No Country For Sane Men: News That Matters - Wednesday, June 15, 2011

News That Matters

News That Matters
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Telling it like it is for 10 years and counting...

Good Wednesday Morning,

Three things are going to happen to day:

1) You're each going to call The Senator Who Shall Not Be Named's office today and tell him that you expect he will vote YES on the Marriage Equality bill Governor Cuomo has placed before the State Senate.

His number at the Brewster office is: 845 279-3773

As of this morning, and after complaining to news media that if he votes in favor his father will never speak to him again, the SWSNBN is still a little loose. In a NY Post article this morning he said, "I'm glad that we have some religious carve-outs and protections in it," Ball said. "I'm going to reach out and see how comfortable the Catholic Church and other religious organizations are with the current language."

He has to check with the church to see if it approves civil rights for the rest of us?

Would he have asked the church if it was okay for blacks to ride in the front of the bus or stay at a hotel? Would he have checked with the church for their approval to give women the vote?

And just who is he serving, us or the church?

Well, let's make a miracle happen so I can give this dude his name back. Call his office this morning! 845-279-3773

If you want to read the bill it's here.

2) After ignoring bad advice from a local business group I have sent the New York State Insurance Fund more than half my rent for the month of July in order to begin Workman's Compensation coverage. The amount sent comes to less than 1/4 of the total payment these bastards want to cover a single kid who might earn a couple thousand dollars over the course of the summer. Then, for the next nine months I'll be billed around $200 a month in order to meet their price - whether we're working or not. And if cannot pay because the work dries up... You don't want to know what hell befalls someone trying to do the right thing!

It's no wonder contractors all over the country pay cash and hide their income.

Republicans in Congress (and in New York State) insist on giving tax breaks to the wealthy on the assumption that they will create jobs even though we know they'll take that extra money and place it into tax deferred accounts making the rest of us ante up to pay what they would have into the system.

But here's a guy who actually wants to create jobs and it's so expensively prohibitive that I'm forced to bill too much to gain more work, putting me at a competitive disadvantage, and I can only (maybe) afford to hire one person instead of the two or three I'd like to put to work.

This is how we're putting the economy back on track by prohibiting job growth?

The solution is not better enforcement of the law as that simply drives prices for consumer services higher.

The solution is for government to offer me and other guys like me the financial assistance we need to grow the economy.

But we know that's not going to happen because they're not interested in creating jobs as much as they're interested in transferring wealth from you to their buddies in the insurance industry. If I were EXXON or ConAgra or even IBM I could get a huge bag of free money even though I don't need it. But for the blue collar guys and the small businessman who actually want to create jobs? What the fuck is in it for us? Nothing. Bupkis.

Thanks Albany! Thanks Washington! Thanks Sandy! Thanks TSWSNBN. Thanks Nan! For nothing!

(And I especially want to thank Tony Hay, several members of the Putnam County Legislature and the Putnam County Department of Consumer Affairs for being the single harshest enemy of Putnam County's business and working men ever devised. Congratulations to you for making the lives of our local businessmen and women a financial and regulatory nightmare and intentionally injuring the local economy. I'm sure you all sleep well at night knowing your neighbors are suffering unnecessary hardships so you can balance the budget without cutting costs.)

3) You're going to click on the following links to sign up for No Country For Sane Men: One Man's Journey Into the Mind of America. As you've already seen it's one hell of a journey!

I'm off to the Clearwater Festival for the weekend where Roy V has volunteered me to haul loud speakers around.

If you're a volunteer camping over let me know so we can hook up as it's always fun when there's more than one!

While most of the music is not of my taste there are a few shows I'll try to see:

Josh Ritter, Jorma Kaukonen, Billy Bragg, David Bromberg, The Low Anthem, The Klezmatics and James McMurtry. And let's not forget "Arm of the Sea Theater".

On the second tier are: David Amram with Alana, Adira and Adam, Matt Turk, Arlo Guthrie, Buskin & Batteau and Suzanne Vega.

Most of the rest are a little too "crunchy granola" for me and haven't moved musically since their time in the sun but you never know! Many said the same of Prairie Home Companion favorite Greg Brown but he's moved so far away from his sing-song roots and into guitar blues that you'd never recognize him now - and he's better than ever.

JmG