Does anyone make homogenized almond or other nut butter? Searched. Found nothing. The “natural” crap ends up with oil and huge clump of the nut part. It is very difficult to mix together.My diabetic sugar-detox diet does not even allow legumes. Peanuts are a legume. Love the no-sugar-added Jiff peanut butter, but not allowed peanuts or any other legumes, due to the starch contained in beans and peanuts, even if it does contain protein. Think, too, of those who are allergic to peanuts. The almond or cashew butters are NOT homogenized, as peanut butter is. Why is it that none exists which we don’t have to mix this big clump of creamy hard nut stuff with oil. Ever try to do that? It is tough. Why is there no American ingenuity used to make something better? Because the sugar detox diet comes from a Canadian doctor, not an American one?
Hate to say this. But we have been speaking softly and never carrying a big stick from the time Teddy Roosevelt made these remarks, but was defeated for two reasons, as a third-party candidate. (1) the Electoral College where he did not have a chance for a runoff which he MIGHT have won against Democrat Woodrow Wilson. (2) TR had to curtail his campaigning when a lousy SOB bastard anarchist (libertarian type) tried to kill him. We ended up with Wilson as president when the Bolsheviks overturned the Russian government in 1917. We did not demonstrate using a big stick at the time when it would likely have worked better. Now we confront Russia once more, after it faked its way with Gorbachev and others. I saw it as a fake at the time, but no one listened then, either. I have always liked Teddy Roosevelt with whom my maternal Dutch line is related. Sad to think about facing using that stick in today’s world. But tell me what else will work? Not sure economic sanctions will work. Russia has been like this, dating back to the time of the czars. Its leaders need to be taught a lesson, particularly mentally deranged Putin.
Thomas Friedman & Putin’s Russia
Dear Editors:
Thomas Friedman always provides interesting reading. However, some of his latest writings are very lengthy (longer than what I write) and go into great detail regarding the economics behind dealing with Putin and the Russians as they invade the Ukraine.
In 1977, I was enrolled in a college class in Soviet History. I was working to complete a second major besides my music education degree. The professor of that class predicted that unless the West comes to grips with the fact that dealing with matters regarding the Soviets and the Middle East and focusing on the issue of oil, there was little chance of success. He told the class that ideology had nothing to do with it, but it was oil that would guide who succeeded, unless we developed alternative fuels to oil and saved oil like a savings account in reserves to be used when it became necessary.
America has not learned about this, but the Russians and the Chinese have. Same with Saudi Arabia and even Iran. It is the Muslim sect in Saudi Arabia which inspired the U.S. and faked us out with Middle Eastern wars. Most Afghans are of the same sect. That was why a man named Osama bin Laden was located in Afghanistan. The control over Hussein was something the Saudis wanted. When George W. Bush left a vacuum in Iraq after bringing down Hussein, it opened doors for supporters of the Saudis in both Iraq and Syria. America was faked out with the ISIS group which does executions in the same manner that the Saudis do. A sword or knife to chop off a head. America was faked out.
America was faked out with the Reagan push for Gorbachev to “take down those walls.” It was a strategy on the part of the Russians to make it look like peace was achieved, as the Russians collected their power base. I saw it and spoke about it, but was scoffed at because everyone just wanted peace and was willing to sacrifice American justice in order to achieve peace.
Recent events which demonstrate that ultra right wing, not ultra left wing, movements are happening in former Soviet bloc nations. one is East Germany. The other is Hungary. Friedman and the rest of the media are totally ignoring all of this. In those years, it had nothing to do with communism.
Figures I have heard in recent years is that the Soviet state killed more Jews than Hitler’s Germany did. Such figures were presented at a speech on the campus where I was a professor. All the speaker did was blame communism, not the Russian leaders like Stalin. I thought it was rather crude and rude as Americans were being faked out. A fake is a good gesture in football, but not in running our lives in America.
Even PBS is biased against Joe Biden and snubbing him on the eve of his State of the Union address by ignoring the good things which are happening in the economy, in favor of a Trump-like approach to dwell only on the bad. Unemployment is down. Yet a PBS announcement about the State of the Union address and they feature a woman complaining about “needing to eat.” Last I knew, the Republicans don’t like the Democrats because of the food stamp program. So what gives with a woman who has trouble eating? It simply does not make sense, at all.
