Yesterday two interesting postings were placed on David's blog, not because they were fascinating and new, but because of what they represent. One complained of the growing problem of dog excrement and dog owners not obeying the rules and the other spoke of a broken mailbox by the laundromat. Not fascinating are they, but then again they are if one looks at them for what they mean in the larger picture of the Village.
Society has rules. Rules are needed to be fair and just, flexible enough for the spirit of the law to be applied, but stiff enough to have teeth. Once upon a time we had rules and laws here that were obeyed and honored and the quality of life was fine. Today, nope, sadly lacking, a growing problem.
So why is that? Well, first of all, the world is filled with people who blatantly disregard the law and worse, many consider these lawbreakers to be oh so clever if they get away with it and especially if it is white collar crime. So people are amazed at the Panama Papers scandal, at the names of those who hid their money, avoided taxes, screwed the people of the very nations they were supposed to be leading. So much for setting the proper examples.
We have "leaders" changing the interpretations and meanings of the laws, twisting them to fit their own needs. We have "leaders" suppressing opposition so that they might remain in power more years, all the while tightening their stranglehold on society. We have blatant disregard of the law, blatant wasteful spending, a growing disconnect between the government and the people, between the classes of people that make up society.
So an election commission that is supposed to help people attain the right to vote now does the opposite, violating its mandate. We have governments blocking the airwaves and the Internet so certain publications cannot get thru, block the sale and distribution of oppositional journalism. Important needs of society are neglected or even totally ignored or worse, spoken of with lies as if the electorate, the people of society, were ignorant and just plain dumb.
And here, in the Village, what do we have? We have dog shit, dog pee, and why? Because if the 'leader" of the Village refuses to obey the laws then they can do the same. So if a rule says only walk it on one's own association's grounds, well, that is changed to oh, just walk it anywhere. So we have people walking dogs on the perimeter walkway. We have a favorite play area for dogs in the large grassy area between the walkway and Dover C. We have idiot people cooing over these dogs, all the while encouraging violators.
Is it a life changing matter? Yes and no. It will not kill us - unless of course one slips on it and falls and does major harm to oneself - but it is a question of the quality of life - a quality which has certainly deteriorated here in the Village - and all during the excessive years in office of David Israel and crew. It is bad enough that we have duck poo all over but now we add to it the excrement of dogs and what next? Shall we become even more like outside society and add in a few homeless, some beggars and perhaps more abandoned turning feral cats?
Why not, one might ask. We have so many of the ills of society so why not simply accept them all. We have a "leader" who bans all opposition. We have a "leader" who chooses really bad role models. We have a "leader" who refuses to have a diverse administration and remember, every single committee - yes, every single one - has the same basis - all the officers, the same name people who rotate from committee to committee along with the token "other". We have a "leader" whose connection to the paper, the press is disgustingly incestuous and instead of separation of the government from the press, allowing for a free press, we have the same people on the deteriorated paper, now basically a throwaway pennysaver and silly stories - and it just gets worse with every election as we now have TWO officers of UCO working on the paper and have added Myron Silverman, a co editor, to the Executive Board.
Stuffing the ballot is primitive to these machinations and a direct result of them. It works quite well with the other misuse of power, that of the act of scapegoating. Separate out the opposition, make them as one, when they are not and are truly just a bunch of individuals who loathe what is going on and a growing group at that. Give them a nasty name, blame all that is wrong on them, shift the blame from the cause to the solution. Over the past few weeks I have run into more groups of people who truly cannot stand David Israel so a question arises - just what is wrong with our system of voting here when the delegates who are supposed to represent the wishes of the people do not and instead blatantly defy them and vote their own wishes? Throw de bums out as we used to say in Brooklyn. Still works!
So is it just dog poop or is it more? Is it a laxness of security or an inpouring of rather more unsavory characters into the Village? Are we to worry about Broadband when it has been defeated or can we pay more attention to the blatant violations done by associations in accepting below age people, even families with children, who threaten our 55+ advantages, increases the noise level, clogs the pool? It is part and parcel of a laxness of law and order and the imposition of a fake and tyrannical law and order, one which oppresses rather than helps.
It is a system which allows for motel buildings - Sheffield O is still that. It is a system which encourages renters, most of whom could care less about the long term life of the Village - they are not invested in it - but we are! It is a system that discourages participation as those who have diverse opinions are spurned and denigrated. It is a system that has allowed for a deterioration of the quality of life, a system which has allowed associations to sink into a financial morass unless they accept help on UCO'S terms, on WPRF'S terms. It is a system that has allowed the growth of a northern urban system - that of blockbusting, as certain people, certain realtors or those who act as ones, are going around offering huge sums of money, way over the market, to sell an apartment.
It is a system that simply allows for the deterioration of a proper system of law and order and the imposition of a bad system so the dog poop, the broken mailboxes, the increasing piles of sand in the roads, the growing puddles that remain after rain so do we throw a welcome party for Zika et al and the list is myriad.
Why is the information in this supposedly open administration a month late - with last month's minutes? Why is it that only certain people get certain information AFTER a meeting is over - to make sure that the whole truth does not come out?But it does, anyway for the truth will out.
Dog poop? Broken mailboxes? Broken rules? Bad attitudes. Scapegoating. Tyranny on the hoof. Attempted censorship of OUR library even as we are censored in the publication and information area. Wasteful and indulgent spending. Poor finances and poor future planning. Ridiculous new laws and regulations. All parts of the same great big nasty whole and ignoring it will not make it go away.
Oh, and just as an aside, it seems that many of the American voters are also upset at a system that relies on delegates - many of whom do not reflect what is the truth. Sound familiar? Why not the one man(woman) one vote? Is that not democracy in its truest sense? Why not one resident owner one vote?
Response to Gracie. You appear to be as dumb as the day is long and of late it is quite long. No, I do not call people names - that is left to your camp and if I respond then so be it. Tit for tat you know. But the whole point of this posting is not to blame one person but to state the fact that one person, who deems himself the leader, sets the stage by his actions and inactions and thus the buck stops there. It is a mood setter, a pace setter and it stems from the top. So sorry that I had to explain this to you but you seem to be stuck in a rut when you send a comment. Think again.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Friday, April 8, 2016
A CALL
The other day I received the honor of being asked to recite the prayer for the State of Israel at our 50th class reunion. The last official reunion we had was for our 25th so I can only imagine the changes, physical, emotional, political, that will have taken place in the ensuing years, but I am indeed honored to be asked. Now I had better practice my reading of it aloud!
And it caused me to wonder just what would the reaction be of the attendees to this reunion for within our group we have strong leaders on both sides of the issue, people who were in the State Department, a spouse who was an ambassador, professors, heads of organizations, speakers, educators, lawyers - and the list goes on - and all people who have strong opinions and no qualms about expressing them either!
And I think over the pictures and speeches I have seen and heard in recent days. In particular I think of two or three picture which showed several attendees at a conference having to be protectively shielded by a gauntlet of police as the mob, a small but vociferous one, screeched - and I use that word on purpose - words of hate, of filth with high pitched hate filled voices. and what was worse, were the faces, the faces of young men and women, teens, twenties, thirties, who were stunned at this outpouring of hate, of its intensity and one could see it in their wide open eyes, in the questioning look on their faces, and yes, even the fright evidenced so clearly on their faces and in their body language. Never before had they ever faced something like this. Never before had they seen pictures of the Holocaust and the mob scenes from them - never before had they seen them come to life and aimed at them.
Yes, this is the world today. This is the world where it seems that all sorts of virulent and pestilent hatreds are surfacing once more, becoming PC to evidence, rather than hiding it in shame and secrecy. It has become the fashion, if you will excuse me using such a frivolous term for world shaking and shattering emotions.
What was even more frightening to me were the questions asked by a grandson who was caught in a BDS demonstration on his campus, one which had remained quiet until now. Most people simply walked by and paid it no never mind but I question that behavior and wonder if that was the right thing to do. This type of hatred does not go away because it is ignored; in fact, it thrives on that and grows until it becomes an ugly, vicious THING that makes it that much more difficult to defeat.
And when there is one hatred, there is always another. There are backlashes. There is a definite backwards movement. There are renewed beatings of gays, actually, of anyone who is "different" in any which way, for it only has to bother someone for it to bloom into a black hole of hatred and anger, of violence.
So what to do? Educate? Train people to see the signs? Fight? Scream back? Hope for courageous people who will speak up, who will be the leaders we need and not fools who throw around erroneous statistics at will? I cannot give one a definitive answer on this but I do know that in a proud voice, with tears in my eyes and a swelling heart, I will read the Tefillah L'medina - the prayer for the State of Israel, even as another alumni of the grade will read the prayer for the United States and another will ask for G-d's blessing on the soldiers of both countries as they defend the citizens of these countries.
A small thing in time and space, but a big thing for me and for all of us. The questions that arise in these areas are existential in content and import and would that the world would see this and understand this and know the right path to choose, perhaps the one not so often chosen, as Robert Frost might point out, but the path that is the correct one, the one of life and hope and happiness and truth.
And it caused me to wonder just what would the reaction be of the attendees to this reunion for within our group we have strong leaders on both sides of the issue, people who were in the State Department, a spouse who was an ambassador, professors, heads of organizations, speakers, educators, lawyers - and the list goes on - and all people who have strong opinions and no qualms about expressing them either!
And I think over the pictures and speeches I have seen and heard in recent days. In particular I think of two or three picture which showed several attendees at a conference having to be protectively shielded by a gauntlet of police as the mob, a small but vociferous one, screeched - and I use that word on purpose - words of hate, of filth with high pitched hate filled voices. and what was worse, were the faces, the faces of young men and women, teens, twenties, thirties, who were stunned at this outpouring of hate, of its intensity and one could see it in their wide open eyes, in the questioning look on their faces, and yes, even the fright evidenced so clearly on their faces and in their body language. Never before had they ever faced something like this. Never before had they seen pictures of the Holocaust and the mob scenes from them - never before had they seen them come to life and aimed at them.
Yes, this is the world today. This is the world where it seems that all sorts of virulent and pestilent hatreds are surfacing once more, becoming PC to evidence, rather than hiding it in shame and secrecy. It has become the fashion, if you will excuse me using such a frivolous term for world shaking and shattering emotions.
What was even more frightening to me were the questions asked by a grandson who was caught in a BDS demonstration on his campus, one which had remained quiet until now. Most people simply walked by and paid it no never mind but I question that behavior and wonder if that was the right thing to do. This type of hatred does not go away because it is ignored; in fact, it thrives on that and grows until it becomes an ugly, vicious THING that makes it that much more difficult to defeat.
And when there is one hatred, there is always another. There are backlashes. There is a definite backwards movement. There are renewed beatings of gays, actually, of anyone who is "different" in any which way, for it only has to bother someone for it to bloom into a black hole of hatred and anger, of violence.
So what to do? Educate? Train people to see the signs? Fight? Scream back? Hope for courageous people who will speak up, who will be the leaders we need and not fools who throw around erroneous statistics at will? I cannot give one a definitive answer on this but I do know that in a proud voice, with tears in my eyes and a swelling heart, I will read the Tefillah L'medina - the prayer for the State of Israel, even as another alumni of the grade will read the prayer for the United States and another will ask for G-d's blessing on the soldiers of both countries as they defend the citizens of these countries.
A small thing in time and space, but a big thing for me and for all of us. The questions that arise in these areas are existential in content and import and would that the world would see this and understand this and know the right path to choose, perhaps the one not so often chosen, as Robert Frost might point out, but the path that is the correct one, the one of life and hope and happiness and truth.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
THE TWO SIDES OF THE COIN
BULLETIN.....BULLETIN......BULLETIN
Just proving the point of today's posting - get a friend on Facebook - and get an arms dealer as well!! Facebook had wide open arms markets on its site. Great!!! Users beware!
In today's world we often take one side of an issue or the other, forgetting that there are always two and maybe even three sides to be heard, to be valued. Perhaps if we would remember that, life would be a whole lot smoother. In any case, I read an article yesterday about a conference where cyber bullying was discussed and by a most interesting leader of the Forum.
The speaker or leader was Monica Lewinsky. Remember her? Remember that poor kid who was crucified in the media, a kid overwhelmed by the charisma and authority of the president - The President! - one who could not keep his hands to himself nor his zipper closed. I remember thinking how her life was ruined and how would she ever get back from this whole thing and sure enough she became a joke that has continued to be used by many comedians while Clinton has become somehow a "statesman", a man who has managed to shift the blame and the dirt off of himself on to Lewinsky and even on to his wife. Go figure that one !! As usual the woman is blamed.
Anyway, here she is conducting a forum, bright, intelligent, beautiful and looking great. Life can have its reverses in both directions, can it not! But what totally fascinated me was her topic.
