Tompkins County – Page 53 – Rural Tompkins County

Extracting Righteousness

The COVID-19 epidemic was disastrous to the elderly world-wide, but in Tompkins County; it wasn’t even a story.

Every nursing home in New York State is thoroughly inspected every year, down to the “Percent of long stay low risk residents who lose control of their bowel or bladder.” The conditions and resources New York’s nursing homes was well documented and understood by authorities; and they did nothing to avert the massive death toll – but that wasn’t a story.

What was the media view?

Old people are going to die, it’s only natural, they’ve lived a long time [and they’re a burden] and look; see how many have died from other causes . . . so let’s do a potboiler, throw in some other pandemics and recast the issue as one of historic inevitability.

The overwhelming statistical correlation of COVID-19 deaths with age was widely viewed without compassion, or even much interest, but after some judicious racial filtering, and a little massaging of numbers; a one-dimensional race-based story became the defining media take-away.

You can prove anything statistically; provided your viewpoint is narrow enough.

Statistics are increasingly the “tool of choice” for institutions and special interests seeking to mold opinion and validate their self-serving agendas.

Policy and public information is skewed by selective reporting, while at the same time; these frequently cited studies have reached a crisis level of fraudulent data and unreplicable results.

With the “don’t throw the bias out with the bath water” attitude of authorities, and a non-thinking population desperately seeking the comfort zone of entitlement; there could be a few clouds in our future.

Or in a new-school remix: “Don’t fix the problem, fix the blame.”

No User Serviceable Parts Inside

Family Time

Adjusting the rabbit ears on the family television set was like a game of charades: Who would get up to adjust the antenna? The critical comments, the shouted advice; and then finding that sometimes when you took your hand off one of the rods, or stepped away a couple of feet, the picture would deteriorate.

The fancier rabbit ears had a dial in the base; with detents and marks, but no labels to tell you what they did, or why; and that produced startling changes in the picture when rotated. “Don’t touch the dial!”

The techniques for getting the best picture were frequently empirical and inventive; like adding aluminum foil or nicknacks, but that’s a different story.

The “Big” Picture – rooftop antennas

In looking at the Radio Shack circulars, your eyes are drawn to the “maximum range” and “deep fringe” roof antennas [because who doesn’t want the maximum] — and you leave the store with a 12-pound box that’s longer than your parent’s station wagon.

When you have finally got your chimney mount attached, the pole is bolted tight, and the antenna opens up to the size of a Boeing: where do you point it? I think the city is over there. Where is your neighbor’s antenna pointing? Or with the help of family members relaying the results from the living room and shouting through the window: “No, back the other way.”

The problem with “black box” technology is that it has no people in it. It is not amenable to human behavior; and it does not serve the human need for involvement.

I have had, and have used, many modern pieces of technology; but I have no love for them. It’s hard to love something that rejects you so completely. I used to take comfort in the ability of electronic appliances to receive a snowy TV picture from a transmitter out of range, or an AM radio station from Chicago that could bounce to New York one night. It gave me a sense of continuity and connection with a greater world than I could apprehend.

Now, you either get something, or not – 0 or 1 – yes or no – a picture or blank screen; and the non-conforming knife edge in between is filled with such a pixelated – freezing – jerking – brain-numbing noise that people are happy to get back to the two-tone – right-wrong security they’ve been educated to accept. Doctrine brings clarity; thinking brings “confusion.”

Black Box technology has given us a world without wonder, without anticipation, and without ourselves . . . just a lot of stuff. And a burgeoning “black box” bureaucracy.

If you think this blog is leading up to something; you’re right.

All Roads Lead to Cornithaca

Biden’s social policies are in direct conflict with the principles and conduct of every revered figure of human compassion and worth that the world has ever known.

His Doctrine holders have overturned the “melting pot” and installed a theocracy: “Everybody’s different; and should be treated differently — for the Greater Good — and WE will decide where and in what way that should be done.”

I have no respect, and no trust, for a government that operates without principles, and in secret, and for an end only they can shape.