In line with what I am saying about energy and the predictions made by the professor in Potsdam in the 1970s, what about the Chinese? A few years back a CBS Sixty Minutes report told us about how new alternative energy sources were not good money makers, but could develop into such over a long term investment. Americans were not willing to invest, but the Chinese did see the possibility for long-term investments which would pan out over time. Just as the professor predicted in the 1970s, but it was the Chinese, not Americans, who were putting forth the investments for the long-term, while Americans have been, and still are, faked out by the evangelical horde of puritanical bastards who get upset if someone somewhere is having a good time. Americans are also being faked out by Rick the Prick Santorum and his wishes to block service in healthcare to anyone who is opposed to his own personal beliefs. Then there is Rick the Prick Scott and Ron DeSatan of Florida who keep shoving into our faces the fake stuff about socialism and how all Democrats are socialist. They make certain that no one like me and MANY OTHERS, don’t get heard as we try to address issues of healthcare in line with Adam Smith and Teddy Roosevelt types of thinking that it is best to have regulated capitalism. Regulated capitalism is NOT socialism, if one would dare look it up. In fact, central based newspapers and any businesses in energy, communications, and other trades is a form of socialism and even communism, put in place by Reagan’s supply side economic theories which are bizarre. They create the centrally planned corporations with monopolies, doing so in the name of “free markets.” No one listens. And America is suffering from losses in technology, alternative fuels, and newspapers, plus other commodities, due to it. Local control of newspapers and media have been wrestled away from local areas and consolidated into a communist type central bureaucracy, in the guise of “capitalism.” And the media, including Thomas Friedman, never mention these things. Instead, we read two pages of details, some of it repetitive, about all this drivel regarding Russia and Ukraine which is absolutely bizarre and lacks much meaning for the situations we are facing.
We need a Teddy Roosevelt. I have never really cared for TR’s statement, “speak softly but carry a big stick.” TR came in second place as a third-party candidate in 1912, losing to Woodrow Wilson. The more I think of it, Wilson spoke softly but did not carry a big stick, when it came to dealing with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, as did the Republican candidate, Taft. Too bad TR lost that election in 1912 and never ran again in 1916.
Who and what money is manipulating our media with mind control with these issues? Why are so few in the media considering what I am saying?
What I hope and pray for, rather than letting Robertson and other evangelical shitheads place fear in people’s minds, is that there is a leadership contingent made up of people like TR and the generals from World War II, particularly, General Dwight D. Eisenhower who led one of the greatest military invasions from the sea which has ever happened. The true God is a caring and loving God and would not bring on Armageddon by way of pushing humans into war. However, the true God to whom I believe does want peace WITH justice. In World War II, after great losses, we did achieve peace with justice. It was a tough one. But we need to remember that Chamberlin sat by when Hitler invaded Poland and did nothing. Even DEMOCRAT FDR wanted something done, but his hands were being tied by Republicans and threats of an overthrow by many Republicans, in the USA. Thank God it was discovered before it was hatched. Here we go again, though. Threats by people from southwest Florida like fascist-leaning ones in those days gone by – Lindburgh, Ford, and others. Today it is Ric the Prick Scott from Southwest Florida. That area of the nation is NOT the only area, as we learn about lunkhead Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan, too, plus other areas.
Shut up the perverted puritanical types and televangelists (plus others who fake the population), as they endeavor to work to divide and conquer in the name of fascist autocratic theology of hate, and other autocratic means. They do this in the name of a god which is made in the image of the human lunkheads with money and fascist ideals.
Pat Robertson says the Russian attack on the Ukraine is god beginning Armageddon. Robertson also claimed Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans “because of the gay people there and god’s punishment. Robertson’s stupidity and that of others who wish to place fear in American minds are so stupid. here is the reason. Before heading through the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina also hit Key West and South Florida (Fort Lauderdale, too) where there is a far larger population of gay folks. There was little or no damage from Katrina in those locations. It picked up steam in heading over the Gulf of Mexico towards New Orleans. The damage was done in New Orleans more to black folks. Just goes to show what a white supremacist Robertson is, as he hides his agenda under the guise of bigotry towards the LGBT+.
Also, hurricanes don’t destroy San Francisco.
There is proof that human fracking has caused more earthquakes than one could imagine a god doing.