I can remember reading in My Weekly Reader about the new computers, huge things in mammoth set ups and how they were going to change the world. Now we can strap on computers with more power right onto our wrists. Good? Bad? Both.
As a teacher and educator I loved the computers for the worlds opened up to the kids, to the possibilities and quite frankly, to the end of illegible hand written papers or typed on leaky, blurred typewriters. The research that was available was amazing but then I noticed something else. The skills of doing research, the actual act of thinking of how to research a topic, how to create tie ins, how to dig thru books, how to synthesize one's own conclusions from this research and how to digest it - gone, gone, gone. Worse, the kids took whatever they found online as gospel truth, not realizing that garbage put into print on a computer link does not change or morph into truth or valuable information or even correct information It then became a new part of the curriculum - how to distinguish that which is relevant and truthful from that which is not - on the computer. They had no trouble with discerning that in printed matter. Go figure.
But the worst aspect of the whole computer issue is the misuse of it by bullies. Years ago we had a kid in school who was enmeshed in this whole thing, taking place outside of school hours and technically having nothing to do with school responsibility and yet it was the school which had to unravel it. The police were just coming to terms with this new aspect of bullying and its horrific consequences in the worst cases. And what was worse was the permanence of this bullying and hatred for once out there, always out there.
"The question is, Lewinsky said, “how can good people who have different views engage in civil dialogue."
That is indeed a question. The civility seems to have gone missing and what we have is "all of the harassing and shaming and trolling that is done on line.”
It appears as if people think that hidden behind the screen there is anonymity and nastiness allowed, even valued for the vicarious thrill it provides others. The trolling on line, the habit forming act of surfing and looking for things to do G-d knows what, the ability to indulge one's nastiest and lowest inclinations - all this led to cyber bullying so bad that it even led to suicide by the victim. There was no way out, no way to escape, no place to run to. Rosy glasses or cracked ones? We need to decide which we will allow and how to guard against the bad side of the coin, the cracked lens of the glasses.
People who are damaged, who have a piece missing in their moral makeup, in their souls, in their hearts, people who are minimized in real life with little or no ability to make contact with people, find a new world in the computer and find themselves emboldened as they surf, as they dig up dirt, as they spew forth nasty epithets and spread hatred and indulge nasty prejudices. The spread of viciousness on the Web is a known fact and one of the biggest issues the world must tackle as so much of a certain demographic is radicalized on the Web, much to the detriment of life and limb of all of us.
WE need to be alert to this whole issue and we need to weigh very carefully all efforts to further enmesh us in a world that is fraught with danger. The bigger the network the harder the fall and the juicier target to crack. We need to be aware that the changes in this world are coming so quickly, at such a pace that to engage in investing unnecessary millions now, when people are already wired, when one, for example, can walk from one end of the Village to the other and around the other way, all the while nose buried in a computer screen if one is so inclined, we need to be watchful and wary and conservative in our spending. We need to know that we cannot force this on people who have no interest and who are content in their lives as is even as the rest of us are just fine with what level we choose to have. I, personally, have the fastest speed and the best connection that one can get here in the Village. Yes, I pay for it, but that is MY choice and my decision and I can choose the provider, as is and should be my right.
Before we jump into anything we need to remember the two sides of the coin and the need for education of those less aware of the pitfalls of a huge linked network. Telling people to be aware is not really helping them. There need to be classes, lessons, examples, workshops and it needs to be approved by the Village rather than sneaking it behind a screen, the screen of secrecy, of lack of transparency, the screen of awarding contracts without DA approval, without the bullying and threats of trolling thru someone's life to find something or to hurt them.
There are two sides of the coin, two lenses - a rosy one and a more realistic one that knows the pitfalls and knows that we have to take them into account - both here and in the world at large. Like it or not, resent it or not - that is life, the facts on the ground and ignoring them or poo pooing them ain't gonna change the facts one whit. And by the way, I can almost guarantee that this posting will get me some nasty cyber bullying for the cowardly bullies have not yet learned that they are very ignorable fleas and I take all from whence it comes.
Just proving the point of today's posting - get a friend on Facebook - and get an arms dealer as well!! Facebook had wide open arms markets on its site. Great!!! Users beware!
In today's world we often take one side of an issue or the other, forgetting that there are always two and maybe even three sides to be heard, to be valued. Perhaps if we would remember that, life would be a whole lot smoother. In any case, I read an article yesterday about a conference where cyber bullying was discussed and by a most interesting leader of the Forum.
The speaker or leader was Monica Lewinsky. Remember her? Remember that poor kid who was crucified in the media, a kid overwhelmed by the charisma and authority of the president - The President! - one who could not keep his hands to himself nor his zipper closed. I remember thinking how her life was ruined and how would she ever get back from this whole thing and sure enough she became a joke that has continued to be used by many comedians while Clinton has become somehow a "statesman", a man who has managed to shift the blame and the dirt off of himself on to Lewinsky and even on to his wife. Go figure that one !! As usual the woman is blamed.
Anyway, here she is conducting a forum, bright, intelligent, beautiful and looking great. Life can have its reverses in both directions, can it not! But what totally fascinated me was her topic.
I can remember reading in My Weekly Reader about the new computers, huge things in mammoth set ups and how they were going to change the world. Now we can strap on computers with more power right onto our wrists. Good? Bad? Both.
As a teacher and educator I loved the computers for the worlds opened up to the kids, to the possibilities and quite frankly, to the end of illegible hand written papers or typed on leaky, blurred typewriters. The research that was available was amazing but then I noticed something else. The skills of doing research, the actual act of thinking of how to research a topic, how to create tie ins, how to dig thru books, how to synthesize one's own conclusions from this research and how to digest it - gone, gone, gone. Worse, the kids took whatever they found online as gospel truth, not realizing that garbage put into print on a computer link does not change or morph into truth or valuable information or even correct information It then became a new part of the curriculum - how to distinguish that which is relevant and truthful from that which is not - on the computer. They had no trouble with discerning that in printed matter. Go figure.
But the worst aspect of the whole computer issue is the misuse of it by bullies. Years ago we had a kid in school who was enmeshed in this whole thing, taking place outside of school hours and technically having nothing to do with school responsibility and yet it was the school which had to unravel it. The police were just coming to terms with this new aspect of bullying and its horrific consequences in the worst cases. And what was worse was the permanence of this bullying and hatred for once out there, always out there.
"The question is, Lewinsky said, “how can good people who have different views engage in civil dialogue."
That is indeed a question. The civility seems to have gone missing and what we have is "all of the harassing and shaming and trolling that is done on line.”
It appears as if people think that hidden behind the screen there is anonymity and nastiness allowed, even valued for the vicarious thrill it provides others. The trolling on line, the habit forming act of surfing and looking for things to do G-d knows what, the ability to indulge one's nastiest and lowest inclinations - all this led to cyber bullying so bad that it even led to suicide by the victim. There was no way out, no way to escape, no place to run to. Rosy glasses or cracked ones? We need to decide which we will allow and how to guard against the bad side of the coin, the cracked lens of the glasses.
People who are damaged, who have a piece missing in their moral makeup, in their souls, in their hearts, people who are minimized in real life with little or no ability to make contact with people, find a new world in the computer and find themselves emboldened as they surf, as they dig up dirt, as they spew forth nasty epithets and spread hatred and indulge nasty prejudices. The spread of viciousness on the Web is a known fact and one of the biggest issues the world must tackle as so much of a certain demographic is radicalized on the Web, much to the detriment of life and limb of all of us.
WE need to be alert to this whole issue and we need to weigh very carefully all efforts to further enmesh us in a world that is fraught with danger. The bigger the network the harder the fall and the juicier target to crack. We need to be aware that the changes in this world are coming so quickly, at such a pace that to engage in investing unnecessary millions now, when people are already wired, when one, for example, can walk from one end of the Village to the other and around the other way, all the while nose buried in a computer screen if one is so inclined, we need to be watchful and wary and conservative in our spending. We need to know that we cannot force this on people who have no interest and who are content in their lives as is even as the rest of us are just fine with what level we choose to have. I, personally, have the fastest speed and the best connection that one can get here in the Village. Yes, I pay for it, but that is MY choice and my decision and I can choose the provider, as is and should be my right.
Before we jump into anything we need to remember the two sides of the coin and the need for education of those less aware of the pitfalls of a huge linked network. Telling people to be aware is not really helping them. There need to be classes, lessons, examples, workshops and it needs to be approved by the Village rather than sneaking it behind a screen, the screen of secrecy, of lack of transparency, the screen of awarding contracts without DA approval, without the bullying and threats of trolling thru someone's life to find something or to hurt them.
There are two sides of the coin, two lenses - a rosy one and a more realistic one that knows the pitfalls and knows that we have to take them into account - both here and in the world at large. Like it or not, resent it or not - that is life, the facts on the ground and ignoring them or poo pooing them ain't gonna change the facts one whit. And by the way, I can almost guarantee that this posting will get me some nasty cyber bullying for the cowardly bullies have not yet learned that they are very ignorable fleas and I take all from whence it comes.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
THE LISTS OF LIFE?
Different kind of posting today and please excuse any omissions as I am doing this off the top of my head and memory ain't always what it should be!!
Iraq Iran Yemen Turkey Syria Greece Macedonia Ukraine Crimea Georgia (the country) Armenia Azerbaijan Chechniya Russia China Philipines Germany England France Belgium Libya Lebanon Israel United States Niger Mali Nigeria Burundi Central African Republic Sudan South Sudan Somalia South Africa Finland Iceland Haiti Dominican Republic Argentina Brazil Honduras Costa Rico Mexico Saudi Arabia Tunisia Morocco North Korea South Korea
What is that list? A list of countries that are or have been involved in war, foreign and civil, had terrorist incidents, violent episodes and trust me, I have forgotten many countries, but the point is made and the question remains - "and ya don't believe we're on the eve of destruction?"
Ebola Zika virulent anti Semitism BDS and violence on the campuses growing partisanship in the USA LGBT and hatred that should not be Islamic terrorism Islamophobia Black Lives Matter increasing shootings of law enforcement people growing class differential stuttering world economy excessive drought and flooding strange weather patterns tainted water - even here in the USA massive destructive hurricanes and tornadoes overwhelming forest fires growing right wing violence ditto on the left crazy religious extremists all over, including Israel, the USA, Moslem countries, even Buddhists and Hindus! disappearing coastlines and island nations rising waters and melting ice caps CVWPB and David Israel (oops, that slipped in) greedy drug companies growing drug resistant infections treatment of women, especially in Moslem countries but we here are not immune wacky presidential campaign and candidates .......
And ya don't.....well, you know the drill already.
So what to do? Get involved. Hug your spouse or partner. Kiss your kids and the little ones. Take a walk with a grandchild. Dine with friends and laugh. Enjoy the silence of the immense high desert or the sun setting into the ocean. Read a good book. Get involved. Join an organization. Say something. Do something. Volunteer. Just hold hands with someone you love. Help quench the fires and flames of war. Have a Kinderegg! Cry and worry, yes, but also laugh and help others, talk rather than fight, speak up to the politicians. If we all do something maybe something good will happen. It's a thought! But at the very least, could we get rid of some of the violence and the hate and the evil and perhaps move at least a few inches away from the edge?
Iraq Iran Yemen Turkey Syria Greece Macedonia Ukraine Crimea Georgia (the country) Armenia Azerbaijan Chechniya Russia China Philipines Germany England France Belgium Libya Lebanon Israel United States Niger Mali Nigeria Burundi Central African Republic Sudan South Sudan Somalia South Africa Finland Iceland Haiti Dominican Republic Argentina Brazil Honduras Costa Rico Mexico Saudi Arabia Tunisia Morocco North Korea South Korea
What is that list? A list of countries that are or have been involved in war, foreign and civil, had terrorist incidents, violent episodes and trust me, I have forgotten many countries, but the point is made and the question remains - "and ya don't believe we're on the eve of destruction?"
Ebola Zika virulent anti Semitism BDS and violence on the campuses growing partisanship in the USA LGBT and hatred that should not be Islamic terrorism Islamophobia Black Lives Matter increasing shootings of law enforcement people growing class differential stuttering world economy excessive drought and flooding strange weather patterns tainted water - even here in the USA massive destructive hurricanes and tornadoes overwhelming forest fires growing right wing violence ditto on the left crazy religious extremists all over, including Israel, the USA, Moslem countries, even Buddhists and Hindus! disappearing coastlines and island nations rising waters and melting ice caps CVWPB and David Israel (oops, that slipped in) greedy drug companies growing drug resistant infections treatment of women, especially in Moslem countries but we here are not immune wacky presidential campaign and candidates .......
And ya don't.....well, you know the drill already.
