It isn’t fair that only a select few people have stood on the summit of Mt. Everest.  Everyone is entitled to see that incredible view from the highest point on Earth, right?

Wrong.

To the mountain and the attainment of its summit, the concept of, “a level playing field” is a joke.  The only way to climb the highest peak is to prepare, practice, get fit, acclimate, be highly motivated and highly trained.  Like mountain climbing, the normal course of every day life activity does not resemble anything remotely “level.”

Playing fields are designed by humans, controlled by lines, numbers, fences, referees and rules.  Americans are blessed with the opportunity of the daily adventure of pursuing happiness by way of their God given rights, not government granted successes.  The more level the playing field, the less liberty one has.

The myth of fairness shrouds itself not in the righteous concept of access to opportunity, but in the perverse, socialist ideals of the equality of outcomes.  This warped mentality ignores the human conditions of individualism, ambition, perseverance, leadership and vision.

The summit to the climber, or an ordinary life well lived are both attained by our own actions, not ordained by governments.

The Southern Tier doesn’t have a “hunger problem”; it has a nutritional problem in dysfunctional households.  This isn’t from a lack of food, this is the result of families failing their own children.  Local incidents of malnutrition are practically zero.  Poverty and poor nutritional choices positively correlate.  The real medical emergency regarding nutrition is obesity and all of the health concerns stemming from that.  The poorest among us are the most obese.

If children are going hungry, it is the breakdown of families not of governments.  The illusion of hunger is a marketing tool that massages donor’s guilt to support the charities payrolls.  Childhood obesity is on the rise, especially among the poor.  In Broome County, more than 30,000 people receive SNAP benefits, (food stamps.) There is not a lack of food or its availability, but families incapable of managing adequate households.

With at least eight federal programs available, and nearly every community having a food bank, soup kitchens, church suppers, free lunches, replicated in hundreds of places throughout the area, it strains credulity to accept that anyone is going hungry due to a lack of community care or governmental policies.

Being poor in America

For the only large grocer on the North side of Binghamton, SNAP is the stores welfare program as one employee told me that approximately 70% of their income comes from some form of government food aid.

Being poor anywhere else

Some SNAP recipients offer “shopping” services, selling their benefits for 50 cents on the dollar in order to generate cash.  By making the maximum use of all of the free sources of food, combined with their SNAP benefits, those gaming the system create a benefit surplus large enough to sell on the open market of the grocery store parking lot to anyone who pays in cash.  This generates the funds that buys cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

Food banks and free meal giveaways make the donors think they are doing the Godly, righteous thing.  Tossing a box of cereal or a few cans of vegetables into a CHOW barrel makes for easy, pain-free soul cleansing with the tiniest amount of effort.

Without means testing, (which no local food giveaway does,) no controls are in place in order to calculate the righteousness of those seeking the assistance.  Those defrauding the system are using the good will of decent people that are unwittingly supporting their drug habits, addictions and other vices.

A SNAP program so liberalized as to accept almost anyone is an all-you-can-eat vote-getting machine.  Attempting to regulate the kinds and qualities of foods recipients consume is of no interest to politicians that need them fat and happy enough to keep pulling the lever for politicians that keep the free stuff coming their way.

Knowingly inducing obesity and learned helplessness isn’t Godly it is evil.  However, requiring proper nutritional balance and limiting choice to the most cost-effective brands would buy fewer votes and therefore is an idea without a prayer.

The ongoing saga of the alleged strip-search at a Binghamton middle school is a classic example of how the poison of PC (political-correctness) pollutes and censors common sense.

After an internal investigation, followed by two separate police investigations, no charges have been filed and no arrests have been made.  Why?  Because the allegations are false.  PC demands that you don’t dare say this or risk being labeled a racist.

Charges of filing false police reports ought to be leveled against the girls and their parents but that will never happen.  The girls aren’t white and the school officials all are.  This automatically invokes playing the race card in a tired old card trick everyone knows is a false flag.

Within hours of the alleged incident, a local hate-group calling themselves PLOT, (Progressive Leaders of Tomorrow) weighed in with their racist-based, vitriolic-fueled bile.  Eyes not blinded by the PC acid mist could clearly see the “plot” here has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with extortion and an excuse to be outraged.  PLOT’s own web-presence proudly proclaims their hatred.

The Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the girls.  In their statement they say, “… research shows how stereotypes lead adults to perceive black and Latina girls as more troublesome and suspicious than their white peers…”  What if in the case of this school, and in the case of these girls, that statement is just plain true?  What if these girls are well-known trouble-makers?  Is it a stretch to think that maybe, just maybe, these girls have had brushes with the school authorities in the past?  Common sense says that middle school kids perceive white teachers and principals as “troublesome and suspicious” as well.  No secret there.

The hard-working, quality educators that teach in that school are highly experienced, well-trained, professionals.  These folks fight every day a clash of competing cultures throughout the Binghamton schools, some that don’t respect authority, don’t respect the value of education, and come from backgrounds and familial situations that have failed to prepare them for assimilation into a productive, inclusive and friendly world based on mutual trust and mutual understandings.  How do you expect our educators to manage that mix of cultures with others that embrace personal responsibility, hard work, ethical behavior and the ideas of furthering and bettering ones-self to the best of each persons ability?

Our educators manage a daily clash of cultures in a world seeing those factions grow further and further apart every day.

Indeed, those young girls were mistreated.  They were mistreated by parents and activists who jumped to conclusions and smelled a payday in a settlement to a nuisance lawsuit.  Moreover, they are being continually mistreated by the NAACP, PLOT and the Legal Defense Fund, all of whom are making political hay on the backs of these little girls.

Put that in your PC pipe and smoke it.

Police recruiters screen out those who over-value power, dominance and authority.  Law enforcement tends to attract those with these over-valuing issues, making them likely to abuse their authority.

Fred Akshar fits that troubling profile.

Using only that which is in the public domain regarding his personal life, we see a disturbing pattern, beginning at the sheriff’s department where Akshar was involved in a romance with a subordinate.  As a Senator, Akshar again developed a relationship with a subordinate employee whose salary he tripled at taxpayer expense.  Now, Akshar admits to having a one-night-stand with the victim of a crime in a case on which he was working.  Because the case was being actively appealed, Akshar’s actions jeopardized the legal process.

Public officials are held to a higher standard that ordinary citizens.  The appearance of impropriety is to be avoided, in the interest of preserving and insuring the trust of the public.

Akshar not only fails in his ability to preserve the trust of the people, he doubles down, justifying and excusing himself from all criticism, going on social media to defend his behavior and deride any and all who see his antics for what they are, shameful, dominating and reprehensible.