The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

Speaking to people in defense of keeping print copies of newspapers available, I have made a pretty good case in defense of the DEMAND SIDE of the market which has been deliberately curtailed by big fat pigs at the top with a love for money narcissistic and self-centered attitude who simply wish to line their pockets with a USA Today approach like Pravda of Moscow and not considering other aspects about how they can make money with PRINT copies of newspapers.  They DELIBERATELY began to remove the one unique thing which sold newspapers and kept circulation numbers up.  I have been validated with reports from the broadcast media and other sources.  These are not just NEWSpapers, but local NEWS & INFORMATION papers.  These are UNIQUE to local newspapers as the Mustang is to the Ford Corporation.  Would Ford DELIBERATELY get rid of a product which is unique and put in place something which like USA Today and tell all the local people to go to hell and just read USA Today online. 

Because that is what is being shoved down the faces of the demand side of what is SUPPOSED to be a truly capitalist market (not supply side Reaganomics which is NOT capitalism and almost as bad as centrally-controlled government of communists in the Soviet Union) the ultimate result is a destruction of

  • LOCAL NEWS & INFORMATION & PUZZLES
  • LOCAL CALENDARS
  • LOCAL ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
  • LOCAL OBITUARIES (we think Legacy replaces this? go to h-e-double hockey sticks because one needs an obituary NEWS source which provides the information, especially when one is new to an area and is not on the list of the cliques in town to be informed; Legacy plays another good role AFTER learning of the death of someone
  • LOCAL WEDDING REVIEWS
  • COMICS
  • LOCAL CLASSIFIED ADS
  • LOCAL STUFF LIKE
    • RESTAURANT REVIEWS
    • THEATER & CONCERT REVIEWS
    • LOCAL MUSIC REVIEWS
    • LOCAL ART EXHIBIT REVIEWS
    • LOCAL CONSUMER REVIEWS of LOCAL BUSINESS
    • LOCAL TV & RADIO SCHEDULES & INFO
    •  LOCAL COMMUNITY CIVICS REVIEWS (not politics)
    • LOCAL REVIEWS OF LOCAL POLITICAL CANDIDATES so as to keep people informed and not just listening to the BULLSHIT from news media which agrees and MIGHT NOT be the TRUTH; RESULT of such media? a population which is so stupid they cannot differentiate from right and wrong and digs in its heals with by maintaining the stupidity and a lack of knowledge; what is missing is the ability for people to know what is going on locally in POLITICS, whether at the village, town, county, city, or state

All in this list plus MORE than what is in this list.  The news & INFORMATION, not spread all over so as to search with a lousy Google search engine. 

When the demand side of capitalism answers the way the big fat pigs with mansions hope they would do – stop reading the new versions of what are called local  newspapers, they stop reading and search other sources where they are not TAUGHT but just look for what is in agreement. Yippee!  Then the fat pigs of supply-side newspaper industry Reaganomics can say, “look —— NO ONE IS READING NEWSPAPERS!”  Bullshit.  When you take away the sections and parts which sold newspapers, no one WANTS to read them.  No surprise.  The fat pigs are doing this to the newspaper industry so they can fill their GODDAMN pockets more than others and don’t have to figure out a way to lower overhead or other means.  Ask me.  I have a few suggestions for lowering overhead.  But these bastard pigs modeled after Putin refuse to listen.   

How many times do I get dildo heads who stand up for this supply-side Reaganomics?  All the time.  And I get insulted by such people.  Those who are wealthier than the rest of us simply defending the wealthy and using facts about how circulation has declined.  Of course it has declined.  When the content is condensed, why would it not decline?  Even if The New York Times DOES NOT condense its content, people are NOT being taught to read to learn, but to read to be entertained, as a result of those newspapers which DO condense the LOCAL news.  Besides, The New York Times is not just local but is a better national style news than any of the others, especially on Sundays.  They might have a large market of digital-loving bastards who want technology for the sake of change.  But they don’t take into account the ones who don’t want to go to the trouble and expense of maintaining the freaking technology which is like a little baby, needing constant attention and resources.  The New York Times in print and all we have to do is sit down and read it, not spend most of our time trying to figure out a technology and Internet which is very low quality and lacks any intuitive ways because computers and the ones providing such to the consumers are stupid.  And with gray hard-to-read lettering and really lousy brightness, besides the size of the print, one has to try to face a technology which sucks because it lacks any intuitive ways about it.  Setting up device XYZ12334555.  Or IP SHOCHOIJS10320kpf;jsakljoip.  What the hell is all that supposed to mean to consumers?  Go f yourselves with that bullshit, especially for those of us who are visually impaired and have one more impediment to it all and no one willing to service and maintain such device on the Internet  and on a regular basis.  More people are scammers out there with their hacking and sniper-based cowardly way just to see how well they can trip up the demand side of the market.  This is a barbaric picture of people who don’t give ONE DAMN about one another in America.  They don’t CARE and simply scoff at those of us who complain.  Or ask, “are you ok?” At the time we complain.  YES.  I AM OK.  IT IS THE GODDAMN non-human devices which are NOT OK and the fat pigs who push their national news on us in digital form and with no concern about the demand side of the market because they could no longer earn their GODDAMN money by sitting on their buttes in a lazy fashion. 

My newsprint costs

  • Sunday newsprint newspapers: $494.00 annually
  • Newspapers five or six days of week: $680.00 annually
    • Total: $1174.00 (without delivery, add the freaking gasoline costs a consumer might have: $300.00 (est.)