So what to do? Get involved. Hug your spouse or partner. Kiss your kids and the little ones. Take a walk with a grandchild. Dine with friends and laugh. Enjoy the silence of the immense high desert or the sun setting into the ocean. Read a good book. Get involved. Join an organization. Say something. Do something. Volunteer. Just hold hands with someone you love. Help quench the fires and flames of war. Have a Kinderegg! Cry and worry, yes, but also laugh and help others, talk rather than fight, speak up to the politicians. If we all do something maybe something good will happen. It's a thought! But at the very least, could we get rid of some of the violence and the hate and the evil and perhaps move at least a few inches away from the edge?
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
WHAT A SONG CAN DO
Wow!!! I set out this morning to write something else but before doing so I checked my email and found a message from my daughter who often sends me interesting entries she finds on Facebook or that have been sent to her. Today's was amazing and I tried to send it out to people but somehow lost the rest of my email addresses - figures! So here it is :
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-entire-jewish-world-just-came-together-to-sing-a-song-for-one-man/
It is amazing what the human spirit can accomplish, how strong it can be. Is it that somehow G-d knows who these specially strong people are, that they would inspire us with their courage, faith, humanity and strength? The answer to that question is fraught with strong implications and other questions so I think I will veer off that road for I have not the answers to the questions that might arise.
So let's go back to my original topic of the day - elections and one in particular and no, it is not the one here in the Village. For now I am staying away, especially today, for this song and story have sent me another message and I will hear it today.
Elections are the times when people, simple, unimportant people, become important. So at regular and irregular intervals, depending on the system in one's country, the opinions of the people actually matter. Thus, they are pandered to and many lies arise as a result. It is often hard to discern the lies from the truth, especially as one dares to hope that finally, there will be a better class of 'servant" to the people - only to usually have it come crashing down soon after the person is in office.
So, to the Presidential elections almost upon us for real. Who will be the candidates? Who will have the best chance? Who will disappoint the least and this year it is who will be the least dangerous! And so the echo of one statement comes through loud and clear and it is one that particularly offends me. "Anyone but Hilary...."
Does anyone realize how wrong that statement is and does anyone understand why they are saying it unless they have become one of the sheeple who simply follow along without a single original thought of their own. Now understand that Mrs. Clinton, Secretary of State Clinton, and there are many other titles and notice how the media never writes, only lately even giving her the honor of the title Mrs. rather than using only her first name, note that she is not necessarily one of my most favorite people. Note that I have my doubts about her, that there are some dark corners of her life that need some light shed on them BUT so do the others! And the email controversy is a pig in a poke, a grandfathering in of items that should not be and quite frankly is against the spirit and even words of our laws - no grandfathering in of past offenses that were not offenses at the time of commission. If they even were offenses!
So what is that statement? It is the antipathy that people feel when they realize that there actually might be a woman in the White House. It is the buying in to that thought by other women who do not think their statements through and do not get what they are saying. It is the lack of realization that not a single one, nary a one, of those that are running are actually white sheep or people in white hats. Many of their hats are grey! It is the nature of politics that such is what comes to the fore and even when the hats are more white than grey, the pressure of reality dyes the hat.
We must also understand that the reality of politics and the reality of the world, its many realities that we, the electorate do not even know about, can influence a decision and we will not understand it and it cannot be properly explained either.
Look at all the candidates and think - who will have the calm exterior needed to deal with the leaders of the world, such as they are - sane or not, fearful or not, bold and willing to explore new options or not. Who has the experience to do that and indeed has faced off with foreign leaders? Who, excuse me, will have both the balls and the brain and, folks, it seems to be that it is Clinton over the others. Would that there were a more perfect candidate, but there is not so we must choose from what we have and rather than denigrate each one separately, suffice it to say that none are shining examples of what the American political system has brought to the fore.
In addition, ladies, and all those who understand how strongly we must support those rights for women, those anti discrimination laws that are under attack, look at the candidates again. Looks of a person? Clothes of a person? Gender of a person? Physical attributes or lack thereof? Why? Lincoln was one of the ugliest faces amongst our presidents but his heart and his brain overshadowed all and he became one of the most beautiful faces in our history. The only thing that matters is that we look at the policies, both international and domestic and pick the best person for the job based on that and not based on their rhetoric now.
Will we be disappointed at times, many times, with our chosen choice, with whomever gets in office? Most probably. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with our current office holder. He came here to CV and spoke all the words, all the sentences, all the triggers that needed to be pulled to get the votes and then......nothing or even worse. I believe that this man is one of the most anti Semitic presidents ever and trust me, there were others, but this is a very dangerous time for that sentiment or rather hatefulness. Very dangerous.
So please, pick whomever you support, but please, support after great thought and evaluation and not because of a couple of jingoist statements and catchy phrases that in essence mean nothing or worse, are actually dangerous to the whole process.
Want to shudder? What happens at the upcoming conventions? There are such tempers and voices being raised. There have already been incidents of physical violence at rallies so what is in front of us - a replay of the 1968 Democratic Convention? Lord! I hope not.
Want to shudder even more? What if by some stretch of the imagination and turn of the wheel the match was Sanders vs. Trump? Me, I would move!! And start reading a whole bunch of book on survivalist training! Oy vey!!
SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT, SHOW US THE WAY - we must keep that in our hearts.
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-entire-jewish-world-just-came-together-to-sing-a-song-for-one-man/
In small copy and paste size it is:
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-entire-jewish-world-just-came-together-to-sing-a-song-for-one-man/
It is amazing what the human spirit can accomplish, how strong it can be. Is it that somehow G-d knows who these specially strong people are, that they would inspire us with their courage, faith, humanity and strength? The answer to that question is fraught with strong implications and other questions so I think I will veer off that road for I have not the answers to the questions that might arise.
So let's go back to my original topic of the day - elections and one in particular and no, it is not the one here in the Village. For now I am staying away, especially today, for this song and story have sent me another message and I will hear it today.
Elections are the times when people, simple, unimportant people, become important. So at regular and irregular intervals, depending on the system in one's country, the opinions of the people actually matter. Thus, they are pandered to and many lies arise as a result. It is often hard to discern the lies from the truth, especially as one dares to hope that finally, there will be a better class of 'servant" to the people - only to usually have it come crashing down soon after the person is in office.
So, to the Presidential elections almost upon us for real. Who will be the candidates? Who will have the best chance? Who will disappoint the least and this year it is who will be the least dangerous! And so the echo of one statement comes through loud and clear and it is one that particularly offends me. "Anyone but Hilary...."
Does anyone realize how wrong that statement is and does anyone understand why they are saying it unless they have become one of the sheeple who simply follow along without a single original thought of their own. Now understand that Mrs. Clinton, Secretary of State Clinton, and there are many other titles and notice how the media never writes, only lately even giving her the honor of the title Mrs. rather than using only her first name, note that she is not necessarily one of my most favorite people. Note that I have my doubts about her, that there are some dark corners of her life that need some light shed on them BUT so do the others! And the email controversy is a pig in a poke, a grandfathering in of items that should not be and quite frankly is against the spirit and even words of our laws - no grandfathering in of past offenses that were not offenses at the time of commission. If they even were offenses!
So what is that statement? It is the antipathy that people feel when they realize that there actually might be a woman in the White House. It is the buying in to that thought by other women who do not think their statements through and do not get what they are saying. It is the lack of realization that not a single one, nary a one, of those that are running are actually white sheep or people in white hats. Many of their hats are grey! It is the nature of politics that such is what comes to the fore and even when the hats are more white than grey, the pressure of reality dyes the hat.
We must also understand that the reality of politics and the reality of the world, its many realities that we, the electorate do not even know about, can influence a decision and we will not understand it and it cannot be properly explained either.
Look at all the candidates and think - who will have the calm exterior needed to deal with the leaders of the world, such as they are - sane or not, fearful or not, bold and willing to explore new options or not. Who has the experience to do that and indeed has faced off with foreign leaders? Who, excuse me, will have both the balls and the brain and, folks, it seems to be that it is Clinton over the others. Would that there were a more perfect candidate, but there is not so we must choose from what we have and rather than denigrate each one separately, suffice it to say that none are shining examples of what the American political system has brought to the fore.
In addition, ladies, and all those who understand how strongly we must support those rights for women, those anti discrimination laws that are under attack, look at the candidates again. Looks of a person? Clothes of a person? Gender of a person? Physical attributes or lack thereof? Why? Lincoln was one of the ugliest faces amongst our presidents but his heart and his brain overshadowed all and he became one of the most beautiful faces in our history. The only thing that matters is that we look at the policies, both international and domestic and pick the best person for the job based on that and not based on their rhetoric now.
Will we be disappointed at times, many times, with our chosen choice, with whomever gets in office? Most probably. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with our current office holder. He came here to CV and spoke all the words, all the sentences, all the triggers that needed to be pulled to get the votes and then......nothing or even worse. I believe that this man is one of the most anti Semitic presidents ever and trust me, there were others, but this is a very dangerous time for that sentiment or rather hatefulness. Very dangerous.
So please, pick whomever you support, but please, support after great thought and evaluation and not because of a couple of jingoist statements and catchy phrases that in essence mean nothing or worse, are actually dangerous to the whole process.
Want to shudder? What happens at the upcoming conventions? There are such tempers and voices being raised. There have already been incidents of physical violence at rallies so what is in front of us - a replay of the 1968 Democratic Convention? Lord! I hope not.
Want to shudder even more? What if by some stretch of the imagination and turn of the wheel the match was Sanders vs. Trump? Me, I would move!! And start reading a whole bunch of book on survivalist training! Oy vey!!
SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT, SHOW US THE WAY - we must keep that in our hearts.
Monday, April 4, 2016
WAR!! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
Absolutely NOTHING!! Or so goes the song anyway - and the truth to a large extent. War is the failure of negotiation, of diplomacy, of the feelings and practice of humanity. It usually accomplishes nothing but death and maiming, destruction and of course, the sowing of seeds for future wars and the profitable sales of the accoutrements of war, from bandages to armaments, from uniforms to research of all types.
WWI accomplished nothing but setting the stage for WWII, the battles of nationalism that we are still facing today and terribly so - just look at the states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union or Turkey or Syria or the tribal warfare of Africa and the list is almost infinite. It was one of the world's worst series of years of carnage that had ever been seen.
WWII, the stage of which had been set by WWI treaties and terms, had to be fought but its outcome was almost immediately tainted by the next "war", that with Communism. Much was excused in the name of that war indeed and we are paying for that right now.
Then we bumbled through the Korean War, the "forgotten war" except to those veterans who had fought and lived through its horrors and the memory of those who had died there in the frozen lands of Korea. Vietnam was a war started by outright lies and the jingoistic early patriotic chants, almost immediately eclipsed by the roar of the younger generation. We gained ZERO from that war except for the rending of a nation.
So it is interesting that three new movies have discussed or presented the issues of war in differing manners and with different focuses. Here art is imitating life - or is it so entangled that we really have no idea here which came first - life or the ideas of the movies.
In Batman Vs. Superman, the war is a personal one between two giants of the world, a war begun by a nasty so and so who had nothing better to do other than to instigate war for his own enjoyment and benefit. He successfully latched onto a good person, inserted himself into Batman's head via his thoughts until Batman heard his own mind vibrating with these ideas against the injustice, the perceived injustice, of Superman towards him and how he supposedly destroyed Batman's world and that of the world at large. And so they fought, reluctantly on the part of Superman, but fight they did, nearly destroying each other and for what? Only at the almost bitter end was sanity introduced via Lois Lane and a cooling down of the hatred that had grown between the two. They found that only by working together and ignoring their differences and concentrating on their similarities, could they defeat evil, could they hear the thoughts each other had and finally form a constructive and positive front.
Yesterday we saw Eye in the Sky, a tense on the edge of your seat movie, one which induced people in the audience to mutter their own feelings about what was happening here. It raised the question of the responsibility of war, how or who runs the joint, who decides how to conduct it and the new issues as we are better able to actually see what and who is being destroyed and how do we weigh that? Is the person we see more valuable than the ones we don't? What is collateral damage and hey, wasn't there such damage in all wars, by us and towards us, and how can it be eliminated totally or is that simply a pipe dream? The one or the many? Who or what counts for more? Is it the civilians, the politicians, the jingoists, who get us enmeshed in war and then the military deals with the consequences and who is paramount at that point and from then on - the civilians who know nothing or the soldiers who are the professionals here? These are questions that are difficult to face, let alone answer, but until we do, there is little hope of future peace and a "pure" war, if such a thing actually exists. What to do? To think beforehand and then understand the results of the decisions we make and the realization that we cannot avoid that responsibility and we must have the courage of our convictions if we are to move forward at all. Personally, I believe that few today amongst the politicians of the world have that courage and thus the lack of such people have helped us and the world reach this forest fire world of conflicts.
