Last winter there were rumors circulating that Congressman Hinchey's mental capacities were flagging due to old age. My grandfather sadly suffered from this disease prior to his death in 1971 and I am very empathetic to those who suffer from it, as I am to Mr. Hinchey. In an e-mail back in March '10 one of the editors of the Hudson Valley Business Journal denied that Hinchey is suffering from Alzheimers:
> "Where on earth did you hear that Mr. Hinchey has Alzheimers? I'm not saying it can't be so (I honestly do not know), but it would definitely surprise me and, no, I have not heard such, even in rumors, from anybody....although anything is possible, I suppose. He is slowing down a bit - but I also know he's still running for re-election, officially anyway."
However, there is now additional evidence, specifically Hinchey's responses in Thursday night's debate with George Phillips. Reporting for the Kingston Freeman William J. Kemble notes that Hinchey:
"...several times needed questions repeated for him and at one point responded when the moderator asked, 'Please detail your deficit reduction priorities?' by saying, 'I’m not sure what you mean by that. What deficit? My deficit personally?'
For a member of the House Appropriations Committee not to know what a reporter means by "deficit reduction" is not a sign of mental acuity. I doubt that acai berry pills will help, incidentally.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Hinchey Batters Reporter as His Campaign Spins
Several people from the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party have commented on Congressman Hinchey's assault and battery of Kingston Freeman reporter Bill Kemble.
One notes:
>Mo needs a "Time Out". We make our kids sit on the first step when they misbehave. Mo has been misbehaving for a long time.
He is too powerful and too arrogant. It's time for Mo to Go.
Let's put him on the first step This November.
Another provides some additional evidence about the assault:
>And they were right next to me when it happened. Kemble was showing Hinchey a paper from Tivoli about a plan to bring ferry service to the "Hinchey Hotel" and Hinchey got all flustered." He had a glare in his eye that could kill. I looked away for a moment and then from the corner of my eye saw Hinchey shoving Kemble. While one of Hinchey's staff was trying to get Hinchey to back off I yelled, "let me get my camara" and Hinchey took off. Hinchey actually shoved Kemble into someone who was headed into the bathroom. A friend of mine who was in the lobby saw it as well.
>I recall it was only about two years ago that Hinchey had a similar encounter with someone at a gun show in Rosendale where he grabed a guy by the neck. I understand from people who knew him as a teenager that this is the same type of behavior that as a teenager led a judge to give him a choice between going to jail or enlisting in the military."
>YNN television (h/t Robin Yess) describes the spin that Hinchey's campaign is putting on his violent behavior here. It is ironic that the Democratic Party condones violence among its elected officials but criticizes anyone whose lifestyle choices are politically incorrect.
One notes:
>Mo needs a "Time Out". We make our kids sit on the first step when they misbehave. Mo has been misbehaving for a long time.
He is too powerful and too arrogant. It's time for Mo to Go.
Let's put him on the first step This November.
Another provides some additional evidence about the assault:
>And they were right next to me when it happened. Kemble was showing Hinchey a paper from Tivoli about a plan to bring ferry service to the "Hinchey Hotel" and Hinchey got all flustered." He had a glare in his eye that could kill. I looked away for a moment and then from the corner of my eye saw Hinchey shoving Kemble. While one of Hinchey's staff was trying to get Hinchey to back off I yelled, "let me get my camara" and Hinchey took off. Hinchey actually shoved Kemble into someone who was headed into the bathroom. A friend of mine who was in the lobby saw it as well.
>I recall it was only about two years ago that Hinchey had a similar encounter with someone at a gun show in Rosendale where he grabed a guy by the neck. I understand from people who knew him as a teenager that this is the same type of behavior that as a teenager led a judge to give him a choice between going to jail or enlisting in the military."
