Readers’ Column for the week of May 15, 2022

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

 

Save the Bees Spencer. Don’t cut your lawn. Your grass can be 19-inches tall, according to your local law.

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To the person commenting favorably about electric school buses, I would like a firm estimate on what electric buses are going to cost to run using our outrageous NYSEG and other electric supplier rates. Batteries lose 35% of their charge at 32-degrees; there’s going to be some very cold kids sitting on a back road when their bus quits. Isn’t providing the extra electricity to charge buses going to increase emissions from power plants? How about the extremely harmful mining of materials for batteries that are banned in this country by the EPA due to the damage to the environment? Do we have a plan in place for safe disposal of spent batteries? Folks in Albany are stupid, crazy, or naive. All of this aside, the fact is that each bus costs HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars more.

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On the corner of Franklin and Whig Street in the Village of Newark Valley is a house that has been vacant for years (one of many). On the property some big limbs and branches have been laying on the ground for quite some time. Is it possible to take a little pride in the community and have the DPW remove them? All it would cost is time and effort. With all the vacant and abandoned houses (blight) in the village, a little bit of effort would go a long way!

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To the resident with issues regarding the water rates increasing within the Village of Newark Valley – please come to the board meetings and express your concerns. I personally could not agree more with the Village office being overstaffed and DPW being overstaffed as well. However, when one person is in attendance at the meetings, for the most part, it doesn’t give the board members much leverage to eliminate staff. I have put comments in the column about the overstaffing issues before, but apparently it went unnoticed. It’s easier to ask for more than to cut, apparently. However, did you complain about the over 8% the Town of Newark Valley increased your taxes? Probably not. Did you know the Village of Newark Valley went out with a 0 percent increase, which in return resulted in a decrease?

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Medicare Advantage plans quite often have dental and / or hearing coverage. Mine has both. Don’t think that the offer of them is an indication that it is a scam.

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“My country loves mothers, but only as an idea. The concept of motherhood as selfless, all consuming and noble is outdated, and the notion that we celebrate mothers for one day out of the year while doing everything in our power to keep them down all other days is pathological. Tell me again why a greeting card is enough? A day can’t fix the way America treats mothers. Keep your day, your carnations, and your breakfast in bed. What I want is change.” “Mother’s Day is Gaslighting” by Alison Stine. From Salon, May 8, 2022.

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It’s really wonderful to see so many people responding to benefit events to help people in need. The willingness to give time and money to assist others is a beautiful indication of the caring and giving spirit that exemplifies our fine community. Thank you again.

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As it stands now, every community providing Emergency Medical Transportation and Technicians in Tioga County is facing a funding and staffing problem in providing their services; a service not quantified in New York State as an “Emergency Service,” as are Fire Departments. What can we in the community expect when we have a governor who continues to prioritize unfunded mandates as has happened again on May 6, 2022. “Gov. Kathy Hochul was set to sign a bill into law Friday to give first responders more training when handling people with mental illness, including instructing rescuers how to fight their own “implicit bias.’’ Another Unfunded mandate, this for CRT training. Enough said.

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We seem to have a person in our midst that cannot do analysis properly and is also math deficient. The 19.84 Million is the total population of New York State. Total. Ages 0- whatever. Those in the 0-17 part are not eligible to vote. Therefore the number eligible to vote is much lower than 19.84. The 13.8 % is the number of registered voters. Okay, so far with that. The 9.3 that showed up to vote is about right too. HOWEVER, 9.3 % is not 10% of 13.8 – at least not anywhere I have taken math. It’s 67%. It’s not even 10% of 19.84. It’s 47%, but meaningless for this discussion. A whole rant wasted by a person that misunderstands too many things.

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WHO IS THE JUNKYARD CODE enforcement officer in Spencer? If you look at the website it says they will appoint one from time to time. What kind of Government is that?

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A lot more flat tires would be avoided if the local and federal highway departments had a magnetic device behind their truck that would pick up iron from the highways.

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One person called in. He was not satisfied with our government; he says where is the outrage. I say to hell with that. Where are our pitchforks and torches?

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Taxpayers, remember the school budget vote is May 17. New York State education is accelerating with your tax dollars. Social, emotional, learning, diversity, equity, inclusion, culturally responsive training, you won’t see any details about this in your budget fliers. Education is about indoctrination and not education.

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The politicians don’t understand that the poor people in Tioga County and Broome could use a stimulus now. I mean now! Inflation has hit the poor from the price of fuel, heat like propane is out of this world, food, electric, medicine; anything, prices have soared, and stimulus doesn’t have to be handed out to people making $400,000 like they usually do. 

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I’m wondering who does sewing around the Owego area. Please leave your name in this column.

