I just sent this letter to the editor of the Olive Press, Paul Smart. Onteora High School is located in Boiceville, New York, a few miles from my home. The name "Onteora" is a name for the Catskill Mountains, reportedly derived from Mahican Indians, although Onteora may have referred to an area further south, according to this site.
Dear Editor:
One of the many corrupt, big-government scams in New York State is the fruit of a son of Olivebridge, Arthur H. Wicks. Wicks ran a laundry company in Kingston before being elected to the New York State Senate, in which he served from 1927 to 1956. He later became Lieutenant Governor, but was forced to resign when he was discovered making frequent visits to convicted Machinist Union president Joseph S. Fay while Fay was vacationing in Sing Sing prison. Fay had been convicted of extortion on construction sites.
Arthur Wicks remains a legendary name today because the Wicks Law bears it. The Wicks Law was originally passed in 1912, but it was amended during Wicks's tenure as Senate Majority Leader. The Wicks Law prohibits any public entity in New York State from hiring a general contractor (GC). Four separate categories of contractors, (a) heating, ventilating and air conditiong, (b) plumbing, (c) electrical, and (d), all other, must be hired and supervised directly by the state or other public entity. At the state level, agencies like the Department of Transportation, the Office of General Services and the Dormitory Authority oversee construction. It is well known that they lack the competence to do so because GCs of the caliber needed to manage large-scale construction projects have out-sized salaries that do not fit civil service pay scales. But as Olive citizens who work in construction know, general contractors limit waste. The lack of a GC opens the door to abuse, crime and law suits. Studies have found that the Wicks Law increases construction costs in the state by 15-30%. No one except construction unions and public contractors supports the Wicks Law. In the 1980s, Mario Cuomo had appointed an anti-crime commission that found that the Wicks Law fosters organized crime.
The Wicks Law serves as a long lived example of why government does not work, and why political decision making on a large scale fails. At a point in time when the state needs to cut spending, a law like this would seem to be a logical place to start. Yet, at a recent meeting of the Tea Party here at the Shandaken Gun Club, a Republican candidate, who is aware of the Wicks Law and who owns a construction firm, did not mention it as a potential area for cutting. Instead, he advocated raising cigarette taxes. Of course, it goes without saying that loot-and-spend Democratic Party Assemblyman Kevin Cahill has no interest in touching the Wicks Law with a ten foot pole. Cahill roars with delight wherever massive government waste occurs.
Hence, low quality, mismanagement, waste and incompetence are part and parcel of big government New York. Add to which neither Democratic nor Republican candidates have the vocabulary to question any of it. The speaker at the Tea Party was so lacking in vocabulary that he could only speak in terms of a spending freeze. The vocabulary of freedom on which the nation was founded has been lost, and the Republicans appear to be as much in the dark as are the Democrats. Perhaps the nation should give its government a two year vacation and spend the two years re-learning what the now-forgotten anti-federalists like Sam Adams had to say. Given the low quality of today's public figures, Americans have every reason to fear for their childrens' future. The problem starts with the benighted public schools, which are purveyors of ignorance, ideology and suppression. The first place to look for anyone interested in change is Onteora High.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Greedy Socialist Billionaires Aim to Ruin Your Life
A reader recommended this Commieblaster.com video. It overdoes the conspiracy slant. Historians have long noticed that big business in America has always been sympathetic to Marxism. The footage of Bill Gates is priceless. His left-wing sympathies are no surprise. What better tool to shore up a mediocre firm like Microsoft than to illegalize your competition, making your own business the legal norm?
Americans are foolish to be taken in by the likes of Soros, Gates, et al. To the extent that they have, the quality of life in America has declined sharply over my lifetime (the past 56 years) and will decline even more sharply.
To counter the propaganda Americans must take back control of the schools and abolish the Federal Reserve Bank. Without the massive Fed subsidies that large scale business receives, the scale of American industry would be far smaller in general and the effectiveness of the greedy big business socialist left's tactics would be significantly reduced or even eliminated. Among the wealthy described in the video, at least half, Buffett, Soros, Rockefeller (as far as the current Rockefeller trust, not the original fortune) and Bloomberg, for instance, owe the bulk of their wealth to the Federal Reserve Bank, not to a market economy.
Americans are foolish to be taken in by the likes of Soros, Gates, et al. To the extent that they have, the quality of life in America has declined sharply over my lifetime (the past 56 years) and will decline even more sharply.
To counter the propaganda Americans must take back control of the schools and abolish the Federal Reserve Bank. Without the massive Fed subsidies that large scale business receives, the scale of American industry would be far smaller in general and the effectiveness of the greedy big business socialist left's tactics would be significantly reduced or even eliminated. Among the wealthy described in the video, at least half, Buffett, Soros, Rockefeller (as far as the current Rockefeller trust, not the original fortune) and Bloomberg, for instance, owe the bulk of their wealth to the Federal Reserve Bank, not to a market economy.
Obama on 212*
I just sent this letter to Brian Hollander of the Woodstock Times.
