Why we are who we are

I’ll be taking a break from blogging this weekend, but in the spirit of the July 4 weekend, I’ll leave you with the very reason why we exist as a nation, the Declaration of Independence. I think in this day and age, it’s important for people to read this document again as a reminder of how we got here, and what we have to protect:

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

A new twist in the Chalmers’ saga

Amsterdam Corporation Counsel Gerard DeCusatis issued an opinion today regarding a resolution put forth by four council members to terminate the city’s contract with Uri Kaufman over the much-debated Chalmers project. The resolution is on Tuesday’s Common Council agenda.

Click on the link below for a PDF copy of the opinion in its entirety:
opinion 8-2009

Of course, check out Friday’s Recorder or see Recordernews.net for a full story.

And the saga goes on and on and on and on ….

Determination

I’m absolutely thrilled with the Greater Amsterdam School District Board of Education, which unanimously passed a resolution tonight urging the New York State Legislature to enact much-needed anti-bullying legislation. I especially want to thank school board President Gina DeRossi for inviting me to plead my case with the school board.
It’s a small victory for the cause, but every small victory that can be achieved will hopefully lead into a much bigger win, and that’s our state lawmakers finally outlawing bullying in schools and giving districts the tools and resources needed to effectively combat the growing problem of bullying.
I was also happy to hear the news that a similar resolution will be addressed by a committee of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors next week, and the Amsterdam Common Council is expected to take up the matter on Tuesday.
I also received a call from Assemblyman George Amedore, who voted in favor of such legislation when it came before the Assembly earlier this year (the matter’s been stuck in the Senate, go figure!). The assemblyman expressed his support for this matter and his sympathies for the situation my family has had to endure.
Amazing. With the exception of Sen. Hugh Farley, whose district includes my town, most of the support I’ve gotten has come from officials and boards that don’t even represent me.
I still haven’t heard from my assemblyman, Marc Bulter, whose office I contacted a few weeks ago. Considering he was one of only five Assembly members who voted against an anti-bullying bill earlier this year, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ll remember that the next time he’s up for election, however.
I’ve also forwarded a similar resolution passed by the Amsterdam school board to the Fulton County Board of Supervisors, but I still haven’t heard from that body, either.
Maybe I should consider moving into Montgomery County.
I’m also become involved with a task force at the Broadalbin-Perth Middle School, which is working dilligently to specifically define types of bullying and enact policies there to deal with the problem. The district superintendent has received a copy of the resolution presented to the Amsterdam school board.
I’m happy to be a part of this task force, because after our first meeting last week, it’s a group composed of people who take the issue of bullying very seriously and are determined to face the problem head-on.
And lastly, a cause I created on Facebook a little more than two weeks ago, called “New York needs an anti-bullying law,” is now up to 411 members. To see the group, or to join (please), click HERE.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention there is a task force in Amsterdam set up to not only deal with extinguishing bullying, but to deal with suicide prevention as well. Amsterdam Mayor Ann Thane has asked that I’d attend that group’s next meeting.
The suicide prevention aspect is important, because too often, continuous bullying and harassment often results in suicide. My son attempted it because of what he went through, and I think we need to do what we can as a community from preventing the next 11-year-old boy from going through with it.

Yeah, I’m a little excited right now, but even a little movement is better than none at all.

Frightening

Al Franken will take his place in the U.S. Senate after the Minnesota Supreme Court handed him an election victory over incumbent Norm Coleman.

My take: Party politics, face of the Senate, and everything else aside, voters in Minnesota actually elected this guy to represent them in Washington, D.C.? Seriously?

This guy’s going to the Senate?

Toss out the questions about the validity of the recount, whether all the ballots were legal, etc., the fact that a comedian like Al Franken is headed to Capitol Hill reaffirms my thoughts about the average American voter:
“I’m dumb enough, I’m naive enough, and doggone it, people can fool me!”

Then again, Minnesota did elect this guy as governor, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised:

The struggle continues

The news media industry has taken it on the chin yet again today, and it’s making me wonder how many more hits can it take before it’s knocked out for good.
Earlier today, Freedom Communications, my employer before I returned to upstate New York at the parent company of WRGB CBS 6 in Albany, announced a 5 percent across-the-board wage reduction for employees at all levels of the company.
While I won’t shed too many tears for those on the upper levels of the company, my heart really goes out to those who actually do the work on a daily basis, some who I consider to be very good friends.
The crew in Freedom’s Eastern North Carolina division has already had to endure cutbacks in staff, consolidation and forced furloughs. This latest piece of news has to feel like getting a prostate exam with a sandpaper glove.
Of course, Freedom’s situation isn’t all that different than what’s taking place at many corporate news companies across the nation, but it’s another reminder that the news business is in danger of going the way of the dodo unless it adapts to the current culture.
Unfortunately, there way too many people in charge of making those decisions who are unwilling to do so, which is resulting in the news industry committing a slow and painful suicide.
Too many big-wigs in the industry are quick to blame the faltering economy for the woes of the business, and while that’s certainly a factor, the need or demand for news hasn’t diminished, people have just changed the way they get it.
And unless the people at the top show a true desire to adapt to these changes, the people who bust their butts trying to get the news out on a daily basis will continue to get shafted.

