Unless one is living under a rock, one has to know that there is a bitterly fought campaign out there, one rife with negativity and engendered hate, tension and prejudices galore. One can almost despair of the future of not only our country, but also of the world. And yet....
Shuddering at the thought of a Trump presidency and then....I began to get involved in some volunteer work, registering people to vote, choosing any party association they wanted, no influence mongering, but at least to get the vote out. In the course of this work we have met so many lovely and delightful kids, enthused about democracy, the political process, and while concerned about this election and its meanings and undertones, are still optimistic about the end results and the future. These kids are the late 60's kids redux without the violence, with a certain sweetness that is refreshing. Here is the fresh air that we need and want. Here are the hopes for our future, not jaded, not cynical, willing to do scut work, whatever is required and they even have the time to humor two old folks who have wandered into their world.
It is reassuring, for when Michelle Bachman touts her candidate, Trump, she talks of how he stated that there used to be a time when even "his Jews said Merry Christmas." Really? Truly? This is what one yearns for? Well, I hate to bust their bubble, but this Jew says Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays more in these years than she ever did before. And so what? It is simply being polite or truly wishing friends a good holiday.
And again, so what? What are we yearning for? And what is this constant attempt to tie religion in with the state, with politics, with the country. I believe, if my aging memory serves me correctly, that there is a specific provision in the Constitution for the separation of Church and State and why these people who swear they are upholding the Constitution ignore that provision is beyond me. Religion has no place in the Oval Office or anywhere else in politics. It should not be used, as the Republican platform wants, as a basis for the formulation of laws. This thought horrifies me and should horrify everyone else as well for if we start doing that then how far behind will be the enforced and regulated state religion, the one all must belong to and to which they must prove their loyalty. Perhaps we might even go so far as to revive Inquisitions and auto de fes as we all turn traditional to the nth degree!
But there is a truly cynical atmosphere that pervades our country, and indeed the world. These kids are our hope and proof against it, but in the meanwhile we must exert ourselves to fight it as well. And this air pervades our local politicians too, intruding itself into deals and contracts, into assaults on those who disagree, verbal attacks which reek of nastiness and ineptness that must be covered up.
Let us take another look or a continuing look at the whole Broadband issue here in the Village. Yesterday there was a well attended meeting and a presentation of Atlantic Broadband was given. Evidently someone has been reading blogs, for there was a preparation to answer certain questions and that is all to the good, make no mistake about that, but there are still murky areas here.
This is like buying a pig in a poke. Promises are so easy to make and so hard to fulfill and even with good intentions there are many problems that can intervene. This contract is promulgated on the basis of a long 60 or so miles ditch from Miami area to here within two years of starting date. Besides the permit game which is played here in Florida and which accounts for so much delay, there are the unknowns - weather - you know, those storms and shh, hurricanes - the rerouting of roads and thus the interference with the planned route of the ditch or its necessitated movement after it was dug. The possibility of damage to the fiber optics within this ditch and this is just the beginning. And hey, don't forget that good old Florida phenomenon - the sinkhole!
So what happens if we let our present contract lapse and this new company is not here. Supposedly they will pay Comcast to remain in place. Can't you just see the level of service we will get from a company that knows it will be forced out soon enough!!! Oh I am sure they will jump to provide the service and the expertise, answer all questions and get those technicians out here pronto for service calls and troubleshooting. C'mon!!! Let us get a bit of reality in place.
And here is another issue. When called upon to answer to the huge amounts of complaints to be found, the response was that someone had issues with them. Really? No kidding. Thanks for pointing that out. No video for days and weeks, no answers to phone calls, refusals to call customers back. No technicians. No service. Yes, we would all have issues and a promise to be better for us MUST begin with an immediate turnaround for their present customers. Else how are we to know how to believe their promises and their abilities to service us.
Their proposal to have someone stationed here is a good one - if it works out and one or two people will not do it, particularly in the beginning when a new world of TIVO is introduced to people who never heard of it. The money issue also must be nailed down. 4% a year is not good, not at all. That will put a strain on pocketbooks especially when combined with other increases all across the board. Lots to do here.
And huge, right there, is the question of security. There were huge breakdowns of security here and when called upon to respond, we got some story of someone taking over the website and wanting money. Well, whatever. This is their area and they should know how to prevent such a thing - if it even happened that way. And what will happen to our personal data under their aegis. Will they be fodder for scams and thefts? How do they intend to protect us and please, blaming it on a nebulous person is not good enough. Remember Sesame Street? Well, they has a scenario of a little boy sitting at a kitchen table with a glass of spilled milk. When his mother wondered how that had happened, this imaginative kid proceeded to spin a story of elephants and their antics and entry via the window and somehow they spilled the milk and then disappeared without a trace. This is the kind of story we are getting and we need better, WE deserve better and we need to get answers to hard questions and for David to say, oh yes, we need to investigate that is not enough. We need people who are not invested in this idea to the detriment of all else, people who know whereof they speak in this area and who can get answers. Personally, I am not so sure of this CSI and their investigator or whatever he is called. We also need some people, NEW people from here in on it, not those just dazzled by the "brilliance" of David and his desires. No, the elephants are not coming and we need to keep an open mind to the other companies and paths down which we can proceed and by the way, David, while on other paths, hey, maybe we can even work on the post Millennium! And then the roads. And somewhere in there a whole Village plan for the algae and how to protect us from the spread and the toxins, a proactive plan rather than a reactive one and I look forward to the proposed plan for action in the Wellington lake and the hoped for results, Thank you, Don, for that.
Lots of work. Lots of thought. Would that we do all that is necessary and would that we did not continue to waste our brain resources in the form of all the people here who could contribute much to the Village and its needs but who are denied, blocked, blacklisted a la McCarthy due to their disagreements with how this is all done - or not done - here in the Village. Hmmm, sounds much like a dictatorship. Well, no kids here, no young folks to prevent that here so we must stand up for ourselves- and I think we have been doing a pretty good job of that lately. And ever improving!
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