Finally we have the movie soon to come out that is the first of probably a long series of films dealing with the long running series called Civil War. On the surface it is an exciting split amongst the super heroes, the entire pantheon of them, for there is no neutral position here, for meta humans or plain old everyday ones. Who controls whom? Can the normal control the superior beings that have come to the aid of the earth's countries many times before or are they above that control? Does that mean that some others could be above control and the rules of society? On the other hand, who makes these rules and are the superheroes truly understood and can mere man deal honestly, with understanding, with them and in fact, is there a right for any element of society to dominate another, create special rules for and about them? The questions are myriad. The answers few and far between.
And lest any not get the point, these questions do not exist only in the colorful and "fantasy' world of the graphic novels. No, it exists in real life and who imitates whom, who reflects whom and who provides the answers to the questions raised is not quite clear. Anybody with a brain can see that here, especially in today's world, here we have another form of art or literature and this is not just the Archie comics of yesteryear. Even in that series we now have a gay character, a Jughead who says he is asexual, the Betty and Veronica we know are not such good frenemies, and serious topics are raised, not just whether Archie escapes the wrath of Mr. Lodge!
It forces us to think and to apply these eternal and world reflective questions to our own worlds. Are there people who negatively influence others? Are we raging and waging a battle, a war, which need not be fought if only people would stop and listen. Are we creating a bafflement of laws, rules that apply to one group and not another? Are we unfairly dividing the world we live in, macro and micro? Need we stop to evaluate and think and think again, weigh all in a harsh evaluation and on a scale of truth? Difficult, but I truly feel that these worlds, macro and micro, are both teetering on a dangerous edge, a crumbling edge and the clock is no longer at five minutes to midnight, but perhaps two to midnight or worse. Much to think about. Much to do. But who will do it? Tick tock.
WWI accomplished nothing but setting the stage for WWII, the battles of nationalism that we are still facing today and terribly so - just look at the states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union or Turkey or Syria or the tribal warfare of Africa and the list is almost infinite. It was one of the world's worst series of years of carnage that had ever been seen.
WWII, the stage of which had been set by WWI treaties and terms, had to be fought but its outcome was almost immediately tainted by the next "war", that with Communism. Much was excused in the name of that war indeed and we are paying for that right now.
Then we bumbled through the Korean War, the "forgotten war" except to those veterans who had fought and lived through its horrors and the memory of those who had died there in the frozen lands of Korea. Vietnam was a war started by outright lies and the jingoistic early patriotic chants, almost immediately eclipsed by the roar of the younger generation. We gained ZERO from that war except for the rending of a nation.
So it is interesting that three new movies have discussed or presented the issues of war in differing manners and with different focuses. Here art is imitating life - or is it so entangled that we really have no idea here which came first - life or the ideas of the movies.
In Batman Vs. Superman, the war is a personal one between two giants of the world, a war begun by a nasty so and so who had nothing better to do other than to instigate war for his own enjoyment and benefit. He successfully latched onto a good person, inserted himself into Batman's head via his thoughts until Batman heard his own mind vibrating with these ideas against the injustice, the perceived injustice, of Superman towards him and how he supposedly destroyed Batman's world and that of the world at large. And so they fought, reluctantly on the part of Superman, but fight they did, nearly destroying each other and for what? Only at the almost bitter end was sanity introduced via Lois Lane and a cooling down of the hatred that had grown between the two. They found that only by working together and ignoring their differences and concentrating on their similarities, could they defeat evil, could they hear the thoughts each other had and finally form a constructive and positive front.
Yesterday we saw Eye in the Sky, a tense on the edge of your seat movie, one which induced people in the audience to mutter their own feelings about what was happening here. It raised the question of the responsibility of war, how or who runs the joint, who decides how to conduct it and the new issues as we are better able to actually see what and who is being destroyed and how do we weigh that? Is the person we see more valuable than the ones we don't? What is collateral damage and hey, wasn't there such damage in all wars, by us and towards us, and how can it be eliminated totally or is that simply a pipe dream? The one or the many? Who or what counts for more? Is it the civilians, the politicians, the jingoists, who get us enmeshed in war and then the military deals with the consequences and who is paramount at that point and from then on - the civilians who know nothing or the soldiers who are the professionals here? These are questions that are difficult to face, let alone answer, but until we do, there is little hope of future peace and a "pure" war, if such a thing actually exists. What to do? To think beforehand and then understand the results of the decisions we make and the realization that we cannot avoid that responsibility and we must have the courage of our convictions if we are to move forward at all. Personally, I believe that few today amongst the politicians of the world have that courage and thus the lack of such people have helped us and the world reach this forest fire world of conflicts.
Finally we have the movie soon to come out that is the first of probably a long series of films dealing with the long running series called Civil War. On the surface it is an exciting split amongst the super heroes, the entire pantheon of them, for there is no neutral position here, for meta humans or plain old everyday ones. Who controls whom? Can the normal control the superior beings that have come to the aid of the earth's countries many times before or are they above that control? Does that mean that some others could be above control and the rules of society? On the other hand, who makes these rules and are the superheroes truly understood and can mere man deal honestly, with understanding, with them and in fact, is there a right for any element of society to dominate another, create special rules for and about them? The questions are myriad. The answers few and far between.
And lest any not get the point, these questions do not exist only in the colorful and "fantasy' world of the graphic novels. No, it exists in real life and who imitates whom, who reflects whom and who provides the answers to the questions raised is not quite clear. Anybody with a brain can see that here, especially in today's world, here we have another form of art or literature and this is not just the Archie comics of yesteryear. Even in that series we now have a gay character, a Jughead who says he is asexual, the Betty and Veronica we know are not such good frenemies, and serious topics are raised, not just whether Archie escapes the wrath of Mr. Lodge!
It forces us to think and to apply these eternal and world reflective questions to our own worlds. Are there people who negatively influence others? Are we raging and waging a battle, a war, which need not be fought if only people would stop and listen. Are we creating a bafflement of laws, rules that apply to one group and not another? Are we unfairly dividing the world we live in, macro and micro? Need we stop to evaluate and think and think again, weigh all in a harsh evaluation and on a scale of truth? Difficult, but I truly feel that these worlds, macro and micro, are both teetering on a dangerous edge, a crumbling edge and the clock is no longer at five minutes to midnight, but perhaps two to midnight or worse. Much to think about. Much to do. But who will do it? Tick tock.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
THE LINE? WHERE DOES IT GO?
There are many questions in the world today, some important, some not. How does one know which line is to be drawn and how to deal with it? I am no expert but certainly have my own take about that question. One clue to what and when to do something is in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to James Madison.
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
It is time to take the temperature of the electorate, the American people. There is a huge outcry of frustration, of anger and extremism. People began not to hear each other or not even make an effort to appear as if they are doing so. From Tea Party adherents to those of the left, there was no more compromise, no talking, just demands, threats, and near governmental shutdowns.
One of the top issues and one that is major in my book is that of the right to choose. That right varies with the time and if one examines it closely it ties in with a prevailing view of women. When they are valued, truly valued for their minds as well as bodies, when the highest praise a man can give is not the one that states, "Oh, the glory of motherhood" but rather "Look, at the ideas, the contributions. The best person for the job. Capable of making her own decisions."
After a long battle, Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose. No longer would they be forced to carry to term an unwanted child, a fetus really, be it a result of rape or incest, failure of contraceptive methods, or a child that could not be supported financially and/or emotionally, or had irreparable damage that in itself would lead to pain and death to that fetus, that embryo.
No more would women be forced into back alley abortions, wire hangers ripping apart a women's innards. No longer would the woman be forced to face consequences while the man got off scot free. Women were coming into their own, breaking down barriers, busting up glass ceilings, valued for their knowledge, their contributions and then.... and then BAM! Suddenly the backwards nations of the world, and even those who were supposedly advanced, those who put women on "pedestals" who worried so much about the "honor" of their women, that they shrouded them up in swaths of cloth, in veils, immured them in back rooms, cut off their education, beat them, cut off their noses, married them off at 9, who engaged in sex slavery and human trafficking - these viewpoints began to surface once more and the attacks on the right to choose began.
Abortion is not a decision one makes carelessly, without great thought. One does not skip to a clinic on that day. It is a major decision and often one must make that decision if sanity is to survive, if that woman can go on with her life, grow, take care of her business, her family whatever, but suddenly, once again the men appear and state that they know best, they know better what is right and good for the women.
So in their name they close down clinics where help of all kinds is given, where women's health is tended to, where women can come and talk to someone. They stand outside these clinics and these people who say they care so much about and for women, call and scream at them as "baby killers" as "murderers". These are the same people who now say with great big steps backwards, trying to run away from their own words that "Oh, no, women must not be punished - just no right to choose." Well, open up the eyes, please. What is it but punishment when a women is forced to carry to term an embryo of rape, a child of incest, a dead embryo, a damaged one with no chance for any kind of meaningful life other than one of pain, when the man still gets away with his part. Trump, who so carelessly said that women must be punished, when asked about a man, said that "oh, no. The man needs no punishment, does not get one. "
Actually, if society would put their money where their mouth is, if they would provide for the social programs that are necessary to help that mother and child with proper nutrition, education, chances for a positive future, then I believe there would be fewer abortions. But no, society just wants that woman to carry to term and then, whoosh! they are gone. Day care, affordable daycare, that is, food programs, help beyond the pittance that a young mother gets as she juggles home and work demands, but the world, these people who stand there and scream, these people who TAKE lives in the name of saving lives - where are they then?
And yes, I know there are good people out there who sincerely believe that they are right, who will not scream but will instead stand and pray, or who might even know of organizations that can help AFTER the birth - but they are rare and they too must realize that a woman has the right to control her own body, make her own decisions and does not need men, hypocritical men, men who will fly their own relative to a state where abortion is attainable but will deny that to others with impossible and unnecessary restrictions, to make these decisions for them, to deem them incapable of knowing what is best for them. They admit that it will be back to back alleys and horrific consequences for women but do they hear their own words, do they understand the consequences and the bigger picture? Nope!
This is all part and parcel of the whole issue of women's rights, here in the USA and all around the world. It is when female embryos are aborted because they are female and then when the sons grow up and need wives, these scarce women are then kidnapped, married or not, of age or not. It is when there is still honor killings allowed. It is when the woman is stoned, STONED! to death. It is when women are denied education, when a teenager, a young girl advocates for education and in return for these efforts is attacked. It is when the candidates for President of the United States think that insults of the wives is the way to go, when a woman is judged on her husband's infidelities, when a woman's clothes are criticized and made to be a major issue, and the men? None of that.
We have a long way to go for equal rights for all, for discrimination to be a thing of the past. For sexual identity matters to be treated routinely and as none of our business unless someone is a crook just as we do for straight people. We need to remember that no one group has the advantage over another in so far as human and civil rights are concerned and no one group has the right to violate the rights of others, no matter what justification they think they have. One day, one day perhaps there will be peace amongst all nations - but it begins with the recognition of the equal value of all. Listen to the song One Day by Matisyahu and perhaps you too will join in the chorus.
Yes, revolution, a bit of it is sometimes needed, but we must look and evaluate and make sure that the revolution is one of positive outlook, of righteous cause and can actually take place within the law and turn bad laws out and reinstate good ones. One day.... but can we not start NOW?
And just by the way of a closing thought: Remember, if one can be forced to have the baby, with no say so over one's own body, then one can forced to NOT have a baby, not be allowed to live a normal life. Ring bells? Scary thought? It should be.
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
It is time to take the temperature of the electorate, the American people. There is a huge outcry of frustration, of anger and extremism. People began not to hear each other or not even make an effort to appear as if they are doing so. From Tea Party adherents to those of the left, there was no more compromise, no talking, just demands, threats, and near governmental shutdowns.
One of the top issues and one that is major in my book is that of the right to choose. That right varies with the time and if one examines it closely it ties in with a prevailing view of women. When they are valued, truly valued for their minds as well as bodies, when the highest praise a man can give is not the one that states, "Oh, the glory of motherhood" but rather "Look, at the ideas, the contributions. The best person for the job. Capable of making her own decisions."
After a long battle, Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose. No longer would they be forced to carry to term an unwanted child, a fetus really, be it a result of rape or incest, failure of contraceptive methods, or a child that could not be supported financially and/or emotionally, or had irreparable damage that in itself would lead to pain and death to that fetus, that embryo.
