware of Cotter’s proposal. One can appreciate

the arrogance of those denials when recognizing that Westchester County Board Legislator Jose Alvarado, representing Southwest Yonkers, had full oversight of the development proposal. Mr. Alvarado, Senate-elect Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ sidekick at the Westchester County Board of Legislators wouldn’t relieve his bladder without asking for permission from Ms. Cousins. Is it

see Like Klockwork pg. 3

NOVEMBER 23, 2006PAGE 2 WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

Epiphany Park • The Hezitorial • Letters • Op-Ed

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even plausible that she didn’t make Majority Leader Patricia McDow aware of circumstances that would directly impact McDow’s First District? Can Symra Brandon, former Yonkers City Councilwoman also feign ignorance, despite frequenting the Hudson River Community Association (HRCA) meetings, whose community are most impacted by these proposals? Would Symra Brandon ever admit to keeping HRCA Executive Director Barbara Smith in the dark? If anyone believes so, the tooth fairy will be visiting your home tonight. To add further insult to the process, the Yonkers City Council whined about not being kept in the loop. It seems that the official notices published in the authorized newspapers are insufficient in keeping the Yonkers City Council apprised of what is proposed within the fourth largest city in New York State. Are the Councilmembers placing passive blame on their aides for not advising them of what

The HezitorialBarbara Smith, Joe Cotter Empower Community Through Developmentis happening within their purview? Pitiful; wouldn’t you concur that this and similar happenstances would go down better with some Gerber food products and some loving spoon feeding? Chairman Robertson, in a well-scripted dissertation expressed to dissociate himself from not having complied with the stipulation written into the Yonkers Charter, waxed loquaciously into a passive tape recording machine to concoct a “history,” of what in legal terms may be termed a “paper trail” of happenstance whose “telling,” he hoped, would absolve him of his fiduciary responsibility to uphold the Yonkers Charter, and the public good. At a recent Real Estate Committee Meeting Robertson admitted, “I blew it!” Robertson was referring to SS43-55 Referral and Approval by the Yonkers City Council, inscribed over decades within the Yonkers City Charter which reads: “Following an approval of a special use permit application by

the Planning Board, a transcript of the Planning Board’s public hearing and a copy of its findings and decisions shall be forwarded to the Yonkers City Council within (20) days. Within forty-five (45) days of receipt of the Planning Board’s decision, the City Council shall approve, disapprove, or approve with modifications the decision of the Planning Board with respect to the granting of the special use permit. The decision of the City Council shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk within (5) business days after a decision has been rendered, and a copy thereof to the applicant.” The timeline had lapsed. The Yonkers City Council was staring at a lawsuit in which they would likely lose. Undaunted, many on the Yonkers City Council were ready to recently vote the proposal into the trash bin, believing it was the most expedient way to maintain an aura of responsiveness to the often dismissed community of color.

The prospect of finality to the two-year project was the catalyst that brought about recognition of enlightened self-interest in protagonists, Barbara Smith and Joe Cotter. Despite differences, they recognized in one another a concern for community, heartfelt empathy, humanity, and respect. They had both been kept apart by a political process that created a mental schism they were each admonished to cross. They maintained their distance. The likelihood of the project being scuttled without an airing of issues caused Smith and Cotter to join forces to together fight to redefine “common sense.” With all its factious facets, Barbara Smith represented the HRCA community, and Joe Cotter, likewise ably represented his investors. Together they attempted to creating a partnership in its truest sense; one built upon mutual need, and mutual desire. The process of engagement, in this case among community and developer, when fully ironed out,

will raise the bar for development beyond all fathomable visions heretofore imagined. The individual aspects and tenets are unimportant; they are each being addressed. The fact that they recognize respect for one another, mindful that they are redefining their enlightened self-interest bodes well for both. It also relegates government to its only purpose, that is, simply to codify an agreement among equals, who will have empowered each other, community, and city. Whether ratified or not, the channel of communication that Smith and Cotter chose to undertake has proven that development must engage community with the knowledge of government devoid of its intrusion and agenda. The act of codifying an agreement among HRCA and iPark will stand before the City of Yonkers as the template to which all future endeavors will aspire. Westchester Times Tribune celebrates Barbara Smith and Joe Cotter in bringing us closer to the common sense long forgotten.

Linda Ettinger Lieberman in the November 3 issue of the Westchester Times Tribune aptly describes development and traffic in lower Westchester. However, downtown New Rochelle needs a separate evaluation because it is often compared to White Plains. Ms. Lieberman tells about heavy traffic in some areas of New Rochelle, but its downtown traffic and related problems also needs to be evaluated. New Rochelle’s development of high rise buildings has been compared to White Plains. On the surface this may seem true, but when specific conditions are looked at, the two cities are vastly different. In many New Rochelle residents’ view the tall buildings in White Plains are a complement to the vast

New Rochelle, White Plains, Traffic, and Other ConcernsLetters To The Editor

shopping areas there. It may take a while to go through the traffic to reach a specific retail area in White Plains, but in New Rochelle there is very little retail to entice shoppers to traverse the heavy traffic and then to struggle to find a convenient parking space. The proposal for the Church-Division; mixed use development according to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will intensify this traffic condition and create other environmental problems. To start with, very little retail is proposed for this development. The DEIS lists $89,000 in sales tax projections but no retailers or even categories of retailers are named. Since residents of New Rochelle have been told in the past that retail would come to all these

new downtown developments, the disappointment is great already. For example, Avalon I has only a coffee shop, New Roc was changed from a retail to an entertainment center, the Bloomingdale Loft building is devoid of any retail, and so on. So it is hard to convince taxpayers and voters of New Rochelle that any new development will change that reality. What are some of the other aspects of the Church-Division DEIS that disturbs residents? There are additional city services needed: fire, police and sanitation. The Fire Commissioner stated there is a possible increase in response time for fires, and the Police Captain cited the need for more daytime traffic control, nighttime patrols, personnel to address shoplifting, and school crossing

guards. The developer has not explained how he will connect the sewer lines to a parking lot when no new connections are allowed to our overburdened sewer. The developer claims a “new” 6-inch diameter line will be established, as a “private” service connection. What does this mean? Elaine Waltz, President of the South End Civic League, stated about high rises, “the sheer weight of buildings was causing the infrastructure to crack.” (New Rochelle Sound Report, K. Gilwit, 7/21/06). Other notable aspects of this DEIS which must b e addressed are the cost of the school children in the development, the poor air quality, unacceptable traffic delays, and noise pollution already present at the site. Another proposal is also problematic. Louis R. Cappelli now

wants to build higher on LeCount Place (Westchester Business Journal, 10/23/06). He wants to add 110 feet to this project. Since the DEIS already prepared contains numerous environmental concerns and many anticipated traffic problems, how many more will be added with this proposal for increased density? For these and many other reasons, many residents of New Rochelle are gravely concerned about the future of this Queen City of the Sound and await answers to these questions from their elected and appointed officials. Failure to inform the public can only serve to raise more questions in the future about overdevelopment of this old, historic city.Peggy GodfreyNew Rochelle, NY

to minority leader when Dick Gephardt left that position to run for President in 2004. Gephardt’s candidacy crashed and burned in the Iowa primary, after which he withdrew from the race. When she became minority leader, Hoyer became whip, and they served together through 2006, when happy days returned in November, and the speakership came within reach. Whether Pelosi was injured or rescued from further disaster by Hoyer’s defeat of Murtha is disputed in three columns in the Post, two today and one yesterday. November 17th, John Podhoretz writes “Pelosi’s First Flop,” but he sees the Democratic infighting as healthy, and the result as good for their party. Deborah Orin-

New York CivicIncoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi Finds Her Troops Have Mutinied as Hoyer Beats Murtha, 149-86

Eilbeck’s column, “Call Her ‘Nancy Shrew’?” is a gripping exercise in political abuse, much of which appears to be at least partly justified by what we have heard of the facts. Read it, whether you agree or not. Ms. O.-E. is the Washington Bureau Chief of the Post., and recently added Eilbeck to her by-line, she was a fierce critic of President Clinton. In the November 16th edition of The Washington Post, Robert V. Novak, of Valerie Plame fame, writes; “Her First Mistake: Pelosi’s Foolish Embrace of Murtha.” Novak predicted Murtha’s defeat a day in advance. The political effect of this unseemly intraparty squabble will play out over the months to come. In any circumstances, leading Democrats has been described as

herding cats, which is to say that it is almost impossible. Ms. Pelosi should not be a victim of sexist stereotyping, but she does run that risk if her actions are stereotypical. To us, the dismissal of Jane Harman, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and the substitution of the impeached Federal judge Alcee Hastings as chair of the Committee is a more grievous action, which is even more likely than the Hoyer-Murtha grudge match to earn the Democratic Party public contempt on the issue of integrity. The dispute is likely to result in the selection of a third party, who has not had Mr. Hastings rare experience of being impeached and removed from office for official corruption. But since Ms. Pelosi’s major purpose is to

derail Ms. Harman, her California rival, she would probably settle for another candidate as long as she obtained revenge for whatever slight Ms. Harman had inflicted on her delicate persona, possibly even voting for Mr. Hoyer in 2001. Lord Acton said, and everyone in our business knows, that power corrupts. It took the Gingrich revolution about a dozen years to decay into Abramoff and DeLay and Cunningham and Ney and Foley and other lesser known villains. Ms. Pelosi, in pushing Murtha of K Street and the impeached judge Hastings, seems, presumably unintentionally on completing the destruction of her party’s reputation for integrity a far shorter period. To many Americans, the 2008 elections are extremely important.