Cover shred

With all the hoopla and non-stop coverage of the death if pop icon Michael Jackson, here’s a great cover of one of my favorite M.J. songs. Note the “Billie Jean” tribute in this one:

Freak or not, you have to admit the guy made great music.

Can’t it just be a people’s world?

There are a couple of interesting discussions taking place over at two Amsterdam-based blogs, the anonymously hosted “Flippin’ Amsterdam” and Robert Going’s blog, “The Judge Report.” You can follow the comment threads on Flippin’ by clicking HERE and HERE, and the Judge thread by clicking HERE.
What’s most interesting to me is not necessarily the topics of those posts, but the comments that followed, particularly since the discussions have strayed from the topic at hand and turned into a gender battle.
The sentiments expressed there, and in other places, have confirmed what I’ve suspected since I began my second stint at the Recorder a year ago.
1. Those who critcize Amsterdam Mayor Ann Thane do so because she’s a woman. That seems to be the recurring theme of the mayor’s defenders out there. Case in point: the very first comment posted, by an anonymous person, under Going’s thread states “You guys are so freaked out by a woman who’s more intelligent than yourselves.”
On one of the Flippin’ threads, poster Karen Hetrick chimes in with “Woman, in my opinion, have much more common sense than any man I know” [sic] and “I wish we had an ALL WOMEN council…I wonder how fast this city would get cleaned up in every area. Very fast, I’m sure. We don’t sit around and argue over every little thing. Women get things done! I am voting for any women who runs for Third Ward even if she is not in my party. GIRL POWER!!!” [sic]
Another poster, who uses the anonymous handle of “awish4amsterdam” adds to the conversation by making this comment: “Yes, with one female council woman, the men are holding our mayor back!”
I think blanket statements like this add nothing to the conversation, and are merely attempts to get people to back off on criticizing the mayor. It creates a hesitancy by anyone, particularly men, to criticize the mayor’s administration because the last thing anyone wants to be branded a sexist.
The fact is, the public should be keeping an eye on Ann Thane’s administration because she was elected to Amsterdam’s top elected post. If there are actions and decisions coming from the mayor’s office that do not sit well with people, the public has a responsibility to speak up and should.
Automatically throwing gender into the argument is distracting and, to paraphrase the author of Flippin’ Amsterdam, lowers the game. Dissmissing criticism of the mayor, or any woman in charge for that matter, because of gender is sexist in and of itself because you’re assuming no man has the capability of being critical of a woman based on their words and deeds alone.
However, that leads me to my second observation, which is:
2. A caveman mentality still exists among some in 2009. It doesn’t help when some people do make statements such as poster “F. George” made a vulgar comment on Flippin’ Amsterdam involving the mayor going to the prom or longtime Amsterdam politician Vito Dandreano calling in to a local radio talk show and saying Thane should “go back into the kitchen where she belongs.”
I can read between the lines and hear the sarcasm when people refer to the mayor as “Ms. Thane” or “that lady,” because it’s obvious gender is playing a role in their criticism.
Let’s face it, smaller communities like Amsterdam and many others were run by “good ol’ boys” clubs for decades, although many of those barriers are being broken down.
These communities were always run by men because society deemed that was their proper role. Times have changed, but unfortunately some people are slow to embrace that change.
Unfortunately, there will always be some sort of sexist element in our communities, just as there will always be racism or religious discrimination , etc. It’s just something our world will never be able to escape.
The solution? It’s quite simple.
1. Stop using what’s between a person’s legs as a qualification for public office or other positions of power. Instead, look to their words and deeds. Instead of saying “men are better than women at this” or “women are better than men at that,” just go with the best person possible, whether they are a man or a woman.
2. Realize that not everyone who criticizes a woman is sexist. Not every critical comment toward Ann Thane or other women in charge is made because of their gender. It is possible to disagree with a woman in power without thinking she’s a bitch.
Focus on the argument being made, and stop assuming why a person is making that argument. You know what happens when you assume.

This is not a “man’s world” or a “woman’s world.” It’s a “people’s world.”