>YNN television (h/t Robin Yess) describes the spin that Hinchey's campaign is putting on his violent behavior here. It is ironic that the Democratic Party condones violence among its elected officials but criticizes anyone whose lifestyle choices are politically incorrect.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Congressman Hinchey Violently Attacks Kingston Freeman Reporter
H/t Robin Yess and hotair.com
George Phillips has questioned Congressman Maurice Hinchey's involvement in a real estate project in Saugerties called the Partition Street project. Hinchey has long claimed that he has brought "pork" to the Ulster County economy. The problem with this claim is that the Ulster County economy's growth has been zero since Hinchey was elected. While the rest of the nation has gained 20% in employment, Ulster County's employment number has not grown at all; it has been two percent over Hinchey's eighteen year tenure. The stagnant economy is directly related to the regulation and high taxes, and specifically the environmental regulation that Hinchey has put into place. In other words, Hinchey has directly cost Ulster County 17,000 jobs. Stupidly, he has been advertising that he has brought 1,000 "green" jobs into the county. Given that the county's job growth has been nearly zero, Hinchey appears to be unable to figure out that a gain of 1,000 jobs compared to a loss of 18,000 jobs yields the result of his 18 years in office: a loss of 17,000 jobs. Moreover, and even more disgustingly, Hinchey and his cronies appear to have benefited financially from many of the "pork" projects that he paradoxically claims have helped the Ulster County economy. Paradoxically because the Ulster County economy has underperformed the national economy by 20% over Hinchey's 18 year tenure.
Hinchey started out life as a Saugerties "tough guy" with a pack of cigarettes tucked in his rolled up shirt sleeve. In the video above, Hinchey's aggressive, authoritarian nature shines through. Authoritarianism is linked to antisemitism, of which Ed Koch has recently accused Hinchey. It is not surprising, then, that Hinchey actually became violent following the above video clip and physically attacked left-wing Kingston Freeman reporter Bill Kemble. According to hotair.com:
It is amazing and disappointing to my opinion of the electoral process that an individual as ugly as Maurice Hinchey has been given access to the reins of power in Washington. From the likes of Hinchey totalitarianism is born.
George Phillips has questioned Congressman Maurice Hinchey's involvement in a real estate project in Saugerties called the Partition Street project. Hinchey has long claimed that he has brought "pork" to the Ulster County economy. The problem with this claim is that the Ulster County economy's growth has been zero since Hinchey was elected. While the rest of the nation has gained 20% in employment, Ulster County's employment number has not grown at all; it has been two percent over Hinchey's eighteen year tenure. The stagnant economy is directly related to the regulation and high taxes, and specifically the environmental regulation that Hinchey has put into place. In other words, Hinchey has directly cost Ulster County 17,000 jobs. Stupidly, he has been advertising that he has brought 1,000 "green" jobs into the county. Given that the county's job growth has been nearly zero, Hinchey appears to be unable to figure out that a gain of 1,000 jobs compared to a loss of 18,000 jobs yields the result of his 18 years in office: a loss of 17,000 jobs. Moreover, and even more disgustingly, Hinchey and his cronies appear to have benefited financially from many of the "pork" projects that he paradoxically claims have helped the Ulster County economy. Paradoxically because the Ulster County economy has underperformed the national economy by 20% over Hinchey's 18 year tenure.
Hinchey started out life as a Saugerties "tough guy" with a pack of cigarettes tucked in his rolled up shirt sleeve. In the video above, Hinchey's aggressive, authoritarian nature shines through. Authoritarianism is linked to antisemitism, of which Ed Koch has recently accused Hinchey. It is not surprising, then, that Hinchey actually became violent following the above video clip and physically attacked left-wing Kingston Freeman reporter Bill Kemble. According to hotair.com:
After the shooters turned off their cameras and started to break down, Hinchey made a beeline for Kemble and got in his face, according to a YNN videographer who was on the scene. The congressman poked Kemble in the chest aggressively, according to the YNN staffer.
I spoke with Kemble briefly this afternoon, and he told me Hinchey “put his hand on my throat” and then “realized what he had done and walked away.” The YNN shooter told me he did not witness this part of the altercation.
It is amazing and disappointing to my opinion of the electoral process that an individual as ugly as Maurice Hinchey has been given access to the reins of power in Washington. From the likes of Hinchey totalitarianism is born.