Robertson makes his god out to be an image of what his hateful beliefs are and then spouts them on the 700 Club. He has a mind control over the viewers on that program as he puts false information in their brains.
Robertson is a stupid jerk and idiot who is evil and pronounces what an evil god would do, not what a caring and loving God would do.
My Comments: “The Battle for the Soul f the Library” (27 Feb. 2022) by Stanley Kurtz
Dear Editors:
My career has spanned some 40+ years as a librarian and library instructor, educator in two disciplines, and musician. My career has crossed between traditional and non-traditional. My work with the U.S. Air Force was non-traditional in maintaining a very small core collection necessary for developing, with database management practices, information about software engineering literature and the R&D projects to support military efforts in maintaining, during the Cold War, radar systems training simulators, and any type of equipment in support of aviation and for any branch of the military. The career path for me also went into years as a corporate librarian for R&D, executive management, engineering, and marketing, concentrated in the training department of the corporation. My career also kept me, practically all that time, in the academic field and in public libraries.
I have been a member of the Special Librarians Association (SLA, both Upstate New York and Florida & Caribbean chapters), American Society for Information Science (ASIS), Edison Electric institute (EEI) Library Division, American Library Association (ALA), Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL), Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), and state organizations, such as Florida Library Association (FLA), Florida chapter of ACRL, and New York Library Association.
In this career with professional groups, I have been an elected leader of groups and attended many conferences. Add to this my organizing of conferences in Florida, including a technology conference for libraries held in Miami Beach and working with the keynote speaker, Jamie LaRue, who eventually moved on to head the FTRF.
I have experience working with public libraries and the Florida statewide advocates of public libraries, including Bernadette Storck and others in the NEFLIN, TBLC, and SEFLIN library cooperatives.
Why do I have to explain these credentials? Because your newspaper publishes an article by Stanley Kurtz who appears to be from a conservative think tank and is critical of the very profession from where spent these many years. But all he has to do is be identified with POLITICS and POLITICAL IDEOLOGY and he is thus an “expert.” In the Air Force, we used to say that “an expert is a drip under pressure.” The rest of us in the professions are ignored and never get our material printed or published, especially if we worked in an academic area which does not place a requirement of “publish or perish” to appear on the shingle. That was the academic area where I worked as a professor and library instructor for 25 years of my career. No requirement for “publish or perish,” so I was ignored when I attempted to publish. Except for one time and it was by a publisher in a FOREIGN NATION under the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH. But not in American academics.
In light of all of this and the goofball chosen to write about “the soul of the library,” I also must add that my reading repertoire, since I was in the 7th Grade, has been across the board in terms of political spectrum. I read George Will as well as Paul Krugman or others. I never felt I had to massage my ego by only reading (or viewing on political analysis television) only what made me happy. “We’ll have fun, fun, fun til our daddy takes the T-bird away.” That was NOT my mantra. I also viewed CONSERVATIVE William F. Buckley, Jr. with his program called Firing Line. I would read Buckley’s op-ed columns, too and had an interest in his magazine called The National Review. I ALSO had an interest in the liberal publication, The New Republic, which challenged positions taken in the Buckley magazine.
Political ideology means nothing to me. My mantra is about humanism first. I don’t consider the Civil Rights Act nor the Voting Rights Act, from the 1960s, to be pertinent for politics because they concern humanist attitudes in the way we treat one another as human beings in a democracy. But alas, what choice do we have and LBJ was forced to force the American people to take a good long look at those two acts. What a shameful thing to say about America. But we had to come to grips with these issues, even if many of us merely define what we stand and pledge of allegiance to a flag, while too many people are nothing but hypocrites. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Now we have atheists who likely prioritize more the removal of “one nation under God…” (1950s addition under President Eisenhower) than to endorse and inspire that we follow the words, “with liberty or justice for all.” Or, such people don’t take and prioritize standing up for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Too many people are thinking on individualist terms, working to destroy. Such people do this, whether Trump, atheists, or the “woke librarians” identified by Kurtz.
This might be a problem. The bigger problem I have with Kurtz is his stereotyping of librarians as all of us being these “liberal” or “woke” librarians. What an insult. I have offered my credentials and must say that, should Kurtz not conclude that I am a “woke” librarian, he is a shameful and mentally deranged person who needs a lobotomy.
