It’s easy to see the bad times are coming — we’re not doing anything to stop it. It’s the New Normal of death, disaster, and fear – and we’re being taught to accommodate it with a Total Daily Maximum Load of suffering and denial. First we’re taught to blame, then we’re taught to demand, then we realize the reality.
With the New Normal of sticking our head in an anthill; we’re all expendable — Well, that’s what the people who aren’t expendable tell us.
Children’s Learning Party Games are back! And maybe it’s time that adults took a refresher course in how these games are played. It’s all about money – “and what’s paid in the darkness, will be spent in the light.”
Never have so many been unable to do so much. The bigger government gets – the less willing they are to tackle their biggest problem: Government. It won’t surprise many readers to know that this quote was only the beginning of one-page shrug-off – shedding responsibility like a dog shaking water. If adjudicating government Conflicts of Interest is a “conflict of interest” – where does that leave us? Waiting for the next bus . . . “Sorry, were full up and we can’t offer assistance.”
When you don’t lead by example: it’s those whom you designate that clear the minefield. And when your power base is “quid pro quo” – your biggest risk is stopping the flow.
That’s why politicians see our welfare in a special way: Business as usual – instead of taking care of business.
When the County Highway Director proclaimed a blatant untruth to block a through-truck regulation – and it was proven to be untrue – he never changed or retracted his statement — and not one member of the County Ethics Committee, the County Transportation Committee, or any Town or County official at any level would even mention it. There was just a wall of silence.
And not one of them would speak on the reason for their silence.
Why won’t any of them respond?
Sometimes not saying – is the same as lying.
It’s a corruption that can’t be talked about — a corruption that’s spread around – a corruption that always puts something in the pocket of those who could, and should, do something about it.
How often these days; is the attitude of “there’s nothing I can do about it” – a cover for the quid pro quo corrupting of our Society? There’s no need to answer — we all know it.
When a Tompkins County Department Director blatantly lied about existing conditions to avoid regulating influential corporations — nobody did anything.
When the County Ethics Advisory Board was informed of this — they would not even acknowledge the incident.
When I told residents that I was writing a book documenting the circumstantial case for widespread misconduct and corruption in Tompkins County — they frequently said: “It’s going to be a big book!”
When I sent copies of the book to County officials — they would not even acknowledge they received it.
When I sent copies of the book to University and College authorities and professors — none of them would acknowledge they received it.
The County Code of Ethics declares: “Public officers and employees must observe a high degree of moral conduct to maintain public confidence” — while the overwhelming opinion of the public is that the County is corrupt. Everybody know which is correct.
“It’s a small world after all.” Climate Change is showing how small our world is – and how little regard we have for it. When you’re accelerating into a stone wall — letting up on the gas isn’t much of a solution. COVID was just the splatter: Wait till we get dumped in the fryer.
You could say the NYSDOT response to our Town’s request for a speed reduction on Lansingville Road is the same as every other response we’ve received to our pleas for rural health, welfare, and inclusion: No.
Why would the NYSDOT refuse to reduce the speed limit on Lansingville Road? The answer, I suspect, is the same as why the County Highway Director claims – in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary – that all the truck traffic on Lansingville Road is agricultural.
The Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council concluded: “the petition signed by residents and the letter of support of a speed reduction signed by the sheriff, and add our Traffic Count Report, which shows a marked increase in traffic along Lansingville Road in the past two years, as well as our Vehicle Crash Data Report, which includes the road segment of Lansingville Road from Rt.34B to Jerry Smith Road on its list of top 10 highest crash severity road segments between 2015 – 2019. These documents together seem to make a clear and simple case for the request.”
The NYSDOT refusal was “Based on the existing roadside development, crash analysis, and test drives.”
A bland and uninformative stone wall — the same stone wall that surrounds every rural community in New York State.
Pigs are good for finding truffles because they contain pig sex hormones – it incentivizes them. The same analogy holds true for our government and money – they eagerly sniff out the profit buried at the bottom of every issue and policy; and if there’s none there – they move on.
There’s no profit in helping the rural people in this country; and a great deal to be made by helping the people who exploit them. And there’s no profit in writing articles about rural issues; it would anger the people [advertisers] who exploit them.
Our government follows a policy of Urban Colonialism: Rural people are a disposable population – and when you’re disposable — you can’t be a victim.