Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin coined the term, “useful idiots” and what is happening regarding the proposed natural gas compression station in Fenton, NY lends itself well by comparison.  Lenin predicted that liberals and other weak-minded people in the West could be relied upon to be ‘useful idiots’ as far as the Soviet Union was concerned.  Inciting indigestion via ignorance, those local like-minded haters of capitalism, fossil fuels and America’s progress use the misinformed citizens in and around Fenton to gin up opposition to this job-creating business.

Even though the company proposing this project complied with all zoning, review, regulatory and statutory requirements from the local, county, state and federal governments, anti-big business, fossil fuel activists created false narratives to scare people into action.  Opposition has to happen under false pretenses because the activists understand that their hatred of capitalism is not acceptable in the main stream of American thoughts and values, so they are forced to fabricate alternative excuses explaining why they are trying to shut down this development.

Torn from page one of the community organizer handbook on activating the masses is to create a narrative that involves danger to their children.  Using the nearby schools as reasons for denying this project, opponents have no explanation for their apparent disinterest in safety when it comes to the myriad of potentially deadly substances passing by the school on a continual basis by both rail and interstate highways, both located closer to the schools than this project site.

Although the activists would have the public believing that the vast majority of citizens are opposed to this endeavor, the fact that only a dozen of these supposedly concerned folks took advantage of a free tour of a similar facility should speak volumes about facts fighting fictions.

Page two of the community organizer handbook is the threat to property values and quality of life concerns.  Again, this is an obvious canard if you simply look around.  This project is being built in an industrial area, along side of many other industrial businesses, including at least one that stores thousands of gallons of petroleum products on-site, right next to the river, and even closer to the local high school than this proposed location.  The area is already zoned industrial, and it is adequately separated from the communities’ neighborhoods surrounding it.

Recognize this for what it actual is:  Radical anti-capitalism, anti-fossil fuel, anti-progress new-era socialists engaging the “useful idiots” of the Chenango Valley school board to do their bidding in stopping a completely legal and legitimate business from creating much needed jobs, while using the taxpayers monies to fund a ridiculous lawsuit.

It’s embarrassing enough to find ones self unwittingly being played like a pawn as a “useful idiot.”  It’s quite another to learn that your tax dollars are being spent by them.

Symbols continue to be more important to liberals than actual results.  This explains their sudden outburst of outrage when it comes to monuments and statues.  If their collective distain for such things was genuine, why now, why not last year, or the year before, or the year before that?  These icons to our countries heritage can’t talk, hear or fight back, so they make perfect targets for the liberal cowards who assail them.

Denying history doesn’t erase it.  The Democrats were pro-slavery.  Destroying the symbols of our legacy changes nothing except exposing those responsible for the lawless and destructive criminal thugs that they are, attempting to wash away the stains of their own historic sins buy assaulting Trump in effigy.

Slavery predates the formation of the United States by more than 3,000 years and was practiced in the first civilizations in Mesopotamia, continuing in almost every other civilization in the world.  The Byzantine-Ottoman wars resulted in enslaving large numbers of Christians in the 1400’s and as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, an estimated three-quarters of all people were trapped in bondage against their will in some form of slavery or serfdom.  The United States of America was the first civilization that not only recognized the evils of slavery, but was willing to fight a civil war to end it.  More than 600,000 Americans sacrificed their lives in order to do just that.

Judging two-hundred year old societal norms from the lofty heights of todays supposed enlightenment movement’s morally superior frame of reference is unethical and unfair.  The human condition has evolved and become enlightened in the quickest and many would argue best ways, in a culture created and nurtured in and by the United States of America.

Along with slavery, we also burned witches at the stake, publicly tortured and even executed criminals in the public square, mistreated and killed American Indians and unjustly interred thousands of Japanese-Americans during WWII.  At the time, these were thought of as good, sound practices, not worthy of debate.  The examination of those actions is clearer, brighter and more discerning from the self-righteous perch of self-proclaimed aggrandizement courtesy of the smug wisdom of the liberal elite here and now.  Tomorrow’s analysis of today’s abortion position in America will rival our enlightened distain for yesterday’s slavery as sins of the worst order, unimaginable in that present time.

