Constitution being eroded by Congress
I watched one Thursday morning as my Senate removed one more building block of my Constitution. This was followed by cheering and high fives, as if they had done something wonderful. Shameful!
All spring and summer I watched this health bill progress through Congress, ducking and diving this way and that as it became more and more unpopular. At the time of vote, it had roughly the support of 35 percent of the people, yet this bill received 100 percent of the Democrats vote. How is this possible? Is it because our Senate is full of men and women of great moral ideals and unwavering integrity, or was it because of questionable deals made behind closed doors by using bribes, threats and coercion? You be the judge.
Of course they needed to add a bill to make sure future lawmakers could not rescind this wonderful health care debacle. By doing this, they admit the bill stinks to high heaven. Good bills do not need this protection.
The camel got his nose inside the tent when Congress eroded the Fifth and 10th Amendments, with passage of this bill.
The camel is now standing with one foot in your tent. It's a small tent, but it's a large camel.
I am of the opinion that our civic-minded Congress and Senate will mount a full-court press on the First and Second Amendments. They are already chipping away on the First. If big government can muzzle our freedom of expression and our right to bear arms, there will be nothing to stop them from trashing the rest of the Constitution. Read your history as this happened pre-1940 in Nazi, Germany. More czars, anyone? Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.
W. A. James
Oneonta
We need to elect honest people
In the day where we see corrupt banks manipulating the markets and the Fed saying it will look in to it, we see our representatives dropping left and right due to corruption and scandal. Governors, senators, congressmen, it doesn't matter. Our media seem to be on the take too.
Listening to our president say at one point of the health insurance forum, "We are the richest nation in the world." Wrong. Our country is broke.
Stop blubbering about how government is going to save us. We may have rich people, but our country is broke and going further into debt by the second. Our politicians and biggest world banks are corrupt. What do we have to look forward to? Really, what? We need to rid ourselves of lobbyists and the corrupt political atmosphere and get some plain, old honest people into office in 2010 and make some real change _ not what was promised.
Louis Guido
Cherry Valley
Closing parks not answer to woes
On Feb. 19, the New York State Parks Commissioner slated 41 parks and 14 historic sites for outright closure. In our immediate vicinity, the parks most directly affected are Robert V. Riddell, Hunt's Pond, Chittenango Falls and Oquaga Creek.
It seems that closing state parks will be counter-intuitive in saving the state money. With no rangers or maintenance workers, there may be additional security issues. The fiscal year begins in the early spring, just at the time when revenue for the parks would begin. That seems ironic. A closed park brings in no revenue at all.
A more-logical approach to this subject would be to cut services across the board. This way, locations developed for the public trust can be used for the purpose they were intended for.
Albany needs to know that full access to public land should be preserved in whatever way it can. The state may think it will save a few bucks closing these amenities, but will society benefit overall?
Closing parks and historic sites seems incompatible with the spirit of conservation and the public good.
Jessica Kuzmier
West Oneonta
Things must change at Charlotte Valley
The administration of the Charlotte Valley Central School District seems to believe we parents are on a need-to-know basis about what's going on at the school. Obviously, we as parents, and community members didn't need to know.
I sat at a community meeting and the regular board of education meeting the first week of February.
At these meetings, I listened to a parent tell her side of a terrible incident that happened to her daughter at the hands of the administration. It happened to a defenseless kindergartner.
Then I went to the school board meeting and saw the administration apologize to this parent for his actions. This parent refused to accept his apology. I really couldn't blame her. I doubt that I would have.
I heard several community members talk to the board about the need for change and watched them give the needed documentation for the change to occur.
What I'm asking the parents, teachers and community members to do is get involved to help make needed changes so we can move forward and heal the past. If there is anything you wish to say you have the opportunity to do this at the regular board meeting the first Thursday of every month. There are board members willing to hear what you have to say and you need to document any concerns or problems you are having or have had in the past.
Now is the time for change and only you, the community and staff at Charlotte Valley, can help. It's time we all take the step forward to make a difference in the education of our children.
S. Mark
Davenport Center
No good reason to move back
After reading John M. Stanley's Feb. 25 letter about his possible return to New York state, I can't think of one good reason to move back to New York.
Our taxes are among the highest in the nation.
Try to sell your New York home for what it's worth and good luck keeping the money from the sale.
Every day there is another New York state law coming out of Albany, prohibiting one or more of our freedoms. Gun control is a big issue right now.
If you hunt, target shoot, trap or skeet shoot, these freedoms, guaranteed by the Second Amendment to our Constitution, will be a thing of the past.
More and more businesses and people are leaving the very places where they grew-up. I grew up in Queens and Long Island. I now live in Otsego County.
I've loved every day of my living here, until the past few years.
I have been thinking of moving out-of-state, mostly because of the many (not all) corrupt politicians in Albany who could care less about the people they work for ... US!
My advice is, if you are happy in Nebraska, stay there.
Wolfgang Merk
Fly Creek
