Celebrate the fracking ban
It couldn’t be more clear that Gov. Cuomo has made the right decision to ban fracking! Studies now officially point to hydraulic fracturing operations as the cause of last year’s earthquakes in Ohio, atypical to the region. Geophysicists are researching whether the same culprit is to blame in recent earthquakes in Texas. I would like to thank my fellow citizens of New York for their unyielding efforts to ban fracking. It’s significant not only because it sets a precedent in our nation— it’s noteworthy on a global level. This is a victory that truly attests to the power of grassroots organizing.
As Sandra Steingraber wrote, “Let there be no mistake. Science alone did not a statewide ban make. The slingshot that brought down the gas industry Goliath was made of two elements: good data and powerful organizing. Of and by us. Everyone who wrote a letter. Everyone who held a sign. Everyone who marched, rallied, testified, made phone calls, and circulated petitions. Everyone who broke a gas lease. Every community that passed a local ban or moratorium…. It all mattered.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, New Yorkers Against Fracking is hosting an event in Albany. We’re having a rally from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. for Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State, at which we will thank him for making the right decision, and show our support for New York to be the front runner in developing a renewable energy economy. Afterwards from1–4:00 p.m, we will host a party at the Hilton Ballroom (40 Lodge St, one block down the hill on State St. from the Capitol building). There will be food, special guest speakers, music, a photo booth and a cash bar. There are buses going to Albany from around the state, including stops in New Paltz, Newburgh, Kingston, and Saugerties. To sign up and for more info, please visit www.nyagainstfracking.org or call 917-500-8923 if you have any questions. Let’s celebrate!
Jess Mullen
New Yorkers Against Fracking
Kingston
Charter schools undermine public education
This week hundreds of people are in Albany reminding Governor Cuomo that public schools are the primary American institution which made our country great. In October, Gov. Cuomo promised to break up “the last public monopoly,” the public schools! Monopoly is a negative catch word of course, but public schools, governor? Now, he is championing moving our tax money to charter schools while local students go without art and other electives we adults took for granted.
Charter schools sounded terrific when first introduced: small, innovative public. Why has their promise been disappointing? The real question is why are Wall Street hedge funds also championing charter schools? Hedge funds want the public money that charters are entitled to combined with the lack of accountability and transparency their administrations enjoy.
Why does Gov. Cuomo want the same thing as hedge funds which, by the way, contributed thousands to his campaign? We really do need to remind Gov. Cuomo that this is New York, that he works for us, and that all New York’s children are our top priority..
Joan Walker-Wasylyk
Woodstock
Vive la France!
Many, along with myself, were greatly moved by the solidarity and courage displayed by the French people as they marched, millions of them, through the streets of Paris. Forty world leaders attended to lend support. Remarkable! Humanity at it’s finest. Hope stirred within me.
The march revealed that far more than most may have imagined, how deeply, desperately, most of humanity wishes to live in peace and do accept the great diversity of humans, their cultures, their beliefs. If one hates a thing, a person, anything, it is because they hate something within themselves. Be kind to yourself and heal that hate.
Several books tell marvelous tales of animals befriending one another: a crow rescues an abandoned kitten feeding it worms, a blind horse has a constant companion in a goat that leads it everywhere., a monkey and a panther become pals, a cat nurses puppies abandoned by their mother, a monkey and a dove embrace each other.
If these simple creatures easily cross the barriers of what culture has taught is impossible, we can and must continue to grow and rise above our own prejudices and worn-out belief systems. We are all remarkably similar in our desires for community, family, love. Let us start looking at one another, sharing more of one another, each a universe of knowledge and experiences far more interesting than the phony trappings and superficial personalities on TV.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, former U.S. President stated it pure and simple, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!’
Joyce Benedict
Hyde Park
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