Jacked up for Jacko? Not so much

In case you haven’t heard, the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died yesterday at the age of 50.
As usual, the world has come to a grinding halt as we are deluged with sunup to sunset coverage of Jackson’s death. There are the up-to-the-second updates, tributes, video replays, commentary, rumors, etc.
Pardon me if I don’t get too worked out about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Michael Jackson was a fountain of talent and had a tremendous impact on the music industry and pop culture in general. In fact, I think his death is the biggest shock in the entertainment world since John Lennon was gunned down in 1980. Yes, Jackson was a cultural icon.
I’ll even admit, I was, and still am, a fan of most of his work. Yeah, I’ll turn up the radio dial when I hear one of his songs come on. And my guess you could probably count the number of people who didn’t like anything he did on one gloved hand.
Yes, I realize his death is a blow; the man had legions of rabid fans across the planet.
But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the man (I use that term loosely) was a freak. The guy had his nose redone so much that it practically fell off at one point. Obviously, Jackson was speaking from the heart when he sang it didn’t matter “if you’re black or white,” because he could decide what skin tone he wanted and eventually became whiter than I am.
By the time he met his unfortunate end, Jackson barely looked human.
But beyond the constant tinkering with his appearance, there was definitely something sinister about him, particularly to his approach to children.
This is a man, while suspected of but never convicted of child molestation charges, had no problem inviting young boys over for sleep-overs and sharing a bed with them. This is a man who would put masks on his own children when they were walking through airports and other public places.
This was a guy who dangled his own baby from a hotel balcony, in front of a crowd of people and news photographers.
There’s something very wrong, and disturbing, about an individual who would do and say such things.
So go ahead and celebrate Michael Jackson’s contribution to music and pop culture. It’s certainly warranted.
But excuse me if I don’t shed a tear over a man who wound up being little more than a sad punchline of the human race.

R.I.P.

The ultimate poster girl and Charlie’s Angel, Farrah Fawcett, died this morning at the age of 62 after losing a brave battle with cancer.
So sad.

There is a difference here

Oops, wrong Sanford.

The political world is abuzz once again with news of yet another high-profile politician being caught with his pants down. This time, it’s South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted in a news conference yesterday that he cheated on his wife and spent the last five days in Argentina after telling staffers he was hiking in the Appalachians.
Of course, the detractors have been out in force calling for Sanford’s resignation, calling him a hypocrite, blah, blah, blah. Check out some on the comments under this post made to CNN’s Political Ticker.
My guess is many of these people were the same ones who defended President Bill Clinton when he got caught fooling around with a White House intern and was subsequently impeached. Ironically, Sanford was a Congressman at the time and voted in favor of the former president’s impeachment, citing “moral legitimacy.”
I was one of those who didn’t think Clinton should have been removed from office just because he had an affair and lied about it. The relationship and his lying (part of a lawsuit that had nothing to do with his presidency) did not have an impact on his ability to do his job. I would have supported his resignation on the grounds that he needed to focus on fixing his marriage … but anyone can see his marriage to Hillary is little more than a business relationship.
But Sanford needs to resign because his affair has impacted his ability to do his job. Here are a few reasons:
1. Reports have surfaced that the governor took a taxpayer-funded trip to South America last year, which included a visit to Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aries. While it’s not known whether Sanford met with his mistress, who’s from Argentina, at the time, the trip itinerary showed there was several hours allotted for “personal time.” On Wednesday, Sanford said his affair began a year ago. I’m going to go out on a very short limb here and say it’s likely the governor and the woman managed to meet up. It’s that not hard to add 2 and 2 here.
If that’s the case, taxpayers paid for Sanford to cheat on his wife.
2. Sanford obviously is not putting the state of South Carolina above his own needs. The governor admitted to meeting up with the woman on at least three occasions, and traveling to Argentina “several times,” meaning he was putting the business of running the state on the back-burner so he could continue this affair. I know even politicians are allowed personal lives, but Argentina is not exactly just around the block from Sanford’s office. That means he was likely out of the state, and out of the country, for a few days at a time.
It seems to me one can’t get much done as a governor if they’re too busy running around in Argentina.
3. Sanford cannot be trusted to exercise sound judgment as governor. This is the biggest reason why he should step down.
The governor told staff members he would be hiking in the Appalachians, but instead took off for Argentina. No one was able to contact him for nearly a week.
What if there had been some major emergency in South Carolina, one that would require the governor’s presence and involvement? Without anyone being able to reach him, Sanford would have been unable to do his job.
By misleading his staff, and frankly the entire state, about where he was and what he was doing, Sanford put South Carolina as a whole at risk by this trip. That’s inexcusable.
Sanford needs to cut his losses at walk away, not just for himself and his family, but for the good of South Carolina.