The differences between the parties on economic and social issues are substantial, and the selection and confirmation of moderate Federal judges is crucial. These important issues should not be jeopardized by the vagaries of a latter day Lady Macbeth. We hope that this week’s trauma will restore the Speaker-to-be to the arms of reason and fairness, so that she and her colleagues can justify the confidence the American people have placed in them.

Mr. Stern is president of New York Civic (www.NYCivic.org) and a

blogger on public issues. He was New York City’s Parks Commis-

sioner for fifteen years under Mayors Koch and Giuliani.

toward Fourth). If your name did not appear in the current obituaries, you have avoided an event which would really have screwed up your day beyond all possibility of unscrewing. If you have on hand, or available to you, enough food and drink to keep you out of tomorrow’s obits, joyfully count yourself out of the

Like Klockwork: Let’s Have No Misgivings About Giving Thankshordes of unfortunates staring daily into the ugly face of starvation. If you have more health than sickness, focus on the former, fight off the latter and endure what you can’t cure. (If necessary, visit someone worse off than you; it will make both of you feel better.) If you have a safe place to sleep that is protected from the elements, think about the wretched millions

who do not. Except for the random selection of nature, you could be among them. If you can worship as you choose - or choose not to worship - without living in fear of your life, picture living in the many places where that freedom is dreamstuff. If you have, or can acquire, enough money to satisfy your basic needs and those of the ones you

love, don’t dwell on what you can’t afford, or the luxuries wallowed in by rock stars, superjocks and other gazillionaires (all of whom, incidentally, have “oh, crap!” moments of their own). If you are an American, look beyond the warts, welts and myopia of our imperfect system of government, the pecados and peccadillos of our elected reprehensibles, the apathy

of our citizens and the decay of our national morality. This will enable you to realize, in case you’ve forgotten, that you live in a rare chunk of geography which people risk their lives to enter and from which almost noone without rocks in their head seriously contemplates a hazardous escape. If you have someone and/or

From Page 1

From Page 1

NOVEMBER 23, 2006 PAGE 3WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

A & E • Business • Charity • Op-Ed • The Spoof

something to love and get love and/or satisfaction in return, number yourself among the “luckiest people in the world” saluted in song by Barbra Streisand, as well as in prose by your humble scribe. If you’re dissatisfied by your present lot in life, be consoled - no, be inspired - by the sure knowledge that it is within your power to improve that lot by building on it with positive thoughts, renewed efforts and seized opportunities. Build on the solid foundation of the treasures you already have in store, both those listed in this opusette and those buried under the perfectly - make that imperfectly - human layers of gloom, negative thinking and, in the extreme, hopelessness. Life on this planet will never be a bowl of cherries, but if you chew on it with care and develop a taste for the best of it, neither need it ever be the pits. Thanks, by the way, for listening. Freelance wordworker Joe Klock, Sr. (joeklock@aol.com) is a winter Floridian who summers on Golden Pond in New Hampshire. More of

his “Klockwork,” is at www.joeklock.com.

Like KlockworkFrom Page 2

federal courts in each case relied on the earlier Supreme Court decision. The latest discussion included the difference between partial-birth abortions and other abortion procedures. It was determined that the former has the baby being killed while partially outside the mother’s womb, as opposed to being destroyed inside the womb in the latter. Did you ever think we’d be having such discussions in a civilized society? Did you ever think you’d see the day when women all across America would willingly participate in the killing of their fully formed fetuses during the last stages of gestation? Partial birth abortion is a cruel and savage procedure, more medieval than modern, and more concerned

Weir Only Human When Recovery is the Enemy

From Page 1 with sexual permissiveness in the age of irresponsibility, than with the protection of women’s health. Yet, this barbaric behavior has been performed with about as much concern as one would give to having a wart removed. This nihilistic approach to human discourse began in the 60’s during the age of “free love,” and continued into the 70’s, as many women became convinced that abortion could be used as a prophylactic measure, thereby allowing them to abandon any sense of discipline or self-restraint. Men could also throw caution to the wind, since a hasty affair that sparked a creation could easily be erased with a checkbook and a surgical instrument. It didn’t take long before such “erasures” became big business in a country

where money trumps morality. Moreover, it was seized upon as one of the most powerful political ideas in history; simply spread the doctrine that men are oppressing women by refusing to allow them to have control over their own bodies. With half the population as prospects, the scheme had virtually unlimited possibilities. However, in order for it to work, men had to be demonized as rogues and rascals, whose only goal in life was to make women subservient. Feminist philosophy sprouted wings and found its niche in a discontented segment of society. The concentration of potential votes became a political expedient too attractive to repudiate. Hence, the gender war had begun, advanced by such well-known lyrics as:

I am woman; hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore. Helen Reddy was correct, the numbers made an impact on decisions that would alter the course of history. Abortion on demand has been legal for over 30 years, and has become the Litmus Test for self serving, sycophantic office seekers, willing to support the issue du jour. A single mother raised my 6 siblings and me, so I already knew how strong women are, and I also knew they could roar. They didn’t have to use the lives of the unborn to prove their mettle. Furthermore, the ghastly practice of pulling a fetus by its legs with a forceps until the head is visible, then, puncturing the skull with a sharp instrument in order to suck out the brain of the tiny being could never be viewed as

an act of courage. By what stretch of the imagination is power derived from destroying a helpless fetus as it struggles for its first breath of air, instinctively expecting the maternal protection afforded by nature? Sadly, that instinct has been cleverly manipulated and genetically redefined by a cadre of propagandists with a power-hungry political agenda. The hateful, separatist rhetoric of militant feminism has horribly disfigured the relationship between the sexes, resulting in the pagan-like ritual described above. Opponents of the ban, as was expected, say the measure is designed to turn back the clock on women’s progress. Of course, it’s axiomatic that those groups who seek power by pitting one gender against another

can only survive if the hostility is continuously fed. One of the biggest problems in our country is that you’re nothing if you’re not allied with some “victimized” group. However, it’s important to keep in mind that when your victim-hood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy.

Bob Weir is an accomplished writer having penned seven

novels: “Murder in Black and White,” “City To Die For,”

“Powers That Be,” “Ruthie’s Kids,” “Deadly To Love,” “Short Stories of Life and

Death” and “Out of Sight.” Bob Weir is a contributing

columnist to Yonkers Tribune.

Getting Realon Gun Control

content knowing that they will be able to make their purchase in the matter of a few days. If you need your firearm by a certain date then plan ahead. The Brady Bill in it’s original intended form would be able to spot many undesirables stopping them from purchasing guns and save many lives in the process. In my opinion the price of having a legit sale wait up to five days versus saving lives is nominal. Within the first six years of the law’s enactment 600,000 felons were stopped from purchasing guns from licensed gun dealers. While the gun lobby says that criminals purchase guns illegally off of the streets, many do try to buy them from legal gun retailers. If gun enthusiasts and gun makers would have a little more patience and realize that they have a responsibility to ensuring a safer society for everyone, themselves included, we would be better off. It’s comparable to a person who now has to go to the airport an hour earlier to have themselves and their belongings checked before a flight.

Yes it’s an annoyance, but just think about everyone else’s safety in the airport and on the flight, and clearly you would realize that the security measures were necessary. Frankly, what this comes down to is money. The gun lobby is afraid of losing sales due to waiting periods and other measures. The question I ask is, what price are we paying as a nation for their high sales figures? This leads me to another issue that I feel the gun lobby has unrealistically supported and has gone too far on. Why must we as a nation allow the average citizen to possess an assault weapon? One of the worst things to happen was for the Bush administration to allow the Federal Assault Weapons Ban to expire or “sunset” in 2004. As far as i’m concerned there is absolutely no need for the average citizen to need an automatic or semi-automatic assault weapon. The intent of these assault weapons is for one thing, and one thing only, and that is to harm or kill multiple persons. The right to bear arms comes down to two things

as far as I’m concerned; either you use a firearm to go hunting or you keep one for protection. There is no need to have an assault weapon for either situation unless you were being attacked by a small army armed to the teeth! This is why I found this statement by Chris Cox of the NRA (http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/guncontrol/a/assaultban.htm) back in 2004 ridiculous. Mr. Cox said, “The debate is not really about so-called ‘assault weapons.’ It’s about banning guns. It’s about gun prohibitionists searching for the easiest target of opportunity.” As I’ve mentioned there is a second amendment that protects the legitimate and lawful possession of a firearm, but I’d also like to draw something else to Mr. Cox’s attention. Just as recent as a few days ago I read a story on the Gothamist blog (http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/11/15/machine_gunner.php) in which I could not help but comment on. The blog posting begins with “Why was a 33 year old man running around the

streets of Jamaica, Queens, firing a machine gun on Monday? To settle a beef with his sister’s ex of course. Patrick Ledger was unable to find his sister’s ex, though, so he started firing the weapon around 179th Street and Hillside Avenue.” The posting continues on with “The NYPD says that they haven’t seen that kind of semi-automatic gun in a decade (Commissioner Ray Kelly said ‘street sweeper’ type weapons were more common in the mid 1990s).” This happened in a state where laws against the possession of assault weapons are still on the books mind you. But as long as there is another state allowing for the sale of assault weapons everyone is in danger as the assualt weapons can be smuggled into states that do not sell them. This finally brings me to the last issue I wanted to raise. This is the issue of illegal gun running and it’s consequences especially here in New York. While NY has strict gun laws, we are hampered by the trafficking of illegal guns from the South along

the I-95 or “Iron Pipeline”. These guns often end up being used in crimes. This another issue in which the gun lobby has failed to accept responsibility. Currently, in New York City there is a case (New York v. Beretta) which alleges that gun manufacturers know that their guns are being illegally trafficked and are capable of stopping sales of their product to criminals. It seems as if there is serious merit to this case. Yet, we have GOP members of the 109th congress who have sought to protect the gun lobby from liability. In the end it must be clear that the government whether it be federal or state has no intent on taking away the right to bear arms legally. Yet, just like the first amendment and it’s application to screaming “fire” in a crowded theater (it’s not protected speech thank goodness), there is a time when the second amendment can be abused or interpreted the wrong way.

