I just received this e-mail from a correspondent covering the Town of Olive Budget Meeting. I am still getting over a drawn out cold. Notice that the correspondent is accusing a reporter, Gary, for the Olive Press, the Town newspaper, of relying on one-sided accounts of Town meetings from die hard partisan Democrat Sylvia Rozelle. I guess the Olive Press learns its reporting techniques from the major market newspapers and network television. Since American media is generally little more than (Democratic Party) partisan propaganda, it can never be relied on to report news. The Olive Press seems to be reaching for the stars and must be proud that its methods parallel those of the best-known Democratic Party newspapers and television stations.
The correspondent also points out that no one in the Town understood a resolution on retirement benefits but the board passed it anyway. My correspondent probably does not know that I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the subject of cognitive limits on rationality in the administration of pension law. Likewise, I ran into our committee person Craig Grazier flagging cars because of an accident on Route 28. Indeed, I got lost on the detour and about 20 cars following my lead all got lost too, speaking of cognitive limits on rationality.
>Hope you are feeling better...
I attended the short and sweet board meeting last night. As usual, it was a small turn out - and no press. I have to applaud Rita Vanacore for standing up and speaking out about the budget. Just as Berndt was about to take a roll call vote on passing the budget, she raised her hand and spoke out... "I know you are going to pass the budget - but I want to register my objection - I think you really should be tightening your belt and I feel that we should not be seeing any increase this year." Of course, that will not make the papers... you know Sylvia is not going to recount that to Gary so that it's printed.
>Her point is a solid one - if Berndt was attempting to reduce the budget instead of increase it, the unexpended balance of $475,000 WOULD have offset any increase. It's only because he would like to keep the status quo, and continue to have such large unexpended balances each year, that we end up with the increases. And of course, there is the cat and mouse game that is played with state aid each year. If you don't "need" it then you won't get it. I believe that is the way the Highway gets the "CHIPS" funds each year. If you lower the budget - you don't qualify. So there always must be an increase.
There were two resolutions - one was tabled because Helen Chase was not quite happy with the wording. The other had to do with Retirement Hours for workers. There is a new reporting system that needs to be done - and all employee hours for purposes of state retirement, were part of this resolution - perhaps it would be interesting to have a copy of it to better understand it. It was so confusing, they didn't even read the entire resolution - but passed it unanimously.
There will be two reports of interest coming up next month - the DEP will be reporting on the bridge repairs and the continuing saga of the bypass road they are building. That will be of interest since they will eventually be doing the railroad bridge in Boiceville as well as the 5-arch bridge in Boiceville. And of course the dividing wehr, or 15 arch bridge as some know it. Also the Esopus Creek issues will be discussed - this was postponed from a previous month - concerning flooding, I believe.
Peter was absent along with Craig & Donnie - most likely due to the horrific accident that closed 28 near the Pine View Bakery. I saw Craig flagging traffic when I left the meeting. I had hoped the road would be open, but it was not and I ended up helping a couple of folks trying to find their way over Bostock Mountain to Boiceville. With no signs - if you are not from here, you are easily lost - or at least think you are.
All in all, the meeting took a whole 30 minutes, even with all the confusion and discussion with Rita. Otherwise, it was pretty cut and dry. Bruce made a suggestion that turned into a "motion" and was seconded - that all cell phones be turned off during meetings. Rita actually suggested that they need to make an announcement at the beginning of meetings since many folks would not know of the "ruling" unless they were there. They thought that was a good idea.
Anyway - Tomorrow is the recount in Kingston - I wish I could be there - but I must work. I will be waiting to hear what happens. I'm hoping that Craig will edge Linda out. It would be great.
Talk to you soon,
XXXXX
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Message From J Crum
Mitchell,
I'm coming at you from my personal email...
I have been sending and moving information along to a good number of people in the last few months. People intuitively are worried about the spending and debt. They "get it" and see nothing but wasted money with little in return.
The health care issue is different as it will impact everyone personally. Once they see the expenses, the distortions and the really twisted logic things will change. I think the apolitical are becoming political.
What is the killer is the 4th estate. They are largely now a mouth piece of the liberal party and for now still set the agenda.
So, as I see things right now, it is a race. A race to see who will win: communists/statists vs we the people and our republic.
Too early to tell, but the odds are against us right now. The irony is that the bankrupting policies may actually in the long term end up saving the republic itself. The left will be financially and morally castrated, the other side poor but intellectually intact.
