Celebrate our Freedom....Celebrate Independence Day

The greatest advance in human freedom occurred 235 years ago when our founders signed a document proclaiming that people had rights that came not from a monarch, but from the "Creator."   Through the sacrifice of generations, that freedom has been preserved and expanded.  Truly, a day to celebrate!

"Official Time" legislation to be introduced in Congress

"And Nothing But The Truth" frequent contributor F. Vincent Vernuccio III, Esq. (son of co-host Frank Vernuccio) prepared research on the misuse of union time by federal employees.  The research impressed Rep. Ross, who is introducing related legislation.  To view Mr. Vernuccio's testimony before Mr. Ross' committee, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FQOeyOZpxk&feature=youtu.be

American culture under attack, continued

     The Associated Press is reporting that a  Mennonite institution, Goshen College of Indiana,  has decided to stop playing the National Anthem at sporting events, claiming that The Star Spangled Banner was too warlike.  The school had been playing only an instrumental version of the Anthem.

American Heritage in Peril

      Two seemingly unrelated events clearly demonstrate the extraordinary peril our national heritage and culture faces.

•        A documentary film maker was producing a film on the life of Alexander Hamilton, the Revolutionary War hero who eventually established the financial underpinnings of our nation. As part of an effort to determine the views modern day Americans hold on this giant figure in our history, the film maker sent his staff to Columbia University to question the ivy league students there.  Hamilton attended Columbia, (then called Kings College) a statue of him graces the campus, and a major building on site is called "Hamilton Hall."  Stunningly, few of the students queried could even identify Hamilton, other than a few who recognized the name from the face of $10 bills.    
•       In San Diego, an environmental group is attempting to block this year's planned July 4 fireworks display on the grounds that it would create environmental challenges and potentially harm birds.

      For far too long, American History has not been adequately taught in our public school system.  What little is taught has frequently highlighted our past national mistakes far more than our extraordinary achievements.  The result is obvious:  students who know little and care less about the groundbreaking contributions the United States has provided to all of humanity.  Noneducational opportunities to instill pride in our country, such as patriotic displays like fireworks,  have been subjected to ridicule and attack.  

     If we lose the hearts and minds of our young, the America that has been the champion of freedom and opportunity will cease to exist.  The time has come to force the educrats who run our school systems, and the leftists who seek to dominate our culture, to cease their attack on the proud heritage and history of this nation.


     

We Honor Those Who Gave All To Protect America

From the desperate winter in Valley Forge to the mountains of Afghanistan, our servicemen & women have always endured and overcome the greatest challenges to preserve our liberty and protect our freedom. Let us always cherish their sacrifices, and let us never, never fail to honor them by dedicating ourselves to building a secure and worthy future for our America

Discussion On The Middle East From Our May 21 Broadcast

Since 1948 successive Democrat and Republican administrations have steadily indulged themselves in a delusion about peace in the middle east, how to be friends with the Arab and larger Muslim world and why our energy security was safe in the hands of people who literally hate us. Through the pan-Arabic fantasies of Gamal Nasser to the current pan Islamic "caliphate" dreams of Arabs. Iranians, Turks and others, we have steadily moved toward a world view that puts three false premises at the heart of our foreign policy.

              The first delusion is that some resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will magically solve all problems of peace and stability in both the Arab and larger Muslim world. under this delusion we have invested billions of dollars on a Palestinian authority that under Arafat took the money and ran and now under a regime which "claims" to run the west bank...doesn't run Gaza and in all probability would be consumed by Hamas if current efforts to unilaterally establish a Palestinian state came to pass as the us and the un try to force a dual state solution with indefensible Israeli borders down the throat of Netanayu. history instead has shown us that any reliance on the Palestinians to keep their word only means more blood and that they has never been a reliable partner for peace. it should also be stated publicly that the poverty of the Palestinian people is due solely and exclusively to the outright theft of billions and billions of aid dollars by Yassir Arafat.

The second delusion is that the road to this phony peace, in the words of former Secy. of State Baker "runs through Damascus"! just a few weeks ago the world waited with bated breath for an announcement from Bashir al- Assad that he was going to end the state of emergency in place since  1962,  in response to demonstrations in Daara and other cities… instead we got the same ol...same ol with the use of more force to crack down on the small but gallant democracy movement trying to bring change in this Baathist thugocracy…. with the Assad family the apple never falls far from the tree. back in 1982 the father Hafez al-Assad brought a new meaning to bloodthirsty when the Syrian army, under his orders, conducted a scorched earth policy against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime as many as 80,000 civilians were intentionally killed. the attack has been described as among "the single deadliest acts by any Arab government against its own people in the modern middle east.” The only road that runs through Damascus leads to the Hezbollah in Lebanon and into Gaza city to Hamas, courtesy of Iran who bestowed Islamic credentials on the small Alawite sect that the Assads belong to by decreeing they were Shia Muslims. We have been played like Nero's fiddle by the Assads for over 50 years and like the famous definition of insanity ...we keep doing the same thing and think we will get another result!