Issue. Censorship. Kurtz says that too many librarians put the 1619 Project book into the library, but don’t add Peter Wood’s 1620 book. Excuse me, Mr. Kurtz, but in your bias towards conservatism, you lump us all together as being people who don’t put books from a balanced view into a library. How insulting of the man.
And Kurtz’s stupefying idiocy continues with the phrase, “traditional ideas of liberty.” WHAT? So being a humanist, I ignore traditional ideas of liberty because I don’t like them to be tailored to white supremacists? It is not questions of liberty, just as much as it’s not a question of politics. It is how we treat our fellow human beings. So Mr. Kurtz can go stuff his bias where the sun don’t rise. He is insulting to good people in America.
Take this even further. A university in Florida and a college in Michigan where conservatism prevails over liberal. The one in Florida is a very large one, too. Yet, those in Florida who must believe in white racist forms of “liberty” which should prevail over all, makes claims that the university in Florida has too damn many liberal professors. Really? I have spoken with graduates of that university and they speak about conservative professors who cram their ideas down their throats.
What about conservative MIT? It has engineers who look the other way regarding global warming and claim it does not exist. They put out fake stuff in this regard, ignoring the facts so as in the Trumparian way, they put their own spin on the issue. Meanwhile, sea levels are rising in Florida and some are fearful of the levels becoming too high. Hopefully, this never happens during our lifetime.
But what about words in the preamble to the U.S Constitution? “Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…” Posterity? Does Kurtz even realize that this is a LIBERAL, PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT about our descendants, not some asinine traditional thought about “traditional ideals of liberty.” Being the conservative and disgusting anti-humanist Kurtz demonstrates that he is.
In reading this Kurtz article, I am struck by his statements to stereotype all librarians as liberal and where he gets his proof and evidence of this? In America today, there are too many who simply speak off the cuff and never provide detailed evidence. Kurtz speaks about an ALA conference as if it is mush to not be considered. Let me see. So, the ALA conference I once attended about 2007 was nothing but mush and no one spoke there except “liberals?” Funny, but I find the man with a mentally deranged mind in saying such a thing. I suppose that Julie Andrews speaking at an ALA conference means she is nothing but a liberal? Where is Kurtz’s damn proof of this? Julie Andrews did not speak about politics. She spoke about her work with writing childrens’ books and working with childrens’ theatre. This is “liberal,” you damn SOB, Kurtz? What a lousy thing to say about someone who spends her time, since losing her voice due to a surgery which went sour. I applaud her for her performances on Broadway and in The Sound of Music. I suppose Kurtz just cannot handle the fact that Julie Andrews also appeared in Victor Victoria? What a dolt and scumbag.
Yes, Bobby Kennedy, Jr., spoke at that conference. Big deal. A liberal with whom no liberals even pay attention to him, particularly in the Democratic Party. But he is stereotyped and smeared by Kurtz?
Some of the others who appeared at that 207 ALA conference and I don’t recall who was there. But I KNOW they were not all liberal and there were a number of conservatives, too. Perhaps the liberals outnumbered conservatives? But when I don’t consider ideology to be important, I would not even pay attention.
In a later ALA conference, I heard a black man speak on a HUMANIST topic, describing growing up in Michigan in the late 1950s and being force to carry Mason jars in the car so they could pee while traveling. Why? Because of gas stations and other lavatory facilities where only white people were accepted. In other words, hold your pee if you have color on your skin. So, this guy, speaking about historical accounts of Jim Crow-like attitudes among whites in America and he is a liberal? More like Kurtz and others are as shameful about all the things which happened and wishes to keep it covered over. He is being like a teacher who had sex with young girls and wished to keep it hidden and out of sight. Such people are mentally deranged sickos. And there are some issues for which I find this black man to be a tad on the conservative side. But he is not liberal just because he stands up for human rights. He is called a human being.
Kurtz says, “Librarians should be politically neutral. Too many aren’t.” Maybe I could say, “Writers accepted for publication in the New York Times should be politically neutral. Too many aren’t.” I have no proof this statement is accurate because I don’t bother to count.