Dear Editor:
There's a rumor circulating in Olive that if anyone questions any of President Obama's policies in the Village of Woodstock he will be sent to Lubyanka Prison-On-the-Sawkill for violating Article 58, paragraph 10 of the limousine liberal code, to wit, violating provisions against "anti-Obama propaganda." We here in the free world, where there is no pro-Obama censorship, aim to educate you as to what has happened.
In 1996 NBC, a General Electric subsidiary, and Microsoft, decided to form a cable television station, MS-NBC. GE owns 82%. It so happens that GE, besides making dish washers and television shows, has a taste for badly run financial institutions closely linked to Wall Street.
In 2008, Wall Street, realizing that the massive, Democratic Party-installed subsidies that it receives from the Federal Reserve Bank each year would be insufficient for its extraordinary incompetence, decided that it needed a reliable lackey in the White House. The Street wanted bailout money; regulation to put smaller competitors at a disadvantage; and ever-increasing expansion of the monetary base.
It was determined that these objectives are best accomplished through a limousine liberal who claims to be helping the poor when in fact he is helping the rich, someone much like those who enforce Article 58, paragraph 10 of the limousine liberal code on Tinker Street. Someone acceptable to George Soros and Warren Buffett. So in 2008 both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs donated an unprecedented 2:1 in favor of the Obama campaign. And GE's employees at MS-NBC such as Chris Matthews told the limousine liberals of Woodstock, who quaintly believe themselves to be especially clever but can't figure out that Matthews works for GE, to rally behind their new comrade, Barack Hussein Obama.
Mr. Obama was elected. Monetary reserves having been tripled in 2008 by Wall Street's previous lackey, George W. Bush, have been maintained and reenforced. The Iraqi and Afghanistan wars that motivate monetary expansion that contributes to the stock market's health have been steadfastly maintained. As well, Mr. Obama and the Democrats put forward a regulation plan that Morgan and Goldman absolutely love. The chief effect of Mr. Obama's health bill was to tax lower income Americans who are not covered and previously got emergency room care for free. The stock market went up for four straight days following the health care law's passage. Indeed, the market has been having a great ride as a result of all the new Obama money rolling out of the Democratic Party-installed printing presses. Chris Mathews's supervisors at GE are especially happy because of the bailout. Both George Soros and Henry Paulson are investing in gold. And President Obama's supervisors at Goldman are rolling in dough, having earned over $3 billion in the last quarter.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert
*Route 212 runs from the Town of Shandaken to the Village of Saugerties, NY. When it passes through Woodstock it is called Tinker Street.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Letter to IRS Re Southern Poverty Law Center
PO Box 130
West Shokan, New York 12494
April 22, 2010
Lois G. Lerner, Director
Exempt Organizations Division
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224
Dear Ms. Lerner:
I am a former contributor to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a 501 (c) (3) organization. I have become increasingly concerned by the Center's apparent involvement in politically partisan advocacy, in particular advocacy and support of the election of President Barack Obama. Although many have been enthusiastic about President Obama's election, the dissemination of propaganda on his behalf is not permissible under the tax code.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has invented disinformation concerning the so-called "Tea Party" movement, which is in essence a movement that concerns partisan politics and specifically opposes socialism and the increasing scope of government. Without competence or knowledge, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been libeling the Tea Party movement, accusing it of violence that parallels that of fringe groups whom the SPLC has traditionally monitored. In fact, the Tea Party constitutes 17% of the American electorate, according to a recent poll. The SPLC has made radical, unverified accusations about the Tea Party in an effort to support the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.
Further evidence of the SPLC's political nature might include the absence of a single Republican from their board; other propaganda-style attacks on behalf of additional Democratic candidates; and any direct involvement of the group's officers with the Democratic Party.
I urge you to investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center. I contributed to them in good faith for many years in the 1980s and 1990s because I believed them to be an anti-bias and anti-KKK organization. However, as a member of the Tea Party movement, I now learn that they are calling me ugly names because I do not believe in their socialist political program.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert
West Shokan, New York 12494
April 22, 2010
Lois G. Lerner, Director
Exempt Organizations Division
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224
Dear Ms. Lerner:
I am a former contributor to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a 501 (c) (3) organization. I have become increasingly concerned by the Center's apparent involvement in politically partisan advocacy, in particular advocacy and support of the election of President Barack Obama. Although many have been enthusiastic about President Obama's election, the dissemination of propaganda on his behalf is not permissible under the tax code.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has invented disinformation concerning the so-called "Tea Party" movement, which is in essence a movement that concerns partisan politics and specifically opposes socialism and the increasing scope of government. Without competence or knowledge, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been libeling the Tea Party movement, accusing it of violence that parallels that of fringe groups whom the SPLC has traditionally monitored. In fact, the Tea Party constitutes 17% of the American electorate, according to a recent poll. The SPLC has made radical, unverified accusations about the Tea Party in an effort to support the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.
Further evidence of the SPLC's political nature might include the absence of a single Republican from their board; other propaganda-style attacks on behalf of additional Democratic candidates; and any direct involvement of the group's officers with the Democratic Party.
I urge you to investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center. I contributed to them in good faith for many years in the 1980s and 1990s because I believed them to be an anti-bias and anti-KKK organization. However, as a member of the Tea Party movement, I now learn that they are calling me ugly names because I do not believe in their socialist political program.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert
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