All roads lead to Cornithaca . . . and down the drain. The proof is now in Cornithaca County.

This book will help you keep on top of things until we reach bottom.

Biden’s New School Dictionary

Bi-partisan: Everybody does what I say. Everybody agrees with me.
“It’s Bi-way or the highway.”

Bi-polar: What he says and actually does are “poles apart.”
“After listening to that speech; I need some Bi-polar medication.”

Bi-ennial: Young person who believes Biden’s doctrinal cant.
“That book burning was a Bi-ennial celebration.”

Bi-cycle: Variable; one Term, two Terms, for Life. Impeached.
“It’s time to get off the Bi-cycle, and do something productive.”

Bi-onic: A stupid policy.
“That Bi-onic replacement is worse than the original.”

Bi-ped: A person who sold their transport to pay taxes.
“Biped workers walk long hours.”

Bi-lateral: Having only one side.
“His Bi-lateral platform embraced a Bi-partisan viewpoint.”

Bi-sect: A theocracy.
“Those new laws Bi-sected all our Constitutional Freedoms.

Tell them to “Get off the high ground.”

Today’s Doctrine holders always take a high ground that assumes their beliefs are the only truth and measure. Questioning that assurance will only result in anger, dogma, or the questioning of your question.

One simple way to find an answer is to compare their beliefs with those of people whose actions and convictions we respect:

“Right is of no sex, Truth is of no color” — Frederick Douglass

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” — Mother Teresa

“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. ” — Dalai Lama

“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” — Malcolm X

These beliefs cannot be reinterpreted; because their statement is unequivocal:

“Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.” — Abraham Lincoln

But Doctrine holders twist these principles backwards upon themselves; declaring that only by a policy of conditional worth, can equality be achieved; only by submitting to discriminatory policies, can society be saved; and that evil must be sown, so that good will grow out of it.

And they claim all this is being done in the names of those who would be appalled, saddened, and outraged at being used to give legitimacy to these actions; so contrary to what they stood, fought, and died for — a world where there is room for all; but never room for bigotry and discrimination.

The choice is a simple one, but it’s not easy:

Doctrine holders will seek to turn you with their endlessly insisting claims and assumption of a higher good; delivered with all the irrational rationalizing of extracting gold from seawater, and with the sly temptations of a doctrine that guarantees individual profit without individual responsibility.

And if you can’t be turned; there is force:

The force of iniquitous laws.

The force of ridicule.

The force of isolation for your views.

And Hate.

HATE-HATE-HATE-HATE-HATE

A bone-crushing, concentration camp filling Hate.

But take comfort in knowing that it is YOU who are following in the footsteps of compassion; it is YOU who are carrying on the fight for equality and human worth; and know that all the abuse and injury suffered by you is no different from that suffered by those before you; from much the same people, and in the same cause.

For your enemies are like wolves in shepherd’s clothing — and woe to the foolish sheep who follow them.

What’s causing it?

My John Deere tractor mower has been stored until next year. After blowing all the trapped grass from the deck mechanism, I made sure the tank was topped up with stabilized gas. This brought to mind a problem I had several years ago.

While I was mowing, the engine would start running rough and then stop. Diagnosing this as due to water in the gas tank [helped in part by the slopping ground and bouncing around] I bought and added a gas treatment; and it worked . . . for a while. Every so many minutes, the engine would conk out and adding more treatment would get it going again for a while. Why?

The answer was simple: the gas cap vent had gotten clogged; and depleting the gas created enough of a vacuum in the tank to hinder the flow of gas to the engine.

Every time I put in the gas treatment, I removed the cap, and it destroyed the vacuum. . . For a while.

If only I had thought of connecting removing the cap with the engine restarting, I would have known.

It was a lesson I never forgot: Even a valid explanation may not be the correct explanation — and a solution that seems to promise success may not have any effect on the problem at all. And that it is easier not to bother to think things through, but just to buy a packaged solution that “experts” have already thought out.

The pollution that is impairing our lake is overwhelmingly from only one source; an unregulated source; Agriculture — and neither our politicians, nor our colleges, nor our environmental agencies and conservation committees want to regulate it, or even mention it.