My technology costs

  • Technology maintenance & replacement: $500.00 annually
  • Internet and phone. About $3000.00 annually
  • Printing & scanning costs: cartridges & paper, etc.:  $300.00 (est.) annually
  • Other costs est. at $200.00
  • Time resource to print ONE article from The New York Times or the Washington Post (etc.) lacks an intuitive touch, perhaps due to the freaking lawyers funneling and wanting to protect royalties, salivating at finding another way to make money with nickel and dime approaches. Compare this to clipping and printing newspaper copy on a copying machine.  Less time in attempting to learn the lack of intuitive approach to do what is needed – with print newspaper. The lack of an intuitive approach to scanning or printing digital copies and no reasonable comparison to copying the newsprint, except the cost of paper and cartridges.  Freaking lawyers in the newspapers disgust the consumer because they probably don’t like the fact that some individual in a household is copying for THEIR OWN personal use what comes from a print newspapers.  Their greedy, money-loving narcissistic self-centered eyes widen with dollar signs from digital. 
  • Constant problems and time spent on fixing problems of technology: 4 to 6 hours in one day’s time, with no assistance (would pay) for regular examination of the problems, while those in the cliques get their own private help and don’t wish to share it
    • Total est. annually for digital:  $4000.00

Digital itself costs almost four times as much.  Almost 2/3 more for the digital.  Add to that the additional times for buffering which is comparable to a 1950s vacuum tube television startup time, plus other problems which are CONSTANT, not just isolated – some est. to be from sniping types of hackers who are nothing but cowards and don’t get stopped by law enforcement which might be more interested in treating those in the black community in a lousy manner.

Meanwhile, the consumers are being screwed. Some behind the cash register complain in stupidity about the price of $6.00 for a newspaper.  Look at these costs and compare these costs outlined above.

And the insulting of me for complaining about being FORCED into reading digitally.  No concern for fellow human beings, but just thinking from their own narrow perspective of life:  me, me, me, and that’s all.  One who states, with blinders on, “her perspective,” knows more about the lack of readers of newspapers than I do who can outline a very wide perspective about this isse, but get insulted instead. 

Others with wealth who insult me.  Perhaps favoring the legal system.  Perhaps defending the system to which one works with technology and wants technology for the sake of change (me, me, me) and does not wish to acknowledge those of us who find CONSTANT and CONTINUOUS problems and expenses of technology and are not WEALTHY enough to spend the money nor the time resources on this, preferring reading the newsprint instead.  We are insulted by such people who call themselves Americans.  But if they think they are friends, who needs enemies?  We would ask for assistance, but the ball is still in our court unless such people live with us.  Not sure such people wish to do that.  Narcissistic money-loving self-centered asses who don’t give one damn about their fellow human beings.  Freak such people with narrow perspectives and blinders. 

Local news broadcasts in one-half hour?  Great for some small minded people who don’t want to learn what is going on.  How many items in the list of local news and information entities above.

There are solutions to this so as to make this a consideration of true capitalist supply AND demand, but no one wishes to consider anything but freaking lousy ideologies with the spinning of a false sense of what capitalism is about by anti-communist jerks on the supply-side Reaganomics fat pigs at the top. 

Solutions:

  • Save newsprint by using tabloid sizes
  • Offer free copies of newspapers at schools, colleges and universities; I have witnessed college students reading newspapers under such conditions; the fat pigs may not be able waddle as much with loaded pockets, but such an increase in circulation can help bolster advertising rates
  • Offer lower prices to consumers who purchase subscriptions for print copies and don’t want the digital (perhaps the GODDAMN sports industry had ought to differentiate between on-demand sports such as football or baseball, rather than a subscription, as was done at one time with attendance at live games; another pet peeve of mine)
  • Have delivery people at busy intersections with newspapers at a very low cost – ANYTHING to increase circulation which is the driving force behind advertising.  More circulation, more readership for which advertisers can benefit and be willing to pay decent prices for the advertising
  • Garage and yard sale kits for placing classified ads
  • Other free offers for placing advertising

The problem with such solutions?  The fat pigs don’t care whether they can lower overhead, just to fill their pockets in easy ways and without having to deal with overhead.  They don’t earn money the old fashioned way because they expect to take money in any way possible, like a Trumpster who needs to be in a dumpster and carried away. 

The demand-side consumers will purchase the newspapers, should the local content not be condensed in such manner as what has happened want a source of local news AND information which brings local news and information in ONE SPOT, not sprawled all over the Internet and a search engine.  It is also easier to go through the white pages of a phone directory, rather than the stupidity of search engines which are designed to pull names and addresses of those who are wealthy and pay at the beginning of a search result list.  Again.  Based on freaking lousy supply-side Reaganomics, not true supply and demand capitalism.  If someone objects to my pointing out true capitalism of supply and demand are lousy humans who likely prefer centralized communism or any anti-capitalist idea beneficial to wealthy pigs.  They are stupid people. 

 I will continue to be adamant and stand my ground against any form of supply-side Reaganomics which is truly Hitler-style business which we don’t need in America.  I will not tolerate insults from stupid and sometimes wealthy people who don’t give a damn about my own desires which make my life happy,  as well as the lives of countless others.  So, Gannett, you can screw in your laziness to eliminate print copy deliveries.  I have offered to help deliver newspapers from another newspaper, as they advertised the need for delivery persons.  I have YET to hear back, so they can all go screw themselves, as well as those who insult me by DICTATING what we Americans SHOULD be receiving in digital.  Go screw and go to h-e-double hockey sticks – by putting them where the sun don’t shine – and that might be in a coffin.  How dare people insult me.  How dare they do that to provoke anger, mockery, and taunting.  This is my country, too, and I demand the freedoms we have with SUPPLY AND DEMAND capitalist considerations.  I am serious about this and find no one to have proof that we MUST have digital.  You have no proof, except the words of money-loving narcissists only. 