Visit Jason Gooljar, at http://www.jasongooljar.com the progressive liberal on a crusade!

online.

gallery and museum exhibitions across the country and is included in many distinguished museum and private collections. Of his work Barkoff says, “My landscapes are taken from my imagination. It’s true that I spent many years painting from nature, and that nature is the source of my inspiration. Having learned the principles of color, form, light and space, my aim is to use these principles to represent the world as an expression of harmony and peace.” Born in 1934, Barkoff studied at the Art Students League in New York under Robert Beckman and Robert Beverly Hale (former curator of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and went on to earn a Fine Arts degree at New York’s Pratt Institute. Currently, he lives and works in Connecticut and teaches at the Washington Art Association. Conveniently located at 49 East Sunnyside Lane just one mile south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center recently completed an $11 million restoration of the entire property, including two Hudson River mansions that date from the 19th century.

For more information, contact Gallery du Soleil at 1-914 /

332.4554, www.gallerydusoleil.com, or Tarrytown House

Estate and Conference Center at 1-914 / 591.8200, www.tarrytownhouseestate.com.

Gallery Du Soleil Exhibits

Paintings at Tarrytown

House From Page 1

By Gail Farrelly

Controversial FOX News star Bill O’Reilly has hurled himself into another controversy. His crit-ics are not sure what annoys them more: the fact that he’s getting the Hubble telescope revamped or the fact that he’s renaming it the “O’Reillyubble.” NASA continues to report that it’s planning to ‘repair’ the orbit-ing telescope in 2008. Yeah, right. Here’s the real story. It all started several months ago when O’Reilly

The SpoofHubble Space Telescope Revamped under Direction of Bill O’Reilly

opined in the newsroom that the Hubble telescope was a big waste of money, dealing with intergalac-tic items (stars, planets, etc.) that weren’t as important to “the folks” as earthly issues such as price goug-ing, embezzlement, and Enron-type scandals. That was when Nerdy Ned said that, with the right kind of computer support, he could hack into NASA computers and re-pro-gram the Hubble to turn its direction downward toward earth, collecting information from boardrooms and executive suites at global compa-

nies. O’Reilly wrote a check to Ned, and the revamping began. Rosie O’Donnell and David Let-terman, recent sparring partners of O’Reilly, are jumping up and down with outrage at this latest stunt. O’Reilly’s response? “Most ridiculous item of the day. Let them scream, yell, and enjoy their tantrums in their own little sand-boxes. Just as long as they stay out of mine.” O’Reilly has, however, agreed to appear on the TV show of Dr. Keith Ablow (an up-and-coming Dr. Phil

wannabe) to discuss the Hubble re-vamping. The show will appear dur-ing sweeps week later this month and is expected to top the ratings for a previous show that Ablow had with John Mark Carr, the infamous interloper in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Meanwhile, Nerdy Ned shuns publicity and continues to spin his magic in The No Spin Zone. How-ever, he has confided to friends what’s next for the O’Reillyubble -- development of special spy cam programs to keep track of the ac-

tivities of liberals, Christmas hat-ers, and anyone the world over who doesn’t watch ‘The O’Reilly Fac-tor’ at least once a week. Ned has become like a chip off the old block (the O’Reilly Block, that is), letting people know, “We’re looking out for YOU.”

Visit the Farrelly Sisters at their virtual address:

http://farrellysistersonline.com

By Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Westchester County, NY -- Although home appreciation has leveled off in Westchester County over the course of 2006 – sellers can still get asking prices for their homes. The sale may take a bit longer, but a little creativity can help sellers move homes without having to drop the price. The professionals at Coldwell Banker Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y offer the following suggestions for sellers who want to speed the process. Price Your Home According to the Current Market: Just because a house comparable to yours sold for a very high price last year does not mean you will be able to realize the same price when selling your home now. Work with a full-service real estate professional to determine the appropriate, competitive listing price for your home. Remember that in this market, your sales

Closing the DealTips for Selling a Home in a Buyer’s Market

associate may encourage a list price in accordance with other homes currently on the market, rather than those previously sold. Visit the Home Price Estimator on www.coldwellbanker.com to get a sense of comparative sales prior to meeting with your sales associate. Be Thankful for Appreciation: While price appreciation has slowed in some markets in 2006, it is important to look realistically at the financial gains you have made over the years through your home equity. According to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight over the last five years through June 30, 2006 existing homes in the U.S. appreciated more than 56%. Make Your Home More Marketable: When a buyer sees your house for the first time, a critical first impression is made. If applicable, maximize curb appeal by trimming trees and planting flowers. A fresh exterior coat of paint might also prove valuable.

Consider neutral colors for interior walls and carpets. Dark colors on walls, along with unnecessary clutter, make rooms look smaller. Conduct a Full Home Inspection: If repairs are required, it is a good idea to go ahead and fix the problems. Potential buyers will cast an extremely critical eye over your home and, in a situation when more houses are available on the market from which to choose, they may take a pass on a home that needs too many repairs. Be sure to have the home inspection report available for prospective buyers itemizing all of the repairs that have been made and the associated cost for each.

Offer a “Seller’s Contribution:” A seller can sweeten the deal by offering assistance to the buyer in ways that do not require lowering the asking price. These tactics can allow your home to stand out from the crowd. For example: Offer to buy down the interest rate on the buyer’s mortgage.

Offer to pay a portion of the buyer’s closing costs. Cover the buyer’s mortgage payments for up to the first six months. Depending upon the size of the mortgage the buyer can save several thousand dollars and the seller still gets the original asking price for the home. Again, depending on the mortgage, the seller will get more for the home than if he or she dropped the asking price by $10-, $20- or even $30,000. Many condos and houses across the country belong to home owners associations that require annual dues. Paying the first year’s fees could be a big incentive to a buyer nearing the limit of his or her liquid assets. Offer to pay off a buyer’s bills. According to Realty Times , some loan programs allow sellers to pay off the credit card debt or auto loans of the buyer which will help him or her qualify for a better mortgage and prevent the need to buy a smaller, less expensive house.

Don’t Worry. Properly priced homes that do stand out from the competition are selling. Ask your sales associate how long a properly priced home should remain on the market. The consumer sometimes believes a market’s home inventory is how long it will take for a home to sell. This is likely not the case. Time on market is a different statistic that is usually more important to the seller.

Learn more about Coldwell Banker

Westchester! at www.coldwellbankermoves.com

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- Kathleen Carrano, Westchester County Budget Director, will discuss the proposed 2007 County budget in an informational meeting on Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 9:30 a.m at the White Plains Public Library on Martine Avenue. This public meeting is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Westchester and the League of Women Voters of White Plains. Mrs. Carrano will explore the duties and responsibilities of the County and the economic conditions under which the 2007 budget was

Budget Director to Explain 2007 County Budgetprepared. She will also describe how the fiscal decisions affected social services, environmental programs, housing, transportation, the MTA and, of course, taxes. She will, also, discuss the impacts of this proposed budget on agencies who contract with the county. By mandate of the Westchester County Charter, the operating budget must be presented by the County Executive to the Board of Legislators and made public by November 15. After discussion, public hearings, subtractions and additions, the Legislature is

required by law to pass the budget by December 27. After the presentation and a question and answer period, the public meeting will be adjourned and members of the League of Women Voters will reconvene to come to consensus on the proposed budget.

For further information, call Barbara Strauss, League Budget Chair, at 1-914 / 725.1713 or the

League office at 1-914 / 949.0507.

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- New York Knicks guard Jamal Crawford will host his annual “Giving Tree” event on December 8th from 6 to 9 PM at The Westchester Mall in White Plains, NY . This year’s event will benefit children from Family Services of Westchester programs including Head Start, Big Brothers Big Sisters, foster care and youth residences. Participants will be able to select an ornament with a child’s name from the “Giving Tree” and purchase a holiday gift for that

Knicks Guard Jamal Crawford to Host Annual “Giving Tree” at The Westchester

child; when the gift is returned to the “Giving Tree”, the gift buyer will receive an autographed picture of Crawford as well as New York Knicks game tickets (while supplies last). Crawford has set the goal of collecting 200 holiday gifts for Family Services of Westchester. “We are very excited that Jamal Crawford has chosen children involved in our programs to be gift recipients this year,” said Thomas Sanders, President and CEO of Family Services of Westchester. “We know his generosity will help

make this holiday brighter!”

The mission of the Jamal Crawford Foundation is to provide inner-city

children with experiences and activities to strengthen both their minds and

bodies leading to well- rounded and complete adults.

From Page 1

A & E • Medicine • Op-EdNOVEMBER 23, 2006PAGE 4 WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

Good Counsel Students Participate in Women Artists Exhibition

Good Counsel Academy High School students Katrina Gomez, Kristina Jones, Michelle Longo and Erin Sesil pose with Art Teacher Ms. Ross, as they were presented with Certificates of Excellence for their participation in the 13th Annual High School Women Artists Exhibition at the College of New Rochelle, an exhibit dedicated to

young women in the arts.

By Dr. Evan Levine It is unfortunate that some unscrupulous physicians continue to take advantage of patients, the insurance companies and the honest and hard working doctors. In order to help you, I decided to give you list of things to look for to help ensure that your physician is looking out for you and not himself. Here are ten red flags that should alert you to question your physician or to consider leaving his practice.