The third delusion is that the anger in the Muslim world is over land and material things when it is in reality over something far more intangible. with the rise of political Islam, a theocracy in Iran and the Salafist aims of the Muslim brotherhood, al Quaeda and a Wahabist money machine funding mosques and madrassahs all over the globe to promote jihad...we have to come to grips with the reality that this is a conflict about the nature of god...and their god doesn't tolerate anyone who believes in another version or in no god at all. Israel could disappear tomorrow and this cosmic struggle would continue more ferociously than ever, because now the war would turn toward the  us and the west.

Iran in particular is run by fanatics who believe that the 12th or "hidden" imam of legend has already returned to earth to unleash a cleansing holocaust where all non Muslims will either die or "revert" to Islam so that the new world order will be a new universal world caliphate. However, the apocalypse must occur if this is to be fulfilled!

We often talk about knowing what we don't know as the true beginning of wisdom ...what we don't know about this issue, these people and this religion and what we have deluded ourselves into believing is beyond belief itself!

Even as we congratulate the president for his decision to eliminate Usama Bin Laden, there are disturbing questions that must be asked about the aftermath of the courageous raid, and about Obama's strategy towards the Islamic world and the threat of terrorism.

Almost immediately following the end of the navy seal's mission, the white house began a series of stunning blunders. First, identification of the specific special forces team that carried out the mission jeopardized both the seals themselves and their families. Second, the administration's admission that valuable intelligence had been captured may have limited the use of that information, perhaps allowing other key figures to escape.

Ironically, the mission would not have been possible without the information gained by the CIA personnel who interrogated captured terrorists. However, even as the president basks in praise for the mission, his administration continues to prosecute those same CIA personnel for their interrogation techniques.

The contradictions within the white house extend to the entire realm of relations with the middle east and the issue of terrorism. The president’s Middle East policy is justly accused of lacking any logic, and being counterproductive to American interests. The white house seemed almost eager to accelerate the downfall of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. While Cairo’s former leader was corrupt and no paragon of democracy, he was relatively friendly towards the United States and Israel, and far less repressive than most middle eastern leaders. On the other hand, Obama has demonstrated no enthusiasm until Thursday (and then only slightly, in response to criticism) whatsoever to encourage courageous freedom demonstrators within Syria and none for Iran, two nations that are among the most anti-American and antisemitic on earth, that have aggressively pursued nuclear weapons, and have shown no qualms about murdering their own citizens on a mass scale.

America has a great deal at stake in the potential of regime change in these two outlaw nations. Iran and Syria, along with their subsidiaries Hezbollah and Hamas, are the backbone of troublemaking in the region. Indeed, in 2006, Syrian president al-Assad taunted the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia for being overly friendly towards the USA. iran gives weapons to the Taliban, and Syria assists al Qaeda. Syria, with the support of Iran, subsidizes and encourages Hezbollah’s vicious assaults in Lebanon, including the assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri.

SYRIA

              Over the past month we have watched, via smuggled cell phone videos, the Syrian people rise up in the streets of a dozen cities to demand the ouster of the 40 year old al-Assad family’s Baathist dictatorship. Syrian army units have waged savage total war upon the unarmed civilians of daraa where the protests began, to Damascus, the central city of Homs, the coastal cities of Banias and Latakia, the northern cities of Raqqa and Hama, and the northeastern town of Qamishli near the Turkish border. at least 1000 people have been killed including children, and Syrian security forces have conducted house to house searches arresting adult men and boys as young as 12 as well as prominent opposition figures. By some estimates the number of civilians in captivity are now as large as 10,000 and are predicted to rise even further and 5000 Syrians have left the country. The world including the us has done virtually nothing out side of recently announced targeted sanctions toward Bashir al-Assad and five of his hencemen….with polls showing that 62% of the American people do not want us to intervene in Syria. Yet unlike Libya, where one can have an intellectually honest disagreement as to whether or not american interests are affected in any critical way, Syria is critical if only because it has become the principal Arab vassal state of the Iranians. as we have stated repeatedly the road to peace is not through Damascus… instead the road to Hezbollah, a ruined Lebanon , and the a northern front in the Bekaa Valley is through Damascus…further if we can be certain of anything in the labyrinth of the Levant it is that the “Arab Spring” in Syria is not being controlled behind the scenes by Amadinijad or Khameini. why would the united states not want to use every ounce of political, military, economic and diplomatic muscle to bring down a regime which in 1982 killed between 20,000 and 80,000 of it’s own people in the city of Hama? why would we not want to cripple the Persian doctrine of proxy war by eliminating the biggest and most strategic element of that doctrine that makes it so successful? if the house of al-Assad fell and the Salafists were kept in check you could for the first time since 1948 begin to see the opportunity for a real peace that would allow Lebanon to be truly free, Syria to become a secular democracy and Egypt to rethink its nascent efforts to reignite the old U.A.R but under the potential banner of the Ikhwan or a Salafist caliphate. The US has skin in this game…neutralizing Syria as a transit point for arms and terrorists would force Iran to shift its energies to Hamas in Gaza. the slowly forming “new” Egypt would then have to think twice about recognizing Iran and entering into a quiet period of accommodation with them with regard to a Hamas… which sooner or later even the Egyptians and the brotherhood will I predict… realize they can’t control. For Egypt to go forward in this regard… would mean in reality an Egyptian alliance with Iran where they will inevitably become the junior partner, to the consternation of almost all other members of the Arab league and the members of the gulf cooperation council. Syria must become free and frankly that is where NATO the US and the EU should be putting its resources and energies. Again the perception of American weakness and indecision makes the al-Assads, the Iranians, the Egyptians and most importantly our allies and true democratic elements in the region dubious of our political and military will when it comes to our own self interest.