Male Wombs & Sea Horses

Dear Ms. Parker:

In our universe, a far time ago, you wrote ab op-ed blasting the idea of research which could allow babies to be carried to the full 9-months in a womb within a male.  Yes.  You blasted the idea.  Are you aware of sea horse males carrying babies to term and then delivering them?

So, what do you think about the fact that sea horse males get the eggs of a female put inside the male body (how? I have no idea) after a ritual fertilization dance?  Interesting. 

I bring this up, not only to be contentious with you about males carrying babies, but for other reasons, too.

A person who was once near and dear to me made a claim that “God made a mistake by creating sea horses in this manner.” Oh my goodness!  God made a mistake?  To which my reply is, only the pope makes mistakes, not God.  You know.  Many o believe the pope is NOT infallible. Our ancestors  who believe this came to the shores of America to escape the fascist type persecution by Roman Catholics which was drawn from one of the most brutal and barbaric regimes in civilization, from the Roman Empire through the Holy Roman Empire and the barbaric inquisitions against the Protestant Huguenots and into the persecution of the Jews in Germany, Italy, and other parts of Europe.  One such family came to these shores after those who were in the 17th Century clergy class of Britain who wrote a treatise critical of the idea that the pope is infallible.  God does not make mistakes.  Human beings do.

Recently, at the New York State Fair, we viewed the livestock exhibits.  We learned that, with artificial insemination, the males were no longer necessary. That is the reason for obtaining veal.  Male calves put to death for food.  For us, we refuse to purchase veal. Sadly, will this spare the lives of male calves?  Don’t know.  Humans make mistakes, not God. 

We also have heard of no necessity for male chickens because it is the females which lay the eggs and, like a human harem during days gone by, there is less need for males, so the little chick roosters are put to death.  How?  I have heard they are ground up alive.  Humans make mistakes, not God.

Did God make a mistake by creating bees?  The males impregnate the queen bee and then are killed by stinging death of the female worker bees in the hive.  So the males get to use their penis and then… wam bam thank you ma’am … are killed.  With stingers, so I am told. 

So, when a person thinks God is bad for making the sea horses the way he does, I have to protest. 

Thus, when Kathleen Parker describes her contention with using males to carry babies in a womb, I have to protest again. 

Gay male couples do a fine job of adopting and raising children.  Lesbians do the same.  There is proof that such situations with same-sex couples who adopt babies and raise them sometimes do a better job than some heterosexual couples who are blessed by the bishops and priests of America.  Some of them do a better job than heterosexual couples.  So what is the problem with the freaking Roman Catholic bishops of America who take offense and give judgments that belong with God, not human beings, regarding masturbation, prostitution (going uncontrolled rather than being regulated and taxed, as in Europe), same-sex marriage, abortion, contraception, and sex outside of marriage? My grandmother always quoted the Gospels with, “don’t judge, lest you be judged.”  Pointing a human finger of judgment at other human beings means there are three fingers pointing back at an individual.  Perhaps if males carry babies, there might be less incest and rape which cause abortions.  But silly me for thinking in such a humane manner. 

Paul quotes Leviticus with regard to gay men.  The reason the scripture exists in Leviticus is due to the lack of males to impregnate females.  The reason why Paul used the scripture was to stop the pagan rituals which were sex-oriented. It had no relation to the original scripture because the pagan sex rituals involved females and males, as well as homosexuality.  Take a testosterone-laden barbaric male who loves to screw women as much as possible to think of some way to be barbaric and mean to gay men, and they can find something in the Bible.  Then establish this traditionalist belief over centuries, backed up by the Holy Roman Empire (barbaric with inquisitions) and VOILA!  We have people judging one another, as if they are God, when they are not. 

There are several on the Supreme Court who are Roman Catholics and some opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.  Apparently the guys there think with their brains in their penis.  The one who once told me “God makes a mistake with sea horses,” also made that statement about males.  Which is why this all bothers me.  So, what about the female Roman Catholic on the bench, just like the one who got all mixed up about sea horses?  Is the brain of those women in their cunts?  ‘Splain it to me, Lucy. 

Many such people want to tolerate rape and incest, but take offense at someone being gay or having an abortion.  Give me a break because such people do nothing but invoke a dictatorship of THEIR beliefs and do so in a land which has something in the constitution which says there is a freedom of religion.  The Roman Catholics on this SCOTUS are representing a minority of Americans but are a majority on the SCOTUS.  They love to create a hell on earth, unless those who don’t agree with their religious beliefs are executed, as Hitler, a non-devout Roman Catholic, did to Jews in Europe.  As the barbaric Holy Roman Empire did to my Protestant Huguenot ancestors in France and other places in Europe .  Barbarism of the Roman kind has been described as the most brutal in civilization. They were sickos.  Who would get a thrill and a pleasure from throwing Christians to the lions in an arena?  The Romans.  Damn the ones in Italy today who are pushing fascism there. Damn those who want a one-party state with a hidden agenda of fascism, whether that be Florida or England.  Damn them all for creating a hell on earth.

No, Ms. Parker, there is nothing wrong with research to impregnate a male, using his sperm and the eggs of another, so the male can carry the fetus to full term and then give birth.  Rather than killing off males as being of no value to the world, as the worker bees in a hive do, perhaps we can recognize the value of ALL human beings and stop the BS of hell on earth. 

