Each time the price of gas climbs, a predictable political dance takes place. You don’t even have to wait for the newspaper to arrive to know what’s going to happen. First the New York state attorney general announces that there will be an investigation of price gouging.

Everywhere you look, it seems that the way to shill products ranging from Budweiser to Subarus is by sticking a cute dog in the ad. Dogs have replaced that great American standby—the female body—as the go-to image for pimping a product to the public..

A farmer in Cortland County had a Golden breeding dog. A neighboring farmer had a Newfoundland stud. What neither of the farmers had was secure fencing. So along came Pete. The farmers had too much going on to handle such an enthusiastic puppy, and we came across their plea for an adoptive family posted on an Internet pet forum.

As the symphony goes, so goes public radio? Not likely, said the folks behind the scenes of public broadcasting in Central New York. Still, listeners to the lower end of the FM dial can’t take for granted that we will always be able to tune in to talk (WRVO, 89.9), jazz (WAER, 88.3) or classical (WCNY, 91.3) any time we choose.

President Obama’s violent reaction to the Libyan uprising is doomed to fail

Unlike hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis do not have names. And for the most part, the tragic double or triple whammy to hit Japan does not even have a face. Most of the victims have been buried or cremated, and the survivors we see have their faces covered with masks.

With all due respect to our beloved neighbors on Tipp Hill, I’ve never been much for green beer. Ditto the green bagels that become ever more popular year by year, or the green scrambled eggs some diners like to serve.

Like the lost mitten, now that the snow and ice are finally melting away, you may soon find that the debate on hydrofracking hasn’t gone away—it was just out of sight. This spring, gas industry proponents of this controversial method for getting the gas under our feet into our homes and workplaces are counting on a new ally in the White House.

Look at the faces standing outside the Capitol in Madison, Wis. Whether you believe it or not, those folks are carrying on a struggle on behalf of all of us. Those workers and their families are me and you.