The Governor’s Task Force has publicly stated that they are only working to keep “some of the uses” of the lake; and have adopted that answer to a polluter’s prayer: the TDML paradigm.

“TDML” stands for the Total Daily Maximum Load of pollution that the lake can handle without complete impairment. Or in the vernacular: You’re not drowning in shit if you can still keep you head above it.

The correct TDML levels will be set by Cornell; one of the bigger polluters, and a whole-hearted partisan supporter of all Industrial Agriculture methods [even those banned in other state due to environmental risks.] Cornell has a very close working relationship with the NYSDEC; so you can be sure their TDML study will max out the max, with more quibbles and offsets than there are Zebra Mussels.

Once the TDML plan is adopted; our lake will never get clean.

What do you think about that “expert” solution?

We could be in deeper shit — the lake bed could collapse from the salt mining. Now how deep is that?

Maybe this isn’t a Blog

Due to the work involved in resurrecting my Idea Enhancement and my Art websites; I haven’t finished any new blogs — but there is a considerable amount in the pipeline for coming months and for 2021.

An umbrella theme of “All Roads Lead to Cornithaca” will shelter a variety of projects and blogged comments on local issues:

“May the Source be with you” uses the Lake Source Cooling as an example of how corporations can acquire fast-track approval and bypass regulatory barriers. It proves there is more to corporate planning than just a “Fox guarding the hen house” strategy; and shows how a judicious admixture of in-house studies and policy formulation can create a barrier to unwanted interference; and insure the “deniability of liability” factor that is so important down the road.
“The Greater Good” examines what would happen if our County’s policies were actually enacted for the greater good. Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Elite always justify their actions with claims of “The Greater Good” — isn’t it time we explored what the greater good might actually be; and how disastrous it would be to these same policy deciders. In a county where everyone agrees there is no meaningful public participation: this blog may give readers a little vicarious “payback” – and maybe start something . . .
“Stories of Cornithaca County” will showcase tales of activities and incidents as only rural residents can remember and relate — by exchanging the “4-year memory” of our college town, with the four-generation memory of our county’s rural community. Rural residents are unconsidered and unnoticed: they are like servants in the halls of the “great”; they know the family secrets, and where they are buried. These stories are a refreshing departure from the endless flow of self-serving handouts that constitute the usual information offerings.
“The ‘Lossy’ System” In information technology, lossy data encoding methods use inexact approximations and partial data discarding to represent the content. This technology strips out data regarded as either unnecessary or redundant to reduce data size for storing, handling, and transmitting content. The process is irreversible. This blog will discuss how our county’s elite decision makers make use of lossy methods in creating policies and perceptions
“Get Off the High Ground” makes a direct and straightforward comparison between the beliefs and actions of our most revered advocates of compassion and human worth, and those of modern doctrine-holders. The results are clear-cut; and will cut deep.
“New Normal Politics” with the take-your-breath-away-dismissiveness of their “Somebody has to take the hit” user philosophy; New Normal politicians sense who is weak and injured, separate them from the herd, and attack. It’s no wonder that with the massive disruption and death of our country’s elderly; these users are swooping in to tear off big chunks of the Medicare funding our seniors have paid into for decades. In the words of “Bigotry: The Musical”:

Each law I make helps me to take
What others sweat to build
They’ve got a nerve, cause I deserve
My every wish fulfilled

Cornithaca County’s Elitist Policy Making continues unabashed and unabated; like the stream of effluent from a TDML pipe.

Maybe this is a blog after all.

Cornithaca County Is Here . . . Now

“You’re Not Welcome Here.” This slogan of Ithaca’s hate gangs in the October 18 attack perfectly summarizes the County’s policy towards the rural community: You’re not welcome here.

The Cornell planner’s opinion: that Lansing’s rural residents “did not deserve” to live there, and the deliberate exclusion of rural residents from any participation by Town and County authorities, is only one of the many incidents of bias and intolerance that define the County’s agenda.

