Quid Pro Quo, Cronyism, Misconduct, Bigotry, Censorship, Self-serving Policy Making, and Greed are just a part of business as usual for Tompkins County’s Elite. When you add all that corruption to an arrogant Urban Colonialist attitude — their “bringing civilization to the rural natives” policies; more closely resemble an invasion.
Rural Tompkins County is a place where residents need to be vigilant when they hang out their wash. Giant agricultural boom-sprayers spray herbicides that drift across the landscape like a toxic fog — coating the toys that children play with, and the sheets they sleep on with glyphosate and other chemicals.
How can Agribusinesses get away with this? Because the regulations aren’t enforced — that’s what friends in high places are for.
“Equitable” is a bureaucratic term for “We’ll decide who is worthy of being helped.” If more than four-fifths of the state’s COVID deaths were among its vulnerable elderly; how can it “equitable” to deliberately reroute the vaccine to a much younger and healthier population?
Cuomo claims that this decision is guided by the historical plight of “underserved” communities in New York City: but ignores the needs of the state’s historically even more underserved rural communities. Would anyone allow an Urban Community to be told by municipal planners that they “don’t deserve to live there,” and to be excluded from any participation or importance in their own future?
This is the sort of policy making that happens routinely, unchecked and unreported, in rural New York State.
“Equitable” and “underserved” are part of a future that appears more like “Lord of the Flies” than a Peaceable Kingdom.
They are terms that define a government that searches; not for a greater compassion — but for a greater control.
ur·ban co·lo·nial·ism | \ ˈər-bən kə-ˈlō-nē-ə-ˌli-zəm, -nyə-ˌli- \
1 : of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting control by a city over a rural area or people
2 : a policy advocating or based on such control
Industrial Farming is a powerful tool for promoting Urban Colonialism. — Alexander Zebadiah, The Cornithican, “The Urgent Case for Rural Activism,” 28 Dec. 2020
ur·ban col·o·ni·za·tion | \ ˈər-bən kä-lə-nə-ˈzā-shən \
: an act or instance of Urban Colonizing
Urban colonizers often employed these racist characterizations as justifications for the exploitation and Urban Colonization of rural New York. — Nora Fitchen, Rural Poverty as a result of Urban Colonization, 2021
This is the neatest explanation for why Form Based Codes have been used for Urban Colonization of rural communities. — Alexander Zebadiah, The Cornithican, “The Urgent Case for Rural Activism,” 28 Dec. 2020
ur·ban over·class | \ ˈər-bən ˈō-vər-ˌklas \
: a higher social stratum : a segment of society having more influence, prestige and power — compare Rural Underclass
Cuomo’s diverting the supply of COVID-19 vaccine to NYC for “fairness and equity” while suppressing distribution to the state’s marginalized rural poor and elderly underlines the establishment of a Black Urban Overclass in policy making decisions. — Alexander Zebadiah, The Cornithican, “‘COVID’ Cuomo,” 25 Jan. 2021
Terms like “Urban Colonialism,” “Urban Colonization,” and “Urban Overclass” would be in common usage; if the victims were of any importance.
“Rural Social Justice” is an action without a Legislator; an idea without an ideology to call home.
The people of rural communities, and their cultural identity, is one subject that our “oh-so-correct” city-centric society provides for ridicule and denigration.
Just as our poverty, hopelessness and neglect is greater than that of a Media-coddled Urban Overclass: So is our capacity to demand change.
Is permitting to mine underneath a lake a complex procedure?
Not when the state and the county split the revenue.
Is mining a less than stable lake bed risky?
Not when the mining company gives you verbal assurances.
What will happen if there’s a lake bed collapse?
That’s a complex question.
Why did it happen?
That’s simple.
This is from a cartoon series for the book that was never realized, but I thought I’d throw in one. It speaks for itself.
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are just words to those who live under the boot of industrial farming. Corporate Agribusinesses fund and bully the politicians, control the agricultural colleges and the regulators, and through a combination of advertising dollars, threats, and litigation control the media as well.
As the upcoming Part 2 will show: even the law is no protection against these powerful interests. They have the power to make the law go away.
“You know you live in Cornithaca County, when the only rights left are the right to be a victim and the right to be poor.” This statement sums up what it’s like to be a rural resident in Cornithaca County. Rural people are considered so unimportant that they don’t even get a minimal share out of the wealth that its autocratic leaders gather from each new policy decision. Unfortunately; this survey can’t even be classed as satirical.
Knowing how to navigate your way through a maze of shadow-government regulatory shortcuts is sometimes just a matter of knowing the right people. Often, public oversight is seen as a stumbling block to the smooth functioning of established business-bureaucrat partnerships, and their special understandings.
This difficulty has been overcome in Cornithaca County, where the people have no meaningful representation in government, and the investigation of regulatory misconduct is handed over to the parties involved; for their sole adjudication.
They’re “so important” and they “define the county” are phrases that are frequently used by county government to elevate powerful interests above the everyday requirements of ethical and responsible action.
There is no ethical voice raised in opposition . . . they’ve taken care of that as well.
This follow-up blog to Part 8a lists the recipients and posts their responses to the issues detailed in Deadly Drift.
The letter and its enclosures were sent via USPS Express Mail envelopes by Certified Mail to ensure their tracking and receipt:
NYS Attorney General Letitia James
NYS Dept. of Health Howard A. Zucker, M.D., J.D.
NYS Senator Pamela Helming
Tompkins County Health Dept. Elizabeth Cameron
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Sen. Gillibrand and both state and county health departments claimed they had “no jurisdiction” and “no oversight” and told me to go elsewhere, while Sen. Helming and the Attorney General’s Office merely passed my complaint of the NYSDEC’s misconduct back to the NYSDEC for their review. The NYSDEC, in turn, dismissed my complaint without ever addressing the evidence. Their investigation could be summarized in seven words: “It was done right and that’s that!”
Continue reading Part 8a Follow-up — Integrity and Transparency in Government – Deadly Drift