EGYPT

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Islamist elements of the “democracy movement” filled Tahrir square last weekend to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of what they call al-Nakbah or the “catastrophe” which to the rest of civilized humanity is the birth of the state of Israel. anti-Israeli and anti- American scapegoating was remarkably low key or even absent during the egyptian phrase of the “arab spring” but now we are starting to see evidence of the not so hidden hand of the “ikhwan” or Muslim brotherhood and their Salafist allies as they weave and bob through the uncertain and uncharted waters of post mubarak politics to try and turn Egypt into a fully Islamic state under Shariah law.  in point of fact, the Muslim brotherhood just recently announced that they now intend to contest over 50% of the seats in parliament which if victorious, would give them control of Egypt in the fall. In addition, several weeks ago, violence once again broke out against the nation’s 10 million Coptic Christians , murdering twelve, injuring over a hundred, and destroying churches. Copts, numbering about 10 million, constitute the largest christian group and the largest religious minority in the middle east. Coptic Christians in the Imbaba district of Cairo report that on Saturday night may 7 they were assaulted by muslims who looted and burned st. mina’s church and the church of the Virgin Mary and attempted to burn St. Mary and St. Abanob church. According to press reports, twelve people were killed. and more than a hundred people were injured, as Copts fought back with sticks and stones.

All of this comes on the heels of Egypt exercising their diplomatic powers as the most preeminent Arab state to broker a peace between Hamas and the Palestinian authority. The agreement between Fatah and Hamas marks the end of a long period of cooperation and negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians, and of Egypts’ formerly helpful role in the attempt to normalize relations between Israel and the Arab world.

In choosing to enter a coalition with Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas is abandoning all the advances made to date and abandoning his own former approach. Cooperation with Israel to improve life in the west bank and security cooperation against terrorism have now been jettisoned in favor of the appearance of unity. All of Abbas’s past statements about Hamas as his enemy, Fatah’s enemy, and the PA’s enemy have been put aside in an embrace of Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader. Under the agreement, elections will be held for the pa presidency and parliament, and for the PLO bodies, in one year, and security forces are to be put under one umbrella. Needless to say Hamas continues to refuse to agree to the preconditions established by the “quartet,” i.e.,  to denounce violence against Israel … to recognize Israel’s right to exist. in addition it continues to insist that the bizarre un doctrine of “the right to return” which only applies to Israel and the Palestinians and which requires that all Palestinians and all of their descendents who were displaced by the 1948 war or who left voluntarily or at the behest of the grand mufti or who sold their property to Jewish settlers must be allowed to return and reclaim their property. this of course would mean the literal end of Israel as a Jewish state and the progress that has taken place by the pa since Salam Fayyad became prime minister in 2007 as well as its replacement by a Palestinian state that never before existed in history
Israel’s pm Netanyahu has rightfully said that Fatah and Mamoud Abbas must choose between Hamas and Israel. but Israel now has to contend with the very real re-election political “appetites” in some quarters of the administration to produce “a peace at any cost” plan that throws Israel under the bus.  While Secy. Clinton did say prior to Obama‘s announcement on israel on thursday‘we’ve made it very clear that we cannot support any government that consists of Hamas unless and until Hamas adopts the “quartet principles”.  Why does she or anyone think that any government with Hamas will ever tell the truth? As we have stated before on this program a “two state solution” is under current reality a mirage and a symptom of a long standing foreign policy that is built on fantasy, ideology, oil and sand.  Lastly all of the above is happening in part because the united states appears weak and indecisive and has abandoned its historic role as the honest broker  notwithstanding the killing of Usama Bin Laden.

              according to Mchael Reagan, “Israel Today” reported on Thursday that a former top official in the U.S. intelligence community, speaking on condition of anonymity, is convinced “that the Obama administration is about to break America’s long ties of friendship with Israel, and maybe even take steps toward the dissolution of the Jewish state.”