The bigger and more important point is that the United States of America was willing to put at risk the very survival of our new nation in order to end the evils of slavery and we did so at significant risk, sacrifice and cost.  Ironically, the hoodlums currently threatening our monuments, our history, our statues and our fellow citizenry are as dangerous and poisonous to today’s nation as their fellow travelers in the Democrat party were to us in 1861 when the first civil war began.  Continuing and expanding their behavior might just see them face the same fate as their forefathers.

In the effort to censor and destroy conservatives, the discredited liberal media machine has wrongly intertwined the phrases “White supremacists” and “White nationalists” in order to falsely unite the two into a singular meaning vilifying conservatives.

The truth is that nationalists of any color, any race identify with their particular culture, color, ethnicity, or race, within the shared context of also being citizens of a particular country.  Supremacists view themselves as superior to others.  When you add the word “white” to either term, therein lies the dog-whistle; however it harkens to the hounds of liberalisms hatred, falling silent on the ear of conservatives.

Major media outlets long ago abandoned reporting, and instead now recruit for, define and orchestrate the liberal agenda.  Relying on the mistaken notion that the average consumer of news is too stupid to know they are being led, media elitists forge, twist and manipulate public opinion disguised as reporting.  This is why they hate the alternative news outlets like the Fox network and talk radio.

Traditional media’s veneer of credibility melts in the light and heat of the unvarnished truth and they grossly miscalculate the wisdom of the average American at their own peril.

Freedom

A classic example of Not-In-My-Backyard, (NIMBY) is evident concerning the proposed natural gas compressor station in the Town of Fenton.  An active rail line runs through this area, transporting all sorts of explosive, corrosive and poisonous materials continually, every day.  A major interstate highway runs along side this area accommodating thousands of trucks carrying explosive, corrosive and poisonous materials traversing the area continually, every day.  If safety is really the issue, where is the fear of these already ongoing activities?  Until a few years ago, the Hillcrest Federal Depot stored a wide host of military goods and supplies right in the heart of that neighborhood and nary a word about safety.  Not 300 yards from this proposed facility, a petroleum product distribution company already exists with many trucks delivering all kinds of fuels all over the area.  And what about the countless convenience stores everywhere, with thousands of gallons of gasoline directly beneath our feet.

This project creates 150 local jobs.  The pipe is already here, it is in the ground.  The company complied with all of the rules and regulations in making this business decision and the legal permits were sought after and obtained.  For those of us with a good memory, you’ll recall the former Port Dickinson mayor Wilfley fought the placement of this pipeline hammer and tong, claiming the Port Dickinson Park would be dangerous and ruined.  That was all false hysteria.

On what authority did the Chenango Valley School District decide, on behalf of taxpayers, that this was an issue worth suing over?  Did the Board of Education survey the taxpayers?  What about those of us that actually think this is a good idea?  I live in Port Dickinson and I support this project.  Not only did the school board exceed and abuse their authority, they saw fit to hire a law firm from Albany, thereby taking taxpayer money out of the area for a fight we shouldn’t be waging.  How much does this cost taxpayers?

NG Advantage made available a free tour bus that took concerned people from the area up to a similar site in Vermont, in order to demonstrate what that facility looks like when in full operation, and to address concerns and questions.  Only 12 individuals chose to take this trip yet scores of lawn signs indicating opposition to the project are overwhelmingly prevalent throughout the area.  It is abundantly clear that people have made up their minds in the absence of all of the available information because they don’t want or need the truth; they simply don’t want it in their neighborhood, period.

The next time these same NIMBY people complain about the depressive state of New York, the lack of jobs, opportunity, and the “brain drain” we see as our kids seek friendlier environs by voting with their feet, remember, it is just this kind of narrow-mined mentality that largely defines what is wrong with New York State.

Today, ReclaimNY.org shares the major concerns our founders had over 241 years ago when conceiving our nation and its unique system of self-governance.

