THE TOWN OF HUNTINGTON.............Part XIV

- Such a nice place to live and raise a family.

Listen, I’m one of those inquiring people who simply want know. What is it I want to know? Well, it seems that there was a lot of sabre rattling around election time last year. Now, the voices of reason and debate have fallen silent. If there is one thing about Huntington politics you need to know, it’s that the current regime will always speak with forked tongue when addressing the concerns of their constituency.

I am going to go back in time a few months, and reignite the fire that was burning then. There are a number of issues still unresolved in the minds of this Town’s residents. The list below is by no means a complete list of grievances and observations, but these items may get the old ball rolling, once again.

1) This little nugget is about the land on the south side of Rte. 25-A at the split with Washington Drive. A quick look at the topography tells you that this Assisted Living Home project is ridiculous, at best. Imagine, if you will, the amount of excavation that would be needed to build anything of size at this location.

Huntington Residents Fight Plans For Assisted Living Facility :

Posted: 8:11 am, November 22, 2013 by Jacqueline Birzon /  jbirzon@longislandernews.com

Old Northport Road residents Jim Scaglione, Astrid Ludwicki and Connie Scaglione oppose a development company’s plan to request a zoning change for a property between their residential road and East Main Street to allow for an 87-unit assisted living facility. The homeowners are holding a sign, placed at various locations on the road, which says they oppose the Residential Health Service zoning change. 

(Long-Islander photo/Jacqueline Birzon)

“Benchmark Senior Living, a Wellesley, Mass.-based company, picked the property in 2011 as a potential development site for a 71,133 square-foot, three-story assisted living facility. The Town of Huntington Planning Board in August 2012 received a conceptual plan for the facility drawn by RMS Engineering in Huntington.”

“Jonathan Osmun, a 15-year resident of Old Northport Road, said the facility would cause his property value to “plummet.” The installation of a septic tank, within several hundred feet of his backyard, is “the most egregious quality-of-life issue,” he added.

 “It’s just a mess, a total mess; and our Island needs these facilities but certainly not in this type of residential area. I love it [here], but I’m not going to love it as much with this thing next door,” Osmun said”

“According to a preliminary agenda, town officials intended to schedule a public hearing at the March 5, 2013 board meeting but removed the topic from the agenda at a workshop earlier that day.”

2) Huntington Station has apparently been designated as a “Boutique City” in “Urban Suburbia”. Just what the Hell is “Urban Suburbia”? Back in the good old days, it was either Urban, or Suburban, and that was a totally rational description for growing population areas. This little piece of political hijinks, brought to you by “Frankie and the Petronites”, is going to be built on land owned by the Town which will deed it over to this developer. It just so happens that this piece of land is currently a parking lot that serves the Train Station. Remember Proposition/Initiative #7 on last year’s ballot (turning over publically owned land to private developers)? Well, here is what we get because no one knew anything about it.

- Our Mission: Dedication to Authenticity and Quality of Life:

“Renaissance recognizes significant trends within the real estate industry, stimulated by a cultural renaissance, a return to downtown living within "Boutique Cities" and the rise of Urban Suburbia. These trends represent a stark departure from over 60 years of a sprawl mentality, which has had adverse effects on the environment and people's quality of life.”

http://www.renaissancedowntowns.com/index.php

Huntington Station: Residents ‘Sourcing The Station’:

“Renaissance welcomes input on strategies to revitalize area.”

By Jacqueline Birzon / jbirzon@longislandernews.com

”Erika Forland, community outreach liaison for Source the Station, Renaissance’s campaign to get the community involved, said a goal of the meet-ups is to empower and encourage interaction among community members.” “Our real goal is to organize the community and bring to light what the community wants, and to support each other,”Forland said.” “Huntington Station resident Amanda Peppard, who owns a business in the area, said she attends the meetings to get involved in the decision-making process.” “People come from all over to my business, and [when they’re here] they want to make a day of it, and I always have to suggest they go to the village to do something. I’d love to see a beer garden, a wine bar, a couple more retail stores, or a fun eatery to go to,” Peppard said.” “A popular idea supported at the meeting was a multi-functioning community center, where residents could access services for a small cost.” “Kathy Kuthy, a Huntington Station resident, said there is a lack of public space in the Station area.” “We’re limited to parks in Huntington as far as community gathering space, or we’re limited to organizations like a church, or a club where you have to be a paying member. We’re thinking of a public space that can be rented or used by members of the community, for a nominal fee,” Kuthy said.”