The administration is preparing to “provide more support to Arab countries [with] financial and military aid, undercutting Israel’s defense efforts all while pushing Israel to succumb to the pressure of unreasonable demands designed to end with their political annihilation as a nation,” the source remarked; Obama’s effort is likely to be subtle, and implemented over several years. this report came out before the president tore up the 2004 letter of agreement that George Bush had given to Israel that the united states, as a condition for the unilateral turnover of Gaza to the pa, would never demand that they accept pre-1967 boundaries as a price for a two state peace agreement.  Somehow in the naivete of this president’s mind. The “individual sanctions” on Bashir al-Assad and his five top deputies and demands that Hamas reform equates with asking Israel to commit suicide without asking for anything in return.  Let’s be brutally frank about what this president, who has shown his disdain for Israel since he was sworn into office, means. It means that he announced this virtually as pm netanyahu was boarding a flight to come here for peace talks and a speech before congress thus continuing the same boorish behavior he exhibited the last time Netanyahu was here. it gives east Jerusalem to the PA/Hamas coalition which also  means that the most sacred and holy sites in Judaism and Christendom…the western wall, the temple mount, the church of the Holy Sephuchler, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gesthesame would be under the control of anti- semites and anti-Christians. It means the forced resettlement of 300,000 Jewish settlers on the West Bank.

It means the return of the Golan Heights so that Syria can destroy Northern Israel and the Gallilee with impunity. It means the 8 to 12 mile “waist” that separates the West Bank from the sea is indefensible along with the nations main airport.it reportedly endorses the “right of return.”it means the end of Israel .

This proposal represents  an existential threat to our only true ally in the region and the only democracy.  Barack  Obama has tried to deliver a coup de grace to Israel in exchange for what he believes is a new middle east that will love him for having removed the last remaining obstacle to Islamic resurgence.  Once more the Jews play the unwilling victims to history facing the real possibility of a new holocaust aided by a callow president who in the final analysis cannot or will not rid himself of his biases, who really believes anymore that this nation under this president will rush to protect Israel if they either agree or don’t agree to the arrogant demand to emasculate itself.  he has thrown almost every ally we have under the bus and gotten away with it because liberals in elected office and in the media have given him cover.

  In the days ahead, as you listen to politicians from both parties defend this travesty as “reality politics” or geopolitical “tit for tat” (with the exception of Rep. Eliot Engel and a few others who  courageously stood up to his party in defense of Israel and Ed Koch) they will conjure up every phony reason to justify this atrocity that George Soros ( who is simply saul alinsky with a hedge fund) can finance.  Just remember that liberalism is their religion and in the religion of liberalism, ideology trumps everything including self preservation and the defense of democracy.  This act of treachery is shameful and disgusting and for this act alone Barack Obama should be defeated in 2012.  If Israel’s enemies combine to attack and try and destroy Israel, as all of them have continuously promised to do, based on what they perceive as weakness or even tacit permission from the President of the United States then he should be impeached.

Barack Obama has engaged in community organizing at an international level.  His speech should be likened to the fitting of splendid and stylish new suit except when you try it on…it is open in the back because it is a suit for a corpse.  Never again means never again!

OUR WARPED ENERGY POLICY

MANDATES OUR INTEREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The primary reasons our attention is so captivated by middle eastern affairs is our dependence on the region's oil, a dependence that is wholly the result of bad decisions on the part of our own nation.

For political and financial reasons, the most influential circles of our government and our culture continue to cripple almost every source of home-grown energy production. Some politicians, like Al Gore, have become rich building an entire industry around a pseudo-science based opposition to every attempt by Americans to become independent of Arab oil powers. The laundry list of their misguided policies is extensive.

The use of ethanol is a text-book case of political expediency over the needs of the nation. Its use doesn’t conserve energy, because it takes as much power to produce it as it offsets from oil use. The fact that its main ingredient is corn contributes to the hike in food prices worldwide. but Iowa is a major corn producer, and it is a vital first step in the presidential race. Therefore, most candidates dutifully voice support for its use.

America has extensive oil reserves of its own, in Alaska’s ANWR region, and off our coasts. The use of both areas has been hampered by federal environmental regulations, most of which are not based on any reasonable grounds. Ironically, the exploitation of undersea oil in the Caribbean, limited by Washington, is proving a boon to Chinese/Cuban oil interests, who, unbound by American political debates, are moving in to claim these riches. Currently, the Obama administration while talking about opening up ANWR and off-shore, is simultaneously considering halting oil production in parts of Texas in response to a concern about an endangered lizard species.

America has vast deposits of coal which, using new technologies, could be used cleanly. Resistance to the use of this asset remains high, however. Here in New York, and in many other domestic sites, energy trapped in shale is just waiting to be tapped. Once again, however, objections based more on fear-mongering than on any proven concerns stands in the way of using this vast reserve of power, which would not only go a long way to making the us energy independent, but could finally revitalize New York’s moribund upstate economy.