What worried our founding fathers the most was not England’s army or even sacrificing their own personal fortunes and security.  What they doubted more were individuals levels of goodness and integrity and societies ability to maintain those traits in high enough order to secure and preserve our own liberty.  James Madison said, in Federalist 51, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”  Today, our angels are few and far between.  Accordingly, the laws and regulations government produces are mostly designed to thwart evildoers instead of encouraging noble behavior.

Here in New York, we have seen what happens when those of dubious character become lawmakers.  No fewer than 30 elected officials have been arrested and convicted of crimes in the recent past.  The infamous project dubbed the Buffalo Billion is awash with scandal and currently more than half a dozen individuals are under indictment for various illegalities involving graft, larceny and conspiracy, including Joe Percoco, long time Cuomo family friend, confidant and close advisor to current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

According to Politifact.com, researchers from the University of Missouri have compiled a database that focuses specifically on public corruption at the state level across the country.  Their findings?  New York is the most corrupt state government in the union, and has held this title exclusively since at least 1986.  The article goes on to state: “Historically, New York has struggled with corruption and continues to do so,” said Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity. “While measuring corruption is a challenge, I think it’s fair to say that New York remains one of the most corrupt states if not the most corrupt state.”

The corruption in New York State is likely rooted in culture, Rodgers says.

“Much of corruption is cultural, and in New York that means that you have to think about the way the New York political system has developed over more than 200 years,” Rodgers said. “So you start with these corrupt political machines like Tammany Hall, and over time the problem replicates itself as the next generation figures out how things work and how much corruption will be tolerated, and so on down the line.

As reported in Crainsnewyork.com, consider the words of former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara during a speech to the Citizens Crime Commission in Manhattan.

“It increasingly seems that the best way to find Albany on a map is to look for the intersection of greed and corruption,” Mr. Bharara said. “So is corruption in New York rampant? And is it worse than it is elsewhere? And I think all the available evidence says that the answer, sadly, is yes.”

One way to expose corruption is to make government at all levels transparently accountable.  The ReclaimNY.org website provides a simple and easy way in which any of us can get involved.  Click on the link word “transparency” at the top of the page and there you can either view your local government or school district’s check book, or if it is not already published, use the “Send Your Government a FOIL Request” button and get involved.

The wisdom of Madison in recognizing our own shortcomings can lead to only one real solution; our renewed accountability to God Almighty and the faith we establish in our belief that we were born in His image and need to pray for His divine guidance.  Without a divine and absolute moral guidepost, everything is negotiable and nothing is sacred.  The absence of a divine authority allows corruption to flourish and as Edmund Burke reminds us, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men do nothing”.

Join those of us who are involved with ReclaimNY.org and get involved.  When good people do something positive, God may save our state and our nation.

Here is a rare glimpse into the secretive, rarely shared mind of today’s super-liberals.  This is what it sounds like when they’re talking to each other.  The following exchange was posted a few days ago on Facebook in response to the story originally published in the student run publication ELON News Network about an Assistant Professor, Robin Attas, who was leaving her job at Elon University in Burlington, SC and moving to Canada.  Attas, a white woman married to a Nicaraguan man claims to have been the victim of repeated acts of racism however, her “story” does not paint the draconian image she is obviously trying to portray.

Attas claims that unidentified people in an unidentified pickup truck threw a bottle at her and called her names… a year ago.  Police report?  No.  She goes on to claim that a “similar incident happened at a playground several weeks later.”  Police report?  No.  Attas then tells of an incident where her husband was pulled over by police and when he reached into the back seat to allegedly retrieve his identification, the police gestured towards their guns.  What would a reasonable person expect?  The police need to remain safe and when someone reaches into the back seat for God knows what, any sensible person would be suspicious.  Who keeps their wallet in the back seat?  Dozens of police officers have been attacked or killed in similar situations.  Attas explains further that her husband, after leaving the local post office said to her,” They were really grumpy to me.”  Wow, that never happens to anyone else on the planet, call the Federal Division of Civil Rights immediately.  Finally, Attas tells reporters that her husband was told by a Lowe’s employee that he should “learn English”, while attempting to assist him in finding a particular item in the store which he could not adequately articulate.  Oh my God the humanity, run for the northern border.