To the Editors of Scranton Times & Kathleen Parker, Washington Post (Jeff Bezos’s newspaper?):

Kudos for an informative op-ed regarding the polarization of America.  The facts presented by John Avlon who has had a career “advancing centrism and fighting extremism” are very well understood and can also advance the ability of Americans to learn rather than dig in with an emotional spark and little or no knowledge.  The statistics demonstrating that a range of about 60 to 75% of Americans support same-sex marriage, cannabis legalization, and are pro-choice.  For many years, we have known about such numbers.  In a national referendum in Australia, we might seem to recall these numbers were close to the numbers here which are based on polls, not a democratic government run by referendums of the people.  Instead, we have a man running Fox News who is Australian and uses the back door to impose his wishes and those of the minority of people who are quoted in this op-ed.  They force control of the U.S. Senate so as to appoint members of the minority to a Supreme Court, including puritanical idiots of the Roman Catholic Church which is a minority in this nation but dictates by way of a court, not the referendums, as in Australia and other nations.  Bravo for the information, but consider that Hitler came to power after advocating gay rights, but once the power was consolidated with guns and violence, he turned on many people, including the LGBTQ community in Germany.  Castro did the same thing in his dictatorship in Cuba, yet idiots like Marco Rubio has blinders on and lacks knowledge and a THINKING ability, so as to react with emotions instead. 

As for referendums of democracy, people also need to know there are at least TWO referendums on different issues than what is outlined here in which the voters approved of the referendums.  This was the state where Trump hides out an with stupid lawyers like Giuliani,  tries to protect his right to classified documents which he HAS NO RIGHT.  In that state of Florida, Rick Scott, now sitting in the U.S. Senate, and Ron DeSantis, now a sitting in the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, have negated what the voters of Florida approved, on two different issues.  Furthermore, there is no referendum in Florida regarding same-sex marriage, pro-choice, or cannabis, so Ron DeSantis puts forth legislation to attempt to destroy some of those issues, attempt to allow people to stand their ground against those who dissent of the governor by the use of guns and violence, and issues an ultimatum against Walt Disney for dissenting against his stand on sexual identity and the teaching about the truth regarding the history of racism in Florida and America.  As with so many other examples from George W. Bush and the Republicans, these fascist Republicans use these issues as wedge issues of fear, so as to get people who might be on the 70% of the side of the issues, to vote for their candidacy.  They tarnish Democrats and independents who may be people who support such issues. That is the only way such fascists can win elections.  It was the only way that a minority of people in Germany or Italy could win elections enough to take command.  Add to that the guns and violence such people use. 

As to the quotation of the military writer, Thomas E. Ricks, there is a prediction of a low probability of a U.S. civil war.  Very positive thoughts to consider.  Except this ignores the fact that there was really no civil war which brought Hitler to power, either.  And Trump and others have studied the tactics and strategies used by Hitler.  I have read about some in Texas and other areas of this nation who have purportedly studied, with added accolades from many, the tactics and strategies of Tojo of Japan when he rose to power in that nation, too.  The hope and positive attitude of the commentary given by Ms. Parker is very good.  I hate to be negative, but these other historical facts which I mention cannot be ignored.  Perhaps it is necessary for me to apologize for having a negative answer?  Silly me for wishing to seek the truth so it can set us free. 

People in 70 AD also sought the truth when a fascist-supporting army of Roman General Titus invaded Jerusalem so as to destroy (predicted by Jesus Christ).  Trump, Giuliani, and many of their mobster goons goons wish to do destruction and not reform.  To reform is what happens in a democracy.  Historical evidence also points out the times that democracy has worked very well in accomplishing reform and doing so without guns, violence, and bloodshed. 

The Book Thief

Dear Editors:

As a librarian, I think the librarian who burned books about Trump needs to read a book titled, The Book Thief. For the book describes book burning and  censorship in Hitler’s Germany. When we do the same thing Hitler did, we stoop to that low level of barbarism. 

With this being said, it also applies to the same barbarism of Ron Desantis of Florida. 

This also applies to the Bible thumping fundies in Florida who wanted books removed from library shelves in Florida because they were about sex, homosexuality and other topics in opposition to fundie supposed Christian ideas. 

To deal with this issue, a Florida library colleague provides us with a good example. When a group of fundies from a Southern Baptist group visited the librarian’s public library, they insisted that any books discussing sex be removed. The librarian did no burning. Instead, she picked up a number of Bibles and threw them in a trash can. “There. I have complied with your wishes.” They were flabbergasted and walked out. 

Book burning and censorship are stooping to very low levels of the fascists and Nazis. It is only a last resort.

Recommend reading about this topic. The Book Thief is a good start.

Elephant Ass Pox

Saw another example of conspiracy theory lies which are designed to blame Democrats and with no evidence they did something wrong.  Only conspiracy theories likely dreamed up by Fox commentary and their comrades in the Trump Republifascists.  Donkey Pox.  Really?  Donkey Pox created by Biden and the Democrats? Really? And where is the evidence that Donkey Pox is created so the Democrats can lock down America?  More like coming from the mentally and emotionally DISTURBED (pronounced like Nurse Diesel in High Anxiety) and passed on by the mentally and emotionally disturbed groupthink among this group of people whose elevators don’t go to the top as they simply repeat what they here and are a bunch of idiots.  Such mentally and emotionally disturbed should not be blamed because they pick it up from the false conspiracy theorists who blow it out their rears, their brains are in their dicks and cunts, and just follow like lemmings be lead over a cliff.  Shame on such people for not listening and learning the truth – rejecting the truth.