Our strength never lay in our money. It never has. It lay in our ideals, our understanding of the nature of man and what works. Mitchell, the increasingly real possibility exists that the recent oversteps may destroy the cancer that is eating our nation. The left needs its institutions and perspective to be totally destroyed and rendered invalid. Recent decisions will make that a near certainty, it is just that along the way, there will be terrific harm.
The patient will be sickened, but will recover.
I'm coming at you from my personal email...
I have been sending and moving information along to a good number of people in the last few months. People intuitively are worried about the spending and debt. They "get it" and see nothing but wasted money with little in return.
The health care issue is different as it will impact everyone personally. Once they see the expenses, the distortions and the really twisted logic things will change. I think the apolitical are becoming political.
What is the killer is the 4th estate. They are largely now a mouth piece of the liberal party and for now still set the agenda.
So, as I see things right now, it is a race. A race to see who will win: communists/statists vs we the people and our republic.
Too early to tell, but the odds are against us right now. The irony is that the bankrupting policies may actually in the long term end up saving the republic itself. The left will be financially and morally castrated, the other side poor but intellectually intact.
Our strength never lay in our money. It never has. It lay in our ideals, our understanding of the nature of man and what works. Mitchell, the increasingly real possibility exists that the recent oversteps may destroy the cancer that is eating our nation. The left needs its institutions and perspective to be totally destroyed and rendered invalid. Recent decisions will make that a near certainty, it is just that along the way, there will be terrific harm.
The patient will be sickened, but will recover.
Napolitano versus West
I seem to have mixed friendships. On the one hand, Phil Orenstein has been arguing for Allen West for president. West is a retired Lt. Col. who was stationed at Fort Hood (see audio). On the other, Glenda McGee just e-mailed that she favors Andrew Napolitano.
Glenda writes in favor of Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano:
Subject: Brilliant Idea--Andrew Napolitano for President.
A constitutional Lawyer, not a politician, well known, respected by left and right, pass it on to EVERYONE.
Pawlenty, weak, Romney a Rino, Sarah, great but hated by too many.
Pass it on to all.
Phil writes in favor of Lt. Col. Allen West
Patriots,
Here is Lt Col. Allen West's terrific interview on the Steve Maltzberg show earlier today:
http://web.me.com/pac8185/Honest_Speaks/Podcast/Entries/2009/11/10_Steve_Malzberg_Interviews_Lt._Col._Allen_West.html
Thank you Honest Conservative, Pat Carfagno for preparing the Podcast!
Also just heard the good news at the end of the interview. Allen remarked that he will be in NYC on Jan 12th for a Hudson Institute sponsored event. I will send details as soon as I have them, but for now all Patriots mark your calendars for that day and let's give the good Col. a big patriotic New York welcome and send-off to Congress!!
Phil
GO WEST!!
I think that Phil and Glenda are on the right track. We need an infusion of new blood into the national leadership of the Republican Party. Any new candidates need to be vetted on support for the bailout and a game plan for elimination of much of the junk government in Washington, such as the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.
Glenda writes in favor of Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano:
Subject: Brilliant Idea--Andrew Napolitano for President.
A constitutional Lawyer, not a politician, well known, respected by left and right, pass it on to EVERYONE.
Pawlenty, weak, Romney a Rino, Sarah, great but hated by too many.
Pass it on to all.
Phil writes in favor of Lt. Col. Allen West
Patriots,
Here is Lt Col. Allen West's terrific interview on the Steve Maltzberg show earlier today:
http://web.me.com/pac8185/Honest_Speaks/Podcast/Entries/2009/11/10_Steve_Malzberg_Interviews_Lt._Col._Allen_West.html
Thank you Honest Conservative, Pat Carfagno for preparing the Podcast!
Also just heard the good news at the end of the interview. Allen remarked that he will be in NYC on Jan 12th for a Hudson Institute sponsored event. I will send details as soon as I have them, but for now all Patriots mark your calendars for that day and let's give the good Col. a big patriotic New York welcome and send-off to Congress!!
Phil
GO WEST!!
I think that Phil and Glenda are on the right track. We need an infusion of new blood into the national leadership of the Republican Party. Any new candidates need to be vetted on support for the bailout and a game plan for elimination of much of the junk government in Washington, such as the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.