If this was the entire story, it would be just as easy to dismiss it as some snow flakey professor failing to fit her liberal ideology into southern society, but what this story revealed, is the soul-numbing rhetoric which it inspired on Facebook.  In the interest of maintaining the anonymity of the mindless asses quoted below, I have redacted their names, an act of kindness they do not deserve.

Their chilling words speak entirely for themselves.

Liberal Ass #1  “Parents should really think twice before sending their kids to college in the Carolinas. The attitude there is really un-American, backwards and ignorant. I’d never pay my hard-earned money for my teens to learn there, it’s an artificial and bigoted environment. If the NBA can boycott NC/SC, so can good Americans.”

Liberal Ass #2 “My daughter graduates from Elon this spring. It is a great school surrounded by ignorance. But a great school all the same.”

Liberal Ass #1  “My neighbor’s daughter just graduated from Elon, she liked the school. I also have family at USC, Columbia. With the freedom to choose, however, I’m taking my dollars elsewhere. The South has nothing to teach our kids about being an American.”

After listening to this mindless and relentless assault, I responded with the following:

WOW!! The Carolinas are “un-American, backwards and ignorant… an artificial and bigoted environment.” And the South in general, “has nothing to teach our kids about being an American.” Those idiotic and overly broad statements are some of the most radically minded I have ever heard. You are left of the way left and indeed a mental midget to believe yourself so righteous as to make such sweeping generalizations. What a wide and intellectually dead brush you use to paint as Un-American an entire section of our great nation and her citizens. If you represent today’s liberalism, I encourage you to keep talking because your brand of “reason” and “tolerance” are so far out of step with the common citizen that it is breathtaking. Your views are reprehensible.

This is the mind of today’s liberal and I’m more than happy to help them in any way I can to expand the scope of their message because when normal and decent American’s understand the poison these people espouse, they will rightfully be hoisted upon their own petard of liberal ignorance.

The first time I saw Miss Cutting, she was walking by my house on Allen Street in Johnson City, New York, circa 1965.  I was a 12-year-old boy that lived just up the street from her small 1st floor apartment.  She passed by my house every weekday, twice a day, as she walked to and from her work as an English teacher at the high school, located just at the end of our street.

Long before I came to know this woman as one of my favorite and most inspirational teachers, I knew her as one of the customers on my newspaper route.  Once a week I would knock on her door, early Thursday evenings and collect that week’s payment.

Miss Cutting kept a very neat apartment.  As she became more comfortable with me over time, she would invite me into the apartment while she collected her change purse.  What was noticeable most were all of the books.  I learned later that not only was she incredibly well read, she was equally well traveled, having been all over the world, either by herself or with a church group, something incredibly rare for a single woman to do, especially in the 60’s and 70’s and especially in some of the places she traveled, like the middle east.  I also learned later that she was an author in her own right, mainly children’s books based on biblical principles and I’m sure inspired from her travels to the Holy Lands.

She always had a wide smile on her face.  Other than the rare moments when she was frustrated in a classroom, she smiled brightly on everyone, all of the time.  She had a presence about herself that suggested a sense of quiet dignity and self-satisfaction that really provided for me a great example of how to compose oneself in a way that does not allow the pressures of the world to weigh you down.  She always seemed like a woman who had tremendous control over her life.

When I out-grew my paper-route, my dealings with Miss Cutting were limited to her daily walks to and from work and when I entered high school, our chance meetings in the hallways.  Lucky for me, English was not only my favorite subject; it was the subject that came easiest for me.  Because of this, I had satisfied all of my English requirements by the end of my junior year.  Accordingly, my senior year was pretty much freed up, as I had all of the requirements in order to graduate.  This provided me the luxury of picking and choosing some electives.  One of those electives was a course in creative writing taught by Miss Cutting.

Without question, this was the single greatest course I ever took in all of the schooling I had had to that point.  Miss Cutting encouraged in me something I had failed to unleash in myself.  With her encouragement and thoughtful critique, I discovered that I could write!

