Readers’ Column for the week

You may call the Owego Pennysaver Readers’ Column at (607) 687-2378 24-hours a day, or e-mail comments to readerscolumn@stny.rr.com. We reserve the right to revise or reject any message. 

Thank you to the person(s) who called or emailed to the Reader’s Column letting everyone know what the Town of Owego Supervisor and Town Board do very well; try to put something over onto the Community. I’m talking about this person(s) letting everyone know about the March 5 Town meeting and the discussion about overriding the tax cap. To my knowledge these notices are supposed to be published in local newspapers and I believe there are only two (2) local newspapers and I’m having a hard time believing the Binghamton Press is one of them. The Supervisor’s ending comment was the discussion for overriding the tax cap would be discussed when needed. I, for one, don’t believe there is a need to override the tax cap. What are we getting for the money we’re already paying in taxes? Not much, but yet we’re expected to pay more. I believe there needs to be a better assessment of the town workforce; what are they working on, how many people do they need to do a job and how long does it take them to do it. So please, we all need to be vigilant and try to keep the Town Supervisor and Board on the straight and narrow. Maybe it’s time we had new people running and getting elected for these positions. If you see or hear anything that local taxpayers would be interested in knowing, please get it published in this column or use social media to spread the word. 

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Flaunt your testosterone: Grow a Beard.

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The Village of Owego showed them selves to be “Penny wise and pound foolish” by refusing to make the village code enforcement officer full time and keeping him part time. By doing so the village lost an excellent code officer who resigned to take a full time code enforcement position. With the Downtown Revitalization Initiative projects and Owego Gardens II starting up there will be over $34,000,000 spent on construction in the village in the next couple of years. These projects will not proceed in a timely manner without a full time village code enforcement officer. They are hard to find and the village just lost a good one. Lesson learned? Let’s hope so!

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How many readers have received a spam/robo call from multiple phone numbers with the same message, “Account has been breached before using any Apple device contact Apple support advisor; Press 1, 2 or if you wish to speak to Apple support advisor call toll free number (347) 434-9310. I received four calls Monday and three calls Tuesday with no end in sight. The only apple I think I have is one in the garage, left over from the 1/2 bushel I bought last fall. Has anyone called that number back?

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The manure on Catatonk Hill Road is from the farm on the corner of Catatonk Hill and Catatonk Creek Roads. If you want it stopped, talk to the farmer. If no response, talk to the Sheriff’s Office about the hazard it creates.

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The West Newark Congregational Church, School and Cemetery are all on the State and National Historic Registry. A copy of this, plus much more information is available at the Newark Valley Town Historian’s Office. We would love to share it with you. Contact Ginny at gintomik@aol.com or call 642-5541 to make an appointment.

National Political Viewpoints

Cities and towns across Eastern Europe (except Russia) have as many memorials to the victims of communism as to the victims of National Socialism (NAZI). In the Czech Republic, City of Prague, the memorial reads, “This memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims, not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism.” Socialism kills the soul.  The Washington DC memorial to victims of socialism is dedicated “to the more than one hundred million victims of communism” and its purpose is to ensure “that the history of communist tyranny will be taught to future generations.” Liberal dumbing down of America has been successful beyond their wildest expectations. Dumb is what Socialist Democrats want and need. AOC, Pelosi, Omar, and ilk are living proof. 

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“What kind of person can you be, how do you live with yourself once you’re aware,” questions Babcock. “Just ignore and act like it didn’t happen? I couldn’t do that.” So he sold his home, left his career and moved into a house with no electricity. How Daron Babcock started Bonton Farms in Bonton, Texas, an area that is part of Dallas.

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In Williams, Schutt says he’s seeing a community of owners becoming workers: “It’s going to be like Russia with serfs. If you want to work on a farm, you’ll have to work for them. We’ll give you a job, but you’re going to be working on our terms. We control everything. Small farms can’t survive.” “How America’s Food Giants Swallowed the Family Farms.” — Chris McGreal, Guardian UK

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Initially Mr. Trump said he barely knew Paul Manafort and worked for him for a short time. Now Mr. Trump says he feels really bad for him going to prison, even though he was convicted by a jury of his peers and also plead guilty himself. Amazing; must be birds of a feather.

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Why not look at our wage disparity as opportunity, as opposed to Socialism, with little wage disparity and little opportunity. Look at Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates, they’ve made huge amounts of money from nothing. Realize with Capitalism, opportunities are unlimited, and you can make it big too? ROAR!

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Have you been paying attention? President Trump’s budget wants to reduce domestic spending on programs for the elderly, disabled and poor that includes 845 billion reductions for Medicare. But not to worry, he wants to increase the military budget from 715 billion to 750 billion, another 8.6 million for his wall, cutting 1.9 trillion from budgets effecting EPA and federal pensions. This clearly shows he has never had to live like an average U.S. citizen, plus most congress members are also millionaires that will never need the aid they want to cut. The budget also includes funds to combat Russian aggression that is totally backwards; Russia has been the leader of negotiation on several issues that the U.S. has manufactured to sell more weapons of death and destruction and to control the globe. It is not up to the U.S. to dictate who a sovereign country can trade with.