Shall I create a bumper sticker and name it Elephant Ass Pox.  Apparently, learning from what Florida does with “stand your ground” laws, such people are like elephants afraid of the mouse or little people when they decent (without guns and violence) in the name of we the people and humanitarian rights.  So Elephant Ass Pox would apply, would it not? Sickos are responsible for Elephant Ass Pox and they are usually not Democrats.  As I told someone in an Owego restaurant who never let up with the repetition of the lies of conspiracy theory, shut your damn mouths.  They thought I had a gun. But my entire life and I have never carried nor shot a gun and don’t intend to do so now.  I should have been afraid that the ones with the conspiracy theory lies were the ones with the guns.  I was trained by an excellent grandmother and mother, here in Tioga County, not to carry guns or rifles and I still follow their ways.  They were Lincoln / Teddy Roosevelt Republicans, not Republifascists who shamefully control the political party associated with an elephant today.

A Tale of Two Villages

A long time ago, there were two villages in upstate New York.  Both about the same size. Both with manufacturing and production. Both bedroom communities of IBM.  Both with one-time business sections of the village which were quite similar with the active business life in each village.

One village was actually closer to the IBM plants than the other, but both were still considered bedroom communities.  How much did IBM help these communities? Did they offset taxes? Not certain.  Did they pay employees? That they did.

The village closer to IBM plants had a ladder factory.  That ladder factory was purchased by a big American corporate conglomerate called Werner Ladder.  According to a Google search, Werner is today located in Illinois. 

What did Werner do?  Shut down the plant and laid off all the employees in the one village.  No longer a tax base for the community.  By way of hearsay, I learned that the AMERICAN corporation wanted to pay less to employees – cheapskate big fat pigs at the top of a company which, like so many others in America, are Leona Helmsley and Donald Trump types and don’t want to pay taxes because “those are for the little people.”  Is this hearsay correct?  I believe it is and there are plenty of other examples of AMERICAN run corporations which have shipped jobs overseas – a bunch of cheapskates who also cancelled pensions and amassed fortunes at the top with corrupt bonuses paid to such fat pigs at the top.  (See the book, Retirement Heist which identifies General Electric and other companies which did this and then put peer pressure on the others at the top to do the same).  Corrupt self-centered narcissists doing everything for themselves and no damn concern for the “common folk,” but lying and being hypocritical, mesmerizing too many of the common folk that their way is best. 

What about the other village? See if you can guess what it is. The first village is located in Tioga County, NY, one of many very impoverished counties today in upstate New York.  A county run by Republicans who side with these big corporate conglomerate assholes at the top and have achieved NOTHING for the “Common folk.”  This second village has, for many years, had a production facility for another company. Can you guess what it is?  They manufacture devices for the types of lifts, etc. which a Home Depot might purchase for use in their stores.  BTW.  Home depot also sells the Werner ladder, too.  What about this other company?  It is still in existence today, after about 100 years or so being there.  Guess who owns this company in the second village? An overseas concern, not big fat American culprits making money hand over foot.  It is owned by a company called Toyota. 

Fascinating story.  A production facility in upstate New York owned by the capitalist giant in a nation we defeated in World War II. 

There are more examples which are similar to the first village in other communities throughout the northeast.  Production shut down and work sent overseas.  The claim? Too high a labor cost in the USA.  To which I say, with the example of a Toyota owning another production facility:  such things by cheapskates of America is nothing but bullshit. 

If I am correct, the congressional district to which the other village is part of is that of Anthony Brindisi who, by way of fraud from the Republican opponent, Claudia Tenney, lost to Tenney by just a few hundred votes.  But to Republicans, the only ones who perform fraud are Democrats, don’t you know?  Anthony Brindisi BROUGHT industry back to that district and how is he repaid?  Removed from office, for doing a good thing.  Imagine that.  Brindisi.  A Democrat.  Unlike the liars I heard recently in Owego, NY, with the lies of a conspiracy theory that “Democrats do what the Chinese want,” Brindisi worked with the military to stop purchasing products from the Chinese and producing them in upstate New York.  And this is how Brindisi, a Democrat, is rewarded?  I once worked for Democrats in a corporation in Florida which made good money and was considered a “cash cow.” Ripe for the picking by lousy Republican business people when they came in, took over the company, laid most of us off, and scrapped the good fortunes of the company in order to knock the stock price so low it would be ripe for merger and acquisition.  It was. It is now part of a huge company in North Carolina, while the Florida part of it was scrapped.  Regarding this corporation, facts not fiction.  But hell, A Tale of Two Villages is supposed to be fiction, right?  The fiction is the assholes who repeat Fox commentary in Owego with lies and conspiracy theories.  Perhaps it is Sloppy Don and the Republifascists at fault for many of our problems?  That is what I can prove with facts, not conspiracy theories. 

The other day, in driving through the second village, I saw the village and its business district doing far better than the first village with the ladder factory.  Most of the business district in the ladder factory village has been burned to the ground and no one has the balls to build it back up.  Don’t tell me there are problems with finances because I know about villages which have had, at their disposal, grant money to help build the villages.  I don’t believe the damn pessimism I hear.  I refuse to believe it any more.  As the writer of A Tale of Two Cities, I am sick and tired of hearing the pessimism. My Scottish family has a motto:  “As I breathe, I hope.” 

I don’t know if my first name comes from General Douglas MacArthur or not.  My dad served in the Pacific and told me about working some of the time with the occupation forces there in the hotel in Tokyo where MacArthur was headquartered in Japan.  When I asked my parents whether my name came from Douglas MacArthur, the answer was usually a smart ass one, “its for you to find out.”  Never mentioned.  But I was born in the early years of the Gen. Eisenhower administration in Washington.  It was just a few years after Harry S. Truman fired MacArthur for wanting to invade China from the Korean peninsula.  There still remain questions as to whether MacArthur, who had the ear of FDR, was correct in trying to convince FDR NOT to drop the a-bomb.  Cannot speak to that, except to report on the William Manchester biography of MacArthur, which is where I obtained some of this knowledge.  I am not going to debate the question of a-bomb or not because no one knows what the future could have held should we have done something different.  I repeat. NO one is knowledgeable enough to make and assumption of a “what if the bomb were not dropped on Japan.”  No one can predict the future of anything with a certainty. But we can try to find best practices which exist today, learn from history, and move forward.  The preponderance of pessimism for the future makes me ill and nauseous.  There is no certainty, either whether my first name comes from General MacArthur.  Just a bunch of circumstantial evidence which MIGHT point to this fact. 