The overblown objections to nuclear power have long been known. In the wake of Japan’s earthquake/tsunami disaster, it is doubtful whether the numerous bureaucratic hurdles against this limitless supply of power could be overcome.

And so we come to those two favorites of the alternative-energy crowd, wind and solar. It seems that the romance with these two sources ends at the point when construction of related power plants begins.

We are told that large wind mills will harm migrating birds, or despoil coastal vistas, such as that off Hyannis port in Massachusetts, prompting the formerly pro-wind power Kennedys to change their minds. Recently, environmentalists have also objected to the placement of vast solar arrays in undeveloped areas, stressing that it could impact local wildlife.

The rejection of our abundant domestic assets means that the wealth of America continues to flow to those sheiks and mullahs who long for our destruction. It’s time we ended this suicidal policy.

Life In The "Big Liberal," NYCity: Hard, & Getting Harder!

Adults nationwide are paying more for groceries now compared to a year ago..
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 91% report they are spending more money on groceries than they were one year ago. Only five percent (5%) say they are not paying more for groceries now. The number paying more is up from 87% in April and is the highest level measured in more than two years. Just over a year ago, 75% felt that way.

 

NYC 

 Meanwhile closer to home the NY POST reported that
 groceries in the five boroughs complied with city rules only 48 percent of the time and many regularly overcharged customers.
The most common offenses were failure to properly identify the prices of items on shelves, which occurred with 50 percent of the products checked, and inaccurately charging customers at the cash register, which took place nearly one out of three times.
The city conducted 983 inspections of roughly 700 markets during the past year and ended up issuing 516 violations with fines totaling more than $380,000.
While the  city is home to about 12,000 supermarkets,  bodegas had an 82 percent compliance rate citywide -- significantly better than supermarkets.
.
The study also revealed that 48 percent of the supermarkets inspected during the sweep charged tax incorrectly or inaccurately collected levies on bottle deposits.
Nearly all the inaccuracies ended in overcharging -- not undercharging -- consumers.

 

The worst offenders were in the city's poorest neighborhoods in The Bronx. But the violations were also found at markets in upscale neighborhoods

 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

 On top of this outrage New York City prices are up by 14% since last year
In addition to skyrocketing rent and gas prices, New Yorkers are having their pockets picked of all their loose change all day every day spending 21 cents more for a box of Corn Flakes, 29 cents more for a six-pack of beer, and about a dollar more to go to the movies. Aspirin even cost more than they did just a year ago.
Costs are creeping upward for everything from a cup of coffee from a cart to a carton of milk to a TV dinner.
A  NY Post analysis found "that rent has risen 5 percent and a sampling of New Yorkers’ common purchases have jumped about 14 percent".

 One week ago the average price of gas for New Yorkers was $4.26/gal
The average price of a one-bedroom apartment in a Manhattan doorman building last month was $3,529 up from $3,360 a year ago, according to The Real Estate Group of New York.
.(examples of price increases include)
TRANSPORTATION
Monthly unlimited MetroCard
2010: $89
2011: $104
15-gallon gas fill-up
2010: $46.20 ($3.08/gal. regular)
2011: $63.15 ($4.21/gal. regular
UTILITIES
January average Con Ed apartment bill
2010: $65.19
2011: $72.69
CLOTHING
J. Crew cotton women’s shirt
2010: $69.50
2011: $72
Boys’ blue jeans
2010: $24.50
2011: $34.50
Victoria’s Secret cotton panties
2010: 5 for $25
2011: 5 for $25.50
RENT
Average Manhattan one-bedroom, doorman building
2010: $3,360
2011: $3,529
ENTERTAINMENT
Cable/Internet bill
2010: $122
2011: $129
Movie theater ticket
2010: $12
2011: $13
GROCERIES
4-pound chicken
2010: $7.08 ($1.77/pound)
2011: $11.96 ($2.99/pound)
1 pound ground beef
2010: $3.59
2011: $4.99
Head iceberg lettuce
2010: $2.16
2011: $2.49
One dozen large eggs
2010: $2.67
2011: $3.99
Chunk light tuna
2010: $1.74
2011: $1.79
Frozen chicken dinner
2010: $4.79
2011: $5.19
5 pounds sugar
2010: $4.38
2011: $5.49
Kleenex tissues, 200-count
2010: $2.58
2011: $2.99
1 can coffee
2010: $5.82
2011: $6.99
Advil 50-count
2010: $9.54
2011: $9.99
Orange juice 64 oz.
2010: $4.94
2011: $5.39
Half gallon whole milk
2010: $2.47
2011: $2.99
2-liter Coke
2010: $2
2011: $2.29
Loaf white bread
2010: $2.28
2011: $2.89
1 pound bananas
2010: 85¢
2011: $1.29
6-pack Heineken
2010: $10.70
2011: $10.99
18-oz. Corn Flakes
2010: $5.38
2011: $5.59
FAST FOOD
Pizza Hut 12-inch pie
2010: $11.86
2011: $14.99
Medium coffee, street vendor
2010: $1
2011: $1.25
Quarter Pounder with cheese
2010: $3.92
2011: $3.99
Bagel at Ess-A-Bagel
2010: 85¢
2011: $1.00
Leaving out rent, here’s what you would have paid for one of all these items:
2010 TOTAL: $543.99
2011 TOTAL: $622.37
DIFFERENCE:$78.38
+14%