1. Doctor has service come to his office to perform portable studies like echocardiograms and carotid Duplex. General Doctors have no expertise in performing or reading these studies and often have arrangements with other

Real Medicine: Is Your Doctor Looking Out for You?unscrupulous companies and doctors. Echocardiograms should be performed at a board certified cardiologist’s office or at a hospital echo lab.2. Specialists have several offices within a single city or town. Most often this is a means of paying off the internist (in the form of rent) and the extra overhead for the doctor means he’s going to do more, sometimes unnecessary, tests on you.3. Your general doctor has a part-time specialist work with him. You should be seen by a specialist that is available 24/7. Again this is a means to enrich the doctor’s pockets and not help you.4. Doctor hires a new physician and tries to talk you into leaving your old one. Good doctors, even if they

hire other types of physicians (like in a multi-specialty group) will not try and sell you.5. The doctor sells products – weight loss, vitamins, or cosmetics from his office. 6. Doctors keep coming and going from an office. A lot of doctor turnover is an indication of a troubled practice.7. You get an EKG every time you go to the doctor’s office – another way of increasing the bill.8. Doctor does not display his diploma or board certification. Make sure you know where your doctor trained and that he is board certified. Just because someone’s card says expert in heart disease or diabetes does not mean the doctor is certified in cardiology or

endocrinology.9. Your doctor keeps you waiting while he sits down and talks to the drug reps. We all have to make patients wait sometimes (patients come in emergently or very ill and take extra time) but no one should wait because a drug rep is detailing a doctor.

Your doctor no longer accepts your insurance. As much as you may like your doctor, and as difficult as it may be for many physicians to survive, you should try and find a physician that accepts your insurance.

If you have any questions about your prescription drugs, please

direct your inquiries by e-mail to VANLEV@aol.com.

By Jeff Klein, New York State Senator Each and everyday in New York State, complex issues affect the quality of healthcare provided to our communities. As your State Senator and member of the Senate Health Committee, I am committed to advocating in the best interest of patient safety for the highest level of medical care available. One issue that has surfaced recently, concerns insurance companies trying to tell doctors how to effectively practice medicine. In my opinion, no one knows your healthcare issues and medical history better than your family physician. Your doctor should be granted the authority to determine what medical tests, drugs, and services best fit the needs of you and your family. In regard to cancer screening, more and more New Yorkers are making the decision to be proactive with their health and undergo

Ensuring Our Doctors Have the Authority to Determine What’s Best for Patient Care

important screening procedures, such as colonoscopy. As the number of patients being screened has risen over the years, doctors have been enhancing this experience by offering light forms of anesthesia for increased patient comfort and efficacy during this difficult, but important procedure. Due to increased costs, insurance companies are now clamping down on this option and proposing policies that force doctors to administer older methods of sedation. Although these methods are effective, the experience is far less comfortable for patients, and increasingly arduous for doctors. In addition, this policy dictates how a doctor can practice medicine and questions their authority in determining what’s best for patient care. Beginning in January, I will propose legislation that will protect the quality of healthcare for our communities and prohibit insurance companies from telling your doctor

how to practice medicine. This proposed law will allow physicians to determine what ancillary medical services, like anesthesia, are in the best interest of patient care. Putting dollars before patient care is not socially responsible healthcare.

For more information on this or other proposed legislation, please

contact my office at

1-800 / 718.2039.

By Diane M. Grassi For several years now, American healthcare consumers, including many from other western industrialized nations, have heard about elective surgeries being performed in lesser-developed nations and due to cost and denial of coverage by health insurance providers have opted to go there. However, surgeries in the past were truly elective and not medically necessary procedures that largely consisted of face-lifts, tummy tucks and gastric bypasses for cosmetic purposes. But just in the past two years, American patients are being wooed to make decisions on serious medically necessary surgeries due to their fears of excessive healthcare costs. And the decision involves traveling abroad primarily to India and Thailand in order to receive such hospital care which they require. For those self-insured, underinsured, or not insured at all, the desperation of receiving medical care without sacrificing homes or assets in the process is plausible, since costs of similar procedures in South Asia range from 75% - 80% less than in the United States. But now U.S. based corporations have entered the arena as well by encouraging employees to go to India and Thailand via cash incentives, free airfare and hotel stays with no co-pays due on the final bill. Yet, just as with any large purchase consumers must look beyond the fancy advertisements and read the fine print with a Buyer Beware mentality. Americans have become quite adept at learning what to look for when dealing with car dealerships when purchasing an automobile and with computer retailers when purchasing a new computer. But it has taken many years to educate consumers as to their rights and protections under the law and what to do when something does go wrong. The term “medical tourism” has been inaccurately applied to what is essentially the offshoring of patients

Offshoring U.S. Patients No Cure for Ailing Healthcare System

of the U.S. healthcare system to foreign countries, in order to appeal to potential customers who are really medical patients. The term was invented by the media and it stuck and is now being used as a marketing tool. Deceptive in its concept, it is an implication that a patient can go sightseeing before or after a serious hospital procedure in that foreign country. But for those who are more scrupulous it remains difficult to get the necessary information needed to make a reasoned decision on whether to have surgery performed, let alone halfway around the world. There are now organizations being touted as medical tourism agencies that have cropped up throughout the U.S. in order to facilitate such care overseas for individual patients as well as to serve as a clearinghouse for corporations wishing to outsource their employees’ healthcare with them in tow. These groups include MedSolution, GlobalChoice Healthcare, IndUShealth, Planet Healthcare and Med Retreat, to name just a few. And with more and more corporations adding select foreign hospitals as Preferred Providers to their employees’ health insurance plans, medical tourism companies handle the paperwork and travel arrangements for their employees. Other countries of destination include Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Panama, Mexico, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey and South Africa. However, it is at this point that the patient needs to start their own due diligence. There is usually a requirement by most U.S. healthcare insurance providers for patients to get second opinions for most complicated surgeries in the U.S., but not so for offshore surgeries. And the list of surgeries which are being sent offshore are indeed medically necessary but confusingly being reported to the media as elective. But you can determine for yourself whether or not the following are elective procedures: cardiac bypass, cardiac stent implantation, cardiac angioplasty, knee replacement, hip replacement, mastectomy, hysterectomy, chemotherapy, eye surgery, vascular surgery, among others.And as the medical tourism agency is only an intermediary between the client and the hospital as well as between hotels and airlines they do not provide any

liability in the event that there is a medical complication or there is a mishap at the destination hospital. Furthermore, there are fees which could arise not documented by an employer nor agency which could require additional expenses upon the patient’s arrival. And as a conduit between patient and hospital, the medical tourism business remains an unregulated industry in the U.S., without licensing requirements and with most managed by non-medical personnel. Similarly, and unbeknownst to most U.S. patients is that the healthcare industry in India is highly unregulated. It was only in 2006 that regulations regarding the medical device industry, which includes surgical devices such as cardiac stents and orthopedic implants for use in hip and knee replacements, was mandated. Such call for regulation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) only came about as the result of discovered defective drug eluting cardiac stents in 2004. And although hospitals have the option of applying for accreditation through the Joint International Commission established in 1999, a subsidiary of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, used for hospitals in the U.S., there is no such requirement to do so. As of 2006 there are five hospitals in India which have JCI accreditation, renewable every three years. They include the three facilities of the Apollo Hospital group, the Shruff Eye Hospital and the Wockhardt Hospital. The Bumrungrad International in Bangkok is Thailand’s sole JCI hospital. Singapore has over a dozen JCI hospitals however, and the Philippines has one. But the JCI accreditation only applies primarily to hospital management which although includes procedures to reduce risk of infection and disease and to ensure patient safety, it has no jurisdiction over the actual physicians performing surgical procedures. The patient is provided limited information other than an introductory phone call to the intended physician and having medical records electronically sent to the doctor or hospital via the internet by the medical tourism agency. The patient has a choice of physicians, but unlike in the U.S. where there is easy access to a doctor’s medical status by medical

boards and organizations, other than knowing whether the doctor may have practiced medicine in the U.S., there is little information to come by. Without standardized protocols it is difficult for the patient to make a correct assessment. When decisions on a patient’s health is driven primarily by cost it can impair the decision making process. There is little argument that healthcare costs in the U.S. are bankrupting corporations and labor unions and deceleration of escalation is nary in sight. With the healthcare industry being 15% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product and having risen in cost 75% for employers and 143% for employees since the year 2000, the system is broken. High malpractice insurance fees required by both employers and physicians, hospital deregulation and class action medical litigations have only exacerbated the problem. Such high medical costs will only encourage limited access to healthcare for the middle class and ultimately result in less preventative care costing taxpayers more in the long run. The problem is not the medical care in the U.S., still considered the best in the world, but its delivery system. It is when Medicare and the health insurance providers became the decision makers and took that power away from the physicians that the system began to unravel. Added to that is the lack of restraint of costs by the pharmaceutical industry which charges U.S. patients more for its own medications than any other country in the world. But as expensive as healthcare is in the U.S., there are legal and safety issues which are part of the American fabric which Americans very much take for granted yet expect but are not present in the undeveloped world. For example, there are few regulatory bodies such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, various medical boards, consumer protection laws, available legal experts and the court system. All serve as a net of safeguards offering remedies. But unlike a car purchase, medical care is a complicated undertaking in which there are no guarantees, yet there are areas of compliance which must be maintained. Once the patient is in a foreign country there is little protection for redress and once that patient leaves the country should they need follow-up care such as therapy or if complications arise even during travel, they must seek medical care in the U.S. Secondarily, if the procedure is performed overseas, insurance providers or Medicare may not honor the additional required care in the U.S. Still, patients may decide to take the risks in addition to the inherent risks of any surgery, but should not