101st Airborne and David Limbaugh Respond to My Blog
I wrote about the moral implications of Barack Obama's dithering about the Fort Hood mass murder here and also here.
David Limbaugh, celebrity author, responds:
----- Original Message -----
From: David Limbaugh
To: Mitchell Langbert
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: Barack Obama's Moral Confusion About Murder
Bravo! Well done!
As well, Jim Crum and a member of the 101st Airborne (if you recall, the historic subject of the classic HBO series, Band of Brothers) write:
Mitchell,
Congratulations.
You've been read by a large number of 101st Airborne, active and retired. A few responses to this have even come in from overseas, yeah the "dumb soldiers", those 22 year old yokels, are actually not so "dumb" and I would argue are better read than many of your faculty...because they are required to. But that's another story.
The missive immediately below is from a man who is largely responsible for intelligence. Good man.
Thanks for Bob Robbins for sending this along.
JJC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From:
To:
Sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 12:51 am
Subject: America's Growing Moral Bankruptcy
An offering contribution from a correspondent of mine, and a Christian conservative.
If Christian conservatives are going to be the sole custodians of virtues and morality in our culture, we need to listen to what many of them have to say with a fine-tuned ear. The title of the article that was forwarded is poignant and valid. Moral bankruptcy, and its manifestations in multiculturalism, are one reason why our nation is being crippled by concepts like political correctness, speech codes, hate-crimes laws (the very idea that "crime" must be modified by the adjective "hate" in order to somehow make a crime more of a crime is a politically correct contradiction that somehow adds even more degrees to violations of law, life and property). Moral relativism is, or seems to be, the code by which Barack Obama lives, and by which he is trying to lead the nation. Itself a bankrupt ideology, the "conciliatory" exterior of moral relativism cannot survive the scrutiny of logic and reason (or even the light of day). The concept is a contradiction in terms by its own construct. If everyone is entitled to "their truth" then truth has no meaning in an absolute sense, since by logical test A cannot be A and Not-A at the same time and in the same reference. Therefore, the "relativity of truth" is a cruel contradiction, and a hopelessly tangled logical error. Likewise, as Daniel Patrick Moynahan said: One may be entitled to one's own opinion, but not one's own facts." By this, Moynahan lamented the idea that debates must have rules, and those rules must be applied in order for discourse and dialogue to take place at all. Without framework, even simple conversations are only two sides speaking past each other and not treating the subject. We saw this the past week from none other than the flagrant violator of truth and logic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The "fact" that she "believes" what she says (at the moment she says it) does not make her "honest." In fact, Pelosi is by far the most dishonest and corrupt politician in the Houses of Congress today, because she has sold her honor and integrity for power. That is a far more dangerous variety of greed than just selling one's vote for money. Sown within the nineteen hundred pages of the national health care reform bill are the seeds of the downfall of our economic system, and the substitution of government by edict from an elite oligarchy who will ultimately strive to control every system of authority and power (and wealth) in our nation. This is so far distant from the spirit of the law enshrined in the US Constitution that we gasp in distress, since the Constitution as written and as intended in law is slowly disappearing from sight--driven from its primary place by a collectivist philosophy that espouses the very things that created the rift between the thirteen colonies and the "mother country" in the eighteenth century. The states are becoming the "colonies" of a "federal" system that is neither federal nor a system, but a community of "philosopher kings" who presume because they were elected by a majority constituency of their home district, that they have the right to remodel the entire government structure to suit their majority instead of the entire "constituency" population of their home district.
And the great waffler-in-chief, Barack Obama, continues to say much and nothing at the same time. He speaks to his audiences with great conviction, with the help of a teleprompter, and he has a charisma that conceals his ambition and truly bankrupt moral conviction that "everyone should have an equal chance at the pie." This is totally different from everyone having a chance at improving their lives, getting a job and making their own choices. The recent legislation, including health care "reform" is aimed at developing further the "welfare class client" system of voters dependent on the federal government for every essential of life, without paying any (monetary) penalty for the privilege. It is not an "opportunity." Yesterday, I sent out an article with comments that showed the real cost to the recipients of government "aid" in terms of an intangible burden placed on them and the rest of society that has a cost figure, in percent, at least, attached. As long as our nation continues to assume that we can control our urban poor minorities by throwing money and "benefits" at them in turn for their vote, we will have no chance of changing the course of the ship of our state, which, in my view, is bound for some very troubled waters, and soon..