 

RENT

Plus,again  rent went up +5%

TAXIS Taxi drivers want a 15 percent hike which average New yorkers can ill afford.  the City Council wants to review it but the decision will rest with the TLC and the Mayor.
The request comes as  fraud cases proceed against dozens of drivers accused of charging passengers double the rate by using the suburban "Rate 4" meter setting -- and as the TLC deals internally with thousands of other drivers over their alleged roles in the scam. .
 
CON ED And According to the NY POST Get set for shocking Con Ed bills this summer.
Residential rates are expected to climb to about 7.4 percent during peak air-conditioning season this June, July and August, according to Con Ed .
Apartment dwellers who use 350 kilowatt hours of electricity each month will likely see a bill of $103.28 this summer -- a $7.10 increase over last year's $96.18 bill.
Most of the hike comes from a 4 percent increase Con Ed took in April to cover the increased cost of delivering power to its customers' homes.
The remaining 3.4 percent comes from the expiration of a discount Con Ed customers got last summer as a refund of earlier overcharges, and from an expected boost in the price of electricity Con Ed buys from generating companies.
It might get far worse: Con Ed's forecast doesn't cover electric-generating companies' demand for a price hike that would zap bills by another 10 percent to 12 percent.
If the generators have their way with federal regulators, New Yorkers -- who already pay the steepest power prices charged by any major utility -- could end up zapped with bills nearly 20 percent higher than last year.
Con Ed's forecast yesterday comes with no guarantees. If fuel prices escalate wildly this Con Ed's forecast yesterday comes with no guarantees. If fuel prices escalate wildly this summer -- gasoline prices are already up more than 30 percent over the last year -- then its customers might pay even more. Keep in mind that New Yorkers use less energy per capita in the US but pay the third highest rates..
Generators are insisting to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that federal regulators "should give no weight" to complaints by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and other elected officials that their price-hike request will slam consumers with 10 percent to 12 percent price hikes.
But Con Ed and other utilities say "it is entirely appropriate" for FERC to consider consumers' suffering from high electric prices. which stems from a fat cat independent energy generators who live high on the hog and want to live higher. They are demanding  protection from taxes they don’t pay but  "could" pay if the  state legislature eliminated tax abatements (which they now have done permanently in response to this outrage)
If FERC doesn't act on their demands in the next few weeks, the generators claim, prior rate cases give them an automatic 7.8 percent hike in wholesale prices that would translate into a 3 or 4 percent jolt in New Yorkers' electric bills.
That claim is also drawing fire from Con Ed and other utilities, which say prior rate cases
give generators no such authority

 

CONGRESS.
Meanwhile our “defenders of our purses” Democratic Congressional delegation voted no on two bills in congress to restart drilling in the Gulf and reversing Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium which have played a major role in keeping gas and diesel prices high.   Michael Grimm (R ) Staten Island was the only NYC  congress person to vote yes along with suburban and upstate reps Ann Marie Buerkle, Chris Gibson, Richard Hanna, Nan Hayworth, Peter King, Tom Reed and brave Democrat Bill Owens from the NY 23rd.  That’s right everybody else voted not to start us on the road to energy independence because they like sky high gas prices and sky high diesel prices that helped to drive up the cost of food and everything else we just talked about.  This they believe will make us convert to mythical “green” energy as we starve and freeze to death.  The only thing green these policies will create is the green mold from rotting food that no one can afford and more mold inside cold damp apartments that have insufficient heat due to environmental fascists that have enchanted the permanent government in this state .
To add insult to injury NYS now has the second highest combined Federal/State tax rate  per gallon at 69.1 cents per gallon for gasoline and the 4th highest at 73.5 cents per gallon for diesel.  While we suffer at the pumps the ghouls in Albany are laughing all the way to the bank because of new revenues from drivers which can be diverted to public service unions, no show jobs, member items and allotments to questionable not for profits.

 

TICKETS
And if that were not bad enough …has any one seen the numbers from the Independent Budget Office for non tax revenue for 2010?  In the worst recession  since the 1930’s our city government has been relentless in handing out tickets at a blinding rate in order to steal what little money we have left after we over pay for everything else.  Revenue from fines were up 3.8% over 2009, 44% since 2000, 57% since1991 and 88% since 1980. Water and Sewer charges were up 17% since 2009, 31% since 2007, 48% since 2000, 66% since 1991 and 85% since 1980. In this respect Licenses Fees were a bargain only rising 12% since 2009 after only a 3% increase since 2000 but increasing by 45% since 1991. 