Perhaps Mr. Kurtz needs to learn by reading a series of books written by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin. Dr. Boorstin wrote a a series of books titled The Americans. One book had the sub-title of The Democratic Experience. Dr. Boorstin was appointed by Republican CONSERVATIVE, Ronald Wilson Reagan. I suppose Mr. Kurtz would consider a chapter in Boorstin’s book about how a 19th-Century Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner exposed the corruption in the life insurance industry and made changes to it. Too liberal for Mr. Kurtz because he supports corruption and one is liberal if one takes on corruption? Explain this to me because Kurtz stereotypes all librarians as “not being neutral” and as being “liberal.” Wrong, even if he says, “too many aren’t [neutral].”
Also added to this discussion is the reporting of a conversation with someone of the FTRF. We did have a somewhat contentious argument because I felt there needed to be a moderation of what gets published or warning notes and disclaimers, or other methods of moderating the content or else we need to consider censoring books like the one Timothy McVeigh read in order to make bombs. The person at FTRF stood staunchly behind the position of lawyers at the ACLU and protecting books from being censored. But that was only one example. Kurtz makes it sound like there are dozens and dozens and dozens of such examples. Even then, the discussion did center on my suggestions as to how to tone it down when it came to consideration of censorship or not.
Then there is the librarian in Florida who told about a local evangelical fundamentalist church which came to the library and insisted the director toss out any books which contained stories of sex or violence. The director took this group to the shelves, pulled Bible after Bible off the shelves and tossed them in a waste can. The group shrieked in dismay! “How can you throw out all of those Bibles!” The library director said, “well, you asked me to throw out all books which contained stories about sex and violence, so that is where I am beginning. Now show me the other books.” The churchy folks simply departed without another word.
Furthermore, there are those who believe the Koran (Islam) should be removed. Likely Rick Santorum would like to see such a book removed. Yet, this book has no content promoting violent terrorism. Muslims tailored to Saudi Arabia (ISIS, Taliban, and what not) mis-use documents like that the same way that many who call themselves Christians do with the Bible. Most notably, the Southern Baptists once changed the Bible to make it fit their white supremacy ideas.
This question Kurtz poses presents many aspects about life and for all of us living together. Yes, perhaps if 1619 Project is in a library, perhaps Wood’s book, 1620 should be there. But even then, I really am opposed to having any book with hatred and promotion of white supremacist ethnic, religious, or sexual identity bigotry should be allowed in a library. The litmus test should be about humanism. Historical humanism reports on the good and the bad. I have no idea about a comparison of either 1619 Project or 1620, so I cannot comment. But if either one does not live up to the standards of humanism and a lack of hatred and bigotry, I would not choose one which is based on such content. Does Kurtz have specific details and examples for either of these books? If so, I would thrilled to discover what the content is about. And that is how I approached my collection development activities at a library. I was assigned religion, philosophy, music, art, and literature areas, plus areas related to these subjects. For some subject areas, such as philosophy, students often took an interest, so I would speak with them and consult with the philosophy professors. Thank goodness I was never assigned the political science area of the collection!
As a retired librarian and educator, this article by Kurtz insults and irks me. Oh, well, who cares because I am not that important, right? It provides little information with proof and evidence for what Kurtz makes a claim about my profession.
Dear Editors:
You had a front-page story about the Oakdale Commons. It was written, if memory serves me correctly, by Chris Stone (?). The email address was included in that article. But I am damned at “rying” in an attempt to locate that email address. So much for the Gannett way of forcing digital technology down our throats by eliminating the Saturday print copy and not getting good delivery of the print copy to Newark Valley. Perhaps your newspaper has a thorn in the side prophesy and attitude, so as to taunt someone like me who speaks out against someone who speaks out about this? How nice to treat customers on the demand side of the market in such a manner. Oh, well. So much for conspiracy theory! LOL!
If you wouldn’t mind, I have an add-on to my comments about the Oakdale Commons. I hope you will be pleasant enough to pass this along to that writer. PLEASE. Or maybe you all have such hatred about my attempts to seek the truth, represent humanism, not politics, and have this hatred for me.
Here is my additional commentary.
Add-on to discussion about the Oakdale Commons (Mall).
I suggested adding a buffet style restaurant such as Golden Corral because it opens the door for a wider choice for more people. I am a diabetic and try to avoid breaded chicken such as what Chick-Fil-A has (or KFC or McDonald’s or … all fast food which is successful).