Also see, for more information on this “project”:

12:31 pm, November 14, 2013 by Jacqueline Birzon jbirzon@longislandernews.com

3) This project looks good on the surface, but it, too, will require some public land being deeded over to the YMCA for infrastructure improvements. It also opens up a can of worms at the traffic light at the Rte. 25-A / Jackson Ave. intersection. In true keeping with their short-shortsightedness, “Frankie and the Petronites” don’t seem to care about the traffic impact on that intersection.

YMCA Considering New Construction: 

Posted: 12:34 pm, November 14, 2013 by Kristen Schultheiss kschultheiss@longislandernews.com

The outdoor basketball court at the Huntington YMCA could be home to a new building if the organization pursues plans for an expansion.

“The Huntington YMCA is ready to move forward with plans to construct a new building and parking facilities on its Main Street property.”

 

“We have outgrown our space and our board has decided to explore the idea of creating new space at the YMCA,” Knauer said.”

“The YMCA approached the town board to ensure their plans would be approved before they move forward to invest in architects and design.” 

“Knauer would not comment on the cost of the plans since they are still in the early planning stages. The YMCA will begin fundraising once plans are finalized, she said.” 

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My next installment will re-focus attention on our severely blighted properties that are being allowed to remain as public safety / public hazard issues.

Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmetic........

                                                                                                             11/18/2013

The “dumbing” of America has just about reached its goal!

I have been writing about this very subject now for about five years. My first stab at it was an article concerning Michelle Rhee and her attempt to transform our Nation’s school system. The more I

researched this woman, the more skeptical I became about her motives and her process. It soon 

became clear to me that she was off on the wrong track. She neglected to link Corporate America 

and its money and power to the Public Education System in this Country. If I didn’t feel that this 

phenomenon was unremarkable, I wouldn’t have given it much ink. I could make a long story of it, 

here, but I will spare you the drudgery.

In a nutshell, my first-hand experience with this problem 

happened when I was able to continue my “higher” education at the ripe old age of forty three. I had 

always felt that I had received a better than average education throughout my youth. It wasn’t until I encountered students at the college level that were about half my age that I realized just how good my childhood education was.

I swear on a stack of cheeseburgers that none of these “kids” could put a complete thought down on paper. They couldn’t do Mathematics without a calculator. They had absolutely no idea what was happening socially, economically, or politically in this Country, not to mention the rest of the World. And, so it was that from that point on I was very aware that something sinister and counterproductive was going on with our Public School System. Whenever I see the likes of this “dumbing” of America, I have to ask who’s pulling the strings; 

who’s spending the money; and, who are the Power Brokers behind the scenes.

The article, below, comes to much the same conclusion as I did. Corporate 

America has had their sleazy little fingers in the pie for some forty years. 

They have executed the old “divide and conquer” theory by creating a Nation 

of numbskulls who will drink their Kool-Aide, and toe the line. What better 

Labor Force could any CEO want?

Monday, 18 November 2013 08:50

The Fraudulent 1% Campaign to Stigmatize Public Schools as "Socialist Failures"

PAUL BUCHHEIT FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Right Wing Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast called the public school system a "socialist regime." Michelle Rhee cautions us against commending students for their 'participation' in sports and other activities.Privatizers believe that any form of working together as a community is anti-American. To them, individual achievement is all that matters. They're now applying their winner-take-all profit motive to our children.

We're Sliding Backwards, Towards "Separate and Unequal"
In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education seemed to place our country on the right track. Chief Justice Earl Warren said that education "is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Thurgood Marshall insisted on "the right of every American to an equal start in life."

But then we got derailed. We've become a nation of inequality, worse than ever before, worse than during the racist "separate but equal" policy of Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that "segregated schools are systematically linked to unequal educational opportunities." The Economic Policy Institute tells us that "African American students are more isolated than they were 40 years ago."