 The fines are particularly galling since  Sanitation, Parking, Buildings and Health deny that there are quotas  and the city is in the throes of a very nasty and very major ticket fixing scandal involving every precinct in the Bronx, an Assistant District Attorney  and perhaps as many as 400 police officers.  NY has become a city of the rich, famous and connected vs the poor, industrious and ignored

. 

THE END OF THE DANCE?

 

 The city is about to join the state in a mutlti- decade brain drain caused by a lack of employment opportunity, overpriced everything, taxes on everything from gas for your car to gas in your stomach, poor schools, and a generally deteriorating quality of life.  The internet has made the possibilities of working anywhere in jobs previously anchored geographically to a specific plot of earth almost irrelevant.  NY no longer has the allure, even from an artistic and creative standpoint, that it once monopolized.  It seems frozen in time unable to change or even recognize that change is not only important it is a matter of life and death.  The origin of it’s paralysis is its toxic politics which have become the worst in the nation partially due to greed and corruption and partially due to the hubris that comes with believing that there is no bill after a decades long orgy with other  peoples money.  If this state is to survive then it must clean itself up politically and begin the long slow crawl back from the edge of the precipice .  Tacitus said it best…”To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles,
they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace”!

Bin Laden's Dead at Last

We rejoice at the news that heroic American servicemen have at last eliminated Bin Laden.  The government of Pakistan has much to answer for, since, according to early reports, Bin Laden was living in a mansion near that nation's capitol. 

Obama's Strange Foreign Policy

               President Obama’s foreign policy must receive greater scrutiny.  Overall, his decisions have been puzzling, and directly in conflict with the course this nation has followed under every prior president.

              Starting closest to home, Obama sided against the pro-American legislature of Honduras and supported the deposed former president of that nation, a Marxist who sought to violate its democratic constitution.  That trend continued with the President’s kid-gloves treatment of the stridently anti-U.S. leader of Venezuela, who has signed military treaties with Iran.  He has also moved to enhance America’s relations with Cuba.

            In Europe, Obama has devalued our relations with America’s closest ally, The United Kingdom. No explanation has ever been given for his diplomatic slights of London.  He also betrayed Poland, a government which has consistently been pro-US since its liberation from the Soviet Union, in his eagerness to sign a START treaty with Russia that critics call far too favorable to Moscow. 

            In Asia, he has turned a blind eye towards the unprecedented buildup of China’s vast armed forces, and that nation’s persistent drive to knock the dollar off of its pedestal as the world’s reserve currency.

            It is, however, in the Middle East where the President has focused most of his attention.  Despite over America’s half-century of common interest and common cause, Obama has been the most severe critic Israel has ever faced in the White House. 

The warning signs of the President’s tilt towards Muslim states and leaders that are anti-US came early, when, inexplicably, he toured the Middle East “apologizing” for America—for offenses few outside his White House can even imagine.  America’s history towards Muslims and the Arab world has been one of good will.  In the 1950’s, Washington sided with Egypt against the British-French attempt to control the Suez Canal.  In the 1980’s, Reagan aided Afghan freedom fighters in their battle against the invading USSR.  In the 1990’s, Clinton moved to defend Muslims in Eastern Europe. Despite the cost in lives and treasure to defend Kuwait against Saddam, not one drop of oil was taken as repayment from that nation.

The President has not, however, befriended all sectors of the Middle East; his favor seems to rest on those, like the Venezuelans and Cubans, who are most anti-American.  He has sided with the Palestinians against pro-US Israel.  He turned a blind eye towards freedom-seeking Iranian dissidents against their vehemently anti-American government, but sided with protestors in Egypt against the admittedly dictatorial but relatively pro-American Mubarak. He has ignored Iranian meddling in Lebanon, but endorsed military action in Libya, which has been relatively quiet on the anti-US bandwagon of late.  And he has been silent on the heroic men and women in Syria who seek to reform their viciously anti-U.S. government.  

Reform Public Authorities Now!

A vast portion of New York State governmental decision-making has been taken out of the hands of elected government and relegated to unelected and largely unaccountable agencies.  Despite recent legislative reforms, by and large these authorities operate with relatively little oversight and operate beyond the influence of the voters.  Many of these organizations, such as the Port Authority, the MTA, the New York Power Authority, the Urban Development Authority, the Thruway Authority, and the Housing Finance Agency, have significant daily impact on the lives of all who reside in this state.  Residents, however, are denied any real input into their operations or policy creation.

Elected officials have willingly surrendered their responsibilities to these organizations for several reasons.  First, it takes a significant workload off their shoulders.  Second, hard and potentially unpopular decision making can be accomplished without any connection to the governor, assembly member, or state senator.  Third, it creates an easily hidden budget gimmick to increase or mask debt.  One example came during the Cuomo administration.  The (elected) state government engaged in a sham transaction and “sold” Attica Prison and a part of Interstate 287 to the UDC for $200 million, which, on paper, helped balanced the state budget.  Unfortunately, to pay for this charade, taxpayers were stuck with a $600 million long-term commitment to pay for UDC bonds. 