I recall in my younger years, there were more Phil’s Chicken House Restaurants in the Southern Tier. From Binghamton to Owego, there were Phil’s Chicken Houses. (In fact I worked one summer as a short order cook at the Owego restaurant).
Their rotisserie chicken was modeled after chicken non-tomato sauce, non-breading=type recipe developed by Cornell University. Firemen’s Field Days and many other events always featured this style of chicken.
The cause of the rise of obesity and diabetes in America has been attributed to the fast food proliferation and the resulting destruction of a vinegar-based, non-breaded type of chicken found here in the Southern Tier.
Today, people follow the “fad” too damn much and crave the stuff which proliferates throughout the fast food world. Meanwhile, Phil’s Chicken House has been curtailed to one restaurant in West Corners (Endicott). That is shameful, as these big businesses cater, like the media, to “what the majority want” and ignore what MIGHT be best for people, particularly for those who are intelligent enough to seek the right kinds of foods.
Individualism, from the time of the automobile, prevails. Let us have shallow fun, fun, fun til our daddy takes the T-bird away. Let us grab at the fads and trends, whether they are good for us or not.
Even with Golden Corral, they have breaded chicken and one of my favorites, breaded chicken livers (also fried). But not roasted marinated chicken on a pit in a rotisserie.
Don’t give me the BS that it is expensive to make because American ingenuity, when people want it, can overcome such costs, in one way or another. Apparently, American ingenuity is dead when we tailor everything to the majority and forget the minority of people in an overall picture of business.
So, I now endorse the idea that there be a Phil’s Chicken House buffet at the new Oakdale Mall, or Commons.
Humanism first and that is not speaking about politics one single bit. There is no politics with humanism. Then, I remain fearful of saying that I also put God and country first, because then I come under attack by atheists and others. God help me.
P.S. YEAH! My glucose fasting numbers this morning were 86!!! Oh, that’s right, forget it. Nobody gives a damn anymore about fellow human beings. Gee. I should shut the hell up.
Personal Finance & Investments
Dear Editors:
“Survive the Sell” (7 Feb. 20222).
In learning about personal finances, I was always taught, “buy low, sell high.” It works For those of us who have used this approach in investing in real estate for a primary residence and investing for the long-term. Such work becomes very clear. It is also clear regarding stock market, insurance, and other concerns for investing.
When the economy goes sour, though, many people panic, as James Royal points out in item 2 in his article. That is a big problem. I have witnessed those who panic during a downward spiral of the stock market. They panic and believe they should get rid of the stock immediately. When they do, they miss the point about “buy low, sell high.” For during a downturn in the stock market, one sells when the prices go down. Instead, one should be “buying low.” Panic leads people in the wrong direction. It’s too late to sell because that should have been done before the downturn. People then need to sit tight and wait for the return of the market and prices heading upward. Of course, even in a downturn, if one happens to have stock which remain high and/or gain in price, they should sell such investments. But there is a risk that one day the price is good and the next day it is not.
Even with real estate, it is tough to figure out when the price has gone high enough and whether or not one should sit still and wait longer. If there are signs of the market going down, of course, sell because the price may have topped out. It is a risk as to which decision, sit still and wait or sell while the price is good.
At this point, though, I am dismayed at the headline, “Survive the Sell.” In so many cases right now, in the stock market, it is likely a bad idea to consider any type of “sell” at all. “Buy low, sell high.”
Nevertheless, it is a good thing for a newspaper to bring such guidelines in personal finance to the forefront. Look forward to more informative articles on the business pages.
Dear Editors:
Paul Krugman says the economy is doing well. There are many facts and figures which back up what he says.
Thinking about that idea that unemployment is down and the economy is doing good, I have to wonder who is fueling the fire behind the younger generations who are wet behind the ear and are complaining about a business cycle which those of us with wisdom of age have seen all the time and work to be prepared as best we can. Shit happens like inflation happens. Period. It is a tough thing to prepare and yes, sometimes those of us in the older group find it difficult to be prepared. But we try.
Mortgage rates going up after a long hiatus of low mortgage interest rates is not a topic to be used to bemoan the economy, is it? For those of us in the older Baby Boom generation, we paid mortgage interest rates in the double digits, sometimes as high as 13%. Did anyone give one damn about that? Not on your life.