With all of this being said, I now lead into a bit of information about Gen. MacArthur who was appointed by Truman to be the Supreme Commander over Japan, following VJ Day.  MacArthur was swift in putting down the communist movement in Japan.  Because it was raging after World War ii.  At the same time, Douglas ended the fascist dictatorial means created by a leader who claimed to be divine like a god and to be worshiped.  He squelched that, as well.  He squelched the type of Medieval supply side economics which was similar to Western Europe and pushed by Hitler and Mussolini.  MacArthur was the one responsible for putting Japan back on its feet, even if it took a couple of decades for the results to be noticed. 

Thus, for the one village with manufacturing facilities owned by Toyota today, it demonstrates that the Japanese have developed a mentality to hire American labor and not be cheapskates about providing living wages and benefits. 

I have no objections to those claiming the unions were at fault.  Perhaps they were? But in comparison to the Reagan supply-side economics and Trump cronyism for corporate welfare (and DeSantis and Scott of Florida), a good leadership SHOULD  have been able to mange by checks and balances.  Sure. Perhaps the UAW pushed the envelope too far. But did Lee Iacocca, a Democrat, have difficulty in dealing with the union, from a leadership position?  (See the Iacocca book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?  —- bet you will just snipe at me rather than read what I suggest here). 

Ass for the village with the company bought out by Toyota, it lives happily ever after? That is a statement of fiction, in case someone reading this does not have the intelligence to differentiate fact from fiction. If you grasp and put your arms around what Fox Commentary says, you demonstrate you are not able to differentiate fact from fiction. 

What can I say about the other village which once had a ladder factory for years?  Pessimism rules and is a preponderance over what it could be.  But the big problem are the fat pig robber barons at the top.

As I breathe, I hope.  With these words, I have to wonder whether the Scottish family of Gen. MacArthur used the same motto? 

For both villages to live happily ever after, there needs to be a change in attitude and stop being like a bunch of spoiled brats with pessimistic beliefs for the future.  How does that happen?  I know the answers, but do readers know the answers?  If we put our heads together with the goal of finding the best practices as our solutions, not some dimwitted answers from people like Trump, DeSantis, Scott or others, we can do it – together.  Best practices are not always those on the right OR the left.  Best practices are not always those identified with conservative or liberal.  Best practices are solutions which work and have been identified as working, as well as identification of consequences and the strength of those consequences where good overrides bad.  I am sick and tired of the ideology. I am sick and tired of the political parties.  I am also sick and tired of too many Americans who cannot see that whether ultra right wing or ultra left wing, the results are the same:  dictatorship and the destruction of democracy and a democracy which CAN work effectively, even if it can be slow at times.  A dictator rules with an iron fist, but that rule is usually only good for a few people, not all.  Peace and justice does not exist under such circumstances. In the case of national dictators, genocide is performed for “cleansing” the population of opposition to the dictators.  That might create a peace, but not justice.  Only cowards want to achieve such peace in this manner by extinguishing the opposition.  Such iron fists at a local level would only provide justice by literally banning the opposition from living there.  I saw this happen under a local iron-fisted dictator at the local level.  I saw it happen by studying the history of my ancestors who were banished by puritanical shitheads from Boston in the late 1600s.  In those cases, people had a place to escape.  Today, where can the opposition escape to, should such things happen at the national level?  They can only escape by means of death? Only cowards would want such a thing because it makes their lives easier.  Lazy bums.  Both villages now have solutions for the future.  What are those solutions?  Solutions so as to live “happily ever after and do so with solutions which does not make for a hell on earth for many and a paradise of money loving bastards on the other side?” 

Flipping the bird means f*** to the flippee, right? To those who wish to use guns and weapons to shut down dissension which promotes happiness for all, stops prohibition of abortion, alcohol, drugs, sex, sexual identity, nudity, porn, and freedom to educate moderation and self-control about such subjects, may such people have the bird flipped at them.

Fig Leaf

In the TV program, Naked and Afraid, we still blur the genitals.  The mindset is from ancient ideas and traditions which cannot be validated by a library of books we call the scriptures. These are man-made ideas, not those from a loving God.  Ron DeSantis and the majority of Roman Catholics on the SCOTUS have no right, under the U.S. Constitution, to invoke their beliefs about covering over genitals, portraying sex on TV, or even putting porn on TV.  If so, then why are my rights and beliefs being tread on when I say I don’t want to see blood, guts, violence, and guns on TV, held by vicious and barbaric people who are like the Ancient Romans and carried forward by the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church?  My beliefs are about a loving God who would not do such things as massacres, genocide, or homicide.  Those are my beliefs and need to be protected by the U.S. Constitution which had a great deal of writing by Deists and not just those who call themselves Christians.  This is NOT a Christian nation.  It is a secular nation of one culture and a multitude of religious beliefs. 