The track record of these agencies has been dubious, at best. The Urban Development Corporation was the first major issuer of municipal bonds since the Great Depression to default.  Indeed, a huge portion of the state debt can be traced back to irresponsible, unaccountable agencies.  The list of outrages is considerable.  The MTA repeatedly issues contradictory statements about its budget, changing published facts and figures seemingly at whim, in whatever manner serves their purposes of the moment. 

A 2004 Comptrollers report, Public Authority Reform:  Reining in New York’s Secret Government, concluded that “Although the appearance of review exists for some of New York’s public authorities, the rules are diverse and the degree of scrutiny varies. The time for meaningful reform to increase accountability, deter misconduct and reduce waste and inefficiency at the more than 640 public authorities and subsidiary corporations has come.”

In response to the public outcry over blatant acts of abuse by these authorities, Governor Paterson signed a Public Authorities Reform bill into law last December. The legislation, while enacting some beneficial provisions, remains little more than a fig leaf on the problem and fails to address the central issue of allowing elected officials to evade responsibility for hard decision making by passing the buck to unaccountable, unresponsive, and unelected organizations.  The legislation:

·       establishes an Independent Authorities Budget Office to oversee agencies;

·       provides for review by the Comptroller of noncompetitive contracts over $1 million;

·       mandates enhanced financial reporting, mission statements, and measurement reports;

·       addresses some lobbying issues;

·       regulates subsidiary corporations;

·       requires good faith performance by board members;

·       creates a whistle blower program.

Of course, all of the above does little to address the key question of allowing elected government to evade its responsibilities.  The reasons for this evasiveness were accurately diagnosed in a Manhattan Institute study issued over a decade ago. The study noted that a number of vested interests—“prominent consulting, accounting, public-relations and law firms, all of whom take in millions of dollars in revenue from the various debt-financed projects of the authorities,” have far too much to lose.

Until the responsibilities inappropriately relegated to these unaccountable organizations are returned to the sunlight of elected government, our state cannot achieve the numerous structural reforms so vital to its future.

Dishonest Officials

      The startling statistic that more than one out of every eleven New York State elected officials leaves office under a cloud of either indictment or ethical charges hardly begins to scratch the surface.  (The latest political scandals apparently involve State Senate Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn),  Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) and State Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Queens.) 

The battle for the soul of New York is not found only during election years, and is not between Democrats and Republicans; it is between those who are competent and honest vs. those who are incompetent and dishonest. 

While the press does cover corruption involving misappropriation of funds or sexual misconduct, it frequently ignores more sophisticated methods of stealing the public’s dollars, such as the misuse of taxpayer money to pay for thinly veiled re-election literature such as “constituent newsletters” mailed during election cycles.  Nor as there been sufficient attention paid to blatant incompetence.

New York City appears to be the epicenter for both incompetent and corrupt incumbents. In January of 2009, COMACTA, long before the major media focused on the problem, pointed out the highly disturbing incompetence of Mayor Bloomberg in dealing with transportation issues.

Since then, as we have continuously pointed out, traffic and mass transit problems have gone from bad to worse.  Those traveling the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Bruckner have seen their commuting times increase.  Subway riders have endured serious safety issues.  The nightmare that occurred following the December 26 snowstorm remains fresh, even as the calendar marches towards spring.

 We again call for an investigation of why Janette Sadik-Khan was first appointed to her position as transportation commissioner, and, why, after numerous incidents of terrible lapses in judgment and vision, she continues to have the Mayor’s support to remain in that role. Similar questions are beginning to arise concerning the Mayor’s appointment of Catherine Black to head the City’s Department of Education.   Would the mayor have tolerated such incompetence in his private company?

The time has also come to demand accountability on the part of elected officials on both the local and national levels who prosper in office while their constituents languish in poverty and unemployment. Unfortunately, the number of Americans that fit into this category continues to escalate, and their plight is growing worse by the day as inflation begins to grow.  On the national level, the White House’s incompetent policies of have turned a recession into a near depression. Indeed, as gasoline prices soar, we are reminded of candidate Obama’s assertion that high gas prices would be good for the nation, since they would force Americans to adopt “green” practices—and he was apparently never honest enough to discuss the economic pain that it would cause.

The battle of the dishonest and incompetent vs. the honest and competent is being waged now.  It remains to be seen which side will ultimately prevail. Listen to our next radio broadcast on Saturday, March 19, at 10 am at WVOX 1460 am, or online at wvox.com.  Send comments to nycommunityaction@gmail.com.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for New York--and hopefully America's--favorite new radio show:  "...And Nothing But The Truth."  Check this site often for the latest "insiders" look at the news!