When Sleepy Ronnie in the Cabinet took measures to “reduce the mortgage rates,” his actions benefited the younger Baby Boomers born in the late 1950s. Why? Because Sleepy Ronnie in the Cabinet allowed the use of lower rates for first-time home buyers. By that time, most of us older Baby Boomers had already purchased a home so we were precluded. I tried to obtain a lower interest mortgage rate on a home in Florida in 1982 and was told no because I had already owned a home in upstate New York. The house in Florida, at the base rate of homes in Florida, was about $20K more than the one we sold in upstate NY. People like us, purchasing a second home after leaving NY faced an increased housing value AND a very high interest rate. Was there anyone who gave one damn about this? And my salary was just about flat when compared t that I had in New York. Sure. It was my choice, right? Wrong. There was a freeze on hiring in SUNY and other education institutions. Sure. Sure. Republicans came to power and attempted to destroy the work we were doing to improve software development productivity, reliability, and quality for the military. The terrible commander-in-chief was Sleepy Ronnie in the Cabinet. What did we get instead? This fantasy of “star wars.” Only a charismatic idiot who believed that the ripping down of the wall in Berlin and our troubles with the Soviet Union were over and behind us. Where was Putin at that time? A KGB agent? What are the left-wing people of East Germany and Hungary, and so forth, doing today? They are on common ground with one idea today: dictatorship, authoritarianism, autocracy. Nothing to do with ideology at all.
The Republican authorities monitored such events better between states than Republicans did to monitor whether Republicans from the north were voting twice in presidential races, once in the north and once in Florida. No wonder Florida became the one-party state, like a Putin state, as it is today. Sorry. I diverge.
It is more than just mortgage rates. It is the huge increases in the cost of housing due to greedy and selfish ones with their house flipping. It is about corrupt developers and banks working together to price housing very high in many locations. Developers get their money and banks eventually get the homes which people cannot afford due to cost-gouging high prices. Long-term investment on a slow pace, is gone, in favor of lovers of money and instant gratification. During the years of high interest rates which hurt the older Baby Boomers and Neil Bush and others were subversively damaging the federal savings and loan programs created by their family’s enemy from the past, FDR.
If someone is trying to muddy the waters of the younger ones today, by means of inconsistencies for which younger ones are not able to differentiate, then I, for one, ask that such muddying of waters stop. For those of us in the older Baby Boomers had to deal with very high interest rates after our parents had mortgage rates and lower housing prices after World War II. It was tough on them, but imagine how much we had to withstand the financial difficulties. This added to an oil embargo which caused prices of gasoline to be at high levels, too.
Paul Krugman is correct. The economy is doing well. It could do better with regard to mortgages and housing. But it needs more of an overhaul of the corrupt individuals involved in developing real estate and in the banking industry, overall. President Biden has already called for increased perspectives about regulating business, but he keeps getting slammed regarding any ideas he has. Or else the media never includes his ideas in discussions about elements of the economy. This is areal problem for trying to fix the economy and all of us coming together to attempt to do it, even if we play only a small role.
Lethal Weapon Regulation
Dear Editors:
This written communication is about three letters to your newspaper regarding guns. (1) “Stored firearms help to save lives,” “Anticipates court’s gun case ruling,” (3) “Supports firearms insurance statute [San Jose].”
As citizen who believes in common sense and humanitarian concerns regarding firearms, I wish to comment about these letters.
The first letter is about storage safeguards for those who have firearms. This is a very important consideration. Thanks for publishing this information which came from those who are involved in these practices.
The second letter about “court’s gun case ruling.” To the author, Bob Way, I do hope I need to purchase many “adult diapers.” In that manner, I can collect what goes into such diapers and wipe The stuff in the diapers in the faces of those who push their emotionally-based and sensationalist-based ideas for free gun and rifle purchase and use into their faces.
The 2nd Amendment is about militias, but not intended for personal individual rights. Militias were an important to safeguard against a government which squelches freedom of speech and does not abide by the U.S. Constitution.
How about if Mr. Bob Way becomes familiar with the Preamble to the U.S> Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.
Comments.
1. “establish justice…”
1. establish justice… With people like Bob Way, they think like immature ones and consider the only justice is the justice in which they approve and only for their individual rights. They forget the responsibility required in order to maintain our rights.