No more would women be forced into back alley abortions, wire hangers ripping apart a women's innards. No longer would the woman be forced to face consequences while the man got off scot free. Women were coming into their own, breaking down barriers, busting up glass ceilings, valued for their knowledge, their contributions and then.... and then BAM! Suddenly the backwards nations of the world, and even those who were supposedly advanced, those who put women on "pedestals" who worried so much about the "honor" of their women, that they shrouded them up in swaths of cloth, in veils, immured them in back rooms, cut off their education, beat them, cut off their noses, married them off at 9, who engaged in sex slavery and human trafficking - these viewpoints began to surface once more and the attacks on the right to choose began.
Abortion is not a decision one makes carelessly, without great thought. One does not skip to a clinic on that day. It is a major decision and often one must make that decision if sanity is to survive, if that woman can go on with her life, grow, take care of her business, her family whatever, but suddenly, once again the men appear and state that they know best, they know better what is right and good for the women.
So in their name they close down clinics where help of all kinds is given, where women's health is tended to, where women can come and talk to someone. They stand outside these clinics and these people who say they care so much about and for women, call and scream at them as "baby killers" as "murderers". These are the same people who now say with great big steps backwards, trying to run away from their own words that "Oh, no, women must not be punished - just no right to choose." Well, open up the eyes, please. What is it but punishment when a women is forced to carry to term an embryo of rape, a child of incest, a dead embryo, a damaged one with no chance for any kind of meaningful life other than one of pain, when the man still gets away with his part. Trump, who so carelessly said that women must be punished, when asked about a man, said that "oh, no. The man needs no punishment, does not get one. "
Actually, if society would put their money where their mouth is, if they would provide for the social programs that are necessary to help that mother and child with proper nutrition, education, chances for a positive future, then I believe there would be fewer abortions. But no, society just wants that woman to carry to term and then, whoosh! they are gone. Day care, affordable daycare, that is, food programs, help beyond the pittance that a young mother gets as she juggles home and work demands, but the world, these people who stand there and scream, these people who TAKE lives in the name of saving lives - where are they then?
And yes, I know there are good people out there who sincerely believe that they are right, who will not scream but will instead stand and pray, or who might even know of organizations that can help AFTER the birth - but they are rare and they too must realize that a woman has the right to control her own body, make her own decisions and does not need men, hypocritical men, men who will fly their own relative to a state where abortion is attainable but will deny that to others with impossible and unnecessary restrictions, to make these decisions for them, to deem them incapable of knowing what is best for them. They admit that it will be back to back alleys and horrific consequences for women but do they hear their own words, do they understand the consequences and the bigger picture? Nope!
This is all part and parcel of the whole issue of women's rights, here in the USA and all around the world. It is when female embryos are aborted because they are female and then when the sons grow up and need wives, these scarce women are then kidnapped, married or not, of age or not. It is when there is still honor killings allowed. It is when the woman is stoned, STONED! to death. It is when women are denied education, when a teenager, a young girl advocates for education and in return for these efforts is attacked. It is when the candidates for President of the United States think that insults of the wives is the way to go, when a woman is judged on her husband's infidelities, when a woman's clothes are criticized and made to be a major issue, and the men? None of that.
We have a long way to go for equal rights for all, for discrimination to be a thing of the past. For sexual identity matters to be treated routinely and as none of our business unless someone is a crook just as we do for straight people. We need to remember that no one group has the advantage over another in so far as human and civil rights are concerned and no one group has the right to violate the rights of others, no matter what justification they think they have. One day, one day perhaps there will be peace amongst all nations - but it begins with the recognition of the equal value of all. Listen to the song One Day by Matisyahu and perhaps you too will join in the chorus.
Yes, revolution, a bit of it is sometimes needed, but we must look and evaluate and make sure that the revolution is one of positive outlook, of righteous cause and can actually take place within the law and turn bad laws out and reinstate good ones. One day.... but can we not start NOW?
And just by the way of a closing thought: Remember, if one can be forced to have the baby, with no say so over one's own body, then one can forced to NOT have a baby, not be allowed to live a normal life. Ring bells? Scary thought? It should be.
Friday, April 1, 2016
A MOMENT OF ANGER, A MOMENT OF DISAPPOINTMENT
It is said that people often bring down troubles on their own heads. Today's DA was an example of that. After listening to a few speakers anti term limits, buddies of you know who, and mostly fallacious reasoning, I spoke and I must say that I know the reason we are in this mess. Jackie Karlin, an infant of 75 or so, cannot withstand the temptation to boo and make nasty comments, truly grown up and mature and the other infants follow along. How can we expect mature and thought out reasoning from such fools - and even worse, but I will be a lady and not use those words.
So shame on those of you who voted no on the amendment and double shame on those of you who were pro but simply could not be bothered to show up. Thanks to those who did and those who came to support, but the apathy in this Village is amazing in a terribly negative way. When in two years or so, down the line, when the Village is a broken down bankrupt piece of land with putrid and reeking waters, when the vegetation is dying or overgrown, when there is no money in the pot to fix - and when the Levys pull out and the Village is left to drown in its own garbage of its own making, do not come crying to those of us who foresaw the future.
Already there are people not buying in to the Village because they know of its issues and more and more people are voting with their feet, buying into other CVs or other gated communities. Those of you who think you are immune as this is only a vacation home - think again.
As far as I am concerned, I have had it and I will wait this whole thing out until there is a turnover in UCO, that the useless and the dangerous go elsewhere. I will continue to remark on the goings on but will not run nor care to take part in anything and will not bang my head against the wall any longer. My advice is not welcome, David does not even want my presence, never mind that I break out in a rash when I see him and if the rest of you are comfortable in supporting a misanthropic misogynist who hides in his lair and talks only to three people and never comes to shows or even takes a walk around the Village - then on your head be it. And if I see a hurried disintegration, I, too, will vote with my feet and good riddance to bad rubbish.
wELL, TODAY'S da WAS A PERFECT EXAMPLE. a VOTE WAS TAKEN ON RESTORING TERM LIMITS AND A FEW PEOPLE SPOKE. ONE PERSON WAXED ON ABOUT THE WORD FIVE AND ITS MEANING BUT NEVER CONNECTED IT TO ANTIO TERM LIMITS SO SO MUCH FOR THAT BABBLE. oTHER SNOW BIRDS TALKED AND SAID NOTHING AND aNITA bUCHANAN USED THE SAME FALLACIOUS REASONING OF IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SOMEONE DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM. tOO BAD THE REALITY OF IT IS NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL.
So shame on those of you who voted no on the amendment and double shame on those of you who were pro but simply could not be bothered to show up. Thanks to those who did and those who came to support, but the apathy in this Village is amazing in a terribly negative way. When in two years or so, down the line, when the Village is a broken down bankrupt piece of land with putrid and reeking waters, when the vegetation is dying or overgrown, when there is no money in the pot to fix - and when the Levys pull out and the Village is left to drown in its own garbage of its own making, do not come crying to those of us who foresaw the future.
Already there are people not buying in to the Village because they know of its issues and more and more people are voting with their feet, buying into other CVs or other gated communities. Those of you who think you are immune as this is only a vacation home - think again.
As far as I am concerned, I have had it and I will wait this whole thing out until there is a turnover in UCO, that the useless and the dangerous go elsewhere. I will continue to remark on the goings on but will not run nor care to take part in anything and will not bang my head against the wall any longer. My advice is not welcome, David does not even want my presence, never mind that I break out in a rash when I see him and if the rest of you are comfortable in supporting a misanthropic misogynist who hides in his lair and talks only to three people and never comes to shows or even takes a walk around the Village - then on your head be it. And if I see a hurried disintegration, I, too, will vote with my feet and good riddance to bad rubbish.
wELL, TODAY'S da WAS A PERFECT EXAMPLE. a VOTE WAS TAKEN ON RESTORING TERM LIMITS AND A FEW PEOPLE SPOKE. ONE PERSON WAXED ON ABOUT THE WORD FIVE AND ITS MEANING BUT NEVER CONNECTED IT TO ANTIO TERM LIMITS SO SO MUCH FOR THAT BABBLE. oTHER SNOW BIRDS TALKED AND SAID NOTHING AND aNITA bUCHANAN USED THE SAME FALLACIOUS REASONING OF IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SOMEONE DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM. tOO BAD THE REALITY OF IT IS NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
This morning there is a vote. Ostensibly it is a vote on term limits and their return to the honored role and place that it held from the beginning of UCO. Unfortunately, blatant and grievous attempts to shoot it down were finally successful and this is now an attempt to regain freedom from tyranny, a clarion call to moral clarity. Either we of the Village rule and govern ourselves or we resign ourselves to the constant and ever growing encroachment on our daily liberties, be it restricting what is allowed to be spoken about at the pools and in the Clubhouse, publicizing ALL that interests the Villagers, a paper that is not literally HALF composed of advertising and that is the boast of the editor!, the end of ridiculous rules such as for example the rule that no more exercise bells are to be allowed in the pool. Why? Are we too stupid to know that one does not hit another with them, or is it that we are too imbecilic to know how to use them correctly? What would make the best exercise for the senior citizen to be banned from the pools. What? Who? David Israel and Eva Rachesky making their own arbitrary rules and finding cause to justify it via arcane and never before seen rules and regulations.
We will have constant assaults on the administrative apparatus here. For example: It has always been according to by law that if one had a vacant position due to death, resignation or whatever, the next in line would take over that spot for the fulfillment of that term. That is - until suddenly David Israel nearly choked as I was appointed to such a spot. That could not be allowed to stand!!! So suddenly, the next month David Israel "discovered" that this was all wrong and as of March I would be out, along with Linda DiLoreto. Knowing that that would leave two empty seats - and he knew that! - it was nevertheless ignored so that there would be two empty seats out of the 20 and thus he would use presidential prerogative to appoint two members - Ruth Dreiss and Toni Salometo. Ruth is a lady, but one who never colors out of line unless given permission and Toni did not need subterfuge and could have won any office hands down.What should have been was an election for twelve seats and what actually should have been was to leave us in place as was usual and customary and according to by law but NOPE, David has his own rules and thought processes and by the way, who suddenly told him that we had gotten it "wrong" all lo these many a year - "his lawyer" - who, what, when, why -not important for us to know or so we are told. And of course, this did not stop his daily horror - the fact that millions were reading about him on the world wide web!!! Ask him.
With no term limits this is what will continually happen - the abrogation of all rules and the misinterpreting or reinterpreting of them without thought or care as to what this does to the electorate and what kind of precedent this sets. People, this must stop. This must come to a screeching and sudden stop for if not, we have basically doomed ourselves, written ourselves into a corner and the only way out will be by death, by Nature, or by recall and resignation - all long and uncertainly timed options with several out of our hands. And many good and solid people will vote with their feet and move out. It is already happening.
Is this what we want? The continuous barrage of new and petty regulations. The continued growth of limits placed upon us. The continual wastage of funds spent carelessly without proper RFPs. Putrid waterways. Fracturing infrastructure. An administration that literally meets itself coming and going as they are one and the same - always. An administration of exclusion, rather than inclusion. An opaque administration where no information is presented other than in ridiculous IFIs that are outdated, a month late and been there done that kind of information. RFPs that are not shown to the electorate such as the last one generated by the Wi Fi Committee - against the stated wishes of the voters and residents of the Village - by voice, and by actions, by opting out and by self installing, by vote and deed.
Sometimes people grow so tired in office and find that the main thrust of their thoughts is how to keep themselves in office rather than how to best improve conditions in the Village or wherever their responsibility is. This is what no term limits does. As good as Giuliano was after 9/11, he was denied a third term.It was done with FDR and that was not good. It was tried in NYC with Bloomberg and that was not good either and there are many, many such situations and that is why most municipalities and even companies, industry, of late, have been moving to rotate their senior officers, even the CEO, all the better to improve the company and bring in new ideas.
Bring back term limits. Go to the DA and show support for this amendment. If you are a delegate, then vote for the amendment and for a better future in our home, in our Village. Do not be complacent. Think about what is wrong with a life time appointment that was never meant to be, but only arose because one person had and has nothing else in his life but this and so we are expected to feel sorry for him, to excuse all his past and future errors and allow him to be the Imperial Dictator for Life? NO!!!! A thousand times no. Show the world out there that laughs at our problems, that treats us as if we have left our thinking minds back in the northern states - show them that we are not imbeciles, not senile nor demented and are quite capable of making our own good judgements, thank you very much. If not - the future , the foreseeable future, will be more of the same, of the imposition of more and more restrictive rules and eventually - especially as the Millennium Agreement comes to an end - there will be an even more one sided agreement with us on the bad side of it all! You can take that to the bank!
VOTE YES ON THE AMENDMENT!!!!
FOR OUR FUTURE - THE GOOD ONE!