Phillips Trounces Hinchey in Saugerties Debate
George Phillips debated anti-Semitic Congressman Maurice Hinchey in a debate Thursday night. Phillips must have bolted over there after his dynamic opening speech at the Ulster County Republican Committee dinner. According to the left-wing Kingston Freeman Hinchey's performance was dismal. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee Hinchey was unaware that there is a federal deficit and expressed ignorance as to what the implications of increasing deficits might be.
Ulster County GOP Candidates Highlight Annual Republican Committee Dinner
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| Peter Rooney Proves Assembly Candidates Can Be Cool |
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| George Phillips, a congressional candidate who offers economic growth and an end to Maurice Hinchey's antisemitism |
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| State Senator William J. Larkin kisses County Committee Chair Robin Yess |
The speakers at the dinner were excellent. These included Pete Rooney, who's running for Assembly, Fawn Tantillo who's running for county comptroller and Senators Bonacic and Larkin. Phillips opened the proceedings with a dynamic speech. His economically illiterate and antisemitic opponent, Maurice Hinchey, has much to fear.
Robin Yess put together a wonderful event at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Hinchey's Anti-Semitism May Cost Him His Seat
Ed Koch's recent endorsement of George Phillips has underscored Congressman Maurice Hinchey's longstanding anti-Israel and anti-Semitic pattern. Glenda McGee just forwarded a Politico article that mentions Hinchey as one of an unusually large number of threatened Democratic congressional seats this year. I was just down in Broward County, Florida visiting my dad and noticed a huge number of signs for Allen West, the wonderful Afro-American conservative running down there. Given the atmosphere of disdain for liberal Democrats, Hinchey's anti-Semitism may put the kibosh on his election.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
DBA versus GLD
The top chart shows the historical trend of the agricultural index exchange traded fund (ETF) Deutsche Bank Agricultural Index, DBA and the bottom chart shows GLD since late 2005. The DBA chart had a double top two years ago just prior to the crash of '08. Double tops are a classic technical signal of an impending decline, and it worked in the case of DBA. I googled the DBA and found a few technicians commenting on it to the effect that it has been/is a weak stock because of the double top two years ago. Note the contrast with GLD, which has had a relatively steady upward trend, having taken a small double top and dip during the '08 roller coaster but recovering quickly and profoundly.
I have a problem with that combination of facts, though. If gold is going up it is because of monetary demand, that is, people want to use gold to save instead of dollars, then people anticipate inflation and therefore DBA should go up. If gold demand has a logical foundation, then inflation is impending. If inflation is impending, then agricultural prices should be going up. This is especially true because the inflation has been caused by over-investment in real estate due to Federal Reserve and commercial banking's counterfeiting money and then investing the proceeds in politically favored industries, namely construction and real estate. To expand investment real estate, the supply of agricultural land had to be reduced. Hence, there would seem to be upward pressure on food prices. Last week DBA went up six percent in one day. Since June, when DBA hit its low, it has gone up 28%, from $22.85 to $28.52.
The technicians may underestimate the effect of the underlying process of monetary inflation on long term food prices. I bought DBA about two years ago and I'm up about 12%. The DBA has underperformed both gold and the stock market during that period. It may be subject to further downward fluctuations (the technicians have asserted this until recently) but given the recent trend it may be that the lean years are coming to an end for DBA.
Jay Townsend: Chuck Schumer Sells out New York to Become Majority Leader
GOP senatorial candidate Jay Townsend visited the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party on Monday. Due to heavy teaching responsibilities (I was grading my students' papers) I was unable to attend. But here is an excellent video courtesy of Tom Santopietro.