The privatizers clamor for vouchers and charters to improve education, but such methods generally don't serve those who need it most. According to a Center on Education Policy report, private schools serve 12 percent of the nation's elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority families, compared to 24% of private school students.

Meanwhile, as teachers continue to get blamed, the Census Bureau tells us that an incredible 38 percent of black children live in poverty.

The Underprivileged Have Been Cheated Out Of Taxes
A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report revealed that total K-12 education cuts for fiscal 2012 were about $12.7 billion.

Almost 90 percent of K-12 funding comes from state and local taxes. But in 2011 and 2012, 155 of the largest U.S. corporations paid only about half of their required state taxes. That comes to $14 billion per year in unpaid taxes, more than the K-12 cuts.

Untaxed and Unqualified Foundations Want To "Save Our Schools"
The "starve the beast" mentality allows the privatizers to claim that our "Soviet-style" schools don't work, and that a business approach must be used instead. Philanthropists like Bill Gates and Eli Broad and Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch and the Walton family, who have   little Educational experience among them, and who have little accountability to the public, are promoting "education reform" with lots of standardized testing.

But according to the National Research Council, "The tests that are typically used to measure performance in education fall short of providing a complete measure of desired educational outcomes in many ways." Diane Ravitch notes that the test-based Common Core standards were developed by a Gates-funded organization with almost no public input. Desperate states had to adopt the standards to get funding.

Bill Gates may be well-intentioned, but he's a tech guy, and his programming of children into educational objects is disturbing. One of his ideas is to videotape teachers and then analyze their performances. The means of choosing 'analysts' is unclear. Another Gates idea is the Galvanic Skin Response bracelet, which would be attached to a child to measure classroom engagement, and ultimately gauge teacher performance. It all sounds like a drug company's test lab.

As noted by Ravitch and others, philanthropic organizations tend to contribute to "like-minded entities," which are likely to exclude representatives of the neediest community organizations. They are also tax-exempt. And when educational experiments go wrong, they can just leave their mess behind and move on to their next project.

Getting Past Our "Exceptionalism"
If we're willing to look beyond our borders for help, we will see the short-sightedness of our educational "reforms." Finland's schools were considered mediocre 30 years ago, but they've achieved a remarkable turnaround by essentially challenging their teachers before they're entrusted with the welfare of the children. Most Finnish teachers are unionized, and they undergo rigorous masters-level training to ensure proficiency in the teaching profession, which is held in the same high esteem as law and medicine. In keeping with this respect for learning, government funding is applied equally to all schools, classes in the arts are available to all students, and tuition is free.

As a result, Finnish students, who are not subjected to standardized testing, finish at or near the top of international comparisons for reading, math, and science.

It's not just Finland with such impressive results. Research at the National Center on Education and the Economy has confirmed that educational systems in Japan, Shanghai, and Ontario, Canada have prospered with an emphasis on the preparation of teachers for the essential task of instructing their young people.

A Strong Community Leads To Individual Success
George Lakoff summarizes: "The Public provides freedom...Individualism begins after the roads are built, after individualists have had an education, after medical research has cured their diseases...

Public education is vital to the promise of equal opportunity for all. But it will only succeed if we work together as a community, and stop listening to the voices of profit and inexperience.

Paul Buchheit

7355 W Ibsen

Chicago IL 60631

773-727-2345

Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, a writer for progressive publications, and the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org).paul@UsAgainstGreed.org

Source:

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18319-the-fraudulent-1-campaign-to-stigmatize-public-schools-as-socialist-failures

Brought to you by Fox Noise

Well, it’s Saturday afternoon, and I thought it might be nice to get horizontal on the big couch and watch some television. I was surfing through the channels when, low and behold, I caught a wave at Fox Cable Network News. The “show” that was airing at the time was a re-run of “The Five”. Those of you who watch Fox News already know who the five panelists are, and the rest of us really don’t give a damn. I could only watch about twenty minutes of this show, as I was doubled over in laughter and fell from my perch on the big couch more times than I care to remember.