We will have constant assaults on the administrative apparatus here. For example: It has always been according to by law that if one had a vacant position due to death, resignation or whatever, the next in line would take over that spot for the fulfillment of that term. That is - until suddenly David Israel nearly choked as I was appointed to such a spot. That could not be allowed to stand!!! So suddenly, the next month David Israel "discovered" that this was all wrong and as of March I would be out, along with Linda DiLoreto. Knowing that that would leave two empty seats - and he knew that! - it was nevertheless ignored so that there would be two empty seats out of the 20 and thus he would use presidential prerogative to appoint two members - Ruth Dreiss and Toni Salometo. Ruth is a lady, but one who never colors out of line unless given permission and Toni did not need subterfuge and could have won any office hands down.What should have been was an election for twelve seats and what actually should have been was to leave us in place as was usual and customary and according to by law but NOPE, David has his own rules and thought processes and by the way, who suddenly told him that we had gotten it "wrong" all lo these many a year - "his lawyer" - who, what, when, why -not important for us to know or so we are told. And of course, this did not stop his daily horror - the fact that millions were reading about him on the world wide web!!! Ask him.
With no term limits this is what will continually happen - the abrogation of all rules and the misinterpreting or reinterpreting of them without thought or care as to what this does to the electorate and what kind of precedent this sets. People, this must stop. This must come to a screeching and sudden stop for if not, we have basically doomed ourselves, written ourselves into a corner and the only way out will be by death, by Nature, or by recall and resignation - all long and uncertainly timed options with several out of our hands. And many good and solid people will vote with their feet and move out. It is already happening.
Is this what we want? The continuous barrage of new and petty regulations. The continued growth of limits placed upon us. The continual wastage of funds spent carelessly without proper RFPs. Putrid waterways. Fracturing infrastructure. An administration that literally meets itself coming and going as they are one and the same - always. An administration of exclusion, rather than inclusion. An opaque administration where no information is presented other than in ridiculous IFIs that are outdated, a month late and been there done that kind of information. RFPs that are not shown to the electorate such as the last one generated by the Wi Fi Committee - against the stated wishes of the voters and residents of the Village - by voice, and by actions, by opting out and by self installing, by vote and deed.
Sometimes people grow so tired in office and find that the main thrust of their thoughts is how to keep themselves in office rather than how to best improve conditions in the Village or wherever their responsibility is. This is what no term limits does. As good as Giuliano was after 9/11, he was denied a third term.It was done with FDR and that was not good. It was tried in NYC with Bloomberg and that was not good either and there are many, many such situations and that is why most municipalities and even companies, industry, of late, have been moving to rotate their senior officers, even the CEO, all the better to improve the company and bring in new ideas.
Bring back term limits. Go to the DA and show support for this amendment. If you are a delegate, then vote for the amendment and for a better future in our home, in our Village. Do not be complacent. Think about what is wrong with a life time appointment that was never meant to be, but only arose because one person had and has nothing else in his life but this and so we are expected to feel sorry for him, to excuse all his past and future errors and allow him to be the Imperial Dictator for Life? NO!!!! A thousand times no. Show the world out there that laughs at our problems, that treats us as if we have left our thinking minds back in the northern states - show them that we are not imbeciles, not senile nor demented and are quite capable of making our own good judgements, thank you very much. If not - the future , the foreseeable future, will be more of the same, of the imposition of more and more restrictive rules and eventually - especially as the Millennium Agreement comes to an end - there will be an even more one sided agreement with us on the bad side of it all! You can take that to the bank!
VOTE YES ON THE AMENDMENT!!!!
FOR OUR FUTURE - THE GOOD ONE!
Thursday, March 31, 2016
AND WE'RE OFF TO THE RACES AGAIN!
First, apologies to my early readers but just could not move this morning. Well, hopefully, all good things come to those who wait so.....
Time to get serious. Term limits. Coming up Friday at the DA. Why so quick? Because this month, for some reason, (ahem), the paper came out late and associations did not even get it till later - we just got ours sometime yesterday, with but two days left to consider the by law amendment. That is their plan - a version of the give them five minutes to read the contract in tiny print and then force thru a vote after filling them with lies - like 'the best contract ever" - two times!
David's blog has been rife with the usual suspects putting in their two cents - even Elaine Brown who just awes us with her "wisdom". But truly just listen to their statements and the "truth" of them. They speak of many small town mayors staying in office - yes, and in those cases the town is often filled with corruption, bad finances and lots of arguments, no progress and mostly just a deep and concerted effort of the returning mayor to keep his/her power, more and more entrenched in that purpose and drive rather than in improving the Village or town. The smart entities go for term limits and have been doing so in droves.
That is our situation here. Think of the faulty contracts we have been given. Think of the monies gone to waste. Think of the constant push to get what David wants rather than listen to the voice of the people. Check the list of "volunteers" and find the same names on the committees, again and again. Look at the multiple votes that the officers get on each and every issue. Time and again they have been asked to cede these multiple votes but nope, they keep their power, keep their stranglehold on the electorate process.
Any progress, which David then toots as his idea, comes after years of banging heads. The election by machine, the soon to be - hopefully - switch to electronic voting in the DA - all belong to the opposition and then were co-opted by him with scarcely a glance in the rear view mirror.
The lies that come out of this massive effort to keep David and Co. in power and position lead to repression, censorship, governmental involvement, intimidation and the list could go on and on. The lies of an "overwhelming" vote - what? 28 votes? After a questionable sign in process? Nope - underwhelming is more like it.
It is claimed that only two people ran for president in the last two elections. Well, so what? More splits the vote as it did in the Frank, Frank, and David election and David came in as a minority candidate and if the vote had not been split, he would have been gone! In addition, it takes a strong person to withstand the nastiness that pours forth from the Nasties during the campaign. Phyllis was and is such a strong person and as for me - I could care less about their filth except that it is disgusting and shame on them.
More and more people and entities are enforcing and instating term limits. The outgoing people are often tired and stale, exactly as we have here and are incapable of seeing past their noses lest they lose that which validates them. Power and position. That is their mantra rather than the people, the needs of the electorates and true vision of the needs of the future.
So under these oh so wonderful years of David rule, we have gained such accomplishments. Let me list a few. Five million lost on the roads. No plan to amass the funds needed to replace them. Two security contracts, one of which was dumped and the second which seems to put us in danger of the backups on Okeechobee and Haverhill! Oh - we did get cameras that we had to pay for out of the first contract - exactly what Ed wanted in the first place! Now we have to get new ID cards AGAIN - and why? Because the wrong machine was bought? Because there is no oversight of these ridiculous harebrained decisions and actions. Because there is no real oversight over WPRF and their use of OUR funds!
We now have two murals that cost thousands, bus stops with poor pads, dangerous to the weak and frail, constant excuses about it, rank and putrid waterways that appear to be going in one direction only - downhill, and of course we have had the attempted effort to censor our own library and the constant treatment of our residents as either infants incapable of reasoned decisions or as incompetent demented imbeciles who need help to govern their lives and someone to make decisions for them. We have lost parking places in the Clubhouse lot - and for what? For pavers and to employees who now have primo spots, lest they have to walk too far!? We have had a constant battle over the Wi Fi and even more associations are opting out and installing their own but on and on goes David for his wasteful and expensive and unnecessary system at a time when that world changes three times a day and the sensible people wait till it sorts itself out even as we have Wi Fi and Broadband here anyway!
To vote against this by law amendment is to mortgage the future of this Village. It will continue the system wherein the Treasurer even agrees that the budget is wrong, but what they hey, let's vote for it anyway and the heck with the consequences!
People, these entrenched individuals need to go away. Their "institutional" memories are not holy, others have them as well, and besides, if they were grownups they would realize that the best UCO is an inclusive one, wherein all are welcome and their opinions and ideas welcomed as well. There is simply no bad side to the decision to return our Village to the way it was and functioned - term limits. They work. They are what is best.
VOTE TO REINSTATE TERM LIMITS. VOTE FOR THE BY LAW AMENDMENT.
Time to get serious. Term limits. Coming up Friday at the DA. Why so quick? Because this month, for some reason, (ahem), the paper came out late and associations did not even get it till later - we just got ours sometime yesterday, with but two days left to consider the by law amendment. That is their plan - a version of the give them five minutes to read the contract in tiny print and then force thru a vote after filling them with lies - like 'the best contract ever" - two times!
David's blog has been rife with the usual suspects putting in their two cents - even Elaine Brown who just awes us with her "wisdom". But truly just listen to their statements and the "truth" of them. They speak of many small town mayors staying in office - yes, and in those cases the town is often filled with corruption, bad finances and lots of arguments, no progress and mostly just a deep and concerted effort of the returning mayor to keep his/her power, more and more entrenched in that purpose and drive rather than in improving the Village or town. The smart entities go for term limits and have been doing so in droves.
That is our situation here. Think of the faulty contracts we have been given. Think of the monies gone to waste. Think of the constant push to get what David wants rather than listen to the voice of the people. Check the list of "volunteers" and find the same names on the committees, again and again. Look at the multiple votes that the officers get on each and every issue. Time and again they have been asked to cede these multiple votes but nope, they keep their power, keep their stranglehold on the electorate process.
Any progress, which David then toots as his idea, comes after years of banging heads. The election by machine, the soon to be - hopefully - switch to electronic voting in the DA - all belong to the opposition and then were co-opted by him with scarcely a glance in the rear view mirror.
The lies that come out of this massive effort to keep David and Co. in power and position lead to repression, censorship, governmental involvement, intimidation and the list could go on and on. The lies of an "overwhelming" vote - what? 28 votes? After a questionable sign in process? Nope - underwhelming is more like it.
It is claimed that only two people ran for president in the last two elections. Well, so what? More splits the vote as it did in the Frank, Frank, and David election and David came in as a minority candidate and if the vote had not been split, he would have been gone! In addition, it takes a strong person to withstand the nastiness that pours forth from the Nasties during the campaign. Phyllis was and is such a strong person and as for me - I could care less about their filth except that it is disgusting and shame on them.
More and more people and entities are enforcing and instating term limits. The outgoing people are often tired and stale, exactly as we have here and are incapable of seeing past their noses lest they lose that which validates them. Power and position. That is their mantra rather than the people, the needs of the electorates and true vision of the needs of the future.
So under these oh so wonderful years of David rule, we have gained such accomplishments. Let me list a few. Five million lost on the roads. No plan to amass the funds needed to replace them. Two security contracts, one of which was dumped and the second which seems to put us in danger of the backups on Okeechobee and Haverhill! Oh - we did get cameras that we had to pay for out of the first contract - exactly what Ed wanted in the first place! Now we have to get new ID cards AGAIN - and why? Because the wrong machine was bought? Because there is no oversight of these ridiculous harebrained decisions and actions. Because there is no real oversight over WPRF and their use of OUR funds!
We now have two murals that cost thousands, bus stops with poor pads, dangerous to the weak and frail, constant excuses about it, rank and putrid waterways that appear to be going in one direction only - downhill, and of course we have had the attempted effort to censor our own library and the constant treatment of our residents as either infants incapable of reasoned decisions or as incompetent demented imbeciles who need help to govern their lives and someone to make decisions for them. We have lost parking places in the Clubhouse lot - and for what? For pavers and to employees who now have primo spots, lest they have to walk too far!? We have had a constant battle over the Wi Fi and even more associations are opting out and installing their own but on and on goes David for his wasteful and expensive and unnecessary system at a time when that world changes three times a day and the sensible people wait till it sorts itself out even as we have Wi Fi and Broadband here anyway!
To vote against this by law amendment is to mortgage the future of this Village. It will continue the system wherein the Treasurer even agrees that the budget is wrong, but what they hey, let's vote for it anyway and the heck with the consequences!
People, these entrenched individuals need to go away. Their "institutional" memories are not holy, others have them as well, and besides, if they were grownups they would realize that the best UCO is an inclusive one, wherein all are welcome and their opinions and ideas welcomed as well. There is simply no bad side to the decision to return our Village to the way it was and functioned - term limits. They work. They are what is best.
VOTE TO REINSTATE TERM LIMITS. VOTE FOR THE BY LAW AMENDMENT.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
RETROFITTING EXPLANATION
To all Century Village and Associations important issues to consider.
Stewart Richland
Two important issues were discussed at the UCO Executive Board meeting held yesterday that must be addressed by every Condominium Association here in Century Village.
The first issue deals with the retro fitting of fire sprinkler systems in all condo units. The second issue deals with infrastructure elements that focuses on the deteriorating condition of concrete walk ways, hand rails and rusted rebar supports.
CHAPTER 718 FLORIDA STATUTES THE CONDOMINIUM ACT
Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, And Mobile Homes Northwood Centre 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1030
The information below is found on page 22 of the Florida Business/Professional regulations for Condominiums.
