Vote no on casino gambling
Gov. Cuomo believes government can profit by revenues from casinos and residents of New York State will collectively benefit. The governor’s stance is that the emergence of commercial casinos in our state will “create” jobs and would recapture New York State tax on the accountable losses of casino gamblers who currently go out of state.
But a recent report by Stateline (a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Center) found that most states that legalized gambling in the last ten years have not received the local or state revenue promised by gambling promoters. Moreover as discussed in a New York Times article (July 14, 2013) “When a casino was built in a rural area with little employment there would be a spike in jobs … But these jobs were unlikely to lead to ancillary businesses that could lift the prospects of the greater economy.” In other words, if a casino is built here, we may see an initial benefit of casino jobs, but this would not help our overall economy, nor would it attract the kind of jobs which would offer our young people decent futures and keep them in the area. Of course the more casinos that exist the greater the level of competition for each casino and some of these may fail. Are we willing to gamble with the assets that make the Mid-Hudson Valley and the surrounding area unique in order to gain the short term benefits of some low-paying casino jobs?
Vote “No New Casino Gambling for New York State” this coming Election Day.
Christine and Doug Blair
Saugerties
Little League volunteers retire
I would like to extend an extraordinary thank you to several Saugerties Little League Board members that have decided to hang up their cleats. After decades of cumulative service to the children of our community Karl Lezette, John Dwyer, Kim Knisell, and Suzi Filak have ended their years of selfless service to Little League.
Karl Lezette has served as the Little League health and safety officer for the past several years. Karl’s attention to detail and behind the scenes “get it done” work ethic have been the hallmark of the last several years. His tenure was also significant because it also followed his extensive years of service to the Glasco-East Kingston Little League as its president.
John Dwyer has served as the treasurer for 16 years. In this capacity John very often filled many voids by also serving as the sponsorship coordinator, providing sign-up information to newspapers and schools, and of course being ready with a check when situations demanded.
Kim Knisell (along with husband Art) provided oversight and the greatest advocacy with the revitalization of the Challengers Program. The Challengers Program provided some of the greatest joy for all players as it provided a system of mentoring, allowing children of all abilities to work together to enjoy the game of baseball.
Suzi Filak has served as the majors/minors coordinator for Girls Softball. Like her legacy, as the daughter of William Thornton and early league pioneer, Suzi was a one person master of coordination, advocacy and enthusiasm for the sport at all levels.
My greatest pleasure is to share the recognition of these folks and their service. At a time when the newspapers are filled with indications of civility in decline in all arenas of politics and public service, it is a true pleasure to honor those folks that do the most for our community and add to the content and character that is Saugerties.
Bill Ball
President, Saugerties Little League
Going gray
Purity of thoughts on actions is often related to some common phrases “White as the driven snow”! Being lily white is being nearly perfect in all aspects. However, on the other side a “little white lie” has become better known as a fib ah yes, yet another shade of gray.
In Washington DC, lies our national symbol of government—the White House— home of the president of the United States.
Citizens of America, there is an ever graying of that symbol by the current administration. Purity has faded continues to do so– it is the gray home now!
Early on in this Obama administration our secretary of treasury, Timothy Geithner, “forgot to pay his income taxes”. He’s gone now but I ask did he ever pay up what he owed or did he leave the administration as he came– a cheat? Then there was Rahm Emanuel– a high-ranking advisor to Obama, cloaked in questionable activities. He’s gone also; to become mayor of Chicago, the city once “owned” by gangsters the likes of Al Capone and Dutch Schultz. I trust he feels at home there. Now soon our Attorney General Eric Holder may be next to go as his tongue gets so squeezed regularly “Fast and Furious,” snooping activities of the NSA and IRS. He’ll be gone soon, we hope!
Does the public care that such Obama henchmen are or were running their lives? Here “lies” our government. They have gotten into your wallet, your refrigerator, your business, your bank accounts, telephones, bedrooms, and most recently issued a “plan B” to prevent pregnancy in under age young girls. No doubt next will be a pill for the male ear to prevent pregnancy by getting the idea out of his head.
While embassies burn, here at home, great cities go bankrupt, joblessness prevails, cost of human needs keep rising and the White House sends out some low-level lady to explain what happened in Benghazi. A do nothing secretary of state came home to do her laundry before she campaigns for the White House. Where is there any purity of purpose?
We may not know what $16+ trillion debt really means. We do know what no jobs, less income, high cost of living, and no leadership means. Thank goodness we have only a year or so of this global disgrace we have allowed to happen to this great country.
Mr. President, we hear your speeches all the time. The messages you orate is from a mouth of marshmallows– all sweet and fluffy but not lasting substances.
Your red lines in the sand regarding Syria has little credibility as was your assurance Iran would not be allowed to develop nuclear arms. Regretfully sir, marshmallow words just don’t cut it. With regard to your foreign policy– you are blowing in the wind.
What a sad legacy you will leave. You must feel so sorry for failing in what once was hoped to be a memorable chapter in our great country. The ever darkening and graying in the White House needs to be freshened with purity of character and obedience to the Constitution. Are you up to that during your remaining months or do you go on your merry way of vacillating in the political pool of ego?
Nelson G. Burhans
Saugerties
Rethinking health insurance reform
There is much discussion about the new health insurance plan slated to go into effect January 2014. While everyone is mandated to have it too much emphasis is being placed on small businesses who can barely pay for themselves let alone employees. What you will see is full-time employees becoming part-time and self employed individuals being slapped with a penalty if they don’t have health insurance. I thought the purpose of this plan was to provide affordable coverage to all, most certainly minus any such penalty on those who don’t sign up for the plan. This plan may prove that coverage on Medicaid is more efficient if the proposed plan imposes penalties on the very ones that need the coverage the most. This is not making sense so far.
While blame is being cast indiscriminately, the U.S. health care system itself is outrageously expensive, while at the same time, blatantly inadequate.
Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized world, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. still has 48 million people completely uninsured, with millions more with inadequate coverage. This is so because we spend more and get less as we operate with a network of for-profit payers who waste money on items that have little or nothing to do with health care: overhead, billing, marketing, in addition to an obligation to make profits, as well as exorbitant executive salaries.
At the same time, doctors and hospitals are forced to maintain expensive administrative staffs just to deal with this bureaucracy. Witness the recent fiasco with the head of HealthAlliance in Kingston. Consequently, about 31 percent of health premiums fall prey to needless administrative costs.
A single-payer, Medicare expanded plan can capture this wasted money. The potential savings on this administrative waste is estimated to cost $355 billion annually, enough to provide coverage to everyone without adding to what we already pay, according to the American College of Physicians. Under this plan, Americans would be covered for everything that the best plans currently offer, while patients can regain free choice of doctors and hospitals. Meanwhile doctors, once again, would have autonomy over patient care. This could be accomplished by eliminating private insurers and taking back the administrative waste, while new fees could be imposed, replacing current, outrageously high premiums paid by individuals and employers.
Bi-partisan efforts, putting politics aside, are the catalyst for change. While the current system, left to continue, is doomed, the newly proposed plan will prove to be too expensive and non functional, and fail. The single-payer plan is the only plan providing premium payments made by everyone, with premiums based on income and without penalty to businesses and individuals. Let’s rethink while we try to redo.
Robert Aiello
Legislator, District II
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