be coerced into uninformed choices in order for their employer to save costs under the guise that they are helping to reduce the costs of U.S. healthcare in the long run. In July 2006 the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging held a hearing called “The Globalization of Healthcare: Can Medical Tourism Reduce Healthcare Costs?” Its goal was to address the subject of medical tourism, its growth, safety of patients and possible regulation of the industry itself. Its Committee Chairman, Senator Gordon H. Smith, has asked that several federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce and the Department of State create an interagency task force necessary for lawmakers to reach informed decisions that healthcare consumers themselves cannot accurately make at this juncture regarding offshoring their medical care. And among the labor unions, the United Steelworkers Union (USW) has publicly weighed in on this issue when it learned one of its union members, employed by Blue Ridge Paper Products, was going to be sent to India for gall bladder surgery simultaneously with shoulder surgery. Leo W. Gerard, USW International President, fired off a complaint dated September 11, 2006 to Congress by contacting the following committees: the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the House Committee on Ways and Means, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The goal is not necessarily to create more legislation but to establish guidelines. Perhaps Mr. Gerard puts it best when he states, “The right to safe, secure and dependable health care in one’s own country should not be surrendered for any reason-certainly not to fatten the profit margins of corporate investors.” He also contends to the Congress that “We remain steadfast in our commitment to rebuild a domestic healthcare system.”Let us hope that our government and healthcare providers can likewise make such a commitment by investing in the health and welfare of the American people.

Diane M. Grassi is a freelance columnist, who writes weekly commentary and op-ed pieces

providing honest and often politically incorrect assessments of the U.S. government’s public policy, its laws and its courts’ opinions. A community activist

since the late 70’s, after growing up outside of New York City, as an adult she lived, attended college and eventually worked in New

York City. But she came to realize only in the past decade that she

was never the liberal she was led

to believe she was, as those with a conservative bent can be activists

too. While volunteering for several Congressional and political campaigns in the 1990’s her

interest in politics and government really came alive.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of

Music Conservatory in New York City, she spent 15 years working in a legal capacity in the music

industry. She earned a paralegal certification from the New York University School of Law and

later decided to do graduate work in public administration at Pace

University, also in NY. Additionally she attended the California

Western School of Law in San Diego, CA where did graduate

study in law.Having lived in the southwest for the past ten years and presently in Las Vegas, NV, Diane believes her writing represents a composite of her past educational, professional and activist backgrounds. She has now applied her activist mentality to her writing, which she is making a new avocation. She approaches

her writing with passion and humor and demands readers to observe their own thinking

patterns, and form views from a different perspective. Whether you

agree with her or not, if at best Diane wakes you up, then her goal

will have been accomplished.

Automotive • CrimeNOVEMBER 23, 2006 PAGE 5WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

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By Roger Witherspoon What do you suppose a liaison between the low riding, aggressive, panther-like Dodge Magnum and the powerful, aggressive, fast-moving, Dodge Charger might produce? Well, if you held Dodge’s automotive crayons and could imagine a rambunctious, gadget-toting teenager on wheels, you might come up with something like the Dodge Caliber. The Caliber is a spunky, compact SUV with all the comforts a spoiled kid could want, including the attitude. It starts with the Caliber’s look. Its grill has the distinct Dodge look found on the pouncing Magnum. But the grill is more open-faced than the bigger, more powerful car, and the curved lines underneath the grill containing the parking lights gives it a youthful smirk – which pretty much takes the aggression out of it. “I just wanted to design a vehicle for an active lifestyle,” said Mike Nicholas, the chief Dodge designer who pulled the Caliber out of his crayon box at the age of 35. “I

Shifting GearsRunning Wild and Road Tripping in the Dodge Caliber

wanted something that was flexible and functional. I wanted it to have presence to it where it would stand out on the road and catch your attention. “We thought of it as a vehicle for both the city and suburbs, but it has a high sill and larger wheel and tire, so it looks like it can go anywhere on and off-road.”That look is enhanced by the fact that the Caliber is built on the Jeep Compass platform, and while it is not designed to ford streams and climb steep, rock-strewn hills, the Caliber does have all-wheel drive, handles like a Jeep and can comfortably go just about anywhere a whim and its 17-inch wheels will take you. “I thought of it as the type of vehicle you could take on a road

trip just about anywhere,” Nicholas said. “And some of the accessories were things you might want to have along with you.” If that road trip is north of the Mason-Dixon Line, the heated leather seats might be appreciated. If the road gets rugged, one might appreciate the five-star crash rating and the side curtain air bags.As for the accessories, take the arm rest – a fairly standard, functional part that is usually characterized by being wide or thin, hard plastic or padded. In the Caliber, however, the arm rest is padded, adjustable, and has an added function. The top flips open to reveal a holder designed for a cell phone or iPod, and there is a cord in the storage bin underneath which can connect the iPod to the MP3 outlet on the dash and allow you to hear your own tunes through the car’s sound system. “The cell phone holder was just a common sense thing,” said Nicholas. “You’re always looking for a place to put those things. And just about everyone has an iPod these days.”In addition, the standard 12-

volt power outlets to recharge cell phones and other hand held electronic items are augmented with a 115-volt outlet in the center console so you can plug in the power cord for a laptop.There was a lot of thought given to storing all sorts of items. In the dash, there are slots on either side of the steering wheel for small objects such as toll passes. Then, there are three slots in the center console which can hold cell phones or other items, as well as a large storage bin under the adjustable arm rest for CDs. At night, the two cup holders are easy to find since there are soft blue lights ringing the bottom. And to keep your drinks cold, the deep glove compartment is in three sections: upper and lower sections for holding the average

accumulation of stuff, and a center “chill box” which is kept cold by the Caliber’s air conditioning system and can hold four 20-ounce bottles or four standard sized cans. Dodge folks are not saying if the chill box is the modern descendant of the moonshine legacy of the General Lee, the infamous Charger that roared through the television countryside a generation ago under the lead feet of the Dukes of Hazard. There was some thought to the sound system, too. It features nine Boston Acoustic speakers and subwoofers – which can envelope the cabin or blanket the neighborhood – and a pair of articulating boom boxes built into the liftgate that can fold out with the touch of a button and face the world behind the car. “It was just part of the road trip concept,” he said, “where you park your car somewhere to have a picnic or tailgate party and flip down the speakers, and get out the Frisbees. It’s for an active lifestyle.” The Caliber may be a compact car, but it is not limited to short people.

According to Nicholas, the car was designed to “look like you pumped the car with air, so it’s filling out” sort of like a kid outgrowing his clothes. That rounded look works inside, where there is plenty of head and leg room for a quarter of traveling NBA players and the center passenger seat is actually large enough to hold a child seat without encroaching on the adults on either side. The rear seats fold down to enlarge the more than adequate trunk. And as another touch, if you push the rear light in and let it pop out, you are holding a flashlight whose batteries are continually recharged by the running motor. “When you’re on the road,” explained Nicholas, “you always need a flashlight and you can

either never find it or the batteries are always dead. Here, we have a convenient one and it’s always charging. It’s always there for you to pop out when you need it.” Whether you need to or not, once you get behind the leather steering wheel of the Caliber and start 1,000 or more iPod tunes rolling through the boom box, you have a strong urge to get a nationwide map, and just go. 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT MSRP: $18,740EPA Mileage: 26 MPG City 30 MPG Highway Performance/ Safety: 2.0-Liter, DOHC 4-cylinder engine producing 158 horsepower and 141 pound-feet of torque; continuously variable automatic transmission; all wheel drive; power front disc and rear drum brakes; Halogen headlights; 17-inch steel wheels; front multistage air bags; supplemental side curtain and rear air bags; power rack and pinion steering. Interior/ Comfort: AM/FM radio; CD, MP3 and iPod player; 9 Boston Acoustic speakers

with subwoofers and 2 flexible liftgate speakers; 12 and 115-volt power outlets; leather seats and steering wheel; heated front seats with lumbar supports; tilt steering wheel with fingertip controls; folding rear seats in 60/40 split; rechargeable rear flashlight.

Roger Witherspoon is automotive columnist to the

Dallas Examiner, Westchester Times Tribune, and Yonkers

Tribune, among other media.

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that former Pace University student William Gerhard (DOB 08/18/86) of 2090 Aetna Place, Yorktown, New York, pled guilty today to one count of Forgery in the Second Degree, a class “D” Felony. Gerhard’s arrest was the result of an interagency crackdown on the manufacture and distribution of phony driver’s licenses. The three month joint investigation was conducted by members of the Briarcliff Manor Police Department, the Mt. Pleasant Police Department, the Pleasantville Police Department, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s office. Gerhard, who resided at Dow Hall in Briarcliff Manor, made and sold high quality fake New Jersey driver’s licenses out of his dorm room. The fake licenses were sold to students principally so they could unlawfully engage in underage drinking. The legal drinking age in

New York State is 21. A search warrant was executed on the room resulting in the seizure of a computer used to create the phony licenses. Gerhard is scheduled to be sentenced on January 25th, 2007. Another Pace University student, Edward Henselder (DOB 01/10/86) of 10 More Place, Melville, Long Island, New York, pled guilty earlier this month, also to one count of Forgery in the Second Degree. Henselder, who also resided at

Dow Hall in Briarcliff Manor, took part in the making and selling of the high quality fake New Jersey driver’s licenses. Henselder is scheduled to be sentenced on February 26th, 2007. Both students face up to seven years in state prison on the Forgery charge. Assistant District Attorney Gwendolyn Galef of the Economic Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case.

Former Pace University Students Plead GuiltyMade and Sold Phony New Jersey Drivers’ Licenses

A & E • Culture • Potpourri • WorshipNOVEMBER 23, 2006PAGE 6 WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

By Frank Drucker

YONKERS, NY -- At about a quarter till eight Friday evening, November 17th, track announcer John Hernan uttered that brief-but-effective phrase, “They’re off!” And sure enough, they were, in the first parimutuel performance at Yonkers Raceway since June 25, 2005. The Westchester oval, rechristened Empire City at Yonkers Raceway, is undergoing a $240 million renovation for the installation of video gaming machines that kept racing away for about 17 months.. Some 2,400 Video Gaming

Yonkers Raceway Returns After 17-Month Hiatus

Machines (VGMs) are already operational, with another 3,000-plus on the way. The racing oval also underwent a major overhaul, its half-mile circumference now featuring more bank in the turns and less width in the straightaways. Oh, yes. Let the historians note that the 6-year-old pacing mare Greystone Carrie and driver Jim Marohn rolled off cover to win the opener going away. She paced the mile in 1: 59.4 and returned $5.20. Yonkers Raceway has returned with a five-performance-per-week live harness schedule. First post every Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday is 7:40 PM, while Sunday

gets underway at 5 PM sharp. Harness and thoroughbred simulcasting is available seven days a week, while video gaming hours are from 10 AM-2 AM daily. Serious coin is up for grabs next Saturday night (November 25th) at Yonkers, with Glidemaster’s attempt at the Trotting Triple Crown highlighting the $728,000 Yonkers Trot. Added to that is the $546,830 Messenger Stakes—final jewel of the Pacing Crown—the $291,456 Lady Maud Pace (3-year-old fillies) and $330,476 final of the Hudson Filly Trot, also for 3-year-olds.

PURCHASE, NY -- Grammy Award-winning composer, arranger and saxophonist extraordinaire Bob Mintzer joins the Purchase Jazz Orchestra in a concert entitled Triple Threat, November 27 at 7:30 PM at the Purchase College Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 1-914 / 251.6200 or visiting www.artscenter.org. The program includes Hello and Goodbye by Bob Brookmeyer; Touch by Jim McNeely; Tricotism by Oscar Pettiford, arranged by Dave Lalama; The Touch of Your Lips by Ray Noble, arranged by Michael Abene; and Salt Peanuts by John “Dizzy” Gillespie and Kenny Clarke, arranged by Mark Taylor. Mintzer joins the band for his arrangement of Eye of the Hurricane by Herbie Hancock, and his original tunes Not Quite Yet, Black Sand, Original People and Runferyerlife. Bob Mintzer has been leading his own New York-based big band since the early 1980s, leads a jazz quartet, is a 15-year member of the Yellowjackets, and is active in music education. He honed his skills playing and writing for Buddy Rich, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Art Blakey, Sam Jones, Jaco Pastorius, The GRP Big Band, Mike Manieri, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and the New York Philharmonic. He also has done session work for James Taylor, Queen, Steve Winwood,

Purchase Jazz Orchestra in Concert with Guest Artist Bob Mintzer

The Purchase Jazz Orchestra is in concert with special guest Bob Mintzer on November 27 at the Purchase College Performing Arts Center.

Aretha Franklin, and countless others. Mintzer has been nominated for thirteen Grammy awards for his solo work, big band recordings. The 17-member Purchase Jazz Orchestra is directed by Grammy award-winner Todd Coolman, director of the Jazz Studies program at the Purchase College School of the Arts, Conservatory of Music. Coolman is one of the more in-demand bassists on the New York jazz scene today. He has performed and/or recorded with a virtual “who’s who” of jazz artists, including Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Tommy Flanagan, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman and numerous others. Today, he

is actively performing with an impressive array of artists, including James Moody, Ahmad Jamal, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess and the Jon Faddis Orchestra. The Purchase Jazz Orchestra features jazz students Andrew Gould, Evan Cobb, Sam Dillon, Joe Mayo and Bill Todd on saxophones, Brent Chiarello, Gordon Bartow, Kyle Pollard and Michael Forzano on trombones, Max Darche, Dylan Canterbury, Jonathan Saraga and Wayne Tucker on trumpets, John Fastiggi on piano, Sam Lester on guitar, Nate Allen on bass and Paul Francis on drums.

Purchase College is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road,

Purchase, N.Y.

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- In keeping with a rich tradition of periodically recognizing the contributions of the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that make up Westchester County, the Board of Legislators will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution at its next regular meeting on November 27, 2006 at 7:00 PM. “The Hungarian Revolution marked the beginning of the end of communist domination of eastern Europe,” said County Legislator and Minority Leader George Oros (R-I-C, Cortlandt). “While it took another 35 years for the Berlin Wall to fall, the love of freedom, and the spirit to fight exhibited by the Hungarian people in 1956, brought hope to many Eastern Europeans.” This past month, ceremonies took place not only in Budapest but in communities across the United States with sizeable Hungarian American populations, such as Washington, DC, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, the October 1956 uprising in which Hungarian people fought to free themselves from communist domination. The revolution was crushed as the Soviet Union sent tanks and troops into Hungary killing many patriots. Oros speaks with pride of his 100% Hungarian ancestry and of

Westchester Legislators to Commemorate 50th Anniversary of the

Hungarian RevolutionBoard Honors Hungarians’ Historic Role in the Ultimate Defeat of

Communism in Eastern Europe

the contributions that Hungarians have made not only on the world stage but locally as well. “Hungarian immigrants played a huge role in the development of the City of Peekskill around the turn of the last century,” noted Oros. “Indeed, today, Hungarian heritage is marked in Peekskill by street names, such as Kossuth Street. Kossuth was an important military figure in Hungarian history.” Oros added that Governor George Pataki, also of Hungarian descent and who is invited to the Board’s event, was born in Peekskill and that his late

father Louis Pataki was very active in the 1920s, 30’s and 40’s in what was a vibrant Hungarian social scene in the city. The special event will feature a musical performance of traditional Hungarian songs, including a csardas, by Miklos and Lehel Ujvari. The Board’s recognition will be highlighted by a visit and remarks from Hungarian Consul General Gabor Horvath who will represent Hungary in accepting a county proclamation that recognizes the courage and spirit of the Hungarian people whose stand against communism planted the seeds of freedom in eastern Europe. Mr. Oros said he urges all Hungarian-Americans and others of eastern European descent to attend the Board’s November 27th commemoration. Oros said, “This is a great way to pay homage to those brave Freedom Fighters who 50 years ago changed the course of history and to celebrate Hungarian culture and contributions to Westchester County.” The event will start at 7:00 PM in the Legislative Chambers on the eighth floor of the Michaelian Office Building at 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains. For more information, please call Legislator George Oros at 1-914 / 995.2828 or 1-914 / 997.2555.

1989.301 - The number refers to the unmarked plot in the cemetery where Imre Nagy, hero of the Hun-garian Uprising of 1956, was bur-ied from 1958 to 1989. The blood stain has the shape of Hungary.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY -- Jenna’s Dream presents the 5th Annual Jenna’s Dream Westchester Choral Festival, at Westlake High School in Thornwood, New York on Saturday, December 9 at 7:30 pm. The festival will feature performances by select groups of youth choirs and adult vocal ensembles from throughout Westchester County and Broadway veteran Craig Schulman. Scheduled to perform are Jenna’s DreamChoir, a professionally trained youth choir, consisting of 40 young adults aged 10 to 18, who perform many different styles of music. Along with numerous radio and television appearances, the DreamChoir has sung at many local benefit concerts, as well as performing at corporate events and commercial venues in the New York metropolitan area. Other youth choirs to appear will include students from the Westlake High School Blendors, Hendrick Hudson High School Treble Chorus, Maria Regina High School Chorus and the Carmel High School Select Chorus. The Golden Apple Chorus, an adult women’s barbershop ensemble will also perform. Jenna’s Dream is named for Broadway star, recording and

Jenna’s Dream Westchester Choral Festival

Music Event Brings Together Hundreds of Westchester Youth in SongSaturday December 9th at Westlake High School

concert artist Craig Schulman’s late 6 year-old daughter. Mr. Schulman, a Yorktown resident, will also lend his singing talents to the evening, as he is the only actor to have starred in three of the most extraordinary musicals ever written - Jekyll & Hyde, The Phantom of the Opera, and nearly 2,000 performances as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables on Broadway and around the world. “This festival is a wonderful way to expose hundreds of young vocalists and our audience to the varied traditions of choral music as well as showcase talented singers from Westchester County and the surrounding area,” said

Mr. Schulman, founder of Jenna’s Dream. “They are all so enthusiastic and I am very proud to celebrate their accomplishments by bringing them this opportunity to perform.” In addition to the concert, there will be a silent auction. Proceeds of the evening will benefit the Jenna’s Dream scholarship program, which provides opportunities for at-risk children to attend summer theatre camps and for high school seniors to continue their education in the performing arts. Tom Furci, WHUD Radio’s Music Director and mid-day host, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

By John L. Allen, Jr. As Benedict XVI’s Nov. 28th-Dec.1st trip to Turkey draws near, one concern both in the Vatican and at the Phanar, the headquarters of the Patriarch of Constantinople, is that the post-Regensburg emphasis on Christian/Muslim relations will overshadow the ecumenical thrust of the pope’s visit, intended to cap several decades of rapprochement between Rome and the “first among equals” in the Orthodox world. One issue that could tie the two themes together is “reciprocity,” meaning the demand that religious minorities in Islamic states should receive the same rights and freedoms as Muslims in the West. Reciprocity is a core element of Benedict’s challenge to Muslims -- inviting them to embrace reason with respect to religious affairs -- and the dismal conditions facing Turkey’s small Christian population, including the tiny flock of the Patriarch of Constantinople, offers a classic case in point. Benedict will have to choose his words carefully, however, because there’s a unique history in Turkey that could easily make such a challenge sound like a threat. Over the centuries, European powers repeatedly intervened in Turkey to demand special privileges for Christians, a process that many Turks associate with the slow undermining of the Ottoman Empire. If the pope is to avoid awakening those historical ghosts, he’ll have to find a vocabulary that makes it clear he’s talking about a matter of universal human dignity, not about special treatment for Christians.Although Turkey is one of the few majority Islamic states where conversion is not illegal, and where religious tolerance is officially the law of the land, on the ground the playing field is far from level. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, but by any standard Turkey’s Christians represent a tiny minority. The Patriarch of Constantinople presides over perhaps as few as 2,000 souls. The Greek Orthodox presence in Turkey was eviscerated by a “population exchange” between Greece and

All Things CatholicTurkey’s Unique History a Challenge for this Academic Pope

Turkey in 1922, when almost a million and half Turkish citizens who were Orthodox Christians were sent packing to Greece, while a million Muslims in Greece were thrust into Turkey. There are still some 100,000 Armenian Christians in Turkey, along with roughly 30,000 Catholics divided across a variety of rites. Whatever their numbers, there’s no doubt that Christians face serious challenges, some of which are a de jure matter of formal discrimination. Christians, for example, are barred from careers in the military, which is the ultimate source of power and prestige in Turkish society. Christian clergy usually are refused Turkish citizenship, no matter how long they’ve been in the country. Only recently have they been able to obtain residency permits valid for more than a few months, paying a tax of 0.50 Euro (about 64 U.S. cents) for every day in the country. Because Christian churches have no legal personality, parishes and schools have to be bought and sold in the name of private Turkish citizens, a requirement that generates all manner of property disputes and administrative headaches. Seminaries for both the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Armenian Orthodox Church have been closed by government order since 1971.Often, however, the obstacles facing Christians are a matter of petty bureaucratic harassment rather than formal legal discrimination. In Mersin, for example, a port city on the Turkish Mediterranean, a handful of Capuchin missionaries once operated a center for the

formation of young Turkish Christians. Shortly after 2000, however, it was shut down on the grounds that it was “not authorized by the Ministry of Public Instruction.” The government moved to expropriate the facility, triggering a legal challenge by the Capuchins which will probably drag on for years. The Capuchins also offered courses in Italian and English for Turkish adults in Mersin, with no catechetical agenda, yet those courses too were ordered closed. In Adana, another Mediterranean city, a Catholic parish was forced to close in 2005 after a bar and disco opened up in an adjacent space featuring round-the-clock, ear-splitting music. The mayor had promised the Catholic pastor that the bar would be moved, especially since the spot was not zoned for commercial activity, but in the end nothing happened. Eventually the parish closed because it became impossible to conduct normal pastoral activity. Given that it’s virtually impossible to obtain permission to build a new church in Turkey, today the few hundred Catholics in Adana have to travel 80 kilometers to Mersin for Mass, while the pastor relocated to Iskenderun.These and similar stories make up the daily fabric of Christian life in Turkey. Yet when I interviewed Patriarch Mesrob II, head of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Turkey, last year, he rather surprisingly said he hoped Benedict would not bring up such matters, saying it would amount to “interfering in the internal affairs of Turkey.” Why the sensitivity? Because Western challenges regarding the status of Christians in Turkey today don’t occur in a historical vacuum. In fact, there’s a long and not terribly edifying history of foreign governments, especially Europeans, insisting upon special privileges for Christians within the old Ottoman Empire, which from the 16th to the 20th century was the main carrier of Islamic civilization. Such appeals are associated in the Turkish mind with treachery

and anti-Islamic hostility, so that Benedict’s rhetoric on “reciprocity” risks being misunderstood as merely the latest installment in a centuries-old story of Westerners who don’t have Turkey’s best interests at heart using the status of Christians as a classic “Trojan Horse.” For centuries, Greeks and Armenians as well as other Christian groups within the Ottoman Empire prospered, so that it was fairly easy for many Orthodox to say, “Rather the turban of the Turk than the tiara of the pope.” Part of the reason was that almost from the very beginning of Ottoman rule, the emperors granted a series of what came to be known as “capitulations,” first to the French in 1536, then to all foreign merchants operating in the empire. These capitulations granted exemptions from various taxes and laws as well as a series of special privileges. Eventually the capitulations were claimed as an extraterritorial right by all Christians living in Ottoman lands. The system began at street level: Christian women, for example, were allowed to travel first-class on second-class tickets on the ferries that criss-crossed the Bosphorus. A rumor widely believed in the late Ottoman period is that a Christian thief being pursued by imperial police could throw his passport on the ground, touch it with one toe, and thus claim the protection of the all-powerful foreign embassies. When a new constitution was drawn up following the Young Turk revolution of 1908 which declared the equality of all citizens before the law, some Turkish Christians actually protested on the grounds that such a principle would mean surrendering their patchwork of

special privileges and exemptions. As foreign governments became increasingly vocal in defense of the Christians within the empire, and as Christians became increasingly restless in asserting their rights, a feeling grew among Turks that Christians were not really subjects of the same state, and that foreign advocacy on behalf of Christians really had as its aim weakening the empire from within. Even today, the term “capitulation” for many Turks evokes memories of this past. Thus if Benedict XVI elects to push the reciprocity issue in Turkey -- and there are powerful arguments for doing so -- he should understand that he doesn’t begin with a blank slate. It will be important for the pope to make clear that he’s not talking about a new form of “capitulation” aimed at privileging Christians, or undermining Turkey’s power or prestige. One possible way to do that is to engage the religious liberty issue across the board in Turkey, for Muslims as well as Christians. It’s still a delicate question in an officially secular state where many public forms of Islamic faith and practice are discouraged or officially banned. Under the modernizing program of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey in the early 20th century, the Islamic caliphate was abolished, Islamic courts and brotherhoods were banned, and both the female headscarf and the traditional Turkish fez were prohibited. The Muslim calendar was replaced with the European system, polygamy was banned, and the Turkish language was rendered into the Latin alphabet. While many of these measures had

the desired effect of placing Turkey on a pro-Western, modernizing course, they also drove Islam underground and converted it into a permanent source of political radicalism. Today, Turkey is struggling to strike a balance between healthy expressions of religious faith while at the same time preserving the secular character of its state. If Benedict phrases his reciprocity challenge in terms of a broad appeal for religious freedom for all Turkish citizens, it could resonate with many Muslims who themselves feel frustrated with what many see as an overly restrictive environment. (A recent poll found that 68 percent of Turks regard the ban on headscarves, which is widely flouted in practice, to be a violation of religious freedom). In the long run, this may prove a more effective way of improving the lot of Turkish Christians, as opposed to a direct challenge on their behalf. In any event, Turkey’s history makes the reciprocity question especially complex, and especially challenging. Benedict’s performance in Turkey will be the first serious post-Regensburg test of whether this academic pope has learned the main communications lesson of that episode -- that a dash of sensitivity to the intended audience sometimes matters as much as intellectual coherence, and that carefully chosen words often determine whether what is pitched is also what’s caught. John L. Allen Jr. is a columnist with “The National Catholic Reporter.” His e-mail address is jallen@ncronline.org

Cuisine • Classified • Education • EnvironmentNOVEMBER 23, 2006 PAGE 7WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

strategies. You may know that advertisers relying on questionable research have determined that Americans older than their twenties are not highly desirable targets for ads. Why? Because older folks are supposedly not likely to change product brands. According to this widely ascribed to theory, once you enter into your thirties you have brand loyalty and no amount of advertising is likely to seduce you away to new products and brands. The culture industries are either directly or indirectly (but within a degree or so) dependent on advertising revenue for their profit and thus survival. So they ain’t gonna waste their time on cultural products (music, movies, sandwiches, etc.) on anyone that their advertisers don’t want to market to. And that means you (probably). But definitely anyone close to middle aged. So no wonder you can’t stand to listen to commercial radio anymore

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from Page 1 – it could care less about what you like. Of course, as you well know, the young don’t know what the heck they like and will take to pretty much anything wrapped up for them in a tidy little package with a colorful bow on it. So they’re being spoon fed unspeakable things in order to get them to buy other unspeakably useless things that they are too darn naïve to recognize as unspeakable or useless. It’s almost enough to make you glad you’re an aging, overweight Burbanite with antiquated tastes and no obvious purpose in the culture anymore. This may be changing a bit. Starbuck’s likes people like you. The ubiquitous coffee chain has found out that there are a lot of people who are older than twenty five, who do not crave just intense doses of salt pierced by shockingly sweet and mind puckering sour bursts of flavor from food, don’t really want to listen to hip-hop and one Simpson sister or another all the time and need to sit down and go to the bathroom (a clean one) on a

regular basis. They have researched you and they know that you want to have good flaky butter-layered croissants, strong dark coffee, salads with artisan ingredients; that you want to listen to Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and Amos Lee; that you want organic. Starbuck’s knows. And they aim to deliver to you the things you want to make you, well, be you. The artist Ashley Bickerton, a prominent member of the “Neo-Geo” art movement of the 1980’s, created a series of extremely well constructed devices that hung on the wall and were emblazoned with various product and company logos. He explained his work as being engaged in the process by which individuals constructed their identities through consumer choices. Now this is a bit simplistic (remember this was the ‘80’s) but Bickerton has a point. There’s no doubt that Starbuck’s offerings are in synch with a sensibility that I identify with and that aspect of identity is reinforced

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College has named Thomas Mauriello as its new vice president for advancement. Mauriello joins the College from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), where he served as vice president and chief development officer. In his new role, Mauriello will oversee the College’s advancement office, which also includes the alumni relations and college relations departments. The overall goal of college advancement is to strengthen the College’s education mission through outreach and support. “I am extremely excited about joining the staff of Manhattan College,” said Mauriello. “I will have the opportunity to work closely with the College’s highly respected administration, in addition to leading an extremely

talented group of individuals within the advancement department.” Mauriello brings more than two decades of experience in fundraising and education to Manhattan College. He re-engineered the development and operations at NYIT, engaging a base of 60,000 alumni to dramatically increase giving, while also expanding alumni chapters to include international locations. He also was responsible for corporate and government outreach. Mauriello earned his bachelor’s degree in English and his master’s in administration and supervision from Fordham University. He serves on the board of several local academic institutions and is a founding member of the New York Archdiocese Task Force for Development in Secondary Education. Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.

Manhattan CollegeNames

Thomas Maurielloas New Vice President

for Advancement

by eating, drinking, listening and being at Starbuck’s - as antithetical to that very sensibility as it may sound. But I do wonder, is Starbuck’s serving an authentic cultural niche that I independently like and call my own and with which Starbuck’s is genuinely in synch? Or are they just going for seconds on selling artifacts to a consumer group that the rest of pop culture long ago abandoned for passé? Bickerton (and his spiritual godfather Andy Warhol) might have asked, “What’s the difference?”

Jack 8. Kirby is editor of The WesFoodie’s Eating in the Burbs (www.wesfoodie.com), and was

named “Westchester’s No. 1 Foodie” by Westchester Magazine.

When not eating his way round the Burbs, Kirby can be found

bemoaning the exponential growth of waistlines in direct proportion to sleepless nights of childrearing and other immutable laws of mid-life in

the suburbs.

By Pastor Anthony IovineGrace and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. What will it be like when the world ends? Hollywood and mainstream culture has attempted to depict what those final days of the world will be like. Will evil reign supreme over God’s children? What will the antichrist be like when he or she arrives? Will fire fall from the heavens and sulfur steam up from holes in the ground? Or will it be a little easier like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series? The fact is we don’t know. Oh, the bible gives us a great picture of what it will be like, especially if you read through the prophetic books in Scripture, especially the Book of Revelation. Seven headed beasts and multi-winged flying creatures and seven lamp stands and armies from the north and east …and if you try to understand what these mean, you’ll just fall off the tracks that were laid down for us by the blood of Jesus. The world will come to an end when God the Father says so. Not before. It will come as a thief in the night and there will be no television specials preparing you for what you will need in the afterlife. No, when the world comes to an end, it ends. But the entire notion as to what the world will be like in those days leading up to the last day has engulfed the imagination of not only the cultural community, but also the religious community, for centuries and centuries. Protestant preachers today make a lot of money writing books about the coming end of the world, claiming that events that are happening right now have been foretold in Holy Scripture, and because of the frequency of these events these preachers tell their

“Assurance”Texts: Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-13

followers that Jesus is returning soon. Their dire warnings spread fear and misunderstanding into the hearts and minds of God’s faithful. I think I should write a book about these purported prophets and religious leaders who are telling their followers this junk. Maybe I will call it “Hogwash.” Jesus said in our Gospel reading today: “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the

birth pains.” Mark 13:6-8 Let’s be honest: when hasn’t there been a time without war or rumors of wars? From the moment when Adam and Eve fell into sin, humanity has been fighting amongst itself. God’s people even fought wars to take the Promised Land. Wars have been fought over the Middle East longer than any of us can realize. And throughout the world, nations have fought against nation all the time. It isn’t something new to our day and age that countries went to war.And when haven’t there been earthquakes? They aren’t a new phenomenon. They’ve been happening for as long as sin has been in this world. And when have all families been perfect? Fathers reject their sons and their choices of job, spouse, where they live, and I could go on. And sons have turned on their fathers. And the rejection on both sides is a painful as death. And when hasn’t there been a time when preachers haven’t said “follow me to salvation?”

It happens today a lot more than we’d like to admit. Just watch some of those TV evangelists. But if you think that Lutherans are immune from this, think again. Our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod was founded by pastors who, when they left Germany in the 1830s, were following a man who declared himself as a type of a god and ordered that the people listen and follow him. My friends, through those examples we find only one common denominator: sin. We are taking God’s Word and trying to force it make sense in our own sinful understanding of the world. We are taking the round peg and trying to fit it in a square hole. We try to use our reason and senses in order to make the bible meaningful on some high, cosmic level. If something in Holy Scripture doesn’t make a lot of sense, we concoct ideas and force it into that square hole. For that is what we sinful people do – we try to put ourselves in the place of God. We think we can see in the world an exact time of when Jesus is returning because there are problems between nations and groups of people. And when we try to put ourselves in the place of God we are like Adam and Eve in the Garden when the devil tempted Eve with the promise of knowing good and evil. Our sin tempts us to make ourselves more like gods rather than who we truly are: a sinful people in need of forgiveness and in need of a savior. If we could be like God, we’d already done it. But we fail constantly to live up to His expectations. Our failures to be like God show us that we can’t be like Him, the perfect and loving one who formed us from the dust. But through the blood of Jesus that washed us clean, our sin has been taken away. From our God in heaven, he has pronounced us

forgiven of our sins and failures NOT because of our trying to be like Him but because He became one of us and died so we would not have to die eternally. Faith in the God who became one of us, who died on the wicked tree that gave us life, is where the forgiveness of our sins is found. It is the promise of God from the earliest of days. And as His faithful children, we have the assurance of His grace and mercy because our Lord Jesus paid the price for our failures. “‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where this is forgiveness of

these,” the writer of Hebrews tells

us, “there is no longer any offering

for sin.” It is Jesus who paid the price and spilled His blood for our sin. We do fail God constantly, but with repentant hearts we come to this place and receive His loving forgiveness in His Word and the Eucharist, the great Christian thanksgiving meal. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 The world is coming to an end. It has been since those first days. But when it comes to an end, if it happens in our lifetime, our hope in what comes next – the great and never ending thanksgiving of eternity in heaven with our loved ones and those who have gone before us in the faith and trust in Christ – is nothing to be scared of; instead it is something to hold out hope for in our day. That is something we can have confidence and a strong assurance in.Amen. Pastor Iovine is shepherd to Saint Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran

Church in New Milford, NJ. Direct you comments by email to

ajiovine@gmail.com.

Fire-retardant chemicals can eas-ily “off-gas” from the very products -- like kids pajamas -- that they are

designed to make safe.By the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: Are the flame-retardants used in many products as a fire safety precaution dangerous to our health? If so, what can I do to avoid contact with them?Katya, via e-mail: Flame-retardants are in widespread

Earth TalkDoing Without Flame Retardants

use in both the U.S. and Canada, primarily in carpet padding, foam cushions, p o l y e s t e r bedding and c l o t h i n g , w a l l p a p e r , and the plastic housings for c o m p u t e r s , faxes and other e l e c t r o n i c s . Most are made from variations of a chemical known as PBDE, which stands for polybrominated diphenyl ether. According to the Washington S t a t e D e p a r t m e n t of Ecology (WSDE), in l a b o r a t o r y studies some PBDEs have been shown

to cause problems in rodent brain development. “Most of these problems stem from pre-natal exposure and exposure soon after birth. The health effects appear to be permanent,” says WSDE. They are quick to point out, though, that levels in humans have not (yet) reached the levels that cause problems in lab animals, but that

scientists are concerned because the levels in humans keep rising. PBDEs are “persistent” in that they don’t break down but remain active in our air, water, soil and food. WSDE says that PDBEs are building up in animals throughout the food chain, even turning up in orca whales in Puget Sound in Washington and in the bodies of polar bears in the Arctic. PBDEs also stay in our bodies, accumulating in our fatty tissue. The U.S. is the world’s largest maker and user of PBDEs, and levels found in Americans are as much as 100 times higher than in Europe, where most PDBEs were banned in 2001. North American levels, say scientists, are doubling every two to five years. Primarily, human exposure has been through eating fish, though babies can be exposed by drinking mother’s milk. Children are also exposed when they wear polyester pajamas treated with flame retardant. Indeed, PDBE chemicals easily “off-gas” from the very products they are designed to make safe. Consumers can take precautions and avoid products that contain PBDE. Among other cautions, the Healthy Children Project recommends buying clothing, bedding and furniture made from natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, which do not melt near heat and as such do not need to contain flame-retardants. Another way to minimize exposure is to stick to a diet low in animal fat, since the chemicals accumulate

in larger amounts in animals higher up the food chain. Joyce Newman of the Green Guide recommends vegetables, fruits and whole grains over meat and fish. When choosing meat and fish, she suggests cutting away as much of the fat as possible, and choosing leaner cuts overall. As for consumer goods, WSDE says that industries need to re-think their product designs whereby highly flammable materials are avoided and ignitable materials are separated or shielded from heat sources. Some mattresses in use now in nursing homes and hospitals, for example, employ a “barrier layer” of durable material between surface fabric and interior foam and meet stringent fire safety standards without the use of chemicals. But until the Canadian and U.S. governments begin to take PBDE dangers more seriously, it will be up to individual consumers to look out for the health of their children and families. CONTACTS:

Washington State Department of Ecology’s “Toxic Flame Retardants: The Buzz on PBDEs,” www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0604026.pdf;

Healthy Children Project, www.healthychildrenproject.org;

The Green Guide, www.thegreenguide.com.

NOVEMBER 23, 2006PAGE 8 WESTCHESTER TIMES TRIBUNE

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