I have taken the liberty to highlight the passages that explain what an Association can do to “op-out” of this very costly retro fitting requirement. The important issue here is that all Associations must act on this issue prior to the December 31, 2016 deadline date. Based on the cost to retrofit, it is reasonable to assume that all our Century Village Associations will opt out of this requirement.
However, what is vital is that each Association follow the opt out instructions outlined below in order to protect their Association from any action that could be taken by the state of Florida.
(l) Certificate of compliance.—A provision that a certificate of compliance from a licensed electrical contractor or electrician may be accepted by the association’s board as evidence of compliance of the condominium units with the applicable fire and life safety code must be included. Notwithstanding chapter 633 or of any other code, statute, ordinance, administrative rule, or regulation, or any interpretation of the foregoing, an association, residential condominium, or unit owner is not obligated to retrofit the common elements, association property, or units of a residential condominium with a fire sprinkler system in a building that has been certified for occupancy by the applicable governmental entity if the unit owners have voted to forego such retrofitting by the affirmative vote of a majority of all voting interests in the affected condominium. The local authority having jurisdiction may not require completion of retrofitting with a fire sprinkler system before January 1, 2020. By December 31, 2016, a residential condominium association that is not in compliance with the requirements for a fire sprinkler system and has not voted to forego retrofitting of such a system must initiate an application for a building permit for the required installation with the local government having jurisdiction demonstrating that the association will become compliant by December 31, 2019. 1. A vote to forego retrofitting may be obtained by limited proxy or by a ballot personally cast at a duly called membership meeting, or by execution of a written consent by the member, and is effective upon recording a certificate attesting to such vote in the public records of the county where the condominium is located. The association shall mail or hand deliver to each unit owner written notice at least 14 days before the membership meeting in which the vote to forego retrofitting of the required fire sprinkler system is to take place. Within 30 days after the association’s opt-out vote, notice of the results of the opt-out vote must be mailed or hand delivered to all unit owners. Evidence of compliance with this notice requirement must be made by affidavit executed by the person providing the notice and filed among the official records of the association. After notice is provided to each owner, a copy must be provided by the current owner to a new owner before closing and by a unit owner to a renter before signing a lease
2. If there has been a previous vote to forego retrofitting, a vote to require retrofitting may be obtained at a special meeting of the unit owners called by a petition of at least 10 percent of the voting interests. Such a vote may only be called once every 3 years. Notice shall be provided as required for any regularly called meeting of the unit owners, and must state the purpose of the meeting. Electronic transmission may not be used to provide notice of a meeting called in whole or in part for this purpose.
3. As part of the information collected annually from condominiums, the division shall require condominium associations to report the membership vote and recording of a certificate under this subsection and, if retrofitting has been undertaken, the per-unit cost of such work. The division shall annually report to the Division of State Fire Marshal of the Department of Financial Services the number of condominiums that have elected to forego retrofitting
4. Notwithstanding s. 553.509, a residential association may not be obligated to, and may forego the retrofitting of, any improvements required by s.553.509(2) upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the voting interests in the affected condominium. (m) Common elements; limited power to convey.—
Please note that there is some confusion over retrofitting buildings that are considered high rise structures. Use Google to connect with the current fire department regulations for multi-storied buildings.
Every Condo owner must become aware of their environment. Every unit owner should show due diligence when inspecting their apartments and their outside environment. When you see something that does not seem right, notify a member of the board so they can act upon it. The problem arises when an owner sees changes in their surroundings, and ignores it. This is dangerous to the safety to all the residents. Many of the problems are hidden. Such as cracked and stained concrete could be a result of corroding re-bar and deteriorating concrete. The best advice that can be given to any association is to call in an expert to determine if there is a problem, and if there is one act quickly.
In evaluating concrete problems, one of the important decisions home inspectors must make is determining whether a problem is the result of conditions that have stabilized with a low chance of continuing future problems, or whether the conditions that caused the problem are such that there is a high probability that problems will continue or worsen. The goal of inspection or quality control programs is to ensure that contract documents and building codes are followed.
Some causes of concrete and re-bar issues are:
Steel Corrosion
Corrosion of embedded steel is the most common cause of concrete problems. As steel corrodes, the corrosion product expands, and this expansion can crack concrete and cause sections to break loose in flakes. Steel is typically protected by a thin film that develops as part of a chemical reaction with cement. This coating, called passivity, lowers the rate of corrosion to a point at which it becomes insignificant. Several conditions can damage the passive coating and dramatically increase the rate at which reinforcement steel corrodes.
Leaching by water.
Since most concrete is porous, CO2 will be slowly absorbed by the surface and find its way deeper into the concrete. Also, water will slowly diffuse through it. If steel has inadequate concrete cover, usually 1-1/2 inches minimum, the pH of the concrete encasing the steel may be lowered to the point at which the passive layer is damaged or destroyed and the rate of the steel’s corrosion may increase dramatically. 
Pictured below are just some conditions that develop over time and must be addressed.
The issues addressed in this article are important. Please take them seriously. Become proactive.
Direct comments to – phyllisrichland.blogspot.com
RANDOM THOUGHTS, TERM LIMITS AND A STORY THAT WILL BREAK AND HEAL ONE'S HEART
You could have knocked me over with a feather, but yesterday, at the operations meeting, David Israel and I agreed on the need to not allow censorship in our library. Do not begin to understand his motivations or how he reached this conclusion but I'll take it. Perhaps he realized how crowded the room was, heard the tenor of the audience and heard the man from ACLU and saw the direction of the tide, but whatever - a victory!!
But there is another vote immediately on the heels of this issue and that is term limits. Country after country and political entity one after the other, have come to the conclusion that term limits is the best way to go for political arenas. It keeps the people fresh, prevents the buildup of shady ties, prevents the forgetting of WHY one is in office, backs merit over seniority and that was a hard battle when it took place for people do not like to give up power. Term limits promotes altruism and idealism rather than the tired old political machine and machinations.
It allows for new generations to come to office and in no way does it disallow the outgoing from participating in other ways and even for running for other offices or the same office after a break. Term unlimited people get tired, tired of fresh thoughts, tired of thinking of innovation, of thinking outside the box and become concerned with cementing their power, with gathering allies around them, with insuring that they have the yesmen they need to continue in their offices.
It does not matter how many times an idea is brought up - for there should be no censoring and even though Wi Fi should be buried already, there is a right to bring it up. Remember the censorship issue from yesterday, David. Same thing, a brother from another mother one might say. The plans to disallow return issues is taking place in the new bylaws being written so secretly that no one is privy to them outside of the golden circle of David Israel and allies - the Nasties.
Personally, I wish we could all grow up and leave this stupidity of malcontents and nasty personal comments but with people such as they have that are encouraged to leave denigrating remarks, the same stupid people, then we have no choice but to oppose in kind. What a waste!!
Delegates, bring back term limits, bring fresh air to the Village, fresh ideas, not the rerunning of the same old same old while nothing gets done in a positive manner for the Village and old mistakes are simply repeated again and again. Check on the beloved Internet of David and you will see the tide of pro term limits and stop this nonsense of "you can always vote them out." It is a proven fact that incumbency weighs heavily on the uncertain voter, the negligent voter, and the could care less voter who whines but does not move to vote. Go check out Jon Carter and see his reasoning for term limits.
But in any case, I came across a story, a true happening, that will bring warmth to the heart even as one cries for those who never met, who died unknowing who survived, who died of the venomous hatred that exists in this world and that has raised its ugly snouted face again. Read.
Miracle on Dan Bus #4
It was a very hot day in July 1951. I was in Tel Aviv and too hot to walk. I boarded Dan bus #4 on the corner of Ben Yehuda and Gordon streets.
But there is another vote immediately on the heels of this issue and that is term limits. Country after country and political entity one after the other, have come to the conclusion that term limits is the best way to go for political arenas. It keeps the people fresh, prevents the buildup of shady ties, prevents the forgetting of WHY one is in office, backs merit over seniority and that was a hard battle when it took place for people do not like to give up power. Term limits promotes altruism and idealism rather than the tired old political machine and machinations.
It allows for new generations to come to office and in no way does it disallow the outgoing from participating in other ways and even for running for other offices or the same office after a break. Term unlimited people get tired, tired of fresh thoughts, tired of thinking of innovation, of thinking outside the box and become concerned with cementing their power, with gathering allies around them, with insuring that they have the yesmen they need to continue in their offices.
It does not matter how many times an idea is brought up - for there should be no censoring and even though Wi Fi should be buried already, there is a right to bring it up. Remember the censorship issue from yesterday, David. Same thing, a brother from another mother one might say. The plans to disallow return issues is taking place in the new bylaws being written so secretly that no one is privy to them outside of the golden circle of David Israel and allies - the Nasties.
Personally, I wish we could all grow up and leave this stupidity of malcontents and nasty personal comments but with people such as they have that are encouraged to leave denigrating remarks, the same stupid people, then we have no choice but to oppose in kind. What a waste!!
Delegates, bring back term limits, bring fresh air to the Village, fresh ideas, not the rerunning of the same old same old while nothing gets done in a positive manner for the Village and old mistakes are simply repeated again and again. Check on the beloved Internet of David and you will see the tide of pro term limits and stop this nonsense of "you can always vote them out." It is a proven fact that incumbency weighs heavily on the uncertain voter, the negligent voter, and the could care less voter who whines but does not move to vote. Go check out Jon Carter and see his reasoning for term limits.
But in any case, I came across a story, a true happening, that will bring warmth to the heart even as one cries for those who never met, who died unknowing who survived, who died of the venomous hatred that exists in this world and that has raised its ugly snouted face again. Read.
Miracle on Dan Bus #4
It was a very hot day in July 1951. I was in Tel Aviv and too hot to walk. I boarded Dan bus #4 on the corner of Ben Yehuda and Gordon streets.
The bus was very crowded and there was no available seat. I had to stand next to a Yemenite woman holding a live chicken under her apron.
People were chatting, discussing with fervor the day’s news, each one offering a personal description of the political situation, everyone with a different opinion. As is common in Israel, every person holds himself to be the authentic source of “inside” information. This one said “I have a cousin in the police force and he told me……..” Another replied, “that doesn’t make any sense. My neighbor’s son is in the army and he was telling us……” And from the rear of the bus, a passenger shouted “who cares? Nothing will change soon”.
At each bus stop some passengers alighted and new passengers boarded. Now there were a few empty seats and I grabbed one in the middle of the bus.
As we approached another bus stop (I can’t remember which corner), three or four new passengers boarded. One elderly lady stepped up to the coin box next to the driver and deposited a few coins.
Suddenly, looking at the bus driver she gave a loud shriek. “Moishele, Moishele, Moishele mein kind.”
The driver jammed on the brakes, looked at the elderly woman and cried, “Mama, Mama, is it you Mama?”
Both were Holocaust survivors from Poland and each one thought the other one was dead.
Jumping up from his seat, the driver embraced his long-lost and presumed dead mother and both hugged and hugged and both wept bitter tears of joy.
All the passengers clapped hands. Several were weeping from the joy of seeing mother and son re-united. One passenger jumped off the bus and hailed the next approaching bus. He shared the news with the new driver and requested him to notify the Dan bus company to send a relief driver.
None of us left the bus. A relief driver appeared about half-hour later. Passengers sitting in the row behind the driver got up and gave the seats to the mother and son, still clutching one another and weeping with heart-wrenching sobs.
At some point, our original driver and his mother left the bus while all of us clapped hands and the Yiddish-speaking passengers shouted “Mazal tov. Mazal tov. Tzu gezunt. A sach nachas”.
I never knew where they were going. Probably to the driver’s home so his mother could meet his wife and her new grandchild.
All of us were so filled with emotion that it was difficult to contain ourselves. There was not a dry eye among our passengers.
It was a hot July day in 1951. But I will never forget the miracle on Dan bus #4 on that very happy day.
Read and then think all day on what is truly important and the stupid games we still continue to play. Think about why the hate is still here, why England's Labour Party indulges in blatant anti Semitism such as the claim that Israel is ISIS, that we really did bring down the Towers in 9/11, that we poison the world with our very presence. Enough!
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
G-D AND CENSORSHIP IN THE VILLAGE
Awesome topic. Awesome Being. But before we get into this, two reminders.
1. Today at 10 AM at UCO, Operations meeting - be there to prevent the censoring of our library.
2. Friday, April 1 Delegate Assembly. Vote to reinstall term limits as we had until David squeaked in his plans after three attempts and taking advantage of the summer lack of delegates to oppose him.
Now to the topic and the segue back to points 1 and 2.
G-d, the Being or beings, singular or part of a pantheon - and Marvel and DC are certainly thankful for that! Which is it - but even more important - does it really matter? Are not these meta humans or human like gods or Supreme Beings all part and parcel of mankind's attempts to understand his world and explain that which he cannot explain or provide comfort in a harsh world that there is a better world to come?