Maurice Hinchey's Anti-Semitism
Ed Morrissey blogged yesterday about Ed Koch's endorsement of George Phillips in the New York 22nd congressional race. I hope Mr. Morrissey doesn't mind if I quote him at length:
"Why is Koch opposing the Democratic incumbent? Koch is apparently unhappy with Hinchey over the nine-term Congressman’s hostility towards Israel. In his speech, Koch will hit Hinchey over his 2002 meeting with Yasser Arafat at the PLO leader’s headquarters, one of only three members of the House that met with Arafat there. Hinchey also “voted against the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism act, designed to promote the development of democratic institutions in areas under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority,” and refused to sign either the Poe-Peters or Hoyer-Cantor letters which supported Israel’s right to control access to Gaza to prevent armaments to flow into the Hamas-controlled territory.
"It’s not just Israel, either. Hinchey voted against tougher sanctions on Iran as well, which Koch will mention in his announcement. Koch will also hail Phillips for his work while on the staff of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on foreign policy, especially on legislative efforts to force UN reform by purging support for terrorism and antisemitism at Turtle Bay."
My friend, Lincoln Eagle publisher Mike Marnell, was at the Ed Koch announcement. Ron Lauder, head of the American Jewish Congress, also announced that he will support Phillips, according to Marnell. Hinchey's distaste for Israel goes beyond the usual left-wing support for terrorism. I have heard a rumor that there will be a demonstration to protest Hinchey's anti-Semitism in the coming weeks.
"Why is Koch opposing the Democratic incumbent? Koch is apparently unhappy with Hinchey over the nine-term Congressman’s hostility towards Israel. In his speech, Koch will hit Hinchey over his 2002 meeting with Yasser Arafat at the PLO leader’s headquarters, one of only three members of the House that met with Arafat there. Hinchey also “voted against the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism act, designed to promote the development of democratic institutions in areas under the administrative control of the Palestinian Authority,” and refused to sign either the Poe-Peters or Hoyer-Cantor letters which supported Israel’s right to control access to Gaza to prevent armaments to flow into the Hamas-controlled territory.
"It’s not just Israel, either. Hinchey voted against tougher sanctions on Iran as well, which Koch will mention in his announcement. Koch will also hail Phillips for his work while on the staff of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on foreign policy, especially on legislative efforts to force UN reform by purging support for terrorism and antisemitism at Turtle Bay."
My friend, Lincoln Eagle publisher Mike Marnell, was at the Ed Koch announcement. Ron Lauder, head of the American Jewish Congress, also announced that he will support Phillips, according to Marnell. Hinchey's distaste for Israel goes beyond the usual left-wing support for terrorism. I have heard a rumor that there will be a demonstration to protest Hinchey's anti-Semitism in the coming weeks.
Incoherence, Hate Characterize Democrats' Response to Carl Paladino
Carl Paladino is spending a considerable sum of money to run for governor. The reason is that the government of New York is broken. The rate of emigration from the state is greater than the rate of emigration from Russia during the years leading up to the Bolshevik revolution, when my paternal grandparents fled to come here in 1904.
Once the world's capital of innovation, New York is now a center of failed government programs, waste and economic illiteracy, spearheaded by its now-irrelevant, less-than-mass media. The readership of the state's flagship newspaper, the New York Times, is less than the viewership of most cable television programs. Once the "Empire State", thanks to Rockefeller Republicanism, left-wing extremism, the Ochs Sulzbergers, Keynesian economists and Wall Street, New York has led the nation in the march toward a rigid two-tiered economy and economic desperation. Statist Democrats have shut down factories and taxed out productive New Yorkers, leaving special interests to fight among themselves for a pie that routinely decreases in size just as it routinely increased in size during the days of laissez faire capitalism.
Paladino is the first major candidate in my lifetime to seriously address a fraction of the many failures of Progressivism and the loot-and-spend system that has benefited college professors, school teachers, government contractors and social workers by manipulating a hoi polloi indoctrinated in ideological schools and institutions of higher indoctrination. This includes CUNY, my employer, whose faculty includes a ratio of Democrats to Republicans of about 40 to 1 and whose administrators such as the former provost of Brooklyn College have advocated politicization of education.