David Limbaugh, celebrity author, responds:
----- Original Message -----
From: David Limbaugh
To: Mitchell Langbert
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: Barack Obama's Moral Confusion About Murder
Bravo! Well done!
As well, Jim Crum and a member of the 101st Airborne (if you recall, the historic subject of the classic HBO series, Band of Brothers) write:
Mitchell,
Congratulations.
You've been read by a large number of 101st Airborne, active and retired. A few responses to this have even come in from overseas, yeah the "dumb soldiers", those 22 year old yokels, are actually not so "dumb" and I would argue are better read than many of your faculty...because they are required to. But that's another story.
The missive immediately below is from a man who is largely responsible for intelligence. Good man.
Thanks for Bob Robbins for sending this along.
JJC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From:
To:
Sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 12:51 am
Subject: America's Growing Moral Bankruptcy
An offering contribution from a correspondent of mine, and a Christian conservative.
If Christian conservatives are going to be the sole custodians of virtues and morality in our culture, we need to listen to what many of them have to say with a fine-tuned ear. The title of the article that was forwarded is poignant and valid. Moral bankruptcy, and its manifestations in multiculturalism, are one reason why our nation is being crippled by concepts like political correctness, speech codes, hate-crimes laws (the very idea that "crime" must be modified by the adjective "hate" in order to somehow make a crime more of a crime is a politically correct contradiction that somehow adds even more degrees to violations of law, life and property). Moral relativism is, or seems to be, the code by which Barack Obama lives, and by which he is trying to lead the nation. Itself a bankrupt ideology, the "conciliatory" exterior of moral relativism cannot survive the scrutiny of logic and reason (or even the light of day). The concept is a contradiction in terms by its own construct. If everyone is entitled to "their truth" then truth has no meaning in an absolute sense, since by logical test A cannot be A and Not-A at the same time and in the same reference. Therefore, the "relativity of truth" is a cruel contradiction, and a hopelessly tangled logical error. Likewise, as Daniel Patrick Moynahan said: One may be entitled to one's own opinion, but not one's own facts." By this, Moynahan lamented the idea that debates must have rules, and those rules must be applied in order for discourse and dialogue to take place at all. Without framework, even simple conversations are only two sides speaking past each other and not treating the subject. We saw this the past week from none other than the flagrant violator of truth and logic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The "fact" that she "believes" what she says (at the moment she says it) does not make her "honest." In fact, Pelosi is by far the most dishonest and corrupt politician in the Houses of Congress today, because she has sold her honor and integrity for power. That is a far more dangerous variety of greed than just selling one's vote for money. Sown within the nineteen hundred pages of the national health care reform bill are the seeds of the downfall of our economic system, and the substitution of government by edict from an elite oligarchy who will ultimately strive to control every system of authority and power (and wealth) in our nation. This is so far distant from the spirit of the law enshrined in the US Constitution that we gasp in distress, since the Constitution as written and as intended in law is slowly disappearing from sight--driven from its primary place by a collectivist philosophy that espouses the very things that created the rift between the thirteen colonies and the "mother country" in the eighteenth century. The states are becoming the "colonies" of a "federal" system that is neither federal nor a system, but a community of "philosopher kings" who presume because they were elected by a majority constituency of their home district, that they have the right to remodel the entire government structure to suit their majority instead of the entire "constituency" population of their home district.
And the great waffler-in-chief, Barack Obama, continues to say much and nothing at the same time. He speaks to his audiences with great conviction, with the help of a teleprompter, and he has a charisma that conceals his ambition and truly bankrupt moral conviction that "everyone should have an equal chance at the pie." This is totally different from everyone having a chance at improving their lives, getting a job and making their own choices. The recent legislation, including health care "reform" is aimed at developing further the "welfare class client" system of voters dependent on the federal government for every essential of life, without paying any (monetary) penalty for the privilege. It is not an "opportunity." Yesterday, I sent out an article with comments that showed the real cost to the recipients of government "aid" in terms of an intangible burden placed on them and the rest of society that has a cost figure, in percent, at least, attached. As long as our nation continues to assume that we can control our urban poor minorities by throwing money and "benefits" at them in turn for their vote, we will have no chance of changing the course of the ship of our state, which, in my view, is bound for some very troubled waters, and soon..
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