Very loosely, the main topic of discussion was that of street violence and the efforts at small arms gun control. The panelists started out with three bad people who have been up front in the News lately. First up was a discussion about the South African paraplegic Olympian who allegedly shot his Super-Model girlfriend. It didn’t take the Fox Noise Makers more than thirty seconds before arguments centering around Apartheid took over the conversation. It was at this point that I figured I had better stay tuned to see where this path was going to lead. Well, sure enough, it lead to the college student in Georgia who went on a rampage killing anyone who even resembled a white person. Stating Anthropology as his college major, he obviously blamed his curriculum for creating the rage inside him to boil over. He claims he was trying to get even for the slave trade in this Country. Then came their “Piece d’Resistance”. Center stage shifted to the ex L.A. cop turned murderer. Immediately the claims of liberal bias were leveled at the 47% of this Country who have put this man up on a pedestal, and are using him to point out all the conservative short comings of our Society.

Appropriately sprinkled throughout this panel discussion was black-on-black crime, white-on-black crime, the ACLU’s unconditional love of criminals of any color, or gender, and President Obama’s attempt to quell his detractors by showing up in Chicago to speak about gun control. I won’t get into the statistics that were quoted, because I don’t want anyone falling off their perch in uncontrollable laughter. Of course, the rightwing mantra was repeated over and over again, “The Government wants to take your guns!” As I exited stage left, there was an equally humorous advertisement about how “Obama-Care” is about to deny everyone in this Nation medical care of any type, and how “Obama-Care is about to bankrupt every business, large and small.

I have one small request of Rupert Murdoch; “Please rename Fox News as The Comedy Channel II.” I think your ratings might actually go up.

A Revolutionary Foreign Policy

Seeded over from Foreign Policy E-Zine (online)

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/15/a_revolutionary_foreign_policy

Now, this is the Islam I know and respect. I so hope that Egypt comes around to this stated position. The Middle East and Northern Africa need some level headed Politicians and Diplomats to build a strong, lasting governmental structure. The "Arab Spring" really needs to be a success.

Jesus rode a Harley Davidson

This is a partial reprint of a post from my facebook friend, and OMG, he hits a bunch of nails squarely on the head with this one. I have picked his observations regarding “religion” and “Jesus”, because it just about mirrors my sentiments on the subject. The remainder of this missile can be found under his name, on Facebook. It is a long read, but one that can easily be taken in sections, and well worth the read.

Facebook © 2012

Edgar Rossini Francois

The Center for an Informed America

[Random Thoughts at the Dawn of the Year 2012, February 13, 2012]

I thought I’d begin this rant by sharing some of my thoughts on the historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth. I think we can all agree that, unlike some of the other subjects I have weighed in on in the past, this is one on which people do not tend to have strongly held points-of-view, so there is little chance that I will offend and alienate readers right off the bat.

So let’s jump right into it then with observation #1: When the likely outcome of an unwed pregnancy is death by stoning, people can be really creative liars.

Nothing in the least bit controversial about that … right? Let’s move on then to observation #2: It is fully understandable why the lie was told, and even why many people in that era might have believed it; what is more difficult to understand is why tens of millions of people around the world still believe it 2,000 years later.

I doubt that I’ve lost anyone yet, so let’s quickly move on to observation #3: Jesus was initially described as coming from a line of men who worked with their hands, which was later interpreted to mean that he was a carpenter. Given though that the primary building materials in the land of his birth were sand and rock, it is far more likely that Joseph and his sons were stone masons. Just saying …

Observation #4: Jesus of Nazareth’s real father was undoubtedly a Roman citizen. Some have speculated that he was the product of rape by one of the notoriously ruthless Roman storm-troopers, but his later actions suggest to this completely impartial observer that it was more likely a consensual coupling and that the father was someone of considerably more importance than a mere soldier.

Observation #5: Jesus was very likely a controlled Roman asset. Just as, nearly two thousand years later, the obviously controlled asset known as Jesse Jackson replaced the slain Martin Luther King, and the equally controlled asset known as Louis Farrakhan replaced the eliminated Malcolm X, so it was that Jesus was maneuvered into position to replace the executed John the Baptist, who had, I’m guessing, become a bit of a problem for the Roman overseers.