Walking out of a modern art museum in Florida, someone in our crowd began to bloviate about the nudity in the paintings and photographs.  As someone involved in the arts, I protested and said that the human body is as beautiful as the scenery and other scenes on canvas or photos.  Perhaps under the new law by DeSantis and the RepubliFascists of Florida, I would be shot for protesting such an expression against art, with a dissension against public displays of blood, guts, violence, and guns on T?  The dissension for which this heinous law intends is to allow those like DeSantis or the idiot from Arizona (Blake Masters) to shoot down those who disagree and express the disagreement in words of dissension against what THEY believe?  RepubliFascists need to be routed out, especially when they are moles hidden among the Democrats and divide the Democrats in the process.  There is no free speech for hatred and lies which merely push people to fear in order to vote for RepubliFascists.  This needs to be ended.  Puritanical Roman Catholics and puritanical Protestants have no right to push their religious beliefs upon the rest of us. It matters not whether it involves their beliefs about blood, guts, violence, and guns on TV, sexual identity, abortions, frontal nudity, sex, or porn. 

When introducing college students to the Internet in the 1990s, we found many young people were searching out porn. They would come to the college library to use the publicly available computers connected to the Internet in order to view the porn.  We had a rule about not using the computers to view porn, but it did not stop the students.  My approach was to ask someone whom I caught on the porn whether it would be good to have such actions portrayed live and on the tables in the library? Or at the same time, whether such public displays of bashing another person’s head in should be allowed in the library?  It would give the students an embarrassment.  I would use that as a learning moment to help understand how we need to respect what others think in a public situation and one way was to not put on the screens of the computers what others might find very offensive. 

Then one day, a student who heard me say this asked the question: “why are there scenes of violence on computers and you say nothing to them?”  He had me on that one.  I merely said, “I wish I could, but my boss is more concerned about not having the porn, nudity, and sex on the screens and there is no concern about the violence on the screens.”  That was the 1990s. Most of those young people at that time are now in their 40s and perhaps 50s.  Many who were in their 20s in the 1990s were of the ages of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, with weapons and vicious, spoiled brat attitudes of immaturity. 

As the Internet got going, I no longer had to police for porn and utilize such situations as learning experiences.  Did not matter because I don’t think anyone else used such situations as learning experiences. In fact a colleague promoted violence by physically abusing the students by hitting them over the head.  When I protested that being done and tried to explain how it could be a calm learning experience, I was put down and the boss never took it seriously. Only tough guy vicious ways were promoted.  And today, look what we have.  With such actions of violence against the students, why would they not choose violence? 

Funny thing.  Because we had black folks in the library, too, and never once did I ever see a black person looking at the porn. That does not mean none of them did so, but it was always white guys whom I saw doing that. It was the white guys who got hit over the head by a librarian. It was white guys who stormed the Capitol building.  When the black folk lodged a protest in Washington, prior to Jan. 6, they did so in a peaceful way of protest.  So don’t talk to me about how black folk are bad and do so in a demeaning and ignorant knowledge about black folks. 

My rights are being denied against the public viewing of blood, guts, violence, and guns on TV. In Europe, with less guns, allow such things to be viewed and don’t have a stupid jackass bloviating about seeing nudes in an art museum, as I viewed in the early years of the 21st Century in Palm Beach County, Florida.  But then again, I have not endorsed censorship of  blood, guts, violence, and guns on TV.  I also don’t endorse censorship of public viewing of nudity, sex, or porn, either.  Remove the Goddamn fig leaves, too, not because I get a perverted sense of enjoyment because I don’t.  But because these are beauty among human beings which cannot be denied.  And stop eating sugar and carbs so as to increase obesity and diabetes in America today.  Again.  Remove the Goddamn fig leaves because my God of love objects to such use. That is MY belief and should be protected under the U.S. Constitution.  

Side note: perhaps a book such as Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language is something worth reading? Especially after I use words tantamount to swearing?  Stop the puritanical shit with the sin book and look to how human beings are born with “original blessings” and can make mistakes. Deliberate sin is bad, but that is the same as deliberate sin by people like Trump, Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis with corruption to purchase elections or steal money from Medicare.  

For many of us, we are not able to afford an electric car and wish we could.  The key statement in the report about the cost of the cars is the paragraph which contains the following: “They [the carmakers in the past] introduced technology at a luxury price. With time, the features and gadgets make their way into cheaper cars.” 

Such information is analogous to other historical evidence.  For instance, there was a day when computers were not affordable by most people.  Over time, this changed. Patience is a virtue and we need to stop with the “instant gratification” attitude in America. 

Other examples.  Even in more recent years, as a professor at a college, I had many students who were STILL not able to afford computers when I taught online classes.  In fact, we hear all this stuff about tuition costs which are high.  Working as a professor, I discovered many students were unable to afford the textbooks.  Add to that the fact that many were not able to access e-textbooks because they were not able to purchase the computer equipment of have access to internet.  Professors get blamed due to tuition costs, even when Florida professors made diddly squat in salaries, compared to many other states.  Thank God for the library, which many educators with six figure salaries wish to decimate. It was the academic library which provided access to computers, Internet, and textbooks on reserve. 

I could go on and on with examples.  The bottom line. The capitalist economics run as they should, supply AND demand, not just with the recipients of corporate welfare dictating the supply-side economics, and the prices do come down, but we need to have patience and have the better attitude with regard to long-term investment and return on investment.  We have thrown much of that away with credit card instant gratification and no thought about long-term savings and investments.  We need to do this by making money the “old-fashioned way, we earn it.”  Many people in America need a lesson in this attitude.  Why? Because it DID work, even with its imperfections which need reform, not destruction of the entire process. 

One final note.  (I once was able to sing up to a high C; LOL!).  There was once a computer company called DEC. They produced minicomputers in competition with IBM.  Purportedly, some executive at DEC once remarked that “there will be no purchases a computer for each individual home.”  Where is DEC today?  Pessimism.  Open mouth and “eat crow.”  Working collectively is better than working according to the dictatorial ways, top-down, of the CEOs who benefit from embezzling funds and getting away with it. 