The Democrats' response to Paladino, who is calling for a meager 20 percent cut in government, combines hate with ignorance. In particular, Paladino has committed several politically incorrect faux pas including distasteful e-mails and remarks concerning homosexuals. All of us have our prejudices, including a distasteful anti-Christian prejudice I have detected in the less-than-mass media and among academics. Unlike Obama, who refused to criticize Reverend Farrakhan for anti-Semitic remarks, Paladino has emphasized that he does not hate gays and has apologized to gays. At no point did Paladino suggest that government enforcement of sodomy or related laws should be exercised. Hence, the entire issue is irrelevant to the gubernatorial race.
Since the entire issue is irrelevant to the serious problems facing New York State, it raises questions in my mind as to how seriously one may take Andrew Cuomo, the Democrats and the less-than-mass media. My conclusion is that the Democrats have no arguments against Paladino's, which chiefly concern the state's excessive government, its declining industrial base, its taxes, its massively overpriced Medicaid plan, the exodus of productive labor from the state and its overall economic decline. Instead, the Democrats, assuming that the hoi polloi, educated in Democratic-run schools, are idiots, emphasize filth and do not respond to Paladino's arguments. Much as the Obama campaign signaled the end of the mass media as we knew it, this election signals the end of political debate as it ought to be. The Democrats simply lack the intellectual tools to discuss issues that confront New York.
Once the world's capital of innovation, New York is now a center of failed government programs, waste and economic illiteracy, spearheaded by its now-irrelevant, less-than-mass media. The readership of the state's flagship newspaper, the New York Times, is less than the viewership of most cable television programs. Once the "Empire State", thanks to Rockefeller Republicanism, left-wing extremism, the Ochs Sulzbergers, Keynesian economists and Wall Street, New York has led the nation in the march toward a rigid two-tiered economy and economic desperation. Statist Democrats have shut down factories and taxed out productive New Yorkers, leaving special interests to fight among themselves for a pie that routinely decreases in size just as it routinely increased in size during the days of laissez faire capitalism.
Paladino is the first major candidate in my lifetime to seriously address a fraction of the many failures of Progressivism and the loot-and-spend system that has benefited college professors, school teachers, government contractors and social workers by manipulating a hoi polloi indoctrinated in ideological schools and institutions of higher indoctrination. This includes CUNY, my employer, whose faculty includes a ratio of Democrats to Republicans of about 40 to 1 and whose administrators such as the former provost of Brooklyn College have advocated politicization of education.
The Democrats' response to Paladino, who is calling for a meager 20 percent cut in government, combines hate with ignorance. In particular, Paladino has committed several politically incorrect faux pas including distasteful e-mails and remarks concerning homosexuals. All of us have our prejudices, including a distasteful anti-Christian prejudice I have detected in the less-than-mass media and among academics. Unlike Obama, who refused to criticize Reverend Farrakhan for anti-Semitic remarks, Paladino has emphasized that he does not hate gays and has apologized to gays. At no point did Paladino suggest that government enforcement of sodomy or related laws should be exercised. Hence, the entire issue is irrelevant to the gubernatorial race.
Since the entire issue is irrelevant to the serious problems facing New York State, it raises questions in my mind as to how seriously one may take Andrew Cuomo, the Democrats and the less-than-mass media. My conclusion is that the Democrats have no arguments against Paladino's, which chiefly concern the state's excessive government, its declining industrial base, its taxes, its massively overpriced Medicaid plan, the exodus of productive labor from the state and its overall economic decline. Instead, the Democrats, assuming that the hoi polloi, educated in Democratic-run schools, are idiots, emphasize filth and do not respond to Paladino's arguments. Much as the Obama campaign signaled the end of the mass media as we knew it, this election signals the end of political debate as it ought to be. The Democrats simply lack the intellectual tools to discuss issues that confront New York.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Ayn Rand and Henry David Thoreau
Did Ayn Rand derive the title of her book The Fountainhead from the following quote from Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience? I am trying to track down the answer and whether one exists. If she had read Civil Disobedience before writing the Fountainhead, it seems quite possible.
"They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead."
"They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead."
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