The message that the emergent messiah delivered to those living under the brutal hand of those Roman occupiers was, by any rational analysis, exactly the wrong one. It was a message brimming with advice about loving neighbors and turning cheeks … a message that constantly reinforced the notion that it was better to be poor and oppressed than wealthy and powerful, for the poor, you see, were going to spend all eternity in the glorious ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ while the rich were going to burn in the fires of Hell (unless they were somehow able to steer their camels through the eye of a needle, or something like that).

It was, in other words, a belief system seemingly designed specifically to suppress any thoughts of rebellion amongst the unwashed masses. And the beauty of it was that no one would find out if the fabled Kingdom of Heaven actually existed until it was too late for them to get a refund.

I know what you’re thinking here: “But Dave, didn’t the Romans execute Jesus, and do so in a horrifically brutal and sadistic manner – you know, like in that Mel Gibson torture-porn flick?”

Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. Even if they did, that would not necessarily prove that Jesus was not a covert Roman operative. Most all assets are expendable if they become more valuable dead than alive. And it’s pretty clear that for the last couple thousand years, Jesus has proven his value as a dead martyr. But was he crucified? I tend to doubt that he was.

Consider that Mr. Nazareth was alone by choice when apprehended. He had supposedly wandered into a garden to gather his thoughts, or some such thing, allowing Roman authorities to conveniently apprehend him quietly and without incident. It was almost as if he had turned himself in, knowing that he was in safe hands. The most likely scenario is that he was replaced with a look-alike at the private palace of Pontius Pilate, where he was taken to supposedly be tried and convicted (so to speak).

Bear in mind that whoever had the misfortune of resembling Jesus needn’t have been all that close of a double. By the time he was beaten, whipped and outfitted with a custom crown of thorns, the battered, bruised and bloody body would undoubtedly have been all but unrecognizable. And following the crucifixion, as we all know, the body, uhmm, disappeared. Because it was, you know, resurrected from the dead. Or because it had to be disposed of before anyone caught on that it wasn’t really Jesus.

Personally, I’m going with option #2, primarily because I am not familiar with any documented cases of bodies being resurrected from the dead and I’m not really into taking huge leaps of faith. But maybe that’s just me.

As previously noted, the tactics deployed by the Romans circa 32 AD bear many similarities to the psychological warfare operations carried out today. And why wouldn’t they? After all, not much has changed in the last 2,000 years, including the identities of our overlords. I’m not much sold, as it turns out, on the notion that great empires rise and fall. Since at least biblical times, as best I can determine, there has only been one empire, though the perceived center of power has shifted in what basically amounts to a shell game.

The Roman Empire, in other words, did not fall just as its offspring, the British Empire, began to rise, nor did the British Empire fall just as its offspring, the American Empire, began to rise. No, the Roman Empire quite obviously transformed itself into the British Empire, which in turn used smoke and mirrors to create the ‘new’ American empire by sending a bunch of wealthy Masons posing as ‘Pilgrims’ over to the ‘New World’ and then later staging a patently fake ‘Revolutionary War.’ I mean, really people, do you honestly believe that the mighty British Empire, at the height of its power and with a formidable navy at its disposal, was unable to suppress a ragtag rebellion that most colonists had little interest in participating in?

And is it, after all, just a coincidence that the British countryside is littered with Roman ruins? Or that the Eastern Roman Empire fell, according to historians, circa 1453 AD, while the British Empire began its rise, according to those same historians, around 1497 AD? And is it also a coincidence that the British Imperial Century (which followed the 1st British Empire [1583-1783] and the 2nd British Empire [1783-1815]) ended in 1914, while the rise of the American Empire (never actually referred to as such) is generally pegged to the United States’ entry into World War I circa 1917?

And is it just a coincidence that the overwhelming majority of American presidents have been descended from royal British bloodlines? Speaking of American presidents, this seems like a good time to segue into a discussion of who our next fearless leader will be.

And, he goes on into a few other comments on the state of current affairs as he sees them.