What was equally intriguing to me was the fact that so few others could do so, when it seemed so effortless to me.  Once she opened my eyes to the fact that I had the talent to express my thoughts into the written word, she demonstrated to me that through writing, your words become immortalized.  Everything you say is gone into the vapors of fleeting memories the moment it leaves your lips, but the written word outlives everyone.  Until it is written, it is as if it was never said.  Of course, the other edge of that sword is the fact that once written it can never be fully recanted.

Once I discovered that I had some marginal talent in writing, I was able to practice that developing skill, understanding that the only way to improve upon what I had was to push myself out into more and more writing.  The only way for me to learn how to write better is to write more and stretch myself to express greater and more complex thoughts.

Over the years, I lost touch with Miss Cutting.  Living life today and in the moment has a way of getting in the way of memories and we forget sometimes what is important.  One nostalgic gray fall day, circa 1990, I found myself re-walking my old paper-route on Allen Street.  As I approached Miss Cutting’s old apartment, I hesitatingly approached the front door and found the small piece of yellowed paper on the rusted mailbox:  CUTTING, typed neatly in the center.  I walked away, not really knowing what to say and just before I abandoned the idea, I walked back and knocked on her door.  As the door opened and the warmth of the apartment hit me, her smile, that same exact smile reminded me of so many things.  I re-introduced myself and as we chatted, I told her how much her teaching had meant to me.  She was so gracious and she told me that if she had anything to do with making me a writer, she was glad for it.  We kept in touch after that.

Once she gave up her apartment and went to live up on Deyo Hill road in a church based assisted living center, she gave up her car and her eyesight began to fail her.  I would take her to Comfort’s jewelry store every so often, so she could get the battery in her watch changed.  I took her to lunch once so she could meet my sister who was and is a world traveler and I knew Miss Cutting would be fascinated with my sister’s stories of her travels.  We had a wonderful time.

Today, I write mostly opinion pieces.  I generally wait until the subject has been hashed out in public and I have heard every voice debating it, pro and con.  Once the din of the debate has quieted, I look for a perspective or angle that has been overlooked, undeveloped or undervalued.  My goal is two-fold with opinion writing; first and most important is the quality of the writing from a technical standpoint, coupled with the “tightness” of the argument.  By that I mean the high standard of care in accuracy, fact-checking and logically based analysis that has already anticipated and diffused likely counter-arguments before they are advanced.

Secondly, I hope to change the skeptics mind.  I do not write to please the voices in agreement, I write to convince the doubters of their misunderstanding.

The greatest compliment I ever received was from a man who stopped me and told me that after reading a certain article I had written, it succeeded in changing his mind.  I cannot image higher praise.

Now that Miss Cutting has moved to her new living quarters in the Adirondacks in order to be closer to her family, my visits with her are limited to a few phone calls a year, just to check in and to make sure that she is OK.

Miss Cutting, I just want to you know how very grateful I am to you for the gift you gave to me in teaching me how to write.  It has been a blessing to me ever since and has underpinned almost everything that has happened to me in my professional life.  So many people have convinced themselves that they can’t write, so of course they don’t, which makes mediocre talent like myself seem so much better by comparison!  I keep practicing and I hope to gain incremental improvement over time, but I’ll never ever meet another person like you.  It is my profound pleasure to know you and I thank you again from the very bottom of my heart.

As today’s boys grow towards manhood, neo-feminists are attempting to derail the forces of Mother Nature to suite their own agendas.  It has been described as the “Chickification” of America by one conservative pundit while others use terms like “metrosexual” or the more old-fashioned, and my personal favorite descriptor, garden variety pantie-wastes.  Call it what you like, the point is that American men are being cowed, (pun intented) into trading in their testicles for an over-the-shoulder man-bag and marching orders from women who are attempting to exchange their estrogen for testosterone.

The forces of Political Correctness, (PC), and the constant indoctrination of gender-neutral or even gender-hostile propaganda aimed at delegitimizing masculinity is threatening the natural maturation of today’s young men.

Take for example a TV ad running today featuring car insurance coverage for Liberty Mutual.  The ad shows a mom and her teenage son standing, facing the camera.  Mom has her arm around the boy, who appears perfectly healthy and is a few inches taller than her.  She describes how relieved she is to know that the insurance company will pay for roadside services in the event her little snowflake should have a flat tire.  The son never says a word, nervously and shyly fiddles with his hands looking sheepishly downward, and slightly squirms as his mommy glorifies the insurance company for keeping her little pumpkin safe.