I spent a long time researching and writing “Cornithaca County” to “out” their policy of privilege and hate; only to find they’ve outed themselves.

The County’s attempts to minimize the story of this outrageous behavior towards peaceful demonstrators is proof of their approval and tacit complicity.

In this intellectually dishonest University Town; media bias and cover-up is a part of the academic routine. See the video of the attack for a true story.

The Attackers: What sort of people are they? They felt good about themselves afterwards.

I used to joke that the New Nazis would come claiming to hate Nazis — and then it happened.

Are you welcome here?

The County won’t want to answer that; but the hate gangs will let you know.

Be careful going to the polls.

“Cornithaca County” Book Preview – CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

The conclusion seems inescapable: regardless of the “ism”; “Cornithaca County” is marching steadily towards an all-encompassing dictatorship. A secular theocracy.

In putting together the material for this book; I followed two threads that fully support this conclusion: one was to try to build a strong circumstantial case by showing that many facts that all point in one direction; the other was to use the beliefs expressed by our most revered humanitarian figures as a touchstone for the policies and politics of Cornithaca County.

This book eschews the Emperor’s New Clothes fear of “unworthiness,” and removes the thrones and pedestals from the stage; leaving people and policies in a human scale, and visible for what they are; not what they pretend to be.

Among the tangle of deals and dictates; here are a few of the points that stood out particularly to me:

The gifts of privileged policies and money to corporations and private interests because they are “so important” – since when did the importance of private interests outweigh the rights of the people?

That legal loopholes were used to minimize, or even eliminate, any meaningful citizen participation in government and government policy making. All policy was generated and approved by government authorities – there was no public debate, or right of questioning, and no approval of policy by citizens.

Residents have already adopted an oppressed behavior: conforming and keeping quiet out of fear. [A number of rural residents firmly believe I was sprayed with Roundup to teach me a lesson.]

The elitist powerbase is assured by a large student population that is “represented”; but not involved. Their “four-year-memory” and ignorance of the county’s residents make them the perfect stooges for the University’s corporate agenda. The “County’s” most recent redistricting, looks like a diagram from Gerrymandering 101; and a new redistricting is planned.

There is no ethical foundation for environmental policy making. It’s routine for corporate polluters to do the environmental impact studies and be given the oversight of their own polluting activities. Agricultural interests control the various committees that absolve them from any accountability or penalty for toxic spills and polluted wells. The “fox guarding the henhouse” is the quid pro quo of Cornithaca County. [The NYSDEC is as sympathetic to the plight of these large corporations and agricultural interests; as they were uncaring about mine.]

Form Based Codes that give unprecedented power to government authorities for deciding how and where everybody should live; and in a county where there is no oversight or meaningful citizen participation . . .

“Take your breath away” bigotry: it’s still hard to believe that the lead writer of a government policy would express the opinion that rural residents did not deserve to live on the land they had lived on for over 200 years; and create a policy that excluded them from any participation or benefit. And maybe harder to believe that County government would approve and promote this plan and this viewpoint. In the County’s most recent Comprehensive Plan “vision of the future”; today’s rural community no longer exists. There is no door open to for rural residents except the door that leads out of the county. Ithaca’s power elite covet their land, and want the rural people gone; and they’re making it happen.

This book is not a “call to action” for Cornithaca County. It’s too late for that. It’s a cautionary tale for other “counties” in other places. What’s happening where you live?

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“The conclusion seems inescapable: regardless of the “ism”; “Cornithaca County” is marching steadily towards an all-encompassing dictatorship. A secular theocracy.”

Four years of hate and manipulation are cresting in a toxic tsunami: whether through voting or violence — soon we’ll all be living in “Cornithaca County”:

A government where an intransigent and dismissive; “greater good,” is the only response to protests of overtly repressive policies. A government whose marching banner of “justice” invariably covers up oppression, bigotry, and corruption. A government that can just refuse to enforce laws whenever they choose. A government of Doctrine.

“A word to the wise is sufficient.”

But wisdom is “old school” — and Doctrine is everything.