RIGHTS REVIVAL

When, in the course of a Nation, there arises a need for that Nation’s Government to choose between its own People and the Corporations that greatly profit from that Nation’s largesse, the path that Government takes speaks volumes of its regard for the Men and Women who fought long and hard to build a democratic Society, that does not question the equality of all Men and all Women. The United States of America is at that very crossroads. Both the People, and the Government charged to represent them, have some basic societal and political decisions to make in the coming month and a half.

It seems quite easy for the People to relax into a Corporate run life-style that removes much of the day to day decision making that this Nation’s original individualists prided themselves on. Reaching conclusions and acting on decisions are two very distinct and different concepts. The People of this Country can reach all the conclusions they want to, and that will still simply leave the “huddled masses” groveling at the feet of Corporate America. The inference here is that this act alone will guarantee the obliteration of anything resembling a Middle Class.

To be involved in the furthering of our National democracy, The People are the catalysts of change and progression. It is the People who must set the National agenda, and go to any, and all, lengths to insure that agenda is adhered to day after day, year after year. One of the most basic tenets of a democracy is the expectation that the People will be willing to get involved to the point of electing their peers to represent them in ways appropriate to their wishes. The inference here is that the very best decisions will be made, and acted upon, for the greater wellbeing of the Nation’s People.

There are three distinct choices the American People can make this November. By convincing yourself that your vote does not matter, and your Government will do as they please, anyway, you can stay home on our National Election Day and let the World pass you by.

Alternatively, you may participate in your right to engage your vote, and opt for the status quo, thus allowing the Nations’ Corporations a free hand to run this Country as they see fit. This option has absolutely nothing to do with your wishes and desires about the future of your Country.

You may, on the other hand, choose to engage your vote on your terms. Being of sound mind and fairly good judgment, the People of the United States of America have the capability to shape a National moral, societal, economic, and political course that will guarantee fairness and justice to ALL our Citizens.

There are two ways to arm yourself with the confidence to make the choice that is right for you. Number one is The Constitution of The United States of America; number two is The Bill of Rights. One aspect of reading these two Documents is that you can do it by your self, with no outside interference to sway your judgment. Both Documents are easy to read; easy to understand, and are the basis for our Country’s past, present, and future.

Before you make a decision to vote, or not, or to vote one way, or the other, please take the time to re-acquaint yourself with our Nation’s founding Articles and the Documentation that formed the beginning of the World’s Greatest Democracy. The grand design for the United States of America is one of longevity and prosperity, with fairness and justice to all its Citizens, and to the rest of the World’s Citizens.

    I thank you for getting involved in your Country’s future.

The chicken and the egg

There is a movement in our Country to certify human status upon the physiological act of conception. So, let’s take this argument a step further. One could make a parallel argument for our Chicken population. Most folks, I’m guessing, don’t give a hoot about which came first; the chicken, or the egg. What does matter is the question of just when that egg becomes a chicken. If we adhere to the new populace theory that is sweeping the Country, we have to go with the premise that a chicken becomes a chicken shortly after the rooster has gotten busy in the hen house.

Well, “Lordy” be, think of the all the consequences that would befall the Chicken Nation. For starters, the hen houses would have to vastly expanded to cope with the influx of new fluffy little chicks. Who is going to pay for this urban renewal project? Don’t rely on the roosters and hens. The only capital they have to offer is chicken shit. And, who’s shelling out for the increase in chicken feed because of all these fluff balls? Certainly not Farmer Bill, he’s just making it by with his own family to feed. The question then arises, are we legally emboldened to still chow down on Chicken? That ‘s a dicey situation, given the whole inception argument.

My immediate thought is that Mr. Rooster is going  to flee the scene, and look elsewhere for a better life. And, what’s Mrs. Hen going to do? I’ve got a feeling that she’s hooking up with Mr. Rooster, and leaving town, also.

That leaves poor Farmer Bill holding the bag with all the little ones. What the Hell is he going to do with all these protected chicks? My guess, here, is that Farmer Bill is going to cry all the way to Washington, D.C. to seek federal relief for this blight upon our land. Once again, our politicians are forced to deal with a whole lot of chicken shit; just when they thought they were out of the woods and had a balanced budget.