The ad then shifts to another scene, showing two young boys alongside a disabled car, the one boy on the phone with his dad, attempting to get instructions on how to fix a flat tire, only to learn that his insurance does not cover such incidents.  The ad ends with the boy on the phone indignantly insisting he knows what a lug wrench is, but clearly demonstrating that he really has no clue.  Even the two boys together cannot figure out how to change a flat tire.

Great job mom, dad, congratulations, you have successfully raised overly dependent, overly entitled, dainty and incapable excuses for young men.  In addition, a special thanks to Liberty Mutual for justifying this crazy entitlement, raising the rates of every other policyholder because a few of these modern pantie-wastes can’t figure out how to change a tire.

These were I’m sure, the same kids who grew up played games without keeping score and watched Inconvenient Truth in science class as if it was incontrovertible truth, sold as “settled science” and consequently ineligible for further debate.

Author Johnnie Dent Jr. reminds us that, “As parents we have a tendency to overprotect; it’s okay to try and show them all positives but we cannot forget that the real world has teeth.”  Those “teeth” are best shown and dealt with in adolescence, when the stakes are lower than in the adult world and the lessons of the harsher side of life are more controlled and formative of instruction by example when you have to negotiate with the unreasonable, fight or flee, and determine, in your own mind, what kind of a man you will eventually become.  Mom and Liberty Mutual can’t help you with that.

Author Pam Leo tells us, “Let’s raise children who won’t have to recover from their childhood.”  I would ad that we should raise children who actually leave their childhood.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower reminds us that, “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.”  Allowing the controlled harshness of real life to fall upon our children is the sort of “tough love” act that many of today’s parents reject as unsuitable in their modern version of the world.  These parents see their roles as “friends” to their children, and will do nothing to interfere with that friendship.  That outlook is a huge mistake.  Your willingness to allow your kids to fend a bit for themselves is your obligation.  Having raised two children into adulthood, I can tell you that both can ward off bullies, out perform most of their contemporaries in the work force, and without question, change a flat tire.  When one of them spots one of your snowflakes stranded on the side of the highway, it is likely they might stop and lend a hand.

  You’re welcome.

If you’re over 30, this article will provide information about the actual meaning of some of today’s new phrases I’m sure you’ve probably heard but didn’t quite understand.  If you’re under 30, this piece will no doubt confound you, yet I hope by the end, it serves to help you unravel your words from your actual thoughts.

As a writer and observer of behaviors, I take seriously words and their meanings.  Three commonly used phrases have crept into the younger person’s lexicon, and I think they serve as a good example to both users and listeners, as to what they actually mean.

The first of these phrases is pretty simple, yet very telling about the high levels of conformity today’s youth attach to their speech.  Listen when young people are talking to each other, and when they are in agreement, you’ll hear repeatedly the phrase, “yeah-yeah-yeah” as agreement and acknowledgment.  Not “yes”, or, “OK”, or “I understand”, or “yeah”, or “yeah-yeah”, or “yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah” but specifically and precisely three times, “yeah-yeah-yeah,” spoken rapidly, almost as a single word.  I have no clue as to where this phrase started, but in my travels, I have observed that it is not a regional phenomenon but appears to be widespread in use.

I’m old enough to add some historical context to the modern use of this phrase.  I remember when it’s older use, (slightly modified,) meant something quite different.  In the past, “yeahh…yeahh…yeahh, spoken slowly, and with a hint of disinterest, meant that the speaker was boring the listener, or that they had heard enough, almost like the use today of the phrase, “whatever,” which is really nothing more than a not-so-nice polite way of saying I’m done listening.

If you find yourself using the phrase “yeah-yeah-yeah,” the point of this article is to illustrate to you how unwittingly susceptible you are to unconscious conformity, likeness and peer pressure; over-kill for the desire to deliver positive affirmation.