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For those that are advocating for the elimination of fossil fuels, like our Governor Hochul, and want to go all electric, consider this. Most, if not all, of the components of solar panels and wind turbines are made outside the U.S., which means we would be dependent on those countries for our power. The batteries for the cars and other appliances and equipment contain lithium which is now controlled by China in Afghanistan, thanks to Joe, and other somewhat unfriendly nations to the U.S. Besides, the lithium ion batteries are prone to catching on fire, which in many cases is cataclysmic because of the heat produced. Thanks to Governor Hochul, stores will not be allowed to sell gas appliances in New York starting in 2024. That means that if you want or need a new gas range, you have two choices, convert your range to electric, which means rewiring your kitchen and may require a whole house rewire to come to code, or you can travel to another state to get one. The current electric grid we have in the U.S. cannot handle the quick addition of all the electric the politicians want us to use. With the recent snowfall the power was out for days. The generators people have that run on gasoline or diesel, including hospitals and other necessary buildings, will not be able to operate. Some municipalities are banning new gas hook ups so you won’t be able to run a generator if you wanted one. There is no doubt that the climate is changing. It has been changing since the world was created. The approach to electrification and the reduction of the use of fossil fuels should be a steady, common sense, and thoughtful process. No shooting from the hip decisions that will financially benefit the few, while the rest of us read about Lincoln by candlelight.

National Political Viewpoints

Wow! So many people think gerrymandering is only a Democrat thing and Republicans never have used the technique. Unreal.

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I didn’t know that! Nice research! SO BIDEN LIED, he didn’t oust the Ukrainian prosecutor all by himself, in only six hours, just before he was to leave the country. Good old Joe, another tall tale! By the way, did you know “Corn Pop” was a girl?

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Ninety years ago, a short little man with a mustache came to power. His first action was to ensure domestic tranquility by eliminating wrong thinking. He created the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. By executive fiat, Mr. Big (Biden) has created the Disinformation Governance Board under the Department of Homeland Security. Sound Orwellian? Have you ever listened to Biden’s press Secretary Jan Psaki? If so, you must ask, “What is the difference between the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board?” Answer: spelling. George Orwell’s novel 1984 was a story of a dystopian authoritarian future, not an instruction manual. With such a power, the Obama rebranding of illegal alien to undocumented individual sticks. The term “illegal alien” will be removed from the constitution and the entire concept of an individual illegally present in America will be removed from the thought process. There will be RIGHT THINK! The virtue of a president is found in the many things they don’t do. Next year the U.S. Dept. of Education will secretly establish its own Disinformation Governance Board and ensure schoolbooks are purged of Disinformation. Being that disinformation is infinite and truth is singular, the U.S. DHS Disinformation Governance Board should be the sole source for all citizens’ information. We should call it the Ministry of Truth. 

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“When the campaign ended I refused to let Sarah Palin speak,” Schmidt wrote of the concession speech that he put into motion for McCain to offer on election night in Arizona. “I placed the phone call to Barack Obama for the concession and did everything I could to make sure a beautiful speech wasn’t disgraced by the nut ball from Alaska.” He continued, “Palin understood the party of personal responsibility was dead and replaced by a whining victim cult of losers who routinely lied and blamed others for their failings. Palin went on the attack after the campaign. You see it wasn’t that she was ignorant and unprepared. It wasn’t that she was a pathological liar who became intoxicated by fame and grievance. She was a victim.” –Steve Schmidt, former Republican strategist.

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So the democrats gave out the addresses of Republican Supreme Court justices so they could go to their home, harass them, and threaten them. Wow! What a party. And you say the republicans are the ones that are starting trouble and starting riots and things. Look in the mirror. You people are such hypocrites.

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I haven’t voted for a number of years because I didn’t think there was anyone worth voting for. This year, however, I’m certainly going to be voting against any democrat that’s running for reelection. 

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Whoever voted for Biden owes me gas money. Momma Gump.

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I remember Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story, which was not at all similar to Fox News and other conservative programming as his program was truthful, not just regurgitated false conspiracy theories numbing the minds of the audience. I agree we citizens need to listen to all sources of factual information, which isn’t found on Fox but can be found on PBS, CNN, and MSNBC. Start with Deadline Whitehouse on MSNBC at 4 p.m., which is hosted by Republican George W. Bush’s former press secretary, Nicole Wallace. The two will amaze and enlighten you with reality and facts, not just Fox’s spin and distortions. Try it once to really open your mind.

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Blatantly copied from a post on the Washington Post Facebook page; “I’m confused. Do Republicans think Biden is a doddering incompetent who should be in a home? Or a sinister mastermind who effortlessly stole an election, single handedly raised fuel prices around the globe, and carefully tweaked border policies to accommodate his ominous fentanyl plot? I wish they’d make up their minds. About anything.”