By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

It was a very strange weekend.

The Shuttle Columbia tragedy  has been accepted by a saddened nation almost with a sullen business -as-usual attitude.

I wonder whether it is the incredible technological advances that have blurred the line between science and science fiction or just the collective number of flights that has made them routine.

Sure the news replays the story but it seems so unlike the Shuttle Challenger disaster with Christa McCaullife aboard 17 years ago.

I clearly remember my small office back on Kissena Boulevard, filled with people watching the blast-off and explosion.

Yesterday, I was unaware of the Columbia’s scheduled return to earth and was probably only aware of the mission because the first Israeli astronaut was aboard.

Our nation has become complacent. Our nation accepts the phenomenal as routine. We expect wars to be fought and outerspace explored like in the video games.

Our children are missing the magic of science, technology and exploration.

Sputnik, Alan Sheppard and John Glenn made history before our eyes. We marvelled and watched. We couldn’t get enough.  We were growing up in the new age of exploration. Discovery was thrilling.

Today, it takes a tragedy such as this weekend’s Columbia disaster to bring the making of history back into our lives. It takes smart bombs on TV to make us realize we are actually at war.

It takes tragedy for us to sit down with our children and take a few minutes to share the wonders of science and the world.

It’s a shame!

Take time to smell the flowers and share them with the kids.

But It’s Only A Dog

My friends Gary and Rita lost their third dog in a year. I’m not a pet owner and probably can’t imagine the loss they suffered. I emailed my condolences and received this moving acknowledgement in response:

There’s a joke that says you’re not really free till all the kids move out and the last dog dies.

Today, it’s not that funny. Teddy Dog, after 12 years of giving uninterrupted love to us and our now grown children, has reunited with Me Too and Bo in the Best Friend Hall of Fame. The third of our three furry family members to leave us in nine months, finds us more than sad, even grieving.

It’s only a dog, you say. You’re right, and I’m only a person. I don’t know that I buy into the higher order of creatures thing, but I do know a relationship with a pet that you love is very different than with people that you love. I don’t know how such a tiny thing can fill a whole house with its presence.

I don’t know who will let us know when the mailman pushes the magazines through  the slot, or when the phobic Con Ed guy puts the ‘sorry I missed you – read it yourself,’ card in the door jam rather that ring the bell and confront a happy pit-poodle. I can’t imagine eating cold ravioli out of a can without Teddy jumping  into my lap – the only other creature on the planet who appreciated gourmet-on-the-go.

Only a dog? Who else could greet you with undeniable joy when you come home, not caring if you did something good or not, or if you really screwed up?

Where else can you find unconditional love from a source that is never judgemental?

What else could bring a smile to the faces of your children when they were trying so hard to be angry?

Why will I keep looking down to see who’s along side me when I even think of opening the door to the fridge.

When does it stop hurting? After all, it’s only a dog.

We still have each other, and we’ll be even closer. But right now I don’t know if that halves or doubles the hurt.

The last dog is now gone. But right now, I don’t feel very free.

Thanks for thinking of us.

— Gary Ackerman

This Is The Dawning Of The Age Of Aquarius –
Will Aid Arrive Before The Sunset Of Gemini?

Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City address, a week ago, was a brave one, evoking in a way the boy who stood on the burning deck, and we were proud to see him plugging away for New York City. 

The question is – and was, and will be – how will he get anyone else (Albany, Washington, unions, courts, the City Council) to take the steps that must be taken to meet the $3 billion budget gap for fiscal 2004?

Although the boy on the deck was honest and courageous, his tale did not end well. I am confident that the City will do better, because I know our mayor is smart enough to know when to get off the deck. 

And it is at that time, when the situation and the weather get really hot, that the hard bargaining will be done. The City Council, by law, must enact a balanced budget by June. The Council has always done so, although once or twice in my time it was necessary to stop the clock . . . just for a little while.

Meanwhile, in Albany, the State Legislature has failed for 18 out of the last 19 years to enact a State budget by the end of the State’s fiscal year, which is March 31.

The delays have been so protracted and in some cases the members so frustrated that they passed a bill suspending their own salaries until the budget was approved. Unfortunately, that well-intentioned law did not improve the situation.  Perhaps a bill banning free rides to Albany and free food and liquor from lobbyists until the budget is adopted would be more effective.

 Facing a record $11.5 billion shortfall . . . it is highly unlikely that the New York State budget will be adopted early, or on time, or close to the deadline. It is possible, but by no means certain, that the Assembly will be more favorably disposed to the City. On the other hand, it was the Democratic (large D) controlled Assembly, whom we assume protects the City’s interests from rapacious upstaters, which repealed the commuter tax on what must be considered its Day of Infamy, May 17, 1999. The City is now losing its second billion dollars because of this perverse action by its own representatives.

At any rate, nothing decisive will happen while the snow flies, and we will have to wait past the first robin, crocus and daffodil.

Meanwhile, the mayor is in Washington, visiting senators and signing the agreement for the Republican convention. He picked up a healthy share of Governors Island, which we lost to the Feds 200 years ago. This is one advantage of having a president, governor and mayor from the same party, even if it’s not yours.

Hopefully, he may even talk about our budget problems . . . after all, the incumbent Grand Old Party would not want to convene in a dirty, crime ridden, hemorrhaging City. They prefer a shining City on a hill, as President Reagan used to say. They could provide us with a little polish to shine it up.

Last week, the Mayor presented his advance budget on Tuesday, the morning of the President’s State of the Union speech. The Governor’s state budget message came on Wednesday. There is an enormous discrepancy between what the Mayor wants and what the Governor –who has his own problems, some self-induced – is offering.

We have entered the winter of our discontent, along with others similarly lacking financial resources. The winter will last through the spring, and maybe linger into summer. 

We know from the movies that when the hero is tied to the railroad tracks and the train is four months away, he should not expect rescue until the locomotive is almost upon him. In the meanwhile, you twist, not in the wind, but in your bonds, hoping you can still sell them.

But not to worry, our great city will not only survive, but prosper.

– Henry Stern was NYC Parks Commissioner for fifteen years and a Councilmember for nine. He is founder and director of NYCivic, a good government group. He can be reached at: starquest@nycivic.org