The second and third new-use phrases I hear repeatedly in the younger crowd share a similarity in the fact that they both couch nuanced displeasure packaged as faint praise.  Old-school jargon used to call this “passive-aggressive behavior” but today’s kids use it often and freely in the following lines.  “It’s all good” and “No worries.”

Unlike “yeah-yeah-yeah,” these two phrases actually mean exactly the opposite of what their face-value states.

For example, a group of kids order breakfast and the waitress mistakenly brings the wrong style eggs and wheat instead of rye toast.  As the kids point this out and as she is apologizing and offering to make the mistake right, they declare, “It’s all good,” and accept scrambled for over-hard and wheat for rye.  Mild admonishment followed by acceptance and forgiveness.

I have quizzed kids on the use of this phrase in this circumstance and they deny any element of complaint, instead emphasizing the praising component of the phrase.  However, if that were accurate, why point out the mistake at all?  Simply accept the substitutions and move on, but that is not what happens, it seems requisite that the waitress is reminded first of her error and then quickly forgiven.  A little shaming served up with an order of plausible deniability rendering one both superior and benevolent in one fork-filled bite.

“No worries” I’ve observed, ratchets-up “It’s all good” and is generally employed when someone says something the listener finds wrong or insulting.  The times I have seen and heard it repeated more than twice, fights have broken out.  It seems that the more “No worries” is repeated, it signals that you had better commence worrying.

Words mean things.  Once we allow the words meanings to be transformed or changed outright, that shared meaning turns to ambiguity and eventually misunderstanding due to meaninglessness.  Once words and phrases become codes and secret languages known only in shared circles, this serves to separate and divide us.  It benefits us all to refine and improve our collective ability to effectively and creatively communicate with one another and not create barriers in an already challenging environment.

Now, if you’re rolling your eyes and saying to yourself, “whatever”, yeah-yeah-yeah, I understand, really, it’s all good, no worries, and I really, really mean that, no seriously.

Binghamton City Mayor Richard David has announced that a network of automatic license plate readers, (ALPR) will be strategically placed along all roadway entrances and exits to the city.  David states that the cameras will be linked in a high-speed fiber-optic network fueling a database recording information on every vehicle.  In public statements, David touts decreasing criminal activity as the impetus for this $700,000.00 expense.

This is government over-reach in Constitutional proportion, directly violating the 4th Amendment protection against “unreasonable search.”  A system of 24/7 continuous surveillance of the comings and goings of every vehicle in the city is outrageously intrusive and insulting to the law-abiding residents who have a reasonable expectation of not being tracked by their own government.  Many Binghamton police cruisers already have these cameras installed.  What the public likely does not know is these readers consolidate their data into a mega-database that has little to no judicial oversight.  The information gathered includes the license plate number, the time of day, the date, and the location of every vehicle that passes by.  This information is then cross-referenced with another database that matches the registration information of the vehicles ownership to that license plate number, thereby disclosing the vehicle owners name, address and any current wants, warrants or other legal information that might alert officials to stop that vehicle.

This idiotic endeavor is the antithesis of what we know in America to be freedom.

Casting this wide of a net over the law abiding to catch the less than one percent involved in criminal behavior, or even something as minor as an unpaid parking fine, is over-reach by any reasonable observation.  Rationalizing this program as legal and just on the basis of the fact that the City of Freeport on Long Island has already done something similar is equally idiotic.   Since when does proof of legality and validity exist on the basis of the theory that someone, somewhere else is doing it too?  Freeport reports a drop in crime since they implemented their program, but again, at the expense of our liberty?  What sad irony that a place in New York with the word “free” as a part of their name, has volunteered to lose that freedom.

Over-reach is over-reach.  No justification exists sufficient to topple a fundamental right citizens have to be left alone, scrapped for a few more arrests, no, that is a trade-off not to be made in America.  These kinds of social privacy sacrifices are common in socialist countries but not to be tolerated in a free society.

Tightening the legal system to keep criminals off the streets in the first instance is a better solution than performing mass surveillance on a free people.

Who better to consult with then one of our Founding Fathers?  Benjamin Franklin was looking into the future when he said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Mayor David, this is a bad idea, scrap it.