For years I, myself, often wondered about these questions. I am a Jew, proudly so, an Orthodox one who observes much of the commandments but am certainly far from perfect, but I am comfortable with myself and my beliefs. That has come around after years of questions and thinking, self discussions and discussions with others - and the attempt to understand religion actually never stops in that, as one who asks questions, who attempts to understand that which is often unable to be understood, I am in good company. The writings and the oral history of the world are rife with people who wrote of religion, of questions, who put forth new thinking. Martin Luther, though a vehement anti Semite, hater of Jews, did advance the idea that people need to be able to read the Bible for themselves, not only thru priests, that the language of a country can be used to "talk" with G-d, not only Latin and other world changing ideas.
But even as mankind advanced thru discussion, religion also provided an excuse for some of the most horrific periods of history for mankind. Trillions were and are still being slaughtered in the name of religion. G-d is invoked as being on one's side as opposed to the other. From the bowels of flame in Moloch and Baal to the flaming Pele to the gods of the harvest who needed their sacrifice to the more gentle gods of latter day humanity and back again - there has never been a moment when religion has not been part and parcel of man, his development, his cross to bear and his diamond to value.
It has been said that more harm and evil has been done in the name of G-d, any god, so much so, that if this is what the forces of good are doing and have done, then what in the name of all that's holy is left for the Devil. Or are we, people, humanity, actually the devils of others. Have we all looked into that legendary abyss for too long and have we had that abyss sow its evil roots within us?
So if religion is all this bad, then why persist in keeping it around? Well, as people, we need a G-d, a Being, a supreme Power, to look towards for succor, for explanation, for help, even in the most evil of moments. There is the story of a young woman on line waiting for death to arrive at a concentration camp. In her arms is her newborn son. She asks a soldier, a guard, for a knife, and he, perhaps amused by the request, gives it to her, for after all the day is long and dreary and perhaps she will attempt to kill others or even herself, cheating the Nazis of another blood victim? Who knows. So he gives her the knife and the guards watch. She drops the blanket around her baby and gives him a circumcision, the brit milah that is the sign of the Covenant between G-d and His People. As she finishes, before the astounded guards can take action, she cries to the heavens in eternal victory.
Even in the darkest of moments there is light. Those of us who are blessed with diamonds revel in their shared light. I adore my little one, as I adore his cousins and siblings, as he asks for yet another pet, this city boy who loves G-d's creatures. So I have turned down a horse, a snake, a peregrine falcon and now we have been asked for a roadrunner, along with a sigh that if he has to, he will accept figures of the animals rather than the real thing but along with a warning that when he grows up..... Here is the light of a diamond - along with the worry that comes with it.
And we must look for more diamonds in the world to overcome the myriad blankets of darkness that often cover us. Where? Within ourselves? With the help of others? With research and thought and reading - the freedom to always be on a quest for greater understanding and hopefully a better world.
That quest is our right and no one, absolutely no one, should be taking that away from us. It was an absolute privilege to meet the Dalai Lama and have a conversation with him and the other administrators of our school as to how to inculcate the values of history and heritage in children in exile. The man was gentle, intellectual and curious and pained for the future of his people in Tibet and in exile in India. Should he have been censored as the Chinese wish to do? Should he have been banned? I think not - and neither do I think we need protection from so called 'religious" literature in our library. We staff it, we run it, we shelve the books and have done so forever and yet never have I seen any volunteer or patron of the library break out into religious fervor and trance as a result of reading somethin there. So what if a Jehovah's Witness leaves a tract. Maybe I, or someone else is curious. Non desired material can always be culled as the volunteers do all the time as they refresh the shelves. What is the big deal here other than trying to impose more restrictions on us - as if we are morons or way beyond our skill sets. And by the way, so what if someone wants to convert or return to a former religion? Last time I checked there was an amendment that promised freedom of religion so it is not illegal!
Enough of the repression within the Village and let us take care of that today in the meeting. BE THERE. SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF.
And while we are at it, let us rid ourselves of the tyranny of those who would be in office and power forever, no term limits. Cornish dreads the loss of her power and watch her resign should we regain term limits. She has done that already. Nothing like sulking! Watch David Israel trip over his own words as he denigrates the delegates as they are "unelected" and thus should have no say over the Village and UCO. Really? Are to buy into their pathetic story that ONLY they know what is best for us? I gave that up when I was three! These are supposed to be the true representatives of the residents of the Village, not the pathetic sellers of their souls who are presently in office and while on the topic of non elected people making decisions - ahem, and what was ED Black doing for all those lo so many years. Hypocrisy. Shortchanging the people. And stop with the "landslide" victory. There were only 28 votes between Phyllis and David Israel and what with all those "disqualified" or having to leave due to the long wait and no chairs - who knows who should really have even been elected and we certainly know who would be the better president, not the selfish hidey hole one sitting in his lair in the back of the building. Term limits we always have had and term limits we certainly need to bring back. Liberty, equality and freedom - they still ring true. Tell your delegates to vote for term limits and if they refuse - fire them and appoint one who will.
Be brave. Be righteous. Turn these people out at the end of their term. No one is throwing them out now, though recall is the best step for David Israel and all the rest actually, who always have "nothing to say" when asked to report. Just what the hell do they do all day other than to pat themselves on the back, act as the Nasties as they plot to keep themselves in office so what.., so they can nosh all they want on our pocket? So they can say they are officers and love themselves for nobody else will? Or get proposals of marriage (Gyich!) or write nasty comments and attack others in a personal way rather than address the issues? C'mon - time to take out the trash, reline the can and get on with the complicated doings that will save our Village and stem the outgoing tide of the decent and the worried, of the disgusted and the despairing of our future unless there is a major change. Do we really need to get more and more renters?
BE there or accept your responsibility and role in the destruction of our home. NO CENSORHSIP UNLESS IT IS HATE LITERATURE AND CALLING FOR BLOOD. REINSTALL TERM LIMITS AS THEY ALWAYS WERE AND BRING BACK THE HOPES OF A BRIGHTER FUTURE.
G-d is the one and only and not the people of the present UCO. Keep the good and out with the bad.
1. Today at 10 AM at UCO, Operations meeting - be there to prevent the censoring of our library.
2. Friday, April 1 Delegate Assembly. Vote to reinstall term limits as we had until David squeaked in his plans after three attempts and taking advantage of the summer lack of delegates to oppose him.
Now to the topic and the segue back to points 1 and 2.
G-d, the Being or beings, singular or part of a pantheon - and Marvel and DC are certainly thankful for that! Which is it - but even more important - does it really matter? Are not these meta humans or human like gods or Supreme Beings all part and parcel of mankind's attempts to understand his world and explain that which he cannot explain or provide comfort in a harsh world that there is a better world to come?
For years I, myself, often wondered about these questions. I am a Jew, proudly so, an Orthodox one who observes much of the commandments but am certainly far from perfect, but I am comfortable with myself and my beliefs. That has come around after years of questions and thinking, self discussions and discussions with others - and the attempt to understand religion actually never stops in that, as one who asks questions, who attempts to understand that which is often unable to be understood, I am in good company. The writings and the oral history of the world are rife with people who wrote of religion, of questions, who put forth new thinking. Martin Luther, though a vehement anti Semite, hater of Jews, did advance the idea that people need to be able to read the Bible for themselves, not only thru priests, that the language of a country can be used to "talk" with G-d, not only Latin and other world changing ideas.
But even as mankind advanced thru discussion, religion also provided an excuse for some of the most horrific periods of history for mankind. Trillions were and are still being slaughtered in the name of religion. G-d is invoked as being on one's side as opposed to the other. From the bowels of flame in Moloch and Baal to the flaming Pele to the gods of the harvest who needed their sacrifice to the more gentle gods of latter day humanity and back again - there has never been a moment when religion has not been part and parcel of man, his development, his cross to bear and his diamond to value.
It has been said that more harm and evil has been done in the name of G-d, any god, so much so, that if this is what the forces of good are doing and have done, then what in the name of all that's holy is left for the Devil. Or are we, people, humanity, actually the devils of others. Have we all looked into that legendary abyss for too long and have we had that abyss sow its evil roots within us?
So if religion is all this bad, then why persist in keeping it around? Well, as people, we need a G-d, a Being, a supreme Power, to look towards for succor, for explanation, for help, even in the most evil of moments. There is the story of a young woman on line waiting for death to arrive at a concentration camp. In her arms is her newborn son. She asks a soldier, a guard, for a knife, and he, perhaps amused by the request, gives it to her, for after all the day is long and dreary and perhaps she will attempt to kill others or even herself, cheating the Nazis of another blood victim? Who knows. So he gives her the knife and the guards watch. She drops the blanket around her baby and gives him a circumcision, the brit milah that is the sign of the Covenant between G-d and His People. As she finishes, before the astounded guards can take action, she cries to the heavens in eternal victory.
Even in the darkest of moments there is light. Those of us who are blessed with diamonds revel in their shared light. I adore my little one, as I adore his cousins and siblings, as he asks for yet another pet, this city boy who loves G-d's creatures. So I have turned down a horse, a snake, a peregrine falcon and now we have been asked for a roadrunner, along with a sigh that if he has to, he will accept figures of the animals rather than the real thing but along with a warning that when he grows up..... Here is the light of a diamond - along with the worry that comes with it.
And we must look for more diamonds in the world to overcome the myriad blankets of darkness that often cover us. Where? Within ourselves? With the help of others? With research and thought and reading - the freedom to always be on a quest for greater understanding and hopefully a better world.
That quest is our right and no one, absolutely no one, should be taking that away from us. It was an absolute privilege to meet the Dalai Lama and have a conversation with him and the other administrators of our school as to how to inculcate the values of history and heritage in children in exile. The man was gentle, intellectual and curious and pained for the future of his people in Tibet and in exile in India. Should he have been censored as the Chinese wish to do? Should he have been banned? I think not - and neither do I think we need protection from so called 'religious" literature in our library. We staff it, we run it, we shelve the books and have done so forever and yet never have I seen any volunteer or patron of the library break out into religious fervor and trance as a result of reading somethin there. So what if a Jehovah's Witness leaves a tract. Maybe I, or someone else is curious. Non desired material can always be culled as the volunteers do all the time as they refresh the shelves. What is the big deal here other than trying to impose more restrictions on us - as if we are morons or way beyond our skill sets. And by the way, so what if someone wants to convert or return to a former religion? Last time I checked there was an amendment that promised freedom of religion so it is not illegal!
Enough of the repression within the Village and let us take care of that today in the meeting. BE THERE. SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF.
And while we are at it, let us rid ourselves of the tyranny of those who would be in office and power forever, no term limits. Cornish dreads the loss of her power and watch her resign should we regain term limits. She has done that already. Nothing like sulking! Watch David Israel trip over his own words as he denigrates the delegates as they are "unelected" and thus should have no say over the Village and UCO. Really? Are to buy into their pathetic story that ONLY they know what is best for us? I gave that up when I was three! These are supposed to be the true representatives of the residents of the Village, not the pathetic sellers of their souls who are presently in office and while on the topic of non elected people making decisions - ahem, and what was ED Black doing for all those lo so many years. Hypocrisy. Shortchanging the people. And stop with the "landslide" victory. There were only 28 votes between Phyllis and David Israel and what with all those "disqualified" or having to leave due to the long wait and no chairs - who knows who should really have even been elected and we certainly know who would be the better president, not the selfish hidey hole one sitting in his lair in the back of the building. Term limits we always have had and term limits we certainly need to bring back. Liberty, equality and freedom - they still ring true. Tell your delegates to vote for term limits and if they refuse - fire them and appoint one who will.
Be brave. Be righteous. Turn these people out at the end of their term. No one is throwing them out now, though recall is the best step for David Israel and all the rest actually, who always have "nothing to say" when asked to report. Just what the hell do they do all day other than to pat themselves on the back, act as the Nasties as they plot to keep themselves in office so what.., so they can nosh all they want on our pocket? So they can say they are officers and love themselves for nobody else will? Or get proposals of marriage (Gyich!) or write nasty comments and attack others in a personal way rather than address the issues? C'mon - time to take out the trash, reline the can and get on with the complicated doings that will save our Village and stem the outgoing tide of the decent and the worried, of the disgusted and the despairing of our future unless there is a major change. Do we really need to get more and more renters?
BE there or accept your responsibility and role in the destruction of our home. NO CENSORHSIP UNLESS IT IS HATE LITERATURE AND CALLING FOR BLOOD. REINSTALL TERM LIMITS AS THEY ALWAYS WERE AND BRING BACK THE HOPES OF A BRIGHTER FUTURE.
G-d is the one and only and not the people of the present UCO. Keep the good and out with the bad.
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