2. “insure domestic tranquility…” Domestic tranquility is also defined in a false manner by immature people who are not able to take responsibility for the rights and liberties they have. Such people simply want “law and order” defined in their way only. It is the reason why there are so many incidents reported in which, for the same law and order ideas for domestic tranquility is to arrest and charge African-Americans by dredging up a wrongful charge while letting white people go or just ignoring white people entirely and looking the other way. Case in point. Possession of marijuana and making certain that a black person is checked, while a white person is not. Such measures do not insure domestic tranquility and often encourages the use of gun violence, in the process.
3. “provide for the common defence…” The important word in this statement is “common.” Militias are designed for the “common” defense, not individual defense for individual rights. “Common” is not meant for a small group of people, but for the overall defense of the American government and all inhabitants of the USA who are depending on domestic tranquility.
4. “promote the general welfare…” The general welfare is far from being promoted by individualist ideas regarding guns or small groups like the KKK and Jim Crow despots in Dixie. It is not promoted by those with guns who live in fear of colored people and minorities who might one day become more of a majority. We all need to coexist, not be subjected to unsubstantiated thoughts of conspiracies by emotional and immature folks, based on sensationalist attitudes.
5. “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Liberties are not defined by one minority group of white supremacists with red necks and bigotry and hatred towards others and then they form a militia on that basis. They deny blessings and liberty to others in society by use of fear tactics and guns.
Ironically, When a government defends civil liberties and other matters, in line with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution it is not to be faced by small groups of militia with guns in the USA. Whether it is white supremacists or the black panthers, it is small groups of militia with guns and these groups do not respect the U.S Constitution with words like this in the preamble.
Hunting for deer and other animals, in my estimation is all right. WE just need to follow guidelines offered in the first letter about safeguarding weapons. There is also no need for automatic weapons in public. Hunters have told me they so no common sense for using an automated weapon on deer because the meat would be rendered of little use. I have heard hunters say that they are more challenged by using a bow and arrow, not a rifle. It is all about common sense approaches regarding guns.
Yes, one can argue that gun permits and other laws for gun control might not work. Correct. Humans and their institutions lack perfection so one would expect there to be imperfections. A mature person with common sense would take this into consideration.
An example of the failure of gun control is the mentally deranged guy near Rochester, several years ago, who, on a Christmas Eve, set a home on fire and began a rampage of killing firefighters and police. The mentally deranged guy had been in prison and not allowed to own a gun. The law is a good one. But, this mentally deranged person got a neighbor to purchase the gun for him. That neighbor then became an accessory to murder. People against gun control mention it is the person and the mental stability at fault, not the guns. In this case the gun was the fault and the law existed for the protection of those who were subjected to killing by a mentally deranged person. With this case, I hope I can have an adult diaper and rub in the writer’s face the contents. Sad to say that one of my great-great-grandparents was from the Way family which had settled on Long Island in the 1600s. “…liberty and justice FOR ALL,” not just liberty for the individual rights of militias which represent a small portion of the population.
Lastly, the letter from Bruce Joffe regarding liability insurance for ownership of guns is very pertinent. The topic is about the mandate in San Jose, CA, for gun owners to carry liability insurance. Sad to say that we need to resort to such practices, but it is a practical solution.
One statement by Joffe needs to be emphasized. “Responsible, law-abiding gun owners risk being seen as extreme and crazy when lawsuits [as in the case of the mandate in San Jose] are filed to oppose such necessary regulation of lethal weapons.” This is comparable to “responsible, law-abiding” rifle owners who hunt in the wild for venison meat and are portrayed as being crazy for their opposition to automatic weapons. Perhaps gun regulation, based on common sense of human beings, is a more appropriate terminology to describe “gun control?”
Tioga Herald 
Anti-maskers. Cf to anti-condom-users during AIDS epidemic
Anti-maskers. Anti-vaxers. Individual rights. Bunch of hooey. AIDS epidemic. Promiscuity & having sex w/every Tom, Dick, Harry. Told to use a “mask” of a different name (get my gist?). Selfish men refused. As with COVID-19, friends of ours died. Men & women died. Puritanical SOBs suggested that we stop the spread of HIV by telling promiscuous men not to have sex at all, especially gay guys. Imagine. With COVID-19, if we are told, “don’t breathe at all!” Thanks to those who claim only THEIR individual rights are important and the rest of the community and society just be damned.
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Commentary, Healthcare, wellness, medicine
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