| News That Matters It's going to be another beautiful late summer day today and if you've the chance to do so, get outside for a while. If you're working at some corporate white-collar job, hold your daily meeting out on the lawn or in the courtyard or somewhere beyond the walls of your cubicles. Take your laptop out with you and I promise you'll be more productive. Heck, just take the afternoon off and go fishing. Tell your boss I said it was okay. The big news this morning seems to be the battle between Assemblyman Greg Ball and challenger John Degnan. The Journal News reports that they called each other "liars" and "babies" and "doody-heads" at a forum last evening that was so unruly it was called off early. Those present report that the loudest disruptions came from Mr. Ball's supporters, a suspicion that needs no explanation and is fully expected. How has politics in this county come to this? Well, you can thank Greg Ball for that - and there's no denying that. He has brought Putnam County - and its electorate - to the lowest point of political discourse I've seen in my 35 years of poking around these affairs and I don't know how he sleeps at night. Mr. Ball has brought out the worst in us and we, always seeking the worst in others in order to give ourselves a hubristic, egoist sense of self worth, sign on. Sure, we may say in public we don't like it, but we secretly love the mudslinging and the personal "revelations" and the name calling and all the dirty machinations that go with it. We enjoy the intrigue and the back-biting and claim "that's the way it is!" But it's not. It's the way we've made it. Collectively, the voters in the 99th Assembly district should be sorely ashamed of themselves for what they have allowed to happen to our community and Mr. Ball, once soundly defeated come November, needs to engage in religiously deep soul searching and apologize to us - if he can lower his ego from the heavenly, omnipotent pedestal upon which he has placed himself. Mr. Smith Goes to Albany In contrast to the scurrilous race Mr. Ball is running, the other day I presented to you the case of Jonathan Smith who is running for the State Assembly seat currently held by Assemblyman Joel Miller in western Dutchess County. In that race, rather than demonize and chastise his opponent, Mr. Smith has taken the upper hand and offered a vision of a future for the Hudson Valley that Mr. Miller cannot ever hope to match for the lack of vision coming from Albany is nothing short of astounding.
In it, he calls for the rapid development of an alternative energy industry that would create high tech, well paying jobs and pollution free, sustainable energy for our region. A jobs program that genuinely builds and creates a secure future. Unlike Mr. Ball, during his comments Mr. Smith did not accuse or condemn his opponent. Rather, he focused on a positive message for New York State. He did not call Mr. Miller names nor regale the audience with hidden motives, secret agendas and blatant exaggerations or intentional approbations of the truth. Instead, he proposed a vision for the future. New Yorkers currently spend roughly $60 billion a year on energy with half of that leaving the state. 89% of the oil products used in the state were generated outside New York exacerbating the flow of our dollars to points beyond our state and national boundaries. Yet, renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and biofuels generate four times as many jobs per megawatt of installed capacity as natural gas, and renewable energies create 40% more jobs than coal fired plants - the source of much of our electrical needs today and the cause of the sometime high particulate pollution that clouds our skies and damages our health. Like myself, Mr. Smith wonders why our municipal buildings are not taking advantage of solar, wind and tidal power today as the technology is in place and working and has been for many, many years. A passively heated solar home requires not much more than a large south facing window combined with a 'heat-sink' in the floor directly in front of it. That heat-sink, around 2' deep of stone, gravel and/or cement, overlayed with commonly used ceramic floor tiles, absorbs the heat of the sun during the day and releases it into the home at night without the use of oil, gas or electricity. Photo-voltaic panels placed on roofs can generate a significant portion of a family's electrical energy needs and solar hot water is more affordable than you can imagine, especially if you're currently heating your water with oil, gas or electricity. Why are these simple and proven technologies not required in new construction, especially commercial construction? How difficult can it be to include them as mandatory in our building and zoning codes?
These are the questions Jonathan Smith is posing to the voters in his district and the way he is running his campaign for State Assembly. It's a far cry from the quasi-racist, nationalistic baying we're hearing from Greg Ball and those who have styled their campaigns on his and who sully the reputation of their voters. In order to understand how we've come to the Greg Ball style of politics we need to take a good look in the mirror and ask ourselves some important questions because when we do, the answers will lie directly in front of us. As always, your comments are welcome. And for today, that's the New That Matters. JmG |
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
News That Matters - August 13, 2008