Murder and thievery, among other human acts, are defined in the Ten Commandments as wrongful human acts. It was some men who proposed that the church consider such sins forgivable but being gay as being unforgivable.  And with this among those who are pushing against being gay, is the push for instant gratification to make the deliberate acts – I said, deliberate and no differentiation from errors which are NOT deliberate – of embezzlement acceptable to those who do it and have plenty of money to protect themselves, that lower class people don’t have. Such things become examples for people to attain instant gratification. 

The electric car example is just one more way to push the idea of instant gratification.  “Gotta keep up with the Joneses.” (Is that not the similar to unacceptable acts identified in the Ten Commandments, too?). Thanks to Mr. Ewing (writer of this article), we learn a bit of history regarding how, over time, items become more affordable.  What has happened with the prices of big pharma, protected by lawyers?  Another topic for another day. 

Cable TV

While living in South Florida, we had choices for cable TV and Internet services. Here in Tioga County, we often have only one choice. For many of us, that one choice is Spectrum, unless we try HughesNet, Dish, or DirectTV through the airwaves of satellite.  Satellite services are not given a good review, particularly with Internet. 

The FCC has given favor to big business and corporate welfare and has nationalized (socialism) by way of corporate welfare and favors to the wealthy who run such services. Not only have we lost local content in newspapers which were once chock full of local news, information, and culture, we have lost control of local broadcasting.  Television broadcasting, especially in rural hilly areas has been made so weak by the FCC, that we are forced to subscribe to Internet and cable TV.  It’s all a strategy to nationalize by way of corporate welfare by way of money funding the government and favors done for the wealthy.  Radio broadcasting, too, is weakened.  When in my younger years here, we did not have difficulty in driving in a car and receiving the local radio broadcasts just about anywhere, whether AM or FM.  Today, to open up bandwidth for the thumbing on mobile phones which come nowhere close to what we had in local broadcasting, we are unable to have powerful local broadcasting stations in this rural hilly area. Oh, I forget. When we go on top of the hills where the density of population is lower (smaller audience to make money), we can get clear signals.  In the valleys, the reception sucks.  It might not be a huge number of people, but sure is more densely populated with a larger number than on top of the hills.  Perhaps we should be like Chinese communists and move populations to where they wish to have them located – on top of the hills?  This is ridiculous.

In the 1960s, in the hills of upstate New York and Pennsylvania, the cable television industry was born – on the local level.  The FCC did not micro-manage these things with regulatory authority. The regulatory agency involved the local authorities.  The FCC, doing favors for corporate welfare CEOs, has wrongly regulated cable TV and other local media outlets. 

To reiterate. In South Florida, we had a choice of cable TV and Internet. The old copper telephone lines into our home were used to deliver Internet by way of AT&T fiber optic lines up to the box and connected to the copper wires.  We also had the choice of copper coax lines by way of Comcast.  The lines within the home were all the same type of lines as what we had with telephone and cable TV in the past. 

In addition to these two options, a small and local firm named Laurie’s TV offered cable television and Internet within our Homeowners’ Association development.  We could pay extra and at a lower cost for this HOA cable / Internet access, in addition to the HOA fees we paid.  The speed for the Internet was not good, so we chose AT&T, delivered by fiber optics and copper.  We chose Laurie’s TV for cable TV.  (FYI: Laurie’s TV was sold to another firm). 

Explanation about this HOA.  The HOA was like an incorporated village, but run by a private organization based 60 miles away in Miami.  Residents had problems trying to pay their bills at such a distant location, but were treated like dirt by an attitude of “I’ll break your knees if you don’t pay,” even when a check was lost in the mail.  The one-party dictatorial fascist Republican control in that state put teeth into the ability of these private organizations, called “condo commandos” to run rough-shod over the people.  Even a retired NY State Trooper was treated like crap by an organization like this. 

Within the “mini-village” environment, they provided choices for local cable TV and Internet.  But the costs for us, per year, to maintain sidewalks, streets, public lawns, and social hall were about four to six times what Newark Valley village residents pay in government taxes in order to do the same thing.  And they were like Mafia bosses in attempting to collect, protected by Republicans who controlled the state. 

I say, to people who wish to move to Florida, be careful what you wish for.  I say to people here who complain about incorporated village taxes, be careful  what you complain about because I have seen it much worse when such village services are provided by PRIVATIZED HOA services.  After all, George W. Bush and his brother, Jeb Bush of Florida always said, “what’s good for [PRIVATIZED] business is good for America.”  Not so fast in believing such stuff because it sucks, like a Nazi Hitler-type in Germany. Like a communist Chinese. Like a Putin fascist dictator.  Be careful what you believe and dig in your heals in such regard.  Being humble means learning so as to overcome ignorance. Not being humble and refusing to learn means being a stupid idiot. 

After some 40 years living in Floridan and observing what happened there, I bring a different perspective to this community. Cable TV is one issue in which I bring a different perspective.  I have a different perspective on other issues besides cable TV.  It would be nice if somebody would listen, consider, and THINK about my perspective and the information I have to offer. Stop the BS about whether this is politics and my opinion. It is my experiences with facts to share.  Stop  scoffing at me in the same manner 19th Century NY Governor George Clinton was scoffed at when he proposed what was called by the scoffers, “Clinton’s Ditch.”  Stop the taunting of me because I give my perspective.  Cable TV in rural upstate NY really sucks, but so does the nationalization of cable TV and media, for the sake of corporate welfare, while social welfare and taxes for all are issues castigated with wishes to destroy, not reform. 

Side note besides cable TV:  What the people need is to take back local control which is good for all, not just for a group of white supremacists called Nazis.  The Republican Party is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln, but should be re-named the Nazi KKK Party.