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Adam Schiff obviously will do ANYTHING to get his face on camera. He’s calling for investigations of President Trump for everything from not shaving to having a sore throat. How about we investigate Adam Schiff and find out exactly what’s in HIS background. Bet it’s not as pure as the wind-driven snow!

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It is ironic that President Trump hates socialism; it is the source of his wealth. Trump’s father built his real estate empire using federal funds to rehab buildings in New York City for subsidized housing. Socialism gets a bad rap because so many petty dictators like to call their totalitarian regimes, socialism. Conversely, countries like Sweden have given their citizens the highest standard of living in the world through socialism. America has gradually adopted socialism since the advent of social security in the 1930s. Today it is in every facet of our lives. There is not an industry that does not, in some way, look to the government for help. Only our lack of universal health care keeps us from being a true socialist country. Every American reaps the benefit of our system if only by enjoying affordable food courtesy of our heavily subsidized agriculture industry.

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“Regenerating soil to change the piece of the planet where you live is possible at multiple scales. It might be a city yard like ours, rooftop garden, community garden, or working farm. Add up these efforts, and we can restore fertility to degraded soils, end hunger, and pull some carbon from the sky. Farmers can wean themselves off of agrochemicals and slash one of their biggest expenses. And we can all enjoy more life in yards, city parks, and farm fields. Cultivating living soil is something anyone can do to change the world – from the ground up.” “How To Turn Dirt Into Soil” by Ann Bikle and David R. Montgomery. Yes Magazine. Posted March 4, 2019.

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To the person who wrote in last week and said Mr. Mueller has found no evidence of collision – the investigation isn’t over yet. As Mr. Trump says, we’ll see. 

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Doesn’t it make you wonder just what those so desperate to get rid of President Trump, duly elected by a majority of American voters, stood to gain, had Hillary won? What was in it for them? More power, more money? What did they stand to gain?

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Hey you Trump supporters, have you seen the latest, Trump wants to reduce domestic spending by a minimum of five percent or more yet increase the military budget by 175 billion, guess where he is getting it from? Trump campaigned to reduce military spending and all he and his warmongers do is increase it so we can kill more innocent people because Washington DC doesn’t like the sovereign countries choice of leaders. There are so many domestic issues that could be solved if the funding were available, Ike’s 1961 speech has been ignored and the military complex is in charge.

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Hey, how come the mainstream media isn’t reporting the corruption Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and her live-in boy friend are involved in. Seems that about a million dollars of campaign money has gone astray. Jail time possible, yet no one is telling the public of this. Why? Same reason negative about Socialists doesn’t get reported?

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Do New York Democrats have no shame or backbone to stand up and say ENOUGH? An immoral and totalitarianism New York State comes by dark and nefarious small increments. In one year Boss Cuomo has institutionalized infanticide, given felons the vote, and instituted control over private and parochial schools. While 18 year olds are mature enough to surgically change their sex, he is going to raise the age for smoking and vaping to 21. Where is the logic other than control of your life? Democrats have initiated legislation, Bill A654, to repeal prohibitions on prostitution. Guess they can put a tax on hooking – like gambling, drinking, and selling pot (Boss Cuomo’s agenda) and say the money will go to Social Justice. Like educational funding, it’s for the children. Gambling, pot, drinking, and hooking – Eliot Spitzer and like, will smile.  

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Mr. Trump’s speech last Saturday was to his immediate base. He speaks like he’s at a high school pep rally. He rarely speaks from the White House because reporters challenge him; speaking from the Rose Garden or Oval office is intimidating. Most Americans will question and his base applauses. It’s time to stop the Donald Trump productions and no longer awaiting coming attractions. I don’t know how we got where we’re at but time to get back to being Americans again.

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“People are mobile. They will go to a better tax environment. That is not a hypothesis. That is a fact.” So said Gov. Cuomo railing against the Fed. IRS Cap on deducting state property taxes as adjustment. The solution to that problem is a local one. It involves New York getting its own house in order. It’s ironic Gov. Cuomo’s preferred solution, which would provide a $670 billion tax cut over a ten-year budget window almost exclusive to the top 5 percent of earners – most who already receive a tax cut under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act due to lower rates, a higher AMT threshold, and several other repeal and reforms. Instead, the governor is blaming everything but the real culprit: New York’s own tax code. New York imposes high and poorly structured taxes, ranking 50th on overall in tax structure. Capping the SALT deduction righted a longstanding wrong in the federal tax code. Instead of railing against a change that increased tax equity, it might be time for New York policymakers to look inward. 

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