Outrage . . .

That is the only word I could think of to sum up my feelings over Governor Patterson's State of the State speech . . . and the clear LACK of outrage among our elected officials . . . who are too busy contemplating their navels (what they themselves hope to get out of state government: nanotech in Marcy or alternative energy tech in Syracuse) to point out that the Emperor Has No Clothes. The Governor is simply continuing the State's failed policies from prior governors of both political stripes, but now to an extreme.

". . . we must strengthen our health care system; improve our schools; create jobs; rebuild our infrastructure; clean up our environment; and begin a clean energy revolution."

I see more expansion of benefits and services, more dependency on government, more catering to the big unions, more picking "winners" and "losers," more spending, more taxation, more government control over our lives . . . and more jobs and people leaving the state because they cannot take it any more.

"We can reduce childhood obesity — and we will. Today, First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson and I are unveiling a comprehensive strategy to address this challenge."

The state is in financial collapse, manufacturing has all but left Upstate New York, but this guy thinks the state should focus effort on overweight children? Only a Downstater would think this is a priority.

This current crisis should teach us that the only way to restore our long-term economic competitiveness is to build the world’s best system of education.

Here we go again . . . The never satisfied education lobby is at work. New York is already close to the top in education spending, and should already have the "best system," but what do we have to show for it? Not much in terms of standardized test results. . . . but a loss of people and jobs in response to the cost. And this guy wants us to spend more!

I have tasked the Empire State Development Corporation with identifying transformational projects in our upstate communities, from enhancing the tourism infrastructure around Niagara Falls to investing in biosciences in Buffalo. . . .

The future of America’s energy and transportation policies rest on the development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. . . . we will create an upstate research consortium on hybrid electric batteries and energy storage technologies. This will help reshape the upstate economy and create a clean corridor that includes cities in the Erie Canal corridor built some two hundred years ago.

Frankly, I'd rather do my own investing with my money than give it to the government to do. . . And if electric batteries are the future of the automotive industry, why are the TAXPAYERS expected to fund the research? The last I checked, Toyota and Kia are building their new automobile plants in the South while auto-related plants are closing in Upstate. Perhaps the fact that New York taxes movement along the "clean corridor" (Thruway tolls) has something to do with that.

It is time to control the cost of energy and how much of it we use. It is time to make New York more energy independent and more energy efficient, to develop our own sources of clean and renewable energy, and to build new statewide systems for energy generation, transmission, and distribution. . . .

Today, I announce one of the most ambitious clean energy goals in America. By 2015, New York will meet 45 percent of its electricity needs through improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy

And just where is all this "clean" electricity going to come from? Upstate NY already has plenty of hydropower and nuclear power to satisfy its own needs . . . Are Upstaters going to have to put up with windmills, more nuke plants, and power lines because Downstaters don't want them in their backyards, and are moving to shut down the existing plants they have?

. . . we must revitalize every part of New York State. We are one state with one future.

The governor speaks of the past. The state has turned into two: the "haves" Downstate vs. the "have nots" Upstate. The "one state," which truly was a great state, ended when Upstate lost its voice in the 1960s Senate reapportionment . . . Since then, state policies have been executed from a Downstate perspective, allowing Downstate to continue to grow while Upstate has withered. Upstate has been conscripted in service of Downstate, but Upstaters accept it because all the good manufacturing jobs have been driven out. Downstate uses power, Upstate gets to produce it. Downstate creates the garbage, Upstate gets to bury it. Downstate rids itself of criminals, Upstate gets to house them.

Downstate has been getting the benefits, Upstate has been getting the burdens.

New York State is now getting what it "earned": No strong manufacturing base Upstate to rescue New York State from the collapse of Downstate's financial sector.

